The RISC-V architecture for processors, for those who don’t know, is a design by open source chip. This design seems to be quite flexible and customizable much better than ARM CPU designs and solutions developed by Intel and AMD.
We will go to Mars with an open architecture processor
An interesting bet comes from Nasawho chose SiFive why build a processor powerhouse for high-performance spatial computing (HPSC). This solution will be used in all future missions of exploration of the surface of the Moon and Mars.
The announcement states that the processor will use a compute subsystem SiFive Intelligence X280 who has 8 RISC-V architecture cores. In addition, four more SiFive RISC-V cores will be added, possibly for data backup and verification tasks, among others. It is stated that these new processors will have up to 100 times more computing power than currently used processors.
Note that it is expected that the HPSC processor and the X280 Compute Subsystem are used in other government agencies. This is due to its great versatility, which makes it ideal for other aerospace applications, industrial automation, etc.
Thanks to this increase in computing power, new possibilities are opening up. they will develop new quest itemssuch as autonomous vehicles, vision processing, new spaceflight systems, guidance systems, communications and many other applications.
Another interesting aspect of this election is that not only will the processors be designed by an American company, but they will also be Made in the USA. Additionally, the RISC-V architecture began to be developed in 2010 at the University of California.
An advanced processor for exploring the planets
The SiFive X280 may mean nothing to you, and that’s normal since it’s not a commercial solution like those from Intel or AMD. It is based on the RISC-V architecture and features a multi-core design that features vector extensions. In addition, this processor supports artificial intelligence.
Such a processor is developed for high-performance single-threaded applications when power constraints are important. This means that the processor has very low power consumption and makes it ideal for space exploration. We are talking about an environment where getting energy is very limited and every watt of energy counts a lot.
SiFive says the X280 shows up to a 100x increase in computing capabilities compared to other similar systems today. Moreover, according to the company, when it comes to science and space loads, it proves to be much better than competing processors.
It also has a large academic and scientific community that develops software specifically for these open source processors. This allows the development of specific software and algorithms that significantly optimize performance.
