1. BLASTbus electronics: General-purpose readout and control for balloon-borne experiments
- Author
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J. R. Bond, O. Doré, T. A. Morford, B. Dober, Aurelien A. Fraisse, B. P. Crill, Nicholas Galitzki, N. N. Gandilo, Tony Mroczkowski, N. E. Thomas, M. Hasselfield, D. V. Wiebe, Mark Halpern, Jacob Klein, Marzieh Farhang, Kent D. Irwin, S. R. Golwala, Calvin B. Netterfield, C. J. MacTavish, A. Trangsrud, M. Amiri, Yasuo Fukui, K. G. Megerian, Juan D. Soler, Sean Bryan, Francisco E. Angile, Gene C. Hilton, Carlo R. Contaldi, Gregory S. Tucker, W. A. Holmes, Jeffrey P. Filippini, F. Poidevin, Jamil A. Shariff, C. L. Kuo, A. D. Turner, Tristan G. Matthews, Douglas Scott, Matthew D. P. Truch, Carole Tucker, H. C. Chiang, R. W. Ogburn, Peter Mason, A. L. Korotkov, David John Nutter, M. J. Devlin, Derek Ward-Thompson, C. D. Reintsema, C. D. Dowell, A. C. Weber, Enzo Pascale, Jon E. Gudmundsson, Zigmund Kermish, Alexandra S. Rahlin, S. J. Benton, E. Y. Young, Johanna Nagy, L. M. Fissel, Giorgio Savini, Peter A. R. Ade, Lorenzo Moncelsi, Giles Novak, James J. Bock, W. C. Jones, M. C. Runyan, J. E. Ruhl, R. S. Tucker, A. E. Gambrel, V. V. Hristov, Roger O'Brient, Stepp, Larry M., Gilmozzi, Roberto, and Hall, Helen J.
- Subjects
Digital signal processor ,Motherboard ,Computer science ,FOS: Physical sciences ,balloon-borne telescope ,7. Clean energy ,01 natural sciences ,BLASTbus ,010309 optics ,Gate array ,0103 physical sciences ,Electronic ,bolometer readout ,attitude control ,BLASTPol ,cryogenics ,Spider ,Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials ,Condensed Matter Physics ,Computer Science Applications1707 Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition ,Applied Mathematics ,Electrical and Electronic Engineering ,Electronics ,Optical and Magnetic Materials ,Field-programmable gate array ,Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics (astro-ph.IM) ,010303 astronomy & astrophysics ,Digital signal processing ,business.industry ,Electrical engineering ,Analog signal ,Astrophysics - Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics ,business - Abstract
We present the second generation BLASTbus electronics. The primary purposes of this system are detector readout, attitude control, and cryogenic housekeeping, for balloon-borne telescopes. Readout of neutron transmutation doped germanium (NTD-Ge) bolometers requires low noise and parallel acquisition of hundreds of analog signals. Controlling a telescope's attitude requires the capability to interface to a wide variety of sensors and motors, and to use them together in a fast, closed loop. To achieve these different goals, the BLASTbus system employs a flexible motherboard-daughterboard architecture. The programmable motherboard features a digital signal processor (DSP) and field-programmable gate array (FPGA), as well as slots for three daughterboards. The daughterboards provide the interface to the outside world, with versions for analog to digital conversion, and optoisolated digital input/output. With the versatility afforded by this design, the BLASTbus also finds uses in cryogenic, thermometry, and power systems. For accurate timing control to tie everything together, the system operates in a fully synchronous manner. BLASTbus electronics have been successfully deployed to the South Pole, and flown on stratospheric balloons., Presented at SPIE Ground-based and Airborne Telescopes V, June 23, 2014. To be published in Proceedings of SPIE Volume 9145
- Published
- 2014