Abstract
The advent of powerful edge devices and AI algorithms has already revolutionized many terrestrial applications; however, for both technical and historical reasons, the space industry is still striving to adopt these key enabling technologies in new mission concepts. In this context, the current work evaluates an heterogeneous multi-core system-on-chip processor for use on-board future spacecraft to support novel, computationally demanding digital signal processors and AI functionalities. Given the importance of low power consumption in satellites, we consider the Intel Movidius Myriad2 system-on-chip and focus on SW development and performance aspects. We design a methodology and framework to accommodate efficient partitioning, mapping, parallelization, code optimization, and tuning of complex algorithms. Furthermore, we propose an avionics architecture combining this commercial off-the-shelf chip with a field programmable gate array device to facilitate, among others, interfacing with traditional space instruments via SpaceWire transcoding. We prototype our architecture in the lab targeting vision-based navigation tasks. We implement a representative computer vision pipeline to track the 6D pose of ENVISAT using megapixel images during hypothetical spacecraft proximity operations. Overall, we achieve 2.6 to 4.9 FPS with only 0.8 to 1.1 W on Myriad2, i.e., 10-fold acceleration versus modern rad-hard processors. Based on the results, we assess various benefits of utilizing Myriad2 instead of conventional field programmable gate arrays and CPUs.
- Brendan Barry, Cormac Brick, Fergal Connor, David Donohoe, David Moloney, Richard Richmond, Martin O’Riordan, and Vasile Toma. 2015. Always-on vision processing unit for mobile applications. IEEE Micro 35, 2 (Jan. 2015), 56--66. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1109/MM.2015.10Google Scholar
Digital Library
- Matteo Biasielli, Cristiana Bolchini, Luca Cassano, and Antonio Miele. 2019. A smart fault detection scheme for reliable image processing applications. In Proceedings of the Design, Automation, and Test in Europe Conference and Exhibition (DATE’19). 704--709. DOI:https://doi.org/10.23919/DATE.2019.8714945Google Scholar
Cross Ref
- John Canny. 1986. A computational approach to edge detection. IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence PAMI-8, 6 (Nov. 1986), 679--698. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1109/TPAMI.1986.4767851Google Scholar
Digital Library
- Alfredo Canziani, Eugenio Culurciello, and Adam Paszke. 2017. Evaluation of neural network architectures for embedded systems. In Proceedings of the IEEE International Symposium on Circuits and Systems (ISCAS’17). 1--4. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1109/INCIT.2017.8257866Google Scholar
Cross Ref
- Thomas Chabot, Keyvan Kanani, Alexandre Pollini, François Chaumette, Eric Marchand, and Jason Forshaw. 2017. Vision-based navigation experiment onboard the RemoveDEBRIS mission. In Proceedings of the International ESA Conference on Guidance, Navigation, and Control Systems. 1--23.Google Scholar
- Alfons Crespo, Alejandro Alonso, Marga Marcos, Juan A. de la Puente, and Patricia Balbastre. 2014. Mixed criticality in control systems. IFAC Proceedings Volumes 47, 3 (2014), 12261--12271. DOI:https://doi.org/10.3182/20140824-6-ZA-1003.02004Google Scholar
- Oscar Deniz, Noelia Vallez, Jose L. Espinosa-Aranda, Jose M. Rico-Saavedra, Javier Parra-Patino, Gloria Bueno, David Moloney, et al. 2017. Eyes of things. MDPI Sensors 17, 5 (May 2017), 1--29. DOI:https://doi.org/10.3390/s17051173Google Scholar
Cross Ref
- Dionysios Diamantopoulos, Kostas Siozios, George Lentaris, Dimitrios Soudris, and Marcos A. Rodrigalvarez. 2012. SPARTAN project: On profiling computer vision algorithms for rover navigation. In Proceedings of the NASA/ESA Conference on Adaptive Hardware and Systems (AHS’12). 174--181. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1109/AHS.2012.6268647Google Scholar
- European Cooperation for Space Standardization. 2010. ECSS-E-ST-50-52C—SpaceWire—Remote Memory Access Protocol (5 February 2010). European Cooperation for Space Data Standardization.Google Scholar
- European Cooperation for Space Standardization. 2010. ECSS-E-ST-50-53C—SpaceWire—CCSDS PacketTransfer Protocol (5 February 2010). European Cooperation for Space Data Standardization.Google Scholar
- Ayobami Edun, Ruben Vazquez, Ann Gordon-Ross, and Greg Stitt. 2019. Dynamic scheduling on heterogeneous multicores. In Proceedings of the Design, Automation, and Test in Europe Conference and Exhibition (DATE’19). 1685--1690. DOI:https://doi.org/10.23919/DATE.2019.8714804Google Scholar
