Availability of Frontgrade Rad-Tolerant 18GB DDR4 Memory for Space Applications

Frontgrade Technologies has developed an industry’s high density 18GB DDR4 memory available for satellites and spacecrafts, and prototypes are shipping to customers.

The company’s DDR4 memory is the 1st to be engineered to enable individual reset signals to each die, thus mitigating the impact of single event functional interrupt (SEFIs) in flight and ensuring continuous satellite up time. This DDR4 ensures unparalleled reliability and performance in modern satellite payloads that need to move and process vast amounts of data in a size- and power-constrained system. The DDR4 memory will achieve space qualification through the PEM-INST-001 (NASA EEE-INST-002) – Level 2 standard in Q2 2025.

“We designed this low SWaP memory to be compatible with the industry’s leading FPGAs and microprocessors,” said David Meyouhas, VP, product management. “By bringing the first 18GB DDR4 to market, Frontgrade is giving our customers the ability to push the boundaries of critical missions.”

The radiation-tolerant 2Gx72 DDR4 memory provides 16GB of useable memory and 2GB of error correcting code. The memory comes in a 266 plastic ball grid array with a 1mm ball pitch, helping to simplify board manufacturing and assembly. The ultra-fast 18GB DDR4 memory supports a transfer rate of 2,400 mega-transfers/second. It exhibits no destructive latch-up through 82MeV-cm²/mg at 105°C and has a Mean Time To Failure (MTTF) of 40,000 years in a GEO orbit.

The 18 GB DDR4 was developed and is produced in collaboration with Viking Technology, based in Costa Mesa, CA.