FPGA Based Readout System for testing multi-Needle Langmuir Probe ASIC

Abstract

The multi-Needle Langmuir Probe (m-NLP) instrument is an electron density sensor made for sounding rockets and satellites. It is capable of a much higher sampling rate and spacial resolution compared to a traditional single probe system, making it possible to detect small-scale structures in the ionosphere, which is important for space weather analysis. An application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) is being developed at UiO to replace the off-the-shelf components currently used. A field-programmable gate array (FPGA) based system has been used to test this ASIC before, but in a constrained manner as it lacked the ability to save data and was not very intuitive to use. In this thesis a read-out system for testing and reading-out of this ASIC using a PYNQ-Z2 development board was developed, improving on the downsides of the previous system. This read-out system was successfully tested, with performed measurements for the ASIC ADC and the front-end.

The multi-Needle Langmuir Probe (m-NLP) instrument is an electron density sensor made for sounding rockets and satellites. It is capable of a much higher sampling rate and spacial resolution compared to a traditional single probe system, making it possible to