Cross Ref
- Stefano Esposito and Massimo Violante. 2017. System-level architecture for mixed criticality applications on MPSoC: A space application. In Proceedings of the IEEE International Workshop on Metrology for AeroSpace (MetroAeroSpace’17). 479--483. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1109/MetroAeroSpace.2017.7999621Google Scholar
Cross Ref
- Gianluca Furano and Alessandra Menicucci. 2018. Roadmap for on-board processing and data handling systems in space. In Dependable Multicore Architectures at Nanoscale. Springer, Cham, Switzerland, 253--281. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-54422-9_10Google Scholar
- Gianluca Furano, Antonis Tavoularis, and Marco Rovatti. 2020. AI in space: Applications examples and challenges. In Proceedings of the IEEE International Symposium on Defect and Fault Tolerance in VLSI and Nanotechnology Systems (DFT’20). 1--6. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1109/DFT50435.2020.9250908Google Scholar
Cross Ref
- Cobham Gaisler. 2020. GR-HPCB-FMC-M2 Mezzanine Board. Retrieved May 26, 2020 from https://www.gaisler.com/index.php/products/boards/gr-vpx-xcku060.Google Scholar
- Gerrit Hausmann, Quirin Muhlbauer, Peter Rank, and Clemens Kaiser. 2013. VIBANASS (VIsion BAsed NAvigation Sensor System) system test results. In Proceedings of the International ESA European Conference on Space Debris, Vol. 723. 1--8.Google Scholar
- Jacob Hochstetler, Rahul Padidela, Qi Chen, Qing Yang, and Song Fu. 2018. Embedded deep learning for vehicular edge computing. In Proceedings of the IEEE/ACM Symposium on Edge Computing (SEC’18). 341--343. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1109/SEC.2018.00038Google Scholar
Cross Ref
- Yizhi Huang, Yang Bai, Renfa Li, and Xin Huang. 2016. Research of Canny edge detection algorithm on embedded CPU and GPU heterogeneous systems. In Proceedings of the International Conference on Natural Computation, Fuzzy Systems, and Knowledge Discovery (ICNC-FSKD’16). 647--651. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1109/FSKD.2016.7603250Google Scholar
Cross Ref
- Xabier Iturbe, Didier Keymeulen, Emre Ozer, Patrick Yiu, Daniel Berisford, Kevin Hand, and Robert Carlson. 2015. An integrated SoC for science data processing in next-generation space flight instruments avionics. In Proceedings of the IFIP/IEEE International Conference on Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI-SoC’15). 134--141. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1109/VLSI-SoC.2015.7314405Google Scholar
Cross Ref
- Minxi Jin and Tsutomu Maruyama. 2014. Fast and accurate stereo vision system on FPGA. ACM Transactions on Reconfigurable Technology and Systems 7, 1 (Feb. 2014), 1--24. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1145/2567659Google Scholar
Digital Library
- Leonidas Kosmidis, Jérôme Lachaize, Jaume Abella, Olivier Notebaert, Francisco J. Cazorla, and David Steenari. 2019. GPU4S: Embedded GPUs in space. In Proceedings of the Euromicro Conference on Digital System Design (DSD’19). 399--405. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1109/DSD.2019.00064Google Scholar
Cross Ref
- George Lentaris, Konstantinos Maragos, Dimitrios Soudris, Xenophon Zabulis, and Manolis Lourakis. 2019. Single-and multi-FPGA acceleration of dense stereo vision for planetary rovers. ACM Transactions on Embedded Computing Systems 18, 2 (March 2019), 1--27. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1145/3312743Google Scholar
Digital Library
- George Lentaris, Konstantinos Maragos, Ioannis Stratakos, Lazaros Papadopoulos, Odysseas Papanikolaou, Dimitrios Soudris, et al. 2018. High-performance embedded computing in space: Evaluation of platforms for vision-based navigation. Journal of Aerospace Information Systems 15, 4 (Feb. 2018), 178--192. DOI:https://doi.org/10.2514/1.I010555Google Scholar
Cross Ref
- George Lentaris, Ioannis Stamoulias, Dimitrios Soudris, and Manolis Lourakis. 2015. HW/SW codesign and FPGA acceleration of visual odometry algorithms for rover navigation on Mars. IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems for Video Technology 26, 8 (Aug. 2015), 1563--1577. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1109/TCSVT.2015.2452781Google Scholar
- George Lentaris, Ioannis Stratakos, Ioannis Stamoulias, Dimitrios Soudris, Manolis Lourakis, and Xenophon Zabulis. 2020. High-performance vision-based navigation on SoC FPGA for spacecraft proximity operations. IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems for Video Technology 30, 4 (April 2020), 1188--1202. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1109/TCSVT.2019.2900802Google Scholar
