Magazine Article

FPGA Coprocessor Design for an Onboard Multi-angle Spectro-Polarimetric Imager

TBMG-7940

05/01/2010

Abstract
Content

A multi-angle spectro-polarimetric imager (MSPI) is an advanced camera system currently under development at JPL for possible future consideration on a satellite-based Aerosol-Cloud-Environment (ACE) interaction study. The light in the optical system is subjected to a complex modulation designed to make the overall system robust against many instrumental artifacts that have plagued such measurements in the past. This scheme involves two photoelastic modulators that are beating in a carefully selected pattern against each other. In order to properly sample this modulation pattern, each of the proposed nine cameras in the system needs to read out its imager array about 1,000 times per second. The onboard processing required to compress this data involves least-squares fits (LSFs) of Bessel functions to data from every pixel in real-time, thus requiring an onboard computing system with advanced data processing capabilities in excess of those commonly available for space flight.

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Citation
"FPGA Coprocessor Design for an Onboard Multi-angle Spectro-Polarimetric Imager," Mobility Engineering, May 1, 2010.
Additional Details
Publisher
Published
May 1, 2010
Product Code
TBMG-7940
Content Type
Magazine Article
Language
English