A biasing and demodulation system for kilopixel TES bolometer arrays

Graeme Smecher, François Aubin, Eric Bissonnette, Matt Dobbs, Peter Hyland, Kevin MacDermid

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

22 Scopus citations

Abstract

We describe the signal processing logic, firmware, and software for a frequency-domain multiplexed biasing and demodulation system that reads out transition-edge-sensor bolometer arrays for millimeter-wavelength cosmology telescopes. This system replaces a mixed-signal readout back end with a much smaller and more power-efficient system relying on field-programmable gate arrays for control, computation, and signal processing. The new system is sufficiently robust, automated, and power efficient to be flown on stratospheric balloon-borne telescopes and is being developed further for satellite applications.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number5978802
Pages (from-to)251-260
Number of pages10
JournalIEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement
Volume61
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 2012
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
Manuscript received August 16, 2010; revised January 12, 2011; accepted January 16, 2011. Date of publication August 8, 2011; date of current version December 8, 2011. This work was supported in part by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, by the Canadian Institute for Advance Research, and by the Canada Research Chairs Program. The work of M. Dobbs was supported by the Sloan Fellowship. The Associate Editor coordinating the review process for this paper was Dr. Dario Petri.

Keywords

  • Digital signal processing
  • digital up/down converters
  • field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs)

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