Rapid development of space applications with responsive digital electronics board and LabVIEW FPGA

Abstract

Reduced development time allows faster deployment of systems in space. It also reduces cost of development. We are presenting how you can rapidly develop space applications by using a combination of a hardware design tool, National Instruments LabVIEW FPGA and a commercial off-the-shelf circuit board, Honeywell Responsive Digital Electronics Board. LabVIEW is a graphical programming and design language, a development environment, and a compiler that can target a variety of computing platforms, including desktop computers, microprocessors, and FPGAs. Responsive Digital Electronics Board is a ruggedized circuit board based on Xilinx Virtex 5 FPGA developed for vacuum and high vibration environments. A space version of the Responsive Digital Electronics is also available based on the Xilinx Virtex-5 QV, a radiation-hardened version of the commercial Xilinx Virtex-5 FPGA. Development of the Virtex-5 QV was sponsored by the Air Force Research Laboratory [1]. Both commercial and space versions are supported by National Instruments LabVIEW.