Cosmic radiation effects on avionics

doi:10.1016/S0141-9331(98)00106-9

Microprocessors and Microsystems

Volume 22, Issue 8, 22 February 1999, Pages 477-483

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0141-9331(98)00106-9 Get rights and content

Abstract

The earth is bombarded by a nearly isotropic flux of energetic charged particles called cosmic rays which interact with air nuclei to generate a cascade of secondary particles building up to a maximum intensity at 60 000 feet. At normal cruising altitudes, the radiation is still several hundred times the ground level intensity. These particles are sufficiently energetic and ionising that they can deposit enough charge in a small volume of semiconductor to change the state of a memory cell, while certain devices can be triggered into a state of high current drain, leading to burn-out and hardware failure. These deleterious interactions of individual particles are referred to as single event effects. The authors have flown Cosmic Radiation Effects detectors in a variety of spacecraft and aircraft and illustrative results will be presented together with a review of published instances of such phenomena in flight systems. In the future there is likely to be increased susceptibility due to growing reliance on high performance computers using smaller devices operated at lower voltages and flying at higher altitudes. The influence of cosmic rays will have to be properly considered in the assessment of reliability.

Section snippets

What are cosmic rays?

Cosmic rays were first discovered in 1912 in a Nobel prize-winning experiment when an Austrian called Hess flew a detector on a balloon and showed that ionisation increased with altitude. Many years of research and the ability to get above the atmosphere afforded by the space programme show that the earth's magnetosphere is bombarded by a nearly isotropic flux of energetic charged particles, primarily the nuclei of atoms stripped of all electrons. These comprise 85% protons (hydrogen nuclei),

Direct ionisation

The primary particles are very energetic and are highly ionising which means that they strip electrons from atoms which lie in their path and hence generate charge. The density of charge deposition is proportional to the square of the atomic number of the cosmic ray so that the heavier species can deposit enough charge in a small volume of silicon to change the state of a memory cell, a one becoming a zero and vice versa. Thus memories can become corrupted and this could lead to erroneous

What is the experience of the space industry?

There is a strong body of evidence from the space business of errors, computer crashes and even hardware failure resulting from radiation. Such phenomena were first predicted in 1962 but computer technology did not become sensitive until 1975, since when increasing numbers of anomalies have been logged. Papers on such phenomena have formed an ever increasing part of the IEEE Nuclear and Space Radiation Effects Conference held every year in July with refereed papers published in the IEEE

Environment measurements

A version of the CREAM detector made regular flights on board Concorde G-BOAB between November 1988 and December 1992. Results from 512 flights have been analysed of which 412 follow high latitude trans-Atlantic routes between London and either New York or Washington DC [7]. Thus some 1000 h of observations have been made at altitudes in excess of 50 000 feet and at a low cut-off rigidity of less than 2 GV (cut-off rigidity is the momentum-to-charge ratio of a particle which can just penetrate

What can we do about it?

For future systems, there is likely to be increasing reliance on faster, `better' computers and large solid-state memories using smaller devices operated at lower voltages. This trend is likely to be accompanied by the use of higher flight altitudes so that SEEs are likely to become increasingly significant. The influence of cosmic rays will have to be properly considered in the assessment of reliability and cost-effective mitigating strategies adopted.

In considering hardening possibilities, it

References (17)

D.C. Wilkinson et al.
TDRS-1 single event upsets and the effect of the space environment
IEEE Trans. Nucl. Sci.
(1991)
L. Adams et al.
A verified proton induced latch-up in space
IEEE Trans. Nucl. Sci.
(1992)
M. Martignano et al.
IBM ThinkPad radiation testing and recovery during EUROMIR missions
IEEE Trans. Nucl. Sci.,
(1995)
A.L. Klausman, Effects of Space Flight on Small Portable Computers, MSc Thesis, University of Houston at Clear Lake,...
E.L. Petersen
Predictions and observations of SEU rates in space
IEEE Trans. Nucl. Sci.
(1997)
C.S. Dyer et al.
Measurements of the SEE environment from sea level to GEO using the CREAM and CREDO experiments
IEEE Trans. Nucl. Sci
(1996)
A. Sims et al.
The single event upset environment for avionics at high latitude
IEEE Trans. Nucl. Sci.
(1994)
C.S. Dyer et al.
Measurements of solar flare enhancements to the single event upset environment in the upper atmosphere
IEEE Trans. Nucl. Sci.
(1990)

There are more references available in the full text version of this article.

