Here is three primary architectures for edge computers, Microchip PolarFire FPGA paired with NVIDIA Jetson:

1. PolarFire SoC + NVIDIA Jetson Xavier NX
2. PolarFire SoC + NVIDIA Jetson AGX Xavier
3. PolarFire SoC + NVIDIA Jetson AGX Orin

All three platforms are based on technologies with existing LEO flight heritage, and their radiation behavior has been characterized through public ESA / ESA-funded test campaigns (proton, heavy-ion, and total ionizing dose), supplemented by system-level experience with high-performance COTS processing in space.

Radiation Tolerance – Reference Numbers and Assumptions

To be explicit, the radiation figures below should be interpreted as device-level, largely unshielded reference values, derived from published campaigns and conservative engineering extrapolation where direct data is not available.

Jetson Xavier NX

• Biased Total Ionizing Dose (TID): ~20–25 krad(Si) (unshielded reference)
• Unbiased survival demonstrated: ≥50 krad(Si)
• Dominant failure mode: SEFI (recoverable hang/reset)
• No destructive latch-up observed below GEO-relevant LET levels

Jetson AGX Xavier

• Same silicon generation (12 nm FinFET) and microarchitecture as Xavier NX
• Biased TID: ~20–25 krad(Si) (engineering equivalence to NX)
• Unbiased survival: ≥50 krad(Si)
• Higher SEFI event rate expected due to larger die area and higher activity

Jetson AGX Orin

• Newer silicon node with improved TID margin observed
• Biased TID (unshielded reference): ~35–40 krad(Si)
• Unbiased survival expected: ≥50 krad(Si) and beyond
• SEE behavior remains SEFI-dominated and recoverable

Shielding Context (System-Level Perspective)

All values above represent unshielded reference points. In practice, shielding dominates the mission-level TID outcome.

Using representative aluminum shielding models:

• Increasing from ~2 mm to ~4 mm Al equivalent typically reduces total dose by ~≈2×
• Increasing from ~4 mm to ~8 mm Al equivalent provides incremental improvement (~≈1.2–1.4×)

This reflects the well-known diminishing returns of aluminum shielding due to secondary radiation effects. Alo for GEO-class products, we selectively employ radiation-tolerant components where they provide clear system-level benefit, particularly in supervisory and mission-critical paths. This includes the use of PolarFire RT FPGA devices for system control and fault supervision, as well as radiation-tolerant power management, memory, and non-volatile storage components where appropriate.