Ibeos

The evolving aerospace market demands a departure from the traditional approach to aerospace component manufacturing. Customers now seek higher performance capabilities, increased processing power, and improved mission execution while adhering to budgetary limitations.

Ibeos, an aerospace component manufacturing company, stands at the forefront of this innovation. It develops high-reliability spacecraft electronics accessible to a diverse customer base, including large integrators as well as small satellite builders and operators, with reduced costs and schedules.

Reliability is one of the key differentiators for Ibeos. The mission assurance plan is tailored for each program to deliver a right-sized approach that can address both the cost-constrained proliferated LEO-constellation applications as well as more traditional Class A and B missions. Whether it entails enhancing technical performance or optimizing costs, Ibeos understands clients have specific missions and long-term goals beyond immediate requirements.

“We align our research and development efforts based on feedback from our customers to deliver mission-enabling products that support their internal roadmap,” says John Bevilacqua, founder and CEO of Ibeos.

The current market demands solutions with a combination of high density, smaller form factor, and balance between cost and reliability. Launch opportunities for small-to-midsize satellites have dramatically expanded, prompting customers to condense the capabilities of larger spacecraft into a fraction of their original size.

For instance, they aim to squeeze approximately 75 percent of the functionality of a 2000-kilogram satellite into a 200-kilogram platform, trading component-level redundancy for spacecraft-level redundancy. This enables reduced latency for observation payloads, increased resiliency for defense customers, along with faster technology refresh. It entails an order of magnitude or greater reduction in per-unit cost, allowing the proliferated constellation to replace the monolithic architecture without increasing the total budget.

Ibeos’s focus lies on shrinking the size of electronic components within the satellite while delivering high power handling capabilities for power conversion and distribution units and efficient, high-throughput onboard processors. The avionics must be designed to withstand the extreme conditions of the space environment, including radiation tolerance; vacuum compatibility; and the ability to survive large numbers of thermal cycles. One example of this blend of high-performance processors is the Ibeos EDGE-1100, a multi-core processor board that supports 1100 gigaflops of processing power. This computer is optimized for radiation tolerance and longevity, enabling it to survive multiple years in space across various orbits, including low earth, geosynchronous, and beyond. It operates within the power constraints of smaller satellites, consuming approximately 40 watts of power while delivering 1100 gigaflops of processing power.

Ibeos incorporates advanced commercial technologies into the space environment on the manufacturing front. This includes utilizing chip-scale packaging, gallium nitride widebandgap semiconductors for power applications, and radiation testing advanced commercial processors to identify parts capable of surviving in the space environment. Commercial parts undergo a rigorous qualification process, including being subjected to radiation, outgassing, and environmental testing to ensure their ability to withstand and function reliably in the harsh space environment.

Ibeos showcased its commitment to customer needs and innovation by collaborating with a space communication client. It pursued an approach that balanced material and production costs while delivering the desired technical performance. The prototyping phase minimizes the performance risks associated with the high-speed optical transceiver. Within a mere sixmonth timeframe, Ibeos completed the prototyping stage, instilling the customer with the confidence to proceed with their business plans and engage their clientele.

By combining cutting-edge commercial technologies with thorough testing and qualification processes, Ibeos delivers space-ready products that meet the requirements of the space industry.