Strategies for fault-tolerant, space-based computing: Lessons learned from the ARGOS testbed

The Advanced Space Computing and Autonomy Testbed on the ARGOS satellite provides the first direct, on orbit comparison of a modem radiation hardened 32 bit processor with a similar COTS processor. This investigation was motivated by the need for higher capability computers for space flight use than could be met with available radiation hardened components. The use of COTS devices for space applications has been suggested to accelerate the development cycle and produce cost effective systems. Software-implemented corrections of radiation-induced SEUs (SIHFT) can provide low-cost solutions for enhancing the reliability of these systems. We have flown two 32-bit single board computers (SBCs) onboard the ARGOS spacecraft. One is full COTS, while the other is RAD-hard. The COTS board has an order of magnitude higher computational throughput than the RAD-hard board, offsetting the performance overhead of the SIHFT techniques used on the COTS board while consuming less power.