Spacechips has introduced a small on-board processor card powerful enough to enable in-orbit processing and then downlink the data to address both Earth-bound and space-related issues.
Called AI1 transponder, the processor card harnesses AI computer engines for in-orbit AI to address these problems such as:
- Tracking space debris.
- Monitoring spacecraft health.
- Identifying severe weather patterns.
- Reporting rainfall data for crops.
Capable of delivering up to 133 tera operations per second (TOPS), the reconfigurable receiver and transmitter will allow for in-space servicing, assembly and manufacturing (ISAM), signals intelligence (SIGINT) and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR). It will also support telecommunications applications to support real-time autonomous computing.
Vicor partnership
Spacechips is partnering with Vicor to incorporate Vicor’s factorized power architecture (FPA) using power modules into the AI1 transponder board. The FPA system is a power delivery system that separates the functions of DC-DC conversion into independent modules.
This allows for better efficiency and flexibility by reducing size and weight as well as increases yields at higher power density, the companies said.
“Vicor FPA delivers a much more elegant, efficient solution in a very small form factor,” said Rajan Bedi, CEO of Spacechips. “The benefits of Vicor FPA are simply an order of magnitude superior to everything else on the market.”
