Silicon Laude announces the availability of the worldâs first, and only, radiation-hardened and radiation-tolerant MCS8051 instruction-compatible microcontrollers that can directly interface with Honeywellâs new HXNV-0100 64k x 16 radiation-hardened Magnetic RAM (MRAM), yielding an unprecedented two-chip, radiation-hardened/tolerant microcontroller solution capable of reliable operation in 300 krads (Si) total ionizing-dose (TID) environments.
Dubbed the SL80RT051-AX001 for the radiation-tolerant version, and SL80RH051-AF001 for the radiation-hardened version (or SL80RX051 collectively), the microcontrollers are implemented in Actel space-qualified RTAX-S and Aeroflex radiation-hardened UT6325 FPGAs (respectively). SL80RX051 applications include, among others, general instrumentation and control, launch vehicle vibration monitoring, Tunable Diode Laser (TDL) spectrometers, and general data acquisition functions. Because of the MRAMâ s non-volatile storage capability, the MRAM/SL80RX051 combination is ideal for applications that need to collect and store data periodically, with later, less frequent uploads. Another advantage to the MRAM approach is that programs can be easily updated due to the fact that data and programs can be written to the MRAM like ordinary SRAM, but retained like an EEPROM when powered down. To prevent unintended writes to program memory, the SL80RX051 includes a write protection security lock that can be deactivated with a unique, three-byte code and enable sequence, similar to an ordinary flash memory.