Cited by (16)

The radiation in the atmosphere during major solar particle events
2005, Advances in Space Research
Major solar particle events can give rise to greatly enhanced radiation throughout the entire atmosphere including at aircraft altitudes. These particle events are very hard to predict and their effect on aircraft is difficult to calculate. A comprehensive model of the energetic radiation in the atmosphere has been developed based on a response matrix of the atmosphere to energetic particle incidence. This model has previously been used to determine the spectral form of several ground level neutron events including February 1956 and September/October 1989. Significant validation of the model has been possible using CREAM data flying onboard Concorde during the September/October 1989 events. Further work has been carried out for the current solar maximum, including estimates of the solar particle spectra during the July 2000, April 2001, and October 2003 events and comparisons of predicted atmospheric measurements with limited flight data. Further CREAM data have been obtained onboard commercial airlines and high altitude business jets during quiet time periods. In addition, the atmospheric radiation model, along with solar particle spectra, have been used to calculate the neutron flux and dose rates along several commercial aircraft flight paths including London to Los Angeles. The influence of rigidity cut-off suppression by geomagnetic storms is examined and shows that the received flight dose during disturbed periods can be significantly enhanced compared with quiet periods.
Calculations and observations of solar particle enhancements to the radiation environment at aircraft altitudes
2003, Advances in Space Research
Solar particle events can give greatly enhanced radiation at aircraft altitudes, but are both difficult to predict and to calculate retrospectively. This enhanced radiation can give significant dose to aircrew and greatly increase the rate of single event effects in avionics. Validation of calculations is required but only very few events have been measured in flight. The CREAM detector on Concorde detected the event of 29 September 1989 and also four periods of enhancement during the events of 19–24 October 1989. Instantaneous rates were enhanced by up to a factor ten compared with quiet-time cosmic rays, while flight-averages were enhanced by up to a factor six. Calculations are described for increases in radiation at aircraft altitudes using solar particle spectra in conjunction with Monte Carlo radiation transport codes. In order to obtain solar particle spectra with sufficient accuracy over the required energy range it is necessary to combine space data with measurements from a wide range of geomagnetically dispersed, ground-level neutron monitors. Such spectra have been obtained for 29 September 1989 and 24 October 1989 and these are used to calculate enhancements that are compared with the data from CREAM on Concorde. The effect of cut-off rigidity suppression by geomagnetic activity is shown to be significant. For the largest event on record on 23 February 1956, there are no space data but there are data from a number of ground-level cosmic-ray detectors. Predictions for all events show very steep dependencies on both latitude and altitude. At high latitude and altitude (17 km) calculated increases with respect to cosmic rays are a factor 70 and 500 respectively for 29 September 1989 and 23 February 1956. The levels of radiation for high latitude, subsonic routes are calculated, using London to Los Angeles as an example, and can exceed 1 mSv, which is significantly higher than for Concorde routes from Europe to New York. The sensitivity of the calculations to spectral fitting, geomagnetic activity and other assumptions demonstrates the requirement for widespread carriage of radiation monitors on aircraft.
How open data and interdisciplinary collaboration improve our understanding of space weather: A risk and resiliency perspective
2022, Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences
Space Radiation and Plasma Effects on Satellites and Aviation: Quantities and Metrics for Tracking Performance of Space Weather Environment Models
2019, Space Weather
Update and New Features of NTHU Flight Dose Calculator: A Tool for Estimating Aviation Route Doses and Cumulative Spectra of Cosmic Rays in Atmosphere
2019, IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science
Space Environment Monitor and Preliminary Results of HXMT Satellite
2019, Chinese Journal of Space Science

View all citing articles on Scopus

Clive Dyer obtained a First Class Honours Degree in Natural Sciences from Christ's College Cambridge in 1969 and a PhD in Physics from Imperial College London in 1973. He worked as a Research Associate at NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center and the University of Maryland USA for 4 years where he was involved in analysis of data from the Apollo and Apollo–Soyuz missions. Following this, he joined the Ministry of Defence as a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Nuclear Science at the Royal Naval College Greenwich. In 1980, he transferred to the Space Department at the Royal Aircraft Establishment Farnborough, which now forms part of the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency. For the past 12 years he has been leading a research programme in Spacecraft Environment and Protection, which includes radiation effects experiments carried on a range of platforms including aircraft, Space Shuttle and several spacecraft extending to geostationary altitudes. In 1993, he was awarded the Geoffrey Pardoe Space Award of the Royal Aeronautical Society for his work on the definition of the space environment and its effects on space systems. He is currently a senior DERA fellow and an Honorary Visiting Professor at the Centre for Satellite Engineering Research of the University of Surrey.

Peter Truscott obtained a First Class Honours Degree in Physics from the University of Bristol in 1985 following which he joined the Spacecraft Environment and Protection team at RAE Farnborough (now DERA). He has been actively involved in space experiments and radiation transport simulation and has obtained a PhD as an external student at Imperial College London. He has recently been appointed as Principal Scientist in charge of Space Threat Definition.

View full text

Cosmic radiation effects on avionics

Abstract

Section snippets

What are cosmic rays?

Direct ionisation

What is the experience of the space industry?

Environment measurements

What can we do about it?

TDRS-1 single event upsets and the effect of the space environment

IEEE Trans. Nucl. Sci.

A verified proton induced latch-up in space

IEEE Trans. Nucl. Sci.

IBM ThinkPad radiation testing and recovery during EUROMIR missions

IEEE Trans. Nucl. Sci.,

Predictions and observations of SEU rates in space

IEEE Trans. Nucl. Sci.

Measurements of the SEE environment from sea level to GEO using the CREAM and CREDO experiments

IEEE Trans. Nucl. Sci

The single event upset environment for avionics at high latitude

IEEE Trans. Nucl. Sci.

Measurements of solar flare enhancements to the single event upset environment in the upper atmosphere

IEEE Trans. Nucl. Sci.