Abstract

Qualification of COTS base electronics for POLAR instrument

W. Hajdas¹, R. Marcinkowski², H. Xiao³

¹ Paul Scherrer Institut
² SE2S GmbH
³ University of Applied Sciences FHNW Brugg Windish

 

Abstract

POLAR instrument was designed for polarization measurements of Gamma Ray Bursts based on detections of hard X-rays. The instrument flew onboard of the Chinese TG-2 Space Laboratory in 2016 and 2017. The front-end electronics was developed using COTS components only. The radiation requirements related with the Low Earth Orbit environment and the instrument class allowed for simplified approach in radiation qualification. Critical components i.e. ASIC and FPGAs were tested at proton and heavy ion facilities to determine their SEE sensitivity. Several other components such as voltage regulators were also tested for TID and DD to assure stability of power systems of the instrument. Exposure levels used during qualification were applied with suitable margin factors. We will present the details of the qualification approach including modelling and radiation tests results for selected components.