The RISC-V architecture for processors, for those who don’t know, is a design of open source chip. This design appears to be quite flexible and customizable much better than ARM processor designs and solutions developed by Intel and AMD.
We will go to Mars with an open architecture processor
An interesting bet is from the POTwho has chosen YesFive what for build a cpu central for high-performance spaceflight computing (HPSC). This solution will be used in all future missions of exploration of the surface of the Moon and Mars.
The announcement indicates that the processor will use a computation subsystem SiFive Intelligence X280 which has 8 cores of RISC-V architecture. Additionally, another four SiFive RISC-V cores will be added, possibly for backup and data verification tasks, among others. It is indicated that these new processors will have up to 100 times more computational power than currently used processors.
Note that it is expected that the HPSC processor and the X280 compute subsystem are used in other government agencies. This is due to its great versatility, which makes it ideal for other aerospace applications, industrial automation, etc.
Thanks to this increase in computing power, new possibilities open up. They will develop new quest itemssuch as autonomous vehicles, vision processing, new space flight systems, guidance systems, communications and many other applications.
Another interesting aspect of this election is that not only will the processors be designed by an American company, they will also be Made in the USA. Additionally, the RISC-V architecture began to be developed in 2010 at the University of California.
An advanced processor to explore planets
The SiFive X280 may not ring a bell, and that’s normal since it’s not a commercial solution like those from Intel or AMD. It is based on the RISC-V architecture and features a multicore design that features vector extensions. Additionally, this processor has support for artificial intelligence.
Such a processor is developed for high-performance single-threaded applications when there are significant power constraints. This means that the processor has a really low consumption and makes it ideal for space exploration. We are talking about an environment where obtaining energy is very limited and each watt of energy counts a lot.
SiFive indicates that the X280 shows an increase of up to 100 times the computing capabilities compared to other similar systems today. Also, according to the company, in science and space loads, it shows to be much better than competing CPUs.
It also has a large academic and scientific community that develops software specifically for these open source processors. This allows for the development of specific software and algorithms that greatly optimize performance.