Sigma Space Corporation

Products

AMCS-5: Advanced Multi-Channel Scaler Card with 5 Independent Detector Inputs

Ultra-LowPower(2.5Watts for all 5 Input Channels)
A key component of NASA Goddard's ClouldPhysics Lidar data system, as well as NASA's THOR Lidar.
PC/104 Form Factor (3.6" x 3.8")
Flexible and Programmable Architecture - Please contact us for customized versions of this product

Overview:

The AMCS-5 is a five input multichannel scaler card to be used in pulse counting, integrating, and histogramming applications. The AMCS-5 accepts five different pulse inputs that are counted simultaneously based upon a single Sync input signal. In addition, there are two generic pulse outputs and a third accumulation delay pulse indicating the start of an integration cycle. Parameters such as time resolution per bin, number of bins, accumulation delay, number of accumulations, and pulse polarity are set by the user via software control. A host CPU is notified of a completed integration cycle via a bus interrupt or by polling an internal status register. The AMCS-5 card is in a PC/104 form factor (3.6 inches by 3.8 inches) and is intended to be used in a stacked PC/104 application utilizing the PC/104 ISA Bus.

Multichannel scalers are used in a variety of applications. The AMCS-5 card was specifically designed to meet the needs of ground-based and airborne lidar-based photon counting programs, although the design does not preclude its use in other arenas. In an example airborne lidar application, a laser is fired down to the earth from a high flying aircraft. As the optical laser output moves downward, some of the light is reflected due to aerosols, clouds, and other particulate in the atmosphere. Photon counting detectors tuned to specific wavelengths detect the reflected light and output electrical signals indicating the presence of the reflected photons. The AMCS-5 card is used to receive these electrical signals. By using a synchronization signal input, the AMCS-5 card is aware as to when the data acquisition starts. It divides the time-of-flight of the laser into time ?bins? and records the number of reflected photons received in each bin. By repeating this process over the course of many laser shots, the signal-to-noise ratio is greatly enhanced versus the results given during a single laser shot. This allows an accurate histogram to be generated based on the data acquired by the AMCS-5 data. Once the desired number of lasers is fired, the AMCS-5 card informs the host processor that the data is ready to collect. During the data readout by the processor, the AMCS-5 continues to count and accumulate photons in a double-bufferred memory such that no data is lost. The AMCS-5 card allows for many of its parameters to be configured via software, making this product attractive to multiple customers.