The first radiation-hardened electronic component for the International Space Station (ISS), which will provide improved speed of serial data communication, will be provided by US firm Honeywell.
The quad redundant serialiser / deserialiser (SERDES) has been selected by SEAKR Engineering for use in their programme to upgrade the communication system on the ISS.
Honeywell vice-president Dave Douglass said that this was the first multichannel SERDES device for severe radiation environments, which would allow satellite manufacturers to significantly increase system network capacity.
The device allows significantly higher communication rates of up to 3.125GB a second on each channel.
The SERDES capability can be embedded into an HX5000 application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) or used as a standalone component in a system built by an electronics integrator.
It will be launched on a Nasa space shuttle in August 2010.
