CCD Camera Realignment 1

Northrop Grumman  Northrop Grumman is a global defense and technology company  Company does business around the world  Contracted by US Air force 2

GEODSS  GEODSS has three sites around the globe  All GEODSS sites maintain and operate meter telescopes 3

Assigned Task The assigned project task was to develop and assess the GEODSS camera head assembly and determine the most feasible solution to correct an existing situation with the CCD camera. GEODSS personnel were assigned to educate me on the system and guide me with possible solutions for my assessment. 4

What is CCD ?  Charge-Coupled Device  Resolution 2560x1960  CCD uses a rectangular piece of silicon  Pixels Charge converted into electrons 5

How GEODSS CCD Camera Operates  Video output of the CCD arrays are sent  The signal then gets amplified  A/D converter then adjust the gain accordingly 6

Project Description  Degraded video segment  Currently port #4 on one of the three GEODSS sensor CCD ports is being blocked out  Our goal is to decrease the current video loss 7

Plan of Action  As a provisional fix the system software will be modified  Software manipulation is the safest and easiest way to fix the current situation  It was determined that pulling the camera could possibly cause camera failure  In the event problems arise, easier to revert back to normal configuration through software. 8

Steps-to-Take  Install a backup drive with preinstalled software  Modify camera initialization  Run simulated calibrations  Capture FITS Image and view in imaging software  Identify bad pixels and record values  Enter new values in initialization file  Run multiple camera calibrations  Place system back into operations 9

Viewing of FITS Image  Flexible Image Transport System  Measuring of pixels to acquire greater field-of-view 10

Calibrations and Results  3 Calibrations will be performed (channel offset, dark current and flat field)  Channel offset mean values need to be within + or – 1  Dark Current noise value < 50 counts  Flat Field between.5 to 2.5 counts  Validation of Data 11

Steps-to-Take  Install a backup drive with preinstalled software  Modify camera initialization  Run simulated calibrations  Capture FITS Image and view in imaging software  Identify bad pixels and record values  Enter new values in initialization file  Run multiple camera calibrations  Place system back into operations 9

Expected Results  Increase in throughput  Improvement of search based operations  Improvement with serendipitous observations 12

Acknowledgments  Center for Adaptive Optics oHillary O’Brian oScott Seagroves oLisa Hunter  Northrop Grumman oAlbert Esquibel & Staff  Maui Community College oMark Hoffman  2007 Short Course/Internship oDavid Harrington oJess Johnson oRyan Montgomery oIsar Mostafanezhad oFellow Interns  Maui Economical Development Board oIsla Yap oLeslie Wilkins 14  Institute for Astronomy Funding Provided through the Center for Adaptive Optics, National Science Foundation, Science and Technology Center (STC), AST

Questions 15