K. Schwenk, D. Herschmann

RISC-V, an open and royalty-free instruction set architecture that standardizes processor-software interaction, is increasingly adopted in spaceborne embedded systems due to its customizability and vendor-neutral design. In recent years, several on-board computer architectures leveraging this ISA have been proposed by major space agencies and industry providers, including NASA. This work addresses the feasibility of migrating existing space applications to RISC-V-based platforms by documenting the porting process of ODARIS, a medium-sized C application (~50K LOC) with dependencies including Boost, OpenCV, and TensorFlow Lite, from ARM/x86 to a Microchip PolarFire SoC FPGA featuring RISC-V cores. The study evaluates the maturity of the RISC-V Linux ecosystem, assesses dependency availability, and benchmarks computational performance against established platforms such as the AMD Zynq 7000 and NVIDIA Jetson Orin. Our analysis outlines the technical steps and challenges encountered during cross-compilation and runtime adaptation, and presents quantitative performance comparisons across the architectures. The findings indicate that while the RISC-V software ecosystem is maturing, successful migration requires careful dependency management and thorough performance validation. These insights provide a practical effort assessment for developers evaluating RISC-V adoption in space applications, supporting informed architectural decisions for next-generation on-board computers.

Deutscher Luft- und Raumfahrtkongress 2026, Aachen

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Luft- und Raumfahrt - Lilienthal-Oberth e.V., Bonn, 2026

Conference Paper

englisch

29,7 x 42,0 cm, 8 Seiten

urn:nbn:de:101:1-2611130706585.122466497668

10.25967/680234

real-time communication, software development, embedded systems, satellite platform

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Schwenk, K.; Herschmann, D. (2026): Challenges for Porting a Space Application from ARM to RISC-V Architecture. Deutsche Gesellschaft für Luft- und Raumfahrt - Lilienthal-Oberth e.V.. (Text). https://doi.org/10.25967/680234. urn:nbn:de:101:1-2611130706585.122466497668.

13.11.2026