Tohoku University Focal Plane Array Controller (TUFPAC)

TUFPAC (Tohoku University Focal Plane Array Controller) is an array control system originally designed for flexible control and efficient data acquisition of 2048 x 2048 HgCdTe (HAWAII-2) array. A personal computer operated by Linux OS controls mosaic HAWAII-2s with commercially available DSP boards installed on the PCI bus. Triggered by PC, DSP sends clock data to front-end electronics, which is isolated from the DSP board by photo-couplers. Front-end electronics supply powers, biases and clock signals to HAWAII2. Pixel data are read from four outputs of each HAWAII2 simultaneously by way of four channel preamps and ADCs. Pixel data converted to 16 bit digital data are stored in the frame memory on the DSP board. Data are processed in the memory when necessary. PC receives the frame data and stores it in the hard disk of PC in FITS format. A set of the DSP board and front-end electronics is responsible for controlling each HAWAII-2. One PC can operate eight mosaic arrays at most. TUFPAC is applicable to the control of CCDs with minor changes of front-end electronics.