Cross Ref
- Manolis Lourakis and Xenophon Zabulis. 2017. Model-based visual tracking of orbiting satellites using edges. In Proceedings of the IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS’17). 3791--3796. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1109/IROS.2017.8206228Google Scholar
Cross Ref
- Charalampos Marantos, Nikolaos Karavalakis, Vasileios Leon, Vasileios Tsoutsouras, Kiamal Pekmestzi, and Dimitrios Soudris. 2018. Efficient support vector machines implementation on Intel/Movidius Myriad 2. In Proceedings of the International Conference on Modern Circuits and Systems Technologies (MOCAST’18). 1--4. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1109/MOCAST.2018.8376630Google Scholar
Cross Ref
- David Moloney, Brendan Barry, Richard Richmond, Fergal Connor, Cormac Brick, and David Donohoe. 2014. Myriad 2: Eye of the computational vision storm. In Proceedings of the IEEE Hot Chips Symposium (HCS’14). 1--18. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1109/HOTCHIPS.2014.7478823Google Scholar
Cross Ref
- Adrian Munera, Sara Royuela, and Eduardo Qui Nones. 2020. Towards a qualifiable OpenMP framework for embedded systems. In Proceedings of the Design, Automation, and Test in Europe Conference and Exhibition (DATE’20). 903--908. DOI:https://doi.org/10.23919/DATE48585.2020.9116230Google Scholar
Cross Ref
- Roberto Opromolla, Giancarmine Fasano, Giancarlo Rufino, and Michele Grassi. 2017. A review of cooperative and uncooperative spacecraft pose determination techniques for close-proximity operations. Elsevier Progress in Aerospace Sciences 93 (Aug. 2017), 53--72. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paerosci.2017.07.001Google Scholar
Cross Ref
- Steve Parkes, Chris McClements, David McLaren, Bassam Youssef, Mir Sayed Ali, Albert Ferrer-Florit, and Alberto Gonzalez Villafranca. 2016. SpaceWire and spacefibre on the microsemi RTG4 FPGA. In Proceedings of the IEEE Aerospace Conference. 1--8. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1109/AERO.2016.7500644Google Scholar
Cross Ref
- Steve Parkes, Chris McClements, David McLarenand, Albert Ferrer-Florit, and Alberto Gonzalez Villafranca. 2015. SpaceFibre: A multi-gigabit/s interconnect for spacecraft onboard data handling. In Proceedings of the IEEE Aerospace Conference. 1--13. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1109/AERO.2015.7119317Google Scholar
Cross Ref
- Jianqing Peng, Wenfu Xu, and Han Yuan. 2017. An efficient pose measurement method of a space non-cooperative target based on stereo vision. IEEE Access 5 (Oct. 2017), 22344--22362. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1109/ACCESS.2017.2759798Google Scholar
Cross Ref
- Luca Puglia, Mircea Ionică, Giancarlo Raiconi, and David Moloney. 2016. Passive dense stereo vision on the Myriad2 VPU. In Proceedings of the IEEE Hot Chips Symposium (HCS’16). 1--5. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1109/HOTCHIPS.2016.7936240Google Scholar
Cross Ref
- Arturo Pérez, Alfonso Rodríguez, Andrés Otero, David González-Arjona, Alvaro Jiménez-Peralo, Miguel Angel Verdugo, and Eduardo De La Torre. 2020. Run-time reconfigurable MPSoC-based on-board processor for vision-based space navigation. IEEE Access 8 (March 2020), 59891--59905. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1109/ACCESS.2020.2983308Google Scholar
- European Cooperation for Space Data Standardization. 2019. ECSS-E-ST-50-12C Rev.1—SpaceWire—Links, Nodes, Routers and Networks (15 May 2019). European Cooperation for Space Data Standardization.Google Scholar
- D. Rudolph, C. Wilson, J. Stewart, P. Gauvin, A. George, H. Lam, G. Crum, M. Wirthlin, A. Wilson, and A. Stoddard. 2014. CSP: A multifaceted hybrid architecture for space computing. In Proceedings of the AIAA/USU Conference on Small Satellites. 1--7.Google Scholar
- Yi Shan, Yuchen Hao, Wenqiang Wang, Yu Wang, Xu Chen, Huazhong Yang, and Wayne Luk. 2014. Hardware acceleration for an accurate stereo vision system using mini-census adaptive support region. ACM Transactions on Embedded Computing Systems 13, 4s (April 2014), 1--24. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1145/2584659Google Scholar
Digital Library
- Yan Solihin. 2015. Fundamentals of Parallel Multicore Architecture. Chapman & Hall.Google Scholar
- STAR-Dundee. 2020. SpaceWire EGSE and Device Simulator Mk2. Retrieved May 7, 2020 from http://www.star-dundee.com/products/spacewire-egse-and-device-simulator-mk2/#product_features.Google Scholar
