Data Acquisition System for the UFFO Pathfinder

TL;DR

The paper describes the design and architecture of the UFFO Data Acquisition System (UDAQ) for the UFFO Pathfinder satellite payload, focusing on its control, data management, and communication functions for detecting early UV/Optical photons from Gamma-Ray Bursts.

Contribution

It introduces a novel FPGA-based data acquisition system for space-based telescopes, emphasizing low power consumption and fast processing without microprocessors.

Findings

UDAQ effectively manages data from multiple telescopes.

The system interfaces with satellite and external triggers.

FPGA implementation ensures low power and high speed.

Abstract

The Ultra-Fast Flash Observatory (UFFO) Pathfinder is a payload on the Russian Lomonosov satellite, scheduled to be launched in November 2011. The Observatory is designed to detect early UV/Optical photons from Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs). There are two telescopes and one main data acquisition system: the UFFO Burst Alert & Trigger Telescope (UBAT), the Slewing Mirror Telescope (SMT), and the UFFO Data Acquisition (UDAQ) system. The UDAQ controls and manages the operation and communication of each telescope, and is also in charge of the interface with the satellite. It will write the data taken by each telescope to the NOR flash memory and sends them to the satellite via the Bus-Interface system (BI). It also receives data from the satellite including the coordinates and time of an external trigger from another payload, and distributes them to two telescopes. These functions are implemented in field programmable gates arrays (FPGA) for low power consumption and fast processing without a microprocessor. The UDAQ architecture, control of the system, and data flow will be presented.