BB-SWR-G-1-PC Performance and Thermal Test Data

BotBlox Hardware
1

This topic was migrated from the BotBlox ticketing system after being summarized and anonymized.

Question:

Is test data available for the BB-SWR-G-1-PC, including thermal performance and load testing results?

Answer:

For SwitchBlox Rugged, there are a three prongs that we use for evaluating ruggedness, let me outline them here.

1) Design prong
The first way to review the ruggedness of this board is to look at the design. The design features the following aspects to achieve a more rugged design.

  • All parts rated for -50°C to + 110°C or wider temperature range
  • Automotive rated ethernet switch IC
  • Thicker 2mm PCB substrate board for increased mechanical strength
  • A lower power dissipation (achieved through custom firmware) (1.2Watts), eliminating the need for a heatsink

These factors are great, but design alone is usually not enough to verify ruggedness

2) Testing prong
We have extensively tested SwitchBlox Rugged. This includes MIL-STD-810H testing for altitude (low pressure), high/low temperature, temperature shock, humidity, vibration and mechanical shock. Take a look at the results in the test document below.

We have also tested SwitchBlox Rugged for basic radiation tolerance, total ionizing dose (TID) up to 20Krad[si]. This test involved a cobalt-60 source, exposing the board to up to 20Krad[si]. This is just one test in a full suite of radiation tests that could have been done, of course. For full radiation testing there are more methods like SEE and SEU tests, but for this hardware, TID testing is still far more than what most other electronics companies have done for this price level. Below is a link to the test results, and a link to a blog post explaining our methodology.

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3) Real-world data prong**
This is probably the strongest and most reliable signal for ruggedness. The two prongs above are definitely useful, but ultimately it’s number of flight hours vs number of reported fails, that counts the most. Below are some points on this.

  • SwitchBlox Rugged was released in 2020, and we estimate we have approximately 10,000 units in the field at the moment. We have not had a single reported fail related to environmental factors. The fails we have seen reported are usually either ethernet PHY incompatibilities, or the connectors being ripped off the board during installation (user error).
  • SwitchBlox Rugged is currently used in LEO applications with multiple customers, no reports of failure.
  • SwitchBlox Rugged has been used by numerous customers in high altitude applications (above 50,000 feet, where there is minimal convective cooling).
  • Stratospheric operation is a reasonably common application, indeed we have another customer integrating this right now (take a look at this forum post - Can I use SwitchBlox Rugged and Rugged SOM in the stratosphere? - #2 by josh_elijah )

(TS2605-0176)