AMICAAntarctic Multiband Infrared CAmeraFavio Bortoletto INAF Osservatorio Astronomico di Padovaon behalf of the AMICA collaboration

AMICA PeopleL. Corcione, F. PorcuF.M. Zerbi, A. Riva, V. De Caprio, E. Molinari, P. ConconiF. Bortoletto, C. Bonoli, M. DAlessandro, E. Giro, D. Fantinel, D. MagrinO. Straniero (PI), M. Dolci (PM), G. Valentini, C. Giuliani, A. Di Cianno, G. Di Rico, M. Ragni, D. Pelusi, A. Valentini

The Camera in Summary Near- and mid-infrared photometry (2 5.5 m and 7 28 m) Two independent channels Remotely operated To be mounted at the f / 21.65 IRAIT Nasmyth focus Standard broadband plus narrow band filter set

AMICA Optical Layout: Medium IR ChannelSi:As BIB 128x128 array @ 8KScale Reduction : 12.18 to 17.86 /mm

AMICA Optical Layout: Near IR ChannelTMInSb 256x256 array @ 35 KScale Reduction : 12.18 to 17.86 /mm

Detectors: 7 28 m 2 5.5 mSi:As BIB MF-128 by DRS Technologies, Inc.Field Coverage: 2.86 arcmin Scale: 1.34/pix128 128 format75 m pitchTop 4 10 KQE @ 8 K > 60 %Well capacity = 9.1106 e-RON @ 255 Hz frame rate = 282 e- r.m.s.d.c. @ 8 K = 3.5 e- / sec / pixelMaximum frame rate: 500 Hz 256 256 format30 m pitchTop 25 35 KQE @ 35 K > 80 %Well Capacity 2 105 e-RON 50 e- r.m.s. (typical)d.c. @ 35 K < 3 e- / sec /pixel4 outputsInSb array by Raytheon Corp.Field Coverage: 2.29 arcmin Scale: 0.54 /pixel

AMICA the Cryostat

The AMICA Control System: Sytem supervision is assured by a PLC interfaced to the CPCI host :- vacuum system dual-stage cryocooler instrument temperature monitoring racks temperature monitoring cryogenic step-motors control

Cable

C-PCI CRATEHOST PENTIUM CPU

NIR/MIR DETECTORCONTROLLER

TEMP-CONTROLLEDAMBIENT

-10 c / 10 c

AMICACRYOSTAT

- 40 c / -80 cexternal temperature

NIRPRE-AMPCLOCKBOX

MIRPRE-AMPCLOCKBOX

4.2 K40 Kcryo-cooler

CRYO-COOLERCOMPRESSOR

DUAL-STAGESTEP-MOTORCONTROLLER

VACUUMPUMP

VACUUMCOMMANDEDVALVEP-GAUGE

TEMPERATURE&STEP-MOTORCONTROL

TEMP-CONTROLLEDAMBIENT

-10 c / 10 c

LAKESHORETEMPERATURECONTROLLER & MONITOR

CONTROLPLC

PMC DETECTORCONTROL I/F

The AMICA Control System: CPCI ComputerThe AMICA detector control electronics is built on a CPCI-Pentium host with a SKYTECH PMC array-control I/F. The PMC array controller drives via a dedicated fiber-link the analog unit providing detector biasing, clocking and video signal processing.Secondary chopper drive and monitoring can be done by the detector controller sequencer or, off line, by a CPCI process.

MIR simulation boxNIR simulation boxDetector controllerThe AMICA Control System: Detector Controller1.2 GbaudFiber Link

AMICA System Operation :The AMICA detector-controller commanding will be possible from threedifferent sources : Local unit (CPCI Camera Driver, Test)Remote UIF (Test, Commissioning) Build camera commands Build readout waveforms Configure detector tables- Retrieve telemetry- Retrieve data- Quick look check- Archive dataRemote Command Flow

Commanding, camera configuration and data exchange is based on files. So the test operator interface can reside with simple files redirection on every networked computer. Command and Data exchange :

CORE MEMORY

CONFIG.TABLES

BUILDWAVEFORMS ANDPARAMETERSTABLES

CPCI COMPUTER

TELEMETRY FILE

TELEMETRY RETRIEVE

BUILDCOMMANDS

COMMAND FILE

RETRIEVEDATA

IMAGE BUFFER I

IMAGE BUFFER II

ETHERNET

ACCUMULATOR I

ACCUMULATOR II

RAM DISC

USER INTERFACE

The remote test Interface with the acquisition software is based on the IDL-atv standard interfaceBoot MIRLoad bias tableLoad clock tableRead TelemetryBootOKBias table.loadedClock table.loadedTelemetry..The AMICA Test Interface :

0.3

100

ON

10

0

Prova

Telemetry retrieval :

Image data files are stacked in core memory buffers: object and sky for chopper assisted observations.Frames are then summed up following the selected readout mode (single, multiple sampl. Etc.) to build the final image accumulators.Images (buffers and/or accumulators) are retrieved by the remote UIF via Ethernet for quick-look analysis and archiving.Scientific Data Organization:

Object image stack

Sky image stack

Star image accumulator

Sky image accumulator