TARA Remote Station Acquisition System

In order to properly recognize the input signal for the Telescope Array RAdar experiment as a chirp, we must know if all component frequencies can be observed in the correct sequence within nanoseconds.  The signal is divided into four frequency bands, each digitized at 2 MHz.

These multiband results are fed to an FPGA which makes the decision whether a candidate event has occurred.   If true, the original signal that is acquired at about 180 MHz is stored.  The FPGA code is in development by Samridha Kunwar of the Besson group.

Fast ADC for cosmic ray detection using radar (TARA).  It uses multi-band acquisition into an FPGA for fast decision-making.  This is part of the TARA remote acquisition system.  Block Diagram of the multi-band ADC for determining when to trigger high-speed acquisition in TARA.

Clockwise from lower left: FPGA board, Multi-band ADC board, High-speed ADC board, High-speed Adapter between the ADC and the FPGA.  Adapter to mate a commercial high-speed (200MHz) ADC to a commercial FPGA. Because of the high speed, special connectors are used with carefully designed controlled-impedance lines.