A New Generation of Data and Control Interfaces for Digital Detectors

摘要

The purpose of this project, started in 2002 with the support of a two year grant from the Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI), was the development of a modular detector - controller and data - handler compatible with present industrial and consumer bus/interfaces, i. e., VME, CPCI and PCI As a second, but no less important, instance the system here described has been developed as an upgrade for the out of date VME/transputer interfacing systems still in operation at various Italian astronomical sites and also as a platform for more complicated detection systems (NIR/MIR cameras or large detector mosaics) to be implemented in the future. As a consequence this paper is intentionally focused on the digital structure of the system (data-flow, controls and telemetry), being the usual analog electronics typically embedded on a classical detector controller (i. e. pulse and voltage adapters, amplifiers etc. ). This paper is less concerned with the overall architecture, which is only marginally mentioned herein. Several implementations of this system are already in operation in different astronomical applications, some of them presented during this meeting.