Design of the Front End Electronics for the Infrared Camera of JEM-EUSO, and manufacturing and verification of the prototype model

TL;DR

This paper details the design, manufacturing, and testing of the front end electronics for the infrared camera on JEM-EUSO, focusing on achieving low noise, temperature stability, and effective signal processing for space-based atmospheric observations.

Contribution

It presents the novel design and verification of the FEE for an uncooled microbolometer infrared camera used in space-based cosmic ray detection.

Findings

Achieved detector biasing noise below 100 μV from 1 Hz to 10 MHz

Maintained microbolometer temperature stability within 10 mK over 4.8 hours

Developed low noise, high bandwidth amplifier for microbolometer signals

Abstract

The Japanese Experiment Module (JEM) Extreme Universe Space Observatory (EUSO) will be launched and attached to the Japanese module of the International Space Station (ISS). Its aim is to observe UV photon tracks produced by ultra-high energy cosmic rays developing in the atmosphere and producing extensive air showers. The key element of the instrument is a very wide-field, very fast, large-lense telescope that can detect extreme energy particles with energy above $10^{19}$ eV. The Atmospheric Monitoring System (AMS), comprising, among others, the Infrared Camera (IRCAM), which is the Spanish contribution, plays a fundamental role in the understanding of the atmospheric conditions in the Field of View (FoV) of the telescope. It is used to detect the temperature of clouds and to obtain the cloud coverage and cloud top altitude during the observation period of the JEM-EUSO main instrument. SENER is responsible for the preliminary design of the Front End Electronics (FEE) of the Infrared Camera, based on an uncooled microbolometer, and the manufacturing and verification of the prototype model. This paper describes the flight design drivers and key factors to achieve the target features, namely, detector biasing with electrical noise better than $100 \mu$V from $1$ Hz to $10$ MHz, temperature control of the microbolometer, from $10^{\circ}$C to $40^{\circ}$C with stability better than $10$ mK over $4.8$ hours, low noise high bandwidth amplifier adaptation of the microbolometer output to differential input before analog to digital conversion, housekeeping generation, microbolometer control, and image accumulation for noise reduction.