Press Release

Alpha Data Launches new Space Development Kit

By SpaceRef Editor
May 24, 2021
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Alpha Data, in collaboration with Xilinx and Texas Instruments, has launched a new Space Development Kit, the ADA-SDEV-KIT3, which will help users to rapidly test the hardware and software setups that look to incorporate the Xilinx™ Radiation Tolerant Kintex® UltraScale™ XQRKU060 Space-Grade FPGA.

Alpha Datas new Space Development Kit, the ADASDEVKIT3, is a development kit for the Xilinx™ Radiation Tolerant Kintex® UltraScale™ XQRKU060 FPGA, the world’s first 20nm

space-grade FPGA. The Xilinx XQRKU060 oers a 5x improvement over the previous generation of Space-Grade FPGAs, allowing the deployment of far more advanced communications, signal processing, image processing and machine learning applications.

The ADASDEVKIT3 supersedes Alpha Datas ADASDEVKIT2 by adding Ethernet I/O and more flexible configuration options for SelectMAP Scrubbing. The improved version, which was developed following space industry feedback, makes the new Space Development Kit more powerful for customers interested in deploying FPGA hardware in harsh environments.

Alpha Datas ADASDEVKIT3 board powers the FPGA with a reference Texas Instruments power supply design. The power eciency and the increased processing capacity of the new Space Development Kit will allow customers to design more computationally intensive solutions, with a focus on space deployable systems and payloads.

“We expect machine learning to become vital in dealing with the huge amount of data produced by satellite remote sensing,” commented Andrew McCormick, Technical Director at Alpha Data. “The ability to use machine learning to pre-process and filter data will provide a competitive edge, and this new Space Development Kit the ADA-SDEV-KIT3 helps our customers develop spacecraft payloads incorporating A.I. solutions.”

Alpha Datas Space Development Kit helps space companies gain this competitive edge by providing a cost-eective environment to rapidly test the hardware and software setups incorporating the Kintex® UltraScale™ XQRKU060 FPGA. Alpha Data have already developed example applications for the Space Development Kit, enabling customers to build on proven designs and reduce their own development cycle to improve the time to market.

“As well as providing ongoing technical and design support, one of Alpha Data’s key strengths is quickly modifying our designs to meet customer requirements,” elaborated Andrew McCormick, “In terms of the space development kit, this allows customers to rapidly prototype and develop rugged aerospace products, helping them get their hardware into orbit faster.”

The launch of this Space Development Kit is part of Alpha Datas ever growing product line in “Extreme Environments”, which also includes the ADM-VPX3-9Z5 board – an OpenVPX MPSoC FPGA System on Module (SoM) board and builds on the companys strong technical heritage and the experience of providing products to aerospace primes and research organizations. Alpha Data engineers are ready to support customers looking to quickly develop space-ready designs using the very best in reconfigurable computing.

—ENDS—

About Alpha Data:

Alpha Data is a world leader in the FPGA-based acceleration boards used in data centers,

high-performance computing, and rugged embedded computing worldwide. With bases in both the US and the UK, Alpha Datas team of highly skilled engineers provide an international customer base with high-reliability, state-of-the-art solutions for computationally intensive applications.

Produced for Alpha Data by AstroAgency.

For more information, please visit https://www.alpha-data.com/. Alternatively, Lara Zanoni – lara@astroagency.co.uk or via telephone +44(0)790 952 3004.


SpaceRef staff editor.