Texas Instruments (TI) has contributed to the implementation of high-performance electronic systems for the space industry through radiation-hardened and radiation-tolerant semiconductor products.

Texas Instruments (TI) announced on the 26th that it has opened the next era of Earth observation by supplying its radiation-hardened and radiation-tolerant semiconductor technology to NISAR, the world's first dual-band synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite jointly developed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO).

NISAR is based on SAR technology that can obtain high-resolution images day and night and under various weather conditions, and takes pictures of the entire Earth every 12 days.

This will enable precise analysis of environmental data such as ecosystem changes, glacier mass, vegetation biomass, sea level rise, and groundwater changes, and will also be used to monitor natural disasters such as earthquakes, volcanoes, and landslides.

TI's decade-long collaboration with ISRO has provided the technology needed to overcome complex payload design challenges and maximize the power density, precision, and performance of satellite systems.

In particular, we supply radiation-hardened power management dies suitable for the Point-of-Load (POL) hybrid power module developed by SAC-ISRO, which can reduce the size and weight of the satellite.Crab, optimized for power efficiency.

Additionally, TI contributed to the creation of precise images through high-resolution ADCs (analog-to-digital converters) that support ultra-high-speed sampling rates, and implemented stable, high-speed data transmission between satellite subsystems through high-performance interface technology.

Clocking solutions also played a critical role in ensuring time alignment and sampling consistency of the SAR system.

“TI’s technical expertise and consistent support have been critical in meeting complex system requirements,” said Nilesh Desai, director, ISRO Space Applications Centre (SAC). “Our collaboration in mixed-signal and analog semiconductors has been instrumental in achieving the performance benchmarks required for low Earth orbit satellite operations.”

“The success of the NISAR satellite is the culmination of a partnership spanning over a decade, and TI stands ready to support future missions with our space-grade semiconductor technology,” said Elisabeth Jansen, general manager, Sales and Applications, TI India.