Available at: https://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/theses/3268
Date of Award
5-2026
Degree Name
MS in Electrical Engineering
Department/Program
Electrical Engineering
College
College of Engineering
Advisor
Mohammad Ghamari
Advisor Department
Electrical Engineering
Advisor College
College of Engineering
Abstract
Space environments present complex challenges for electronic devices, perhaps most notably in the form of radiation effects; the natural protections provided by Earth’s atmosphere and magnetosphere are largely absent in deep space and extraterrestrial environments, making single-event effects (SEE) a critical concern. Although radiation-hardened components offer near-immunity to SEE, they possess tremendous drawbacks in both cost and performance. To circumvent such issues, this thesis investigates the feasibility of leveraging a commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) device, the AMD KRIA K24 system-on-module (SOM), for use in Martian surface missions.
Detailed models were used to predict SEE rates in the system, and system-level fault tree analysis (FTA) was employed to predict system failure rate. After preliminary analysis predicted prohibitively low reliability from the COTS SOM alone, targeted system modifications to both software and hardware were then proposed to mitigate the radiation effects. These modifications include implementation of a watchdog processor, over-voltage transient protection, redundant memory, and a novel latching current limiter (LCL). The targeted hardware additions, accompanied by proposed software solutions, were shown to increase system reliability to over 99% over the intended 90-day mission span. A prototype system was also created, demonstrating successful response to emulated SEEs in a lab environment. These results demonstrate the potential of COTS SOM devices to perform successfully in the Martian environment, provided they are accompanied by carefully designed mitigation strategies.