Space-based radar is a suite of applications that presents many unique system design challenges. In this paper, we investigate use of RapidIO, a new high-performance embedded systems interconnect, in addressing issues associated with the high network bandwidth requirements of real-time ground moving target indicator (GMTI), and synthetic aperture Radar (SAR) applications in satellite systems. Using validated simulation, we study several critical issues related to the RapidIO network and algorithms under study. The results show that RapidIO is a promising platform for space-based radar using emerging technology, providing network bandwidth to enable parallel computation previously unattainable in an embedded satellite system.

Scientific programmers must optimize the total time-to-solution, the combination of software development and refinement time and actual execution time. The increasing complexity at all levels of supercomputing architectures, coupled with advancements in sequential performance and a growing degree of hardware parallelism, has increasingly placed the bulk of the time-to-solution cost into the software development and tuning phase. Performance analysis tools have been useful for reducing the time-to-solution for message-passing applications; however, there is insufficient tool support for programs developed using Global-Address-Space (GAS) programming models. With the aim of maximizing user productivity, the Parallel Performance Wizard (PPW) fills this void by providing a full range of visualizations and analyses specifically designed for GAS models. To facilitate accurate instrumentation and measurement of GAS programs in PPW, a portable, model-independent performance tool interface (GASP) has been developed and successfully used with Berkeley UPC.

RapidIO is an emerging standard for switched interconnection of processors and boards in embedded systems. We use discrete-event simulation to evaluate and prototype RapidIO-based systems with respect to their performance in an environment targeted towards space-based radar applications. This application class makes an ideal test case for a RapidIO feasibility study due to high system throughput requirements and real-time processing constraints. Our results show that a baseline RapidIO system is well suited to space-based radar, providing significant improvements over typical bus-based architectures. Our results also show that extensions to the RapidIO protocol such as cut-through routing and transmitter-controlled flow-control would provide minimal performance improvements for the applications under study.