ALISO VIEJO, CA -- Microsemi Corporation announces a new collaboration with Moog Controls Limited, a division of Moog Inc. (NYSE: MOG.A and MOG.B); University of Bristol and Southampton University based in the U.K. The collaboration, named NEMICA, is partially funded by the U.K. government through its technology agency's "Innovate UK" program and aims to address the challenges associated with high temperature electronics design by leveraging each organization's unique expertise in this area.
System designers face considerable challenges when designing control systems operating in high temperature environments. To achieve ideal performance levels in terms of system efficiency and safety, engineers must relocate the controller closer to the points of monitoring and output. In most systems this is easily achieved because the environment is ambient and harmonized. However, in applications where the sensor and the actuator are in a high temperature location (200 degrees Celsius and above), it is not always possible to place conventional electronic control systems near the sensor and actuator.
To overcome this problem, system engineers must place the controller in a cooler region. This normally entails designing new high temperature connections systems, interfaces, signal conditioning and protection to maintain the integrity of the data being collected and of the electronic instruction back to the actuator. The alternative is to provide cooling systems which otherwise do not add any value to the system. All of this adds cost, weight and delays in the system response.
NEMICA is a 1 million pounds three year project designed for the development of high temperature control systems that could be used in next generation aircraft. The project addresses the challenges in two phases, initially allowing the existing designs to work at elevated temperatures of 175 degrees Celsius and then at 225 degrees Celsius through the design of novel field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) using NEM technology developed by University of Bristol and Southampton University.
Microsemi Giving Wings to Innovation in Aerospace Electronics
Microsemi offers an industry-leading range of high reliability products and solutions for flight critical avionics and power conversion applications addressing the evolving needs of the aviation industry. Microsemi provides best-in-class field programmable gate array (FPGA) and system-on-chip (SoC) technology for low power and SEU immunity, broadest range of transient voltage suppression (TVS) solutions for lightning protection, high performance power discrete technology such as silicon carbide (SiC) MOSFETs, diodes and their ruggedized power modules, a comprehensive analog and mixed-signal integrated circuit (IC) capability including high temperature SiC transistor drivers and sensor interface ICs, Ethernet and networking technologies, radio frequency (RF) diodes, power transistors, MMICs, modules and subsystems, and advanced packaging services including high temperature (HT) Polymer packaging technology. Microsemi continues to expand its leadership through product innovation and is building a solution capability by leveraging its broad portfolio of products to develop a new portfolio of intelligent power solutions in its Aviation Centre of Excellence, which serves as a full technical provider from design to manufacturing.
For more information, visit
http://www.microsemi.com/applications/commercial-aviation
http://www.moog.com/space