Artificial Intelligence-enabled Hardware Cosmic Radiation Sensor for Space Applications (AICoRS) 2024 – 2026 contract de finanțare 2ROMD/01.06.2024
This project is implemented in collaboration with Technical University of Moldova (UTM), Chișinău, Republic of Moldova.
Funded by the Romanian Ministry of Research, Innovation and Digitalization, project PN-IV-P8-8.3-ROMD-2023-0068 entitled ”Artificial Intelligence-enabled Hardware Cosmic Radiation Sensor for Space Applications (AICoRS)”, contract no. 2ROMD/01.06.2024.
Executive summary: The AICoRS project aims at designing, implementing and validating an experimental model of a Cosmic radiation sensor (Single Event Upset detector) for Space applications (TRL 4). The sensor will be implemented in hardware, on a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) and it will benefit of a hardware implementation of an Artificial Intelligence model for the real-time, on-the-fly analysis of the radiation-induced faults patterns in the satellite-embarked electronics. In the process, the young researchers involved in the project, especially the ones from UTM, will be trained, mentored and supported for their advancement in the PhD programs and academic careers. This will be achieved through the appropriate planned mobilities (exchanges) of the early-stage researchers between Romania and Republic of Moldova. The project scope will be achieved in tight collaboration between the team members from UNITBV and UTM and the complementarity of their existing infrastructure.
Scope: The AICoRS project aims at designing, implementing and validating an experimental model of a cosmic radiation sensor (Single Event Upset detector) for Space applications (at TRL 4), which will be implemented in hardware, on an FPGA and it will benefit of a hardware implementation of an AI model for the real-time, on-the-fly analysis of the radiation-induced faults patterns in the satellite-embarked electronics. In the process, the young researchers involved in the project, especially the ones from UTM, will be trained and supported for their advancement in the academic careers. This will be achieved through the appropriate mentoring and planned mobilities (exchanges) of the early-stage researchers between Romania and Republic of Moldova. The project scope will be achieved in tight collaboration between the researchers from UNITBV and UTM and the complementarity of their existing infrastructure.
The AICoRS project has the following objectives in order to achieve the previously-declared scope: O1. Design, implementation and validation of the AICoRS experimental model (TRL 4), which is the FPGA-based implementation of the AI-enabled hardware Cosmic radiation sensor for Space applications; O2. Training the early-stage researchers involved in the AICoRS project; O3. Exploitation of the research infrastructure complementarity between UNITBV and UTM; O4. Dissemination of scientific results in international peer-reviewed journals and conferences and, last but not least, O5. Coordination and management for the successful project implementation.
Project team
UNITBV: prof. dr. ing. Mihai Ivanovici, s.l. dr. ing. Stefan Popa, drd. ing. Artur Kazak
UTM: conf. dr. ing. Irina Cojuhari (conf. dr. ing. Nicolae Secrieru), dr. ing. Mariana Rusu, dr. ing. Viorel Cărbune, drd. ing. Vladimir Melnic, drd. ing. Tudor Zadorojneac, drd. ing. Adrian Bîrnaz
Project activities and results
The Keek-off Meeting took place on 4th July 2024: https://utm.md/blog/2024/07/05/lansarea-proiectului-bilateral-aicors-utm-si-unitbv-colaboreaza-pentru-a-dezvolta-un-senzor-avansat-de-radiatii-cosmice/
Fig. The AICoRS nano-satellite module (experimental demonstrator) that will fly in Space in 2026.
The potential impact of the AICoRS project – it enables the increased usage of relatively-cheap FPGA-based hardware solutions for Space applications, proving the robustness of such solutions and increasing their adoption for real applications. The resulting AICoRS intelligent radiation sensor will be embarked on the next nano-satellite designed and implemented by UTM, in collaboration with UNITBV, as an experimental payload. This will allow testing the system in real-life Space conditions.
Dissemination
* S. Popa, A. Kazak, A. Dinu, M. Ivanovici, N. Secrieru, V. Carbune, V. Melnic, „Architecture and Design Choices for an AI-Enabled FPGA-Based Cosmic Radiation Sensor”, 16th International Symposium on Electronics and Telecommunications (ISETC’24), Timișoara, România, 7-8 November, 2024. https://doi.org/10.1109/ISETC63109.2024.10797366
* N. Secrieru, V. Carbune, T. Zadorojneac, V. Melnic, M. Ivanovici, S. Popa, A. Kazak, „The architecture of nanosatellite module for FPGA-based cosmic radiation sensing with artificial intelligence”, 13th International Conference on Electronics, Communications and Computing (ECCO-2024), Chișinău, Republica Moldova, 17-18 October, 2024. https://www.repository.utm.md/handle/5014/28758
* N. Secrieru, V. Cărbune, T. Zadorojneac, V. Melnic, A. Bertescu, M. Ivanovici, S. Popa, A. Kazak, “Architecture of the space radiation sensor satellite module based on artificial intelligence”, Journal of Engineering Science 2024, XXXI (4), pp. 73-83. https://doi.org/10.52326/jes.utm.2024.31(4).05
* A. Bertescu, S. Popa, “The Design and Implementation of an FPGA-Based Cosmic Radiation Sensor PCB,” 18th International Conference on Engineering of Modern Electric Systems (EMES), Oradea, Romania, 29-30 May 2025, pp. 1-4, https://doi.org/10.1109/EMES65692.2025.11045622
* V. Bostan, N. Secrieru, M. Ivanovici, I. Cojuhari, A. Pandele, Ş. Popa, V. Melnic, N. Magariu, A. Martîniuc, “Research space missions developed at the TUM Space Centre,” IEEE International Black Sea Conference on Communications and Networking (BlackSeaCom), Chisinau, Republic of Moldova, 23-26 June 2025, https://doi.org/10.1109/BlackSeaCom65655.2025.11193922
* S. Popa, A. Bertescu, C. Furtună, A. Kazak, M. Ivanovici, A. Martiniuc, V. Carbune, V. Melnic, N. Secrieru, “Power and Cross-Section Optimization for an FPGA-Based Cosmic Radiation Sensor”, acceptat și prezentat la 32nd IEEE International Conference on Electronics, Circuits and Systems (ICECS), Marrakech, Morocco, 17-19 November 2025. https://ieee-icecs2025.org/