Embedded Systems and VLSI Design for LEO Satellites: Challenges, Opportunities, and Future Directions
Keywords:
Cubesats, Embedded systems, Fault tolerance, FPGA, GaN, LEO satellites, Radiation tolerance, SEU mitigation, VLSIAbstract
Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites tiny satellites and CubeSats impose stringent constraints on embedded systems and Very-Large-Scale Integration (VLSI) design due to limited power, mass, volume, harsh thermal cycles, and radiation exposure. While several surveys exist on satellite electronics and space-grade semiconductor reliability, most focus either on radiation effects, power systems, or Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) mitigation in isolation. This study provides the first integrated, cross-layer survey that unifies embedded systems and VLSI design challenges within a single co-design framework tailored for modern LEO small-satellite missions. This paper consolidates findings from several domains: thermal-aware Dynamic Voltage and Frequency Scaling (DVFS), radiation-resilient power converters, FPGA-based fault tolerance, and advancements in Gallium Nitride (GaN) devices. It also introduces a comparative gap analysis that maps current solutions to unresolved mission-level constraints. The unique contribution of this paper is a structured co-design perspective that links system-level embedded constraints with circuit-level VLSI techniques, offering a unified roadmap for next-generation resilient LEO electronics. The paper also highlights future research directions, including onboard intelligence, autonomous fault-aware systems, digital twins, and secure reconfigurable hardware.
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