PolarStore-4N
3U SpaceVPX NVMe Storage Module
DESCRIPTION
The OBC-PF-VPX is a 3U SpaceVPX (VITA 78) System Controller built on the Microchip PolarFire® SoC (MPFS460T / MPFS460TS). Its flash-based FPGA architecture provides ZeroFIT single-event upset immunity without the scrubbing or EDAC overhead inherent to SRAM-based devices. Twenty firmware-configurable SERDES lanes and 20 GB of ECC-protected memory support a single hardware baseline for Command and Data Handling, high-rate payload data recording, and protocol bridging — mission personality is selected through firmware with no hardware changes.
KEY FEATURES
- Flash-Based FPGA, ZeroFIT SEU-immune — no scrubbing or EDAC maintenance overhead
- 20 SERDES Lanes, PCIe Gen2, 10G XFI, JESD204B, SATA III — firmware-selectable per lane
- 20 GB Usable Memory, 16 GB ECC DDR4 + 4 GB LPDDR4 — full SECDED protection on DDR4
- >4,000 DMIPS, Quad 64-bit RISC-V application cores + 1 monitor core on PolarFire® SoC
- VectorBlox™ AI, On-fabric CNN: up to 279 GOPs INT8; scalable to >1 TOPS with multi-card deployment
- SpaceVPX VITA 78, SLT3-CTL System Controller, SOSA Space Aligned
- 512 GB eMMC Storage, 2× 256 GB — redundant non-volatile mass storage
- Dual QSPI + MRAM, Triple-mode config store, zero-wear NV registers
- Dual-String Ready, Active/standby fault-tolerance via SpaceUM-Polar
- 3–5 W Nominal, Conduction-cooled VITA 48.2 — 7 W peak
- Firmware Personalities, OBC (CDH), recorder, or protocol bridge — single hardware baseline
PROCESSOR
- Microchip MPFS460T-1FCG1152I / MPFS460TS-1FCG1152I (with security)
- RISC-V Cores: Quad 64-bit U54 application cores + 1× E51 monitor core — >4,000 DMIPS total
- FPGA Fabric: 461k logic elements, 784 DSP blocks — flash-based, no SRAM bitstream
- VectorBlox™: Up to 279 GOPs INT8 (V1000 config, no TMR) / 156 GOPs with synthesised TMR; scalable to >1 TOPS with multi-card deployment; 2–3× more power-efficient than competing FPGA inference engines; supports TensorFlow, ONNX
- SERDES: 20 lanes at up to 12.7 Gbps each — PCIe Gen2, 10G XFI, JESD204B, SATA III, Aurora — lane assignment firmware-selectable
- PCIe: Gen2 ×4 hard block (expansion plane); PCIe switch payload card available for multi-slot fan-out
- SEU / TID: ZeroFIT SEU -immune; >30 krad (Si) TID; latch-up immune; SECDED BRAM ECC
- FDIR: Hardware watchdog timer; dual-redundant on-card DC-DC regulators
MEMORY & STORAGE
- DDR4 — Fabric, 16 GB ECC-protected (18 GB physical, ×72 SECDED ECC) at DDR4-1600 — 12.8 GB/s peak
- LPDDR4, 4 GB — 20 GB total usable memory (DDR4 + LPDDR4)
- eMMC, 512 GB (2× 256 GB) — redundant non-volatile mass storage
- QSPI NOR Flash, 2× 512 Mbit — primary and redundant boot / configuration store
- MRAM (SPI), 4 Mbit — radiation-hard, zero-wear non-volatile register store
INTERFACES
- Via VITA-46 MULTIGIG RT2 Backplane Connector
- Three front-panel connectors: GigE (RJ45), SpaceWire (Micro-D 9), I/O / Debug (Micro-D 25 — UART, CAN, GPIO, JTAG, USB). Interfaces route via P0/J0, P1/J1, and P2/J2 backplane connector segments
- SERDES— Data Plane ≤10 lanes
- SERDES — PCIe, 4 lanes
- SERDES — Spare, ≥6 lanes
- SpaceWire, 4 ports (BP)
- GigE Ethernet, 2 ports
- CAN 2.0 B, 2–4 ports
- RS422 / RS485, 2–8 ports
- RS232 / UART, 2–4 ports
- SPI / I2C, 2–4 each
- USB 2.0, 1 port
- GPIO / ADC, 20–60 / 8–16
BUDGET
- Form factor, 3U SpaceVPX (VITA 78)
- Dimensions, 100 × 160 mm (220 mm depth option)
- SpaceVPX slot, SLT3-CTL — System Controller
- Connector, VITA-46 MULTIGIG RT2
- Front panel, GigE (RJ45), SpaceWire (Micro-D 9), I/O / Debug (Micro-D 25)
- Cooling, Conduction-cooled, VITA 48.2
- Supply, 5 V from backplane (P0/J0)
- Power nominal, 3–5 W Power peak, 7 W
- Mass, ∼120 g (PCB); 500–650 g with enclosure & wedge-lock rails
SOFTWARE
- OS support: Linux, FreeRTOS, RTEMS, INTEGRITY, FreeBSD, bare-metal RISC-V HAL
- Personalities: OBC (CDH), Recorder (SATA/NVMe via SERDES), Bridge (protocol conversion)
- AI inference: VectorBlox™ SDK — TensorFlow / ONNX; no FPGA design expertise required
COMPANION MODULES
- PolarStore-2S: SATA Storage, 2-drive SATA SSD payload module — 4 TB total; SERDES-driven from OBC backplane data plane
- PolarStore-4S: SATA Storage, 4-drive SATA SSD payload module — 8 TB total; high-capacity recorder configuration
- PolarStore-2N: NVMe Storage, 2-drive NVMe SSD payload module — up to 8 TB total; low-latency direct-attach
- PolarStore-4N: NVMe Storage, 4-drive NVMe SSD payload module — up to 16 TB total; maximum-capacity recording
- SpaceUM-Polar: Utility, Dual-string power / clock / reset switching — LCL per slot, up to 5 modules
- PSU-Polar-3U: Power, VITA 62-aligned 3U SpaceVPX power supply card
- SpaceVPX-BP-SS: Backplane, Single-string 3U SpaceVPX backplane — 4 to 5 slots
- SpaceVPX-BP-DS, Backplane, Dual-string 3U backplane — 8 slots; dual OBC + SpaceUM for full redundancy
- SpaceVPX-CHX: Chassis, Conduction-cooled aluminium chassis — 4, 6, or 8-slot variants
PRODUCT DOCUMENTS
- Failure Modes, Effects, and Criticality Analysis (FMECA)
- Reliability Analysis Report
- Radiation Analysis Report
- Safety Assurance Plan
- Fault Tree Analysis (FTA)
- Single Point Failure Analysis (SPFA)
- Worst Case Analysis (WCA)
- Derating Analysis Report
- Availability Analysis Report
- Mechanical Analysis Report
- Maintainability Analysis Report
- Fault Detection, Isolation, and Recovery (FDIR)
- Qualification Test Plan (QTP)
- Environmental Test Reports, TVAC, Vib.
- EMC/EMI Test Report
- Radiation Test Report
- Operational Risk Assessment (ORA)
- Critical Items List (CIL)
- Materials, Processes, and Mechanical Parts List (MPMPL)
- Product Assurance Plan (PAP)
- Configuration Item Data List (CIDL)
- End Item Data Package (EIDP)
- As-Built Configuration List (ABCL)
