Boeing chooses radiation-hardened DC-DC converter power supplies from Vicor for O3b mPOWER satellite system
ANDOVER, Mass. – Communications satellite designers at the Boeing Co. needed radiation-hardened DC-DC converter power modules for the O3b mPOWER satellite system. They found their solution from Vicor Corp. in Andover, Mass.
Designers at the Boeing Defense, Space & Security segment in St. Louis are using the Vicor SM-ChiP-packaged radiation-hardened DC-DC power suppliers for the O3b mPOWER satellite system, owned and operated by SES S.A. in Betzdorf, Luxembourg.
The O3b mPOWER space communications system is under construction and due to be launched this year. The initial satellite constellation comprises 11 high-throughput and low-latency satellites in a medium Earth orbit (MEO), ground infrastructure, and intelligent software.
The system provides several terabits of global broadband connectivity for applications such as cellular backhaul to remote rural locations and simultaneous international IP trunking.
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The O3b mPOWER satellites use shapable and steerable spot beams that can shift and scale in real-time to suit different users, and will join the SES existing constellation of 20 first-generation O3b satellites in MEO.
The Vicor SM CHiPs can power low-voltage application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) that take as much as 300 Watts from a 100-volt nominal power source. Boeing tested these power devices to be resilient to the effects of 50 kilorads of total ionizing dose radiation, and immune to single-event upsets.
Vicor makes the power devices immune to single-event upsets by using a redundant architecture that houses two identical and parallel power trains with fault-tolerant control integrated circuits in one high-density SM-ChiP package.
Advanced communications satellites require high power density and low noise, Vicor officials say. Vicor soft-switching, high-frequency ZCS/ZVS power stages within metal-shielded ChiPs reduce the power system noise floor to enable reliable signal integrity and performance.
The complete power-source-to-point-of-load solution consists of four SM-ChiPs: the BCM3423 100-volt nominal 300 Watt K = 1/3 bus converter in a 34-by-23-millimeter package; the PRM2919 33-volt nominal 200-Watt regulator in a 29-by-19-millimeter package; and two VTM2919 current multipliers in K = 1/32 with an output of 0.8 volts at 150 amps and a K = 1/8 with an output of 3.4 volts at 25 amps.
The solution powers satellite's ASIC directly from the 100-volt power source with minimal external components and low-noise operation.
The Vicor radiation-tolerant power modules are available in the Vicor high-density SM-ChiP package with ball grid array (BGA) connections and optional solder mask for the top and bottom surfaces. The devices operate in temperatures from -30 to 125 degrees Celsius.
For more information contact Vicor online at www.vicorpower.com, Boeing Defense, Space & Security at www.boeing.com/company/about-bds, or SES S.A. at www.ses.com.
