A Dundee firm at the cutting edge of space technology has been recognised by the international space engineering community.
STAR-Dundee is an aerospace engineering company which designs network and related data-handling technology for use on-board spacecraft.
The firm provides electronic test and development equipment and chip designs for spaceflight applications.
Now, the European Space Agency’s standardisation body, the European Cooperation for Space Standardization, has rewarded company’s 12-year quest to develop the next generation of high-performance network technology for use onboard spacecraft.
The publication of the SpaceFibre standard — ECSS-E-ST-50-11C SpaceFibre very high-speed serial link — has been described as a “huge step forward” by STAR-Dundee’s chief executive, Stuart Mills.
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He said: “We have been working on this for more than a decade, much of it self-funded, so this has been a long time coming.”
SpaceFibre is an on-board data-link and network technology used on spacecraft that runs over both electrical and fibre optic cables and is already being used in Europe, USA, Russia and Japan.
The product was initially targeted at very high data payloads and can detect, isolate and recover from faults in the link where they occur.
Mr Mills said: “On spacecraft, you have instruments and storage, and there is a huge amount of data which has to get to its destination when it’s meant to.
“For example it means that rockets fire at the right time.
“Space is a very demanding environment, but SpaceFibre can recover from errors in microseconds, while earlier technology could take up to 10 seconds to recover.
“Although this technology can be used outside the space industry, we remain completely focussed on space and we continue to innovate rather than simply supporting existing technology.”
The firm has a staff of 21 in Dundee, with a further three in a wholly-owned subsidiary in Barcelona.
STAR-Dundee remains proud of their Tayside roots and use local, Scottish and UK suppliers as much as possible.
The company owns a patent on the SpaceFibre technology, however it is being freely licensed for space related applications.
Mr Mills said: “The space community is very friendly and co-operative.”
jimillar@thecourier.co.uk