Military

Application: Military Systems

Customer Requirements
Nuclear event detection (NED) is an important military requirement in today's dynamic world. Fast, reliable and predictable detection allows protection of critical electronics from upset and catrostrophic failure. The approach of detection and protection is referred to as circumvention. Using circumvention, the upset-hardening requirements for the majority of the system are reduced or eliminated, thus minimizing the impact of nuclear hardening on the overall system. Circumvention allows designers to utilize components that inherently do not meet the hardening requirements thus providing a cost-effective means of achieving the required nuclear hardness for the prompt ionizing radiation environment.

The heart of any circumvention system is the nuclear event detector. It is the nuclear event detector that senses the ionizing radiation and quickly triggers the protection circuitry. The nuclear event detector also remembers that an event has been detected, so that the system can use that knowledge to improve both the speed and accuracy of the recovery procedures.

Maxwell's Solution
Maxwell Technologies Microelectronics business unit offers the first
available NED. The nuclear event detector detects pulses of ionizing radiation, signals circumvention circuitry to initiate protection against upset and damage and then initiates hardware and software recovery after the radiation effects have dissipated. The nuclear event flag signal distinguishes between a nuclear event and normal power up sequence. Using the flag allows the recovery process to bypass buil-in test functions thus minimizing system recovery time.

Maxwell's nuclear event detector products provide designers the following unique features not available elsewhere in the market:

• +5V single supply operation. Other detectors require significantly higher detector bias voltage to provide predictable and reliable detection characteristics. The NED provides a very critical function with the simplicity of a logic device.
• Very low detection levels. Maxwell's NED is capable of reliably detecting ionizing doserates as low as 1E5 rads(Si)/sec. This is an order of magnitude lower than most detector designs today. The NED is capable of protecting state-of-the-art integrated circuits.
• Very wide range of adjustable detection levels. Maxwell's NED is capable of detection levels over two orders of magnitude. Adjustment is a simple as changing one external resistor. Designers can use one device type in many systems to provide different levels of hardness.
• 100% Built-in-test. Maxwell's NED is the only detector available with the ability to test 100% of the device. Complete testing, including the detector, is achieved by irradiating the detector with light to simulate ionizing radiation. The NED provides users the ability to verify this critical function during operation.
  

Customer Benefits
Maxwell's Nuclear Event Detectors (NED) provide a simple, small, reliable and convenient method for detecting ionizing radiation pulses, for controlling hardware to prevent upset and permanent damage and for initiating both hardware and software recovery from the event. The proper incorporation of this product into a circuit or system design provides a cost-effective means to achieve the required levels of nuclear hardness for the prompt ionizing radiation environment. Circumvention allows designers to utilize components that inherently do not meet the hardening requirements thus providing a cost-effective means of achieving the required nuclear hardness for the prompt ionizing radiation environment.