HERMES: qualification of High pErformance pRogrammable Microprocessor and dEvelopment of Software ecosystem

TL;DR

The HERMES project advances space microprocessor technology by qualifying radiation-hardened high-performance processors and developing a comprehensive software ecosystem for complex application deployment in space environments.

Contribution

It introduces a validated high-performance, radiation-hardened microprocessor platform and a supporting software ecosystem, including tools for multicore programming and FPGA acceleration.

Findings

Achieved technology readiness level 6 for NG-ULTRA FPGA platform.

Developed and validated tools like Bambu HLS and XtratuM hypervisor.

Enhanced software support for complex applications on space-grade processors.

Abstract

European efforts to boost competitiveness in the sector of space services promote the research and development of advanced software and hardware solutions. The EU-funded HERMES project contributes to the effort by qualifying radiation-hardened, high-performance programmable microprocessors, and by developing a software ecosystem that facilitates the deployment of complex applications on such platforms. The main objectives of the project include reaching a technology readiness level of 6 (i.e., validated and demonstrated in relevant environment) for the rad-hard NG-ULTRA FPGA with its ceramic hermetic package CGA 1752, developed within projects of the European Space Agency, French National Centre for Space Studies and the European Union. An equally important share of the project is dedicated to the development and validation of tools that support multicore software programming and FPGA acceleration, including Bambu for High-Level Synthesis and the XtratuM hypervisor with a level one boot loader for virtualization.