NEXT partners with BAE to develop next-gen space-qualified chips

NEXT Semiconductor Technologies, a newly formed US-based fabless chip company, is collaborating with defense and aerospace giant BAE Systems to accelerate the insertion of its latest ultra-wideband antenna processor units (APUs) into high-performing radiation-hardened electronic subsystems to support future space missions. 

NEXT’s APUs combine agile signal acquisition and generation with on-board high-reliability, reconfigurable digital processing that offer unprecedented quantity, quality and efficiency of information processing for next generation satellite sensors and transmitters. This effort will enable efficient and resilient wideband RF (radio-frequency) signal processing capabilities not yet available to the space market, according to a media release.

NEXT’s latest APU, the NX450, is the world’s first 200 GS/s (200 billion samples per second) antenna processor with 100-GHz of instantaneous RF bandwidth split across four independent receive and transmit channels respectively, the San Diego, California-headquartered company said.

The NX450 simplifies sensor design by pushing signal digitization and processing closer to the edge — redefining electronic warfare capabilities while reducing sensor SWaP (size, weight, and power). The NX450 is manufactured in an onshore GlobalFoundries 12LP (12 nanometer) FinFET process, features embedded application processor redundancy and has been radiation tested for space qualification.

“NEXT is firmly entrenched in the development of high-reliability, software-defined SoC solutions for next generation satellite payloads,” said Mike Kappes, President and Chief Strategy Officer at NEXT Semiconductor. “We are eager to collaborate with BAE Systems to address future space missions with our unique SoC capabilities.”

BAE Systems will provide support for the NX450 APU for use in proliferated low-Earth orbit missions. The company may also work with NEXT to incorporate its own application specific integrated circuit technology and expertise for use in future SoC products.  

“By leveraging our decades of space electronics experience, we can apply our radiation-hardened techniques to a commercial off-the-shelf product to deliver a new capability addressing our space customers’ needs,” said Jim LaRosa, Space Systems program director at BAE Systems. “Our collaboration with NEXT allows for the development of future solutions with dramatically increased mission and environmental performance.”