Development of Space Qualified Signal Processing Readout Electronics for HabWorlds and Origins Space Telescope Detector Arrays

We propose to optimize the performance of low power FPGA-based readout electronics systems for use with arrays of superconducting detectors such as transition edge sensors (TES) and kinetic inductance detectors (KIDs). Future space astrophysics missions such as HabWorlds Observatory and the Origins Space Telescope (OST) will require arrays of thousands of superconducting detectors. The complexity of the instrument can be reduced by implementing a multiplexing readout electronics system with high multiplexing factor. Historically, superconducting arrays on ground-based and balloon-borne instruments have used either time-domain multiplexing (TDM) or frequency-domain multiplexing (FDM) at MHz frequencies with multiplex ratios of tens to hundreds. One way to increase the multiplex factor to 1000's of detectors is to increase the bandwidth of FDM by using GHz frequencies - this technique is called microwave multiplexing. Microwave multiplexing systems have been developed for ground-based applications such as NIKA/NIKA2 and Toltec and are planned for use in the current generation CMB surveys such as the Simons Observatory as well as on upcoming balloon-borne missions such as EXCLAIM, TIM and PICTURE-C. Typical existing systems have power consumption on order 100 mW per detector which also corresponds to 100 mW per MHz of bandwidth. We developed the readout system for the BLAST-TNG experiment with similar power/performance and demonstrated the system in flight reading out arrays of KIDs. We then implemented this algorithm on the Xilinx RFSoC FPGA in which ADCs and DACs are integrated within the FPGA fabric. This new chip offers a transformative improvement in power consumption per detector and per MHz of bandwidth. We have performed thermal vacuum testing of commercial RFSoC/FPGA boards configured for reading out these arrays in environments relevant for balloon-borne applications and designed thermal management hardware to enable their use in upcoming balloon missions EXCLAIM and TIM. However, space-based missions require the use of radiation tolerant or radiation-hard components. We propose to design, integrate and test a readout system based on the current generation of radiation tolerant FPGA chips (e.g. Kintex Ultrascale from Xilinx) combined with external A/D and D/A radiation hard chips. We will build the system around existing space-qualified designs such as the SpaceCube Mini 3.0 board, developed primarily for use as a software defined radio system. Estimates of the power dissipation with this system indicate that we could read out more than 3,000 detectors with < 30 W of power corresponding to < 10 mW per detector. This is more than a factor of ten improvement over the 100 mW per detector state of the art. We will also continue to develop optimized algorithms to minimize FPGA resources and investigate rad-hard firmware and ASIC implementation of the algorithms for future space-based missions. We also propose to develop and test new algorithms for photon-counting optical KID readout targeted for HabWorlds instrumentation. These algorithms will employ rapid pulse detection and template matching to characterize optical photon arrival times and energy for single-photon detectors. We plan to create dual use firmware to enable cosmic ray rejection in far-IR imaging detectors within the readout for the first time.

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