“Imagine a microchip so resilient that it thrives in the heart of a roaring rocket, enduring searing heat a biting cold- all while steering India’s most ambitious space missions with unmatched precision; this is the story of Vikram-32, the nation’s first fully indigenous 32-bit space-grade microprocessor.” The Vikram 3201 microprocessor is a 32-bit, radiation- hardened processor for space applications with a 152-instruction set, 32 general- purpose 32-bit registers, and a 100 MHz clock speed. It supports 16/32-bit fixed-point and 64-bit IEEE 754 floating-point operations, features a microprogrammed control, and can address up to 4096M words of memory. The structure includes dual on- chip 1553B bus interfaces and four 32-bit timers.
On March 5, 2025, the first production lots of the 32-bit microprocessors developed for space applications, VIKRAM3201 & KALPANA3201, were handed over to Dr. V. Narayanan, Secretary, DOS /Chairman, ISRO by Shri S. Krishnan, Secretary, MeitY, in a function organised at New Delhi by the Semiconductor Laboratory (SCL), Chandigarh. These microprocessors were designed & developed by the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre of ISRO in collaboration with SCL, Chandigarh.
The process of functions reliably across a wide temperature from -55ºC to 125ºC and comes with built-in testability features, including scan and functional modes. It is packaged in a 181 CGPA. Supporting 152 instructions the Vikram 32 offers a 20-bit address bus, 256 software interrupts, and four 32-bit timers. For communication it integrates two on-chip 1553B bus interfaces. The microprocessor is developed using SCL’s 180nm CMOS technology, ensuring robust performance and integration.
Dr. Unnikrishnan Nair, Director, Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, also participated in the function along with the design teams. Dr. Kamaljeet Singh, Director-General of SCL/MeitY and his team provided a brief overview of the activities undertaken for the realization, packaging & qualification of these processors for launch vehicle applications.
The Vikram 32 is well equipped with several key features that support efficient computation, robust interfacing, and reliable performance in embedded environments. Vikram 32 microchip is powered by a 32-bit microprocessor and operates on a single 3.3V supply with a clock speed of 100MHz. It is designed for efficiency, drawing a quiescent supply current of less than 10 mA and consuming under 500 mW of power during operation.
The chip is ideal for military-grade equipment and critical defense applications due to its resilience against extreme temperatures, vibration, and radiation. It is also used in automotive industry as it’s robust and dependable design makes it suitable for high-reliability systems within advanced automobiles, such as guidance computers in electric vehicles. The main use of the Vikram-32 is to serve as the onboard computer for ISRO’s rockets. It handles critical, real-time functions such as navigation, guidance, and control to keep the rocket stable and on its trajectory.
References:
https://www.isro.gov.in/vikram3201.html.
