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Completed TRL 3 (started at 2, targeting 3)
Microwave Kinetic Inductance Detectors are highlighted in NASA’s 2015-2045 roadmap as a game-changing technology for improving remote sensing instrument and sensor capabilities (TABS 8.1.13). MKIDs are poised to overtake the more established CCD detector technology because they are easy to multiplex into large arrays, can deliver a time resolution of 2 microseconds, and are capable of single photon counting without read noise or dark counts with energy resolution across the ultraviolet, visible, and infrared (UVOIR) spectrum. Currently, MKID arrays require large, complex, power-intensive readout electronics which present a major obstacle to MKID deployment in space. I propose to develop a new MKID readout system which is faster, lighter, smaller, and over an order of magnitude more power-efficient than the current technology. Specifically, I plan to decrease the readout system weight by 85% and volume by 85% all while using 1/20th the power. I plan to accomplish this by incorporating the newly released Xilinx programmable computing chip: the Zynq UltraScale+ RFSoC. With this hardware change, I will need to redesign and test the firmware using MATLAB/Simulink and Vivado Design Suite and write a new python control library. This project directly addresses NASA’s goal to reduce the volume, mass, and power of on-board electronics and supports advanced computing and data architectures in remote sensing instruments (8.1.2). It also supports Technology Area 11.4: Information Processing.
This project directly addresses NASA’s goal to reduce the volume, mass, and power of on-board electronics and supports advanced computing and data architectures in remote sensing instruments (8.1.2). It also supports Technology Area 11.4: Information Processing.
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