- STAR-Dundee. 2020. SpaceWire IP Cores. Retrieved May 7, 2020 from http://www.star-dundee.com/products/spacewire-ip-cores/#product_features.Google Scholar
- Antonis Tavoularis, Vassilis Vlagkoulis, Fotis Kostopoulos, Tam Le Ngoc, Brice Dellandrea, Luca Fossati, Jorgen Ilstad, and David Jameux. 2016. SpaceWire components, long paper: An IP core for the SpW family of protocols. In Proceedings of the International SpaceWire Conference (SpaceWire’16). 1--8. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1109/SpaceWire.2016.7771642Google Scholar
Cross Ref
- Cesar Torres-Huitzil and Bernard Girau. 2017. Fault and error tolerance in neural networks: A review. IEEE Access 5 (Aug. 2017), 17322--17341. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1109/ACCESS.2017.2742698Google Scholar
Cross Ref
- Foivos Tsimpourlas, Lazaros Papadopoulos, Anastasios Bartsokas, and Dimitrios Soudris. 2018. A design space exploration framework for convolutional neural networks implemented on edge devices. IEEE Transactions on Computer-Aided Design of Integrated Circuits and Systems 37, 11 (Nov. 2018), 2212--2221. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1109/TCAD.2018.2857280Google Scholar
Cross Ref
- Christos Ttofis, Christos Kyrkou, and Theocharis Theocharides. 2015. A hardware-efficient architecture for accurate real-time disparity map estimation. ACM Transactions on Embedded Computing Systems 14, 2 (Feb. 2015), 1--16. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1145/2629699Google Scholar
Digital Library
- Ubotica. 2020. UB0100 CubeSat Board for AI and Computer Vision Acceleration. Retrieved May 26, 2020 from http://ubotica.com/ub0100/.Google Scholar
- Yao Xiao, Shahin Nazarian, and Paul Bogdan. 2019. Self-optimizing and self-programming computing systems: A combined compiler, complex networks, and machine learning approach. IEEE Transactions on Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI) Systems 27, 6 (June 2019), 1416--1427. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1109/TVLSI.2019.2897650Google Scholar
Digital Library
- Yao Xiao, Yuankun Xue, Shahin Nazarian, and Paul Bogdan. 2017. A load balancing inspired optimization framework for exascale multicore systems: A complex networks approach. In Proceedings of the IEEE/ACM International Conference on Computer-Aided Design (ICCAD’17). 217--224. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1109/ICCAD.2017.8203781Google Scholar
Cross Ref
- Xiaofan Xu, Joao Amaro, Sam Caulfield, Andrew Forembski, Gabriel Falcao, and David Moloney. 2017. Convolutional neural network on neural compute stick for voxelized point-clouds classification. In Proceedings of the International Congress on Image and Signal Processing, BioMedical Engineering, and Informatics (CISP-BMEI’17). 1--7. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1109/CISP-BMEI.2017.8302078Google Scholar
Cross Ref
- Athanasios Xygkis, Lazaros Papadopoulos, David Moloney, Dimitrios Soudris, and Sofiane Yous. 2018. Efficient Winograd-based convolution kernel implementation on edge devices. In Proceedings of the ACM/ESDA/IEEE Design Automation Conference (DAC’18). 1--6. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1145/3195970.3196041Google Scholar
Index Terms
Improving Performance-Power-Programmability in Space Avionics with Edge Devices: VBN on Myriad2 SoC
Recommendations
On the Programmability and Performance of Heterogeneous Platforms
ICPADS '13: Proceedings of the 2013 International Conference on Parallel and Distributed SystemsGeneral-purpose computing on an ever-broadening array of parallel devices has led to an increasingly complex and multi-dimensional landscape with respect to programmability and performance optimization. The growing diversity of parallel architectures ...
The RecoBlock SoC platform: a flexible array of reusable run-time-reconfigurable IP-blocks
DATE '13: Proceedings of the Conference on Design, Automation and Test in EuropeRun-time reconfigurable (RTR) FPGAs combine the flexibility of software with the high efficiency of hardware. Still, their potential cannot be fully exploited due to increased complexity of the design process. Consequently, to enable an efficient design ...
Field Programmability of Supply Voltages for FPGA Power Reduction
Power reduction is of growing importance for field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs). In this paper, we apply programmable supply voltage (Vdd) to reduce FPGA power. We first design FPGA logic fabrics using dual-Vdd levels and show that field-...






Comments