In-Situ, Low Dose Rate, TID Test of the Power Supply Block of RadEx, a CubeSat Class Radiation Experiment Module

This paper presents and discusses the design and fully automated (ground) total ionising dose test of a power supply block of a CubeSat radiation experiment module (RadEx)which is currently being developed and built with the target launch in late 2014. The main research goal is to perform in-orbit measurements of the degradation of analogue and mixed-signal circuits and compare them with the results of ground tests. This work is focused on the module power block to be used to provide DC power to analogue parts under space radiation test as well as the excitation current for a RadFet total dose dosimeter. Design details of the TID tested hardware and fully automated test system are published in this work, including preliminary test results.