Chennai, Feb 11 (Representative) The IIT-Madras and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)have led the way by jointly developing and successfully booting an Atmanirbhar aerospacequality SHAKTI-based Semiconductor ChipA joint effort with ISRO Inertial Systems Unit, Thiruvananthapuram, the chip was manufacturedat Semiconductor Laboratory Chandigarh and packaged at Tata Advanced Systems, Karnataka,showcasing a major step towards ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ in addressing computing needs for Spaceand other sectors The SHAKTI microprocessor project is led by IIT-Madras Director Prof. V. Kamakoti at PrathapSubrahmanyam Centre for Digital Intelligence and Secure Hardware Architecture (PSCDISHA)in Department of Computer Science and Engineering, IIT Madras. The SHAKTI class of systems are based on RISC-V, an open-source Instruction Set Architecture(ISA), for designing custom processors, a release from IIT-Madras said on Tuesday. ‘SHAKTI’ is backed by Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology under its ‘DigitalIndia RISC-V’ initiative (DIRV), which aims to promote indigenous development of microprocessorbased products that offer best-in-class security and visibility for users adopting RISC-V technology. The ‘IRIS’ (Indigenous RISCV Controller for Space Applications) Chip was developed from ‘SHAKTI’processor baseline. It can be used in diverse domains from IoT and compute systems for strategicneeds.
This development was part of the effort to indigenize semiconductors used by ISRO for its applications, Command and Control Systems and other critical functions aligning with its march towards ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ in Space Technologies. The ISRO Inertial Systems Unit (IISU) proposed the idea of a 64bit RISC-V-based Controller and collaborated with IIT Madras in defining the specifications and designing of the semiconductor chip. The chip configuration was arrived at addressing the common functional and computing requirements of existing sensors and systems used in ISRO missions. Fault-tolerant internal memories were interfaced to SHAKTI core, enhancing the reliability of the design.Custom functional and peripheral interface modules being used in multiple space systems like CORDIC, WATCHDOG Timers and advanced serial buses were integrated.Provisions for expandability to future missions also implemented through multiple boot modes and hybrid memory/device extension interfaces. The finalised design underwent software and hardware testing, targeting a high-reliability, high performance product, the release said.