Microsemi’s Telemetry Controller IC Qualified for Space

Microsemi’s LX7730 Rad-Tolerant Telemetry Controller IC. Photo: Microsemi.

Microsemi announced the U.S. Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) has qualified and certified its LX7730 radiation-tolerant telemetry controller Integrated Circuit (IC) as Qualified Manufacturers List (QML) Class V and Q. The qualifications, key requirements for the LX7730 to operate in space environments, are mandatory for design-ins for space programs and for manufacturers to be listed on the QML by the DLA.

Launched in March 2015, the LX7730 is the first member of Microsemi’s radiation-tolerant Space System Manager (SSM) family of special purpose mixed signal devices. It integrates the required functions in satellite telemetry systems, which include a 64-channel analog multiplexer, a 12-bit analog to digital converter, break-before-make switching, and a precision adjustable current source. The LX7730 supports parallel or dual Serial Peripheral Interfaces (SPIs) and also provides cold sparing. According to Microsemi, the new IC interfaces with radiation-tolerant Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) such as its new RTG4 high-speed signal processing FPGA and the RTAX family offered in the company’s growing portfolio of FPGA solutions.

“We selected the LX7730 for our telemetry and control card designed to the [American National Standards Institute] ANSI-ratified 3U SpaceVPX specification based on the critical functions offered in the device,” said Drew Boudreau, principal systems engineer at Trident Systems. “The 64-channel multiplexer is key to addressing our needs for acquiring numerous system sensor data and paired with an RTAX-SL provides a true low power telemetry processing solution.”