SCOPS (Scallable COntroller for Power Sources) is a 3-year project conducted through the Horizon Europe Research & Innovation program of the European Commission .
All satellites, for all applications follow a similar trend of ever increasing power consumption of the more and more complex data processing elements embarked in them. In this frame, as a first and priority need, very high power digital cores evolutions requires higher currents for lower voltages. The existing needs are around 40A at the moment but future needs are already pointing higher (70A for EleGaNt) and now above 100A.
SCOPS shall specify a Modular and Scalable Power Controller Architecture that cover not only the need for existing complex digital system but also be able to adapt the increasing need for next generations thanks to its scalability. The architecture will adapt to space use and radiation constraint a patented innovative scalable architecture.
This control architecture will use analog blocks and introduce digitalization to lower as much as possible the need for tuning, configuration and external devices at end-user side to finally reduce the bill of material. Partitioning between analog and digital blocks will be traded-off by intensive use of behavioral simulation.
The cost effective design process will be supported by the PROMISE Design Standard and Interface Standard documents that will ensure the mixed-signal ASIC top level consistency with the re-used IPs. Those Standards will be updated at the beginning of the design phase to include the best return-of-experience from the PROMISE project. Those Standard define rules and recommendations on how to implement, access, modify or add reusable IPs in a mixed-signal ASIC.
The SCOPS Circuit design will be based on the XFAB XH018 technology, PROMISE libraries, including DARE180XH standard cells, that allows re-use of existing PROMISE IP blocks and rely on Radiation Hardening By Design guidelines and tools.
The digital control will allow to implement features to ease the board and equipment design by allowing multiple DCDC architectures through configuration and versatile total power thanks to the scalability. Design digitalization will allow to implement auto-test and auto-calibration process to help in design validation during tests and to shorten and ease the circuit screening and tuning to adapt to the technological variation (process corner, device mismatch for example).
As a demonstrator, SCOPS shall design, manufacture and test an end-user application of low voltage high current demonstrator with several power cores in parallel. This project shall cover the detail design using SCOPS device, the manufacturing of a demonstrator with several power cores in parallel and the validation of the static (output voltage precision, reduced conducted emission) and dynamic performances (control loop, rejection of pollution such as conducted susceptibility) including thermal tests.
After successful Validation and Evaluation tests and at the end of the SCOPS project, SCOPS Circuit will be ready to be submitted to a full qualification flow and made available for the European space Community.
The SCOPS consortium, led by Thales Alenia Space in Spain comprises top level SMEs such as ISD (Greece and Ireland) and Synergie CAD (France), key technological institutes such as IMEC (Belgium) and INPT (France); and a leading satellite manufacturer such as Thales Alenia Space in France.
The SCOPS project was officially kicked off in Tres Cantos (Madrid) on March 24th 2023 and its final results will be presented to the end-user community and to the general public in a workshop to be held in the second half of 2026.