A TRW Inc-McDonnell Douglas Corp team in Redondo Beach, California has been awarded a 14-month, $1.5m contract for preliminary work on a radiation-hardened 32-bit RISC microprocessor. Known as the RH32, the processor is being designed to offer both small size and low power consumption, so that it can be used in spaceborne and airborne applications. The team will define a 32-bit data processor architecture for a four chip computer and fabricate a test chip to confirm the manufacturing process and to evaluate radiation hardness. As well as Reduced Instruction Set Computer technology, the architecture is being for fault tolerance and reliability. The distribution of labour will see TRW’s Electronics & Technology division designing, fabricating and testing the chip using its radiation-hardened, 1.25 micron process, while McDonnell Douglas Astronautics Co will provide the processor architecture and simulation, based on its earlier Gallium Arsenide work for the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. The contract was awarded by the Rome Air Development Center at the Griffiss Air Force Base in New York. The $1.5m contract is Phase 1 of a two phase programme with Phase 2 expected to follow after a competitive play-off: Phase 2 will involve production of space and avionic Advanced Development Models, and the creation of support tools to facilitate the development of software by users. The Development Models would incorporate the four-chip implementation of the RH32 in the same CMOS process as Phase 1.
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