Northrop Grumman chipset contributes to Polar-Orbiting Satellite Systems Program

DALLAS, 13 March 2006. Northrop Grumman has announced that the first Fault Tolerant 1394 integrated circuits adapted for use in space are performing as planned, according to recent tests. The company led the effort to verify, qualify, and manufacture the circuits for use on the lates polar-orbiting environmental satellites.

IEEE 1394a was tailored to manage large amounts of data that will be generated by sensors on the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) and the NPOESS Preparatory Project (NPP). Some sensors are expected to generate more than 30 megabits of data per second.

The 1394 technology enables serial, networked communications between spacecraft sensors and the spacecraft. It operates at speeds up to 100 megabits per second.

The tests were performed on NPP with the Cross-track Infrared Sounder (CrIS) engineering development unit, using the technology at ambient (room) temperature over several weeks at Ball Aerospace & Technologies' facilities in Colorado.