1. Electronics and Software for Quantum Astronomy Progress Report Tommaso Occhipinti, Claudia Facchinetti, Andrea Dipaola, Paolo Zoccarato, Ivan Capraro, Sergio Billotta, Massimiliano Belluso, Giovanni Bonanno, Pietro Bolli, Filippo Messina, Cesare Barbieri, Sandro Centro Bled, Slovenia, 26 March 2008 Quantum Astronomy Meeting in Bled

2. tommaso.occhipinti@dei.unipd.it, Univ Padova 2 Outline Overview –Macro Blocks descriptins EquA: Electronics for quantum Astronomy ATFU: Asiago Time and Frequency Unit –HARRISON prj QUAS: Quantum Astronomy Software

3. tommaso.occhipinti@dei.unipd.it, Univ Padova 3 Overall Scheme EQuA Electronics for Quantum Astronomy ATFU AquEYE Time and Frequency Unit Optics Telescope, Optical AquEYE and Detectors Mass Storage QuAS Quantum Astronomy Software Scientific DATA

4. tommaso.occhipinti@dei.unipd.it, Univ Padova 4 Overview of the System SPAD 0 SPAD 3 TDC Oscillator OCXO TCXO RUBIDIUM External ref. (input) 0 1 2 3 PC Controller VME Optical Bridge 10 Mhz clock (output) External Storage DATA BUS GALILEO Receiver Max output rate = 10 Mhz Typical rate = 100 Khz SPAD precision = 30 ps AquEYE Time & Frequency Unit (ATFU)

5. tommaso.occhipinti@dei.unipd.it, Univ Padova 5 EquA Design EQuA Electronics for Quantum Astronomy Caen TDC Board PC Control & Storage Backup Couters

6. tommaso.occhipinti@dei.unipd.it, Univ Padova 6 EQuA Electronics for Quantum Astronomy

7. tommaso.occhipinti@dei.unipd.it, Univ Padova 7 Optical fiber connected to a PCI board in the PC Dual Core 2 SATA 250G 1 Ex TERA USB2 EquA Design EQuA Electronics for Quantum Astronomy

8. tommaso.occhipinti@dei.unipd.it, Univ Padova 8 EquA: Data BandW Limitation EQuA Electronics for Quantum Astronomy EQuA Electronics for Quantum Astronomy Incoming PULSE/sReadout Rate 8 MHz But we are reaching 10 Mhz 60 Mbytes/s

9. tommaso.occhipinti@dei.unipd.it, Univ Padova 9 EquA: OP MODES Continuous Storage –From max count rate to 100 KHz –The rollover can be compensated by software Trigger Matching –From 100 KHz to 0 –Infinite measurement –The rollover of the Triggers can be compansated by software EQuA Electronics for Quantum Astronomy

10. tommaso.occhipinti@dei.unipd.it, Univ Padova 10 Sw structure is multi-thread optimized to allow simultaneous read-out, statistics calculations and disk storage On the dual-core CPU, with careful priorities setup, one core takes care of read-out and the other of statistics and storage in real time A new firmware has been installed into TDC board: new performance – –VME: Readout rate: ~ 60Mbyte/s, each hit data is written in a 32bit line –the FIFO size is 32kx32bit: 60Mbyte s -1 /4byte=15MHz → Upper limits of read-out data from FIFO buffer. –On single channel (working with 4 channel) is 15MHz/4= ~8 Mhz EquA: Aquisition Strategy and Performance EQuA Electronics for Quantum Astronomy

11. tommaso.occhipinti@dei.unipd.it, Univ Padova 11 The general approach is to simplify as much as possible astronomers work by masking the complexity of the system. –Options: acquisition mode, internal pulser, raw data output format, exposure time - read only, object name, fix the output file size The command-line nature of the acquisition s/w allows the usage through telnet or SSH EquA: User Options EQuA Electronics for Quantum Astronomy

12. tommaso.occhipinti@dei.unipd.it, Univ Padova 12 The system supports two formats : raw data and FITS (binary table) –The FITS format provides data using time relative to acquisition start and channel index for each hit. –Raw data is a temporary format that allows system debugging EquA: Output files EQuA Electronics for Quantum Astronomy

13. tommaso.occhipinti@dei.unipd.it, Univ Padova 13 Software is controlled by TXT configuration files containing H/W working parameters S/W produces TXT LOG files that permanently report details, events and warning messages FITS header are user configurable by mean of ascii templates EquA: Control and debugging information EQuA Electronics for Quantum Astronomy

14. tommaso.occhipinti@dei.unipd.it, Univ Padova 14 ATFU AquEYE Time and Frequency Unit

15. tommaso.occhipinti@dei.unipd.it, Univ Padova 15 10 MHz Sinusoidal ATFU System Sinusoidal to TTL converter built in Catania 10 MHz TTL SRS FS725 Rubidium Frequency Standard 40 MHz TTL FPGA 10 MHz to 40 MHz converter projected by Massimiliano Belluso CAEN VME CRATE with V2718, V976 and V1290N 40 MHz TTL 40 MHz TTL Regenerate the signal V976 V1290N ATFU AquEYE Time and Frequency Unit

16. tommaso.occhipinti@dei.unipd.it, Univ Padova 16 1 PPS TTL 40 MHz TTL PPS to the TDC ATFU Mini-T Trimble Disciplined OCXO 1 PPS TTL 1 PPS NIM OCXO ATFU AquEYE Time and Frequency Unit ATFU AquEYE Time and Frequency Unit

17. tommaso.occhipinti@dei.unipd.it, Univ Padova 17 ATFU Tests ATFU AquEYE Time and Frequency Unit We tested several jitters/precision: 1.10Mhz 2.40Mhz 3.1PPS 4.20Khz At the moment: 300ps for the overall system in the 40 Mhz chain We can IMPROVE!

18. tommaso.occhipinti@dei.unipd.it, Univ Padova 18 ATFU Paolo Zoccarato contribution … ATFU AquEYE Time and Frequency Unit

19. tommaso.occhipinti@dei.unipd.it, Univ Padova 19 ATFU: HARRISON PRJ Harrison prj will give us, both Padova and Ljubljana, TWO ACTS (Accurate and Certified Time System) units for all the month of OCTOBER 2008 ATFU AquEYE Time and Frequency Unit ACTS POWER INTERNET 2 GPS Antennas 10 Mhz 40 Mhz 20 Khz PPS signals NTP Signal on ETH

20. tommaso.occhipinti@dei.unipd.it, Univ Padova 20 ACTS - AQUEYE I/O ACTS 40MHz/ECL 20KHz/NIM ETH/RS232 PPS ATFU AquEYE Time and Frequency Unit

21. tommaso.occhipinti@dei.unipd.it, Univ Padova 21 ATFU: HARRISON TODO In Padua and Ljubljana will arrive ACTS (Thales Alenia Space Italy, TASI) 3 days before the observations TASI people will need: –Power, External internet, accessibility to the roof for the installation of the TWO antennas They will take 1 day after the observation for the ACTS removal We have to decide a SCHEDULE of observations We have to decide the possible utilizations of ACTS as it is a very accurate and stable machine. –Common measurements with NTP???? ATFU AquEYE Time and Frequency Unit

22. tommaso.occhipinti@dei.unipd.it, Univ Padova 22 QuAS Quantum Astronomy Software

23. tommaso.occhipinti@dei.unipd.it, Univ Padova 23 QUAS A matlab compilation of scripts –…moving to C++ and QT libs for GI QuAS Quantum Astronomy Software QuAS Quantum Astronomy Software FILEs:.TXT.DAT.FITS N(t) c(t)  g2(t) PSD Hist of N(t) Hist of DIFFs …

24. tommaso.occhipinti@dei.unipd.it, Univ Padova 24 The first light of AquEYE 2 October 2007 QuAS Quantum Astronomy Software

25. tommaso.occhipinti@dei.unipd.it, Univ Padova 25 Other Results ZZ Pesci – Long period (about 800 s) QuAS Quantum Astronomy Software

26. tommaso.occhipinti@dei.unipd.it, Univ Padova 26 One important result The Crab Nebula Optical Pulsar QuAS Quantum Astronomy Software

27. tommaso.occhipinti@dei.unipd.it, Univ Padova 27 QUAS: examples small dt QuAS Quantum Astronomy Software G2(t)Cross CorrelationPSD Histogram of N(t)Rate of each channelPSD of each channel

28. tommaso.occhipinti@dei.unipd.it, Univ Padova 28 CRAB PPS compensation (working on) First 50 s of the measurement … after about 1 our

29. tommaso.occhipinti@dei.unipd.it, Univ Padova 29 Questions? View from the Ekar observatory in October Tommaso Occhipinti View from the Ekar observatory in October Tommaso Occhipinti