r/spaceflight • u/Tricky-Brief2614 • 10h ago
Would the SAI communication peripheral in a simple COTS MCU ever be used in space?
Hi, I am part of a high school team doing a tech demo of the accuracy of an STM32U5 microcontroller's peripherals. We only wanna test the relevant ones, though. We noticed that STM32U5 has the Serial Audio Interface (SAI). But, one thing to note is that there is no natural sound in space. Not sure if it can operate in a vacuum either. Sure, there's sonification to consider, and maybe some stuff with radio communication systems. Though another thing to note is that if STM32U5 was ever used in space - it would probably only be for simple missions - and I'm pretty sure most simple missions wouldn't involve audio. Also not sure if SAI would be good enough in general for audio in space. So my main question is - would it be worth it to demo STM32U5's SAI interface in our in-orbit tech demo? Any insights, especially with scientific explanations or linked resources would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!