Exploratory study about the use of new reconfigurable FPGAs in space

The paper will present an exploratory study about the potential use of reconfigurable FPGAs in the context of Fault Tolerance Computers and digital systems for space systems. It will provide an analysis of potential applications of these new techniques, starting from classical architecture principles. The purpose of this analysis is to evaluate the feasibility of these approaches, to show the potential benefits for space systems and identify critical points and difficulties to be solved towards an operational deployment. After a theoretical overview of the architecture solutions trade-off using the reconfiguration principles, representative industrial case studies derived from current launchers and space vehicle applications will be presented.