PhiDrive and Arquimea´s Pre2Pos project is a Phase 1 winning project from the Horizon 2020 SME Instrument Space call of September 2014. The project is based on the industrialisation and commercialisation of rotary actuators, using an innovative motor which takes advantage of the micrometric deformation displacement of piezoelectric stacks, shape memory alloys and other smart materials to achieve infinite rotary or linear motion. Our plan is to include these rotary actuators in key equipment and mechanisms used in Space and in particular on satellites, such as Solar Array Drive Mechanisms (SADMs), Antenna Pointing Mechanisms (APMs) or Deployment Mechanisms (DMs), where high precision, low weight, energy efficiency and low manufacturing costs are constantly sought by End Users. Since receiving the notification of our Phase 1 success, we, PhiDrive, have been working intensively on the Feasibility Study for our project. We have analysed and planned our strategy for the future technical and business development, in order to maximize the exploitation of our innovative technology and its application within the Space industry. In this respect, we have succeded in recruiting an excellent and experience partner, Arquimea. Also, our first motor prototypes have already demonstrated the effectiveness of the technology, with the mechanical characteristics complying with the expected and desired results. Finally, our consolidated Pre2Pos business plan indicates that we will be able to sell 450 products from 2018 to 2022, bringing accumulated revenues of over €22.5 million, while at the same time creating more than 20 new positions in both companies.

The EFESOS project aims to develop and evaluate a cutting-edge ASIC technology for space applications. More specifically, departing from the characterization of the commercial technology, a radiation-hardened-by-design digital library and a set of complex analog IP cores (ADC, DAC, SERDES and PLL) will be implemented using the 22FDX process from Global Foundries, available at their production facility in Dresden (Germany). A complete electrical, environmental (radiation) and reliability validation of the technology will be performed, and the resulting fully-European design flow will be evaluated according to the ESCC standards with a representative sample chip. The 22FDX is a 22nm Fully-Depleted SOI technology providing up to 40% die scaling relative to the standard 28nm node, nearly 70% lower power than 28nm and similar power efficiency to FinFET technology. EFESOS responds to the increasing demand of the European space industry of more integrated ASICs at higher performance, and greatly contributes to the strategic goal of achieving non-dependence on critical technologies. The project will provide Europe with a technical capability beyond the current state-of-the-art, thus becoming a global reference in space microelectronics.

The growing complexity of space systems is creating the need for high speed networking technologies to interconnect the different elements of a spacecraft. This interest has spurred initiatives by both ESA and NASA to define the next generation networking technologies for Space. In both cases, Ethernet has been the preferred choice due to its wide adoption in terrestrial applications and because it is fully specified in standards to ensure interoperability. The requirements for integrated circuits that have to operate in space are very different from those that are used in terrestrial applications. In particular, the radiation is much more intense and causes several types of effects on the devices that compromise their reliability. Therefore, special “rad-hard” design and manufacturing techniques are needed for devices that will operate in space. This means that to implement Ethernet in space systems, rad-hard Ethernet components have to be designed. The goal of this proposal is to design and manufacture rad-hard Ethernet PHYs (Physical layer transceivers). In particular a 10/100Mbps PHY is targeted as the first short term objective. This device will enable the use of Ethernet in space systems and also provide the starting point for the long term objective of implementing a Gigabit Ethernet PHY for space. To that end, the proposal includes a feasibility study and also contributions to the 1000BASE-T-1 Ethernet standard. To implement the Ethernet PHYs, the consortium has significant analogue (Arquimea) and digital (IHP) design capabilities. In addition, it has also experience on the upper layers of Ethernet and its use in Space systems (TTTech) and on the design and implementation of Ethernet PHYs and Ethernet standards (Universidad de Nebrija). Finally, the electronic technology and manufacturing capabilities are also covered (ATMEL) as are the space system perspective and testing (Thales Alenia Space Spain).