ISRO and IIT Madras jointly develop indigenous semiconductor chip for space-based applications
In a strategic move to strengthen indigenous semiconductors development for the country’s various space-based applications, ISRO and IIT Madras scientists have jointly developed the Indigenous RISCV Controller for Space Applications (IRIS).
IRIS has been built on the SHAKTI processor baseline. This allows a wide deployment onto diverse domains from Internet of Things (IoT) to compute systems that are inbuilt in various strategic areas.
SHAKTI belongs to a class of systems on RISC-IV, which is an open-source Instruction Set Architecture used for designing custom processors. SHAKTI, supported by the Electronics and IT, is a flagship initiative to promote indigenous development of microprocessor-based products offering high-end security for users.
Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) Inertial Systems Unit, Thiruvananthapuram, had conceived the design of a 64-bit RSIC-V-based controller and the chip configurations and computing requirements were finalised based on the existing sensor systems used by the space agency. The IIT Madras team, led by V Kamakoti at the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, developed it under the chip under the SHAKTI microprocessor project.
The internal memory being fault-tolerant, the system offers higher reliability ; integration of peripheral interface modules and advanced serial buses were performed and the overall system underwent both software and hardware testing, following which
results hold promise for expanding it to future space missions, the team said.
ISRO Chairman, V Narayanan, lauded the indigenous development of the IRIS Controller.
He said, ” I am sure that this high-performance controller will contribute significantly to the future embedded controllers for space mission-related applications. Its performance will be confirmed during the planned product-based flight test to be done shortly.”
Story continues below this ad
” The chip design, fabrication, packaging, motherboard design and fabrication, assembly, software boot were all done in India, validating the existence of the complete semiconductor ecosystem and expertise within the country,” said Kamakoti.
