Press Release
Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd Licenses CAN Controller IP from Inicore Inc.
Newark, California, Nov. 26, 2008 - Inicore Inc. announced today that Surrey Satellite Technology Limited in Guildford, UK, has licensed its Controller Area Network Intellectual Property core CANmodule-IIx for their new SGR-05P range of space-borne GPS receivers.
The first flight-ready incarnation of the SGR-05P-based receiver is referred to as the SGR-07, a stand-alone, packaged version of the SGR-05P providing robust power and communications interfaces. The SGR-07 communicates with the rest of the spacecraft exclusively over the dual-redundant CAN bus using the CANmodule-IIx. Testing of the SGR-07 has now been completed onboard SSTL's UK-DMC-2 satellite, which is due for launch in early 2009.
"The CANmodule-IIx core with its standard AMBA APB system bus interface is designed for a smooth system integration. Although the target FPGA was for a satellite based application, it was impressive to see how quickly SSTL completed the core integration," noted Hans J. Kuffer, VP Business Development. "CANmodule-IIx has been used in space applications before and is currently designed-in in other programs as well."
SSTL GPS engineer, Reynolt De Vos Van Steenwijk, who worked on the UK-DMC-2, commented: "The integration of the core into our design went extremely well with excellent results and we found the team at Inicore responsive and supportive throughout."
UK-DMC-2 is a sophisticated new Earth observation satellite which will join other satellites already operating in the Disaster Monitoring Constellation (DMC), providing commercial remote sensing products and contributing image data to the International Charter: Space and Major Disasters.
The CANmodule-IIx core is ISO 11898-1 compliant and supports both CAN standard and extended frame formats. The FIFO based architecture features three hardware message filters, which enable back-to-back message reception with minimal CPU interaction. The message filters are enhanced to better support high-layer protocols such as DeviceNet. The system interface supports the industry standard AMBA APB bus, making it easy to integrate. Several synthesis configurations are available to obtain a gate-count optimized FPGA implementation.
About Inicore:
Inicore is a comprehensive IP provider and an experienced system design house offering FPGA, ASIC, and SoC design services. The company's expertise in architecture, intellectual property, methodology and tool handling provides a complete design environment that helps customers shorten their design cycle and speed time to market. Offerings cover feasibility study, concept analysis, architecture definition, code generation and implementation, and verification. For additional information about Inicore, please visit www.inicore.com or call (+1) 510-445-1529.
About Surrey Satellite Technology Limited:
SSTL has been sending small satellites into space longer, more successfully and more economically than anyone else in the world. They specialize in designing, building and launching small satellites quickly and cost-effectively, making space accessible and affordable. For additional information about Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd, see www.sstl.co.uk and for the application www.dmcii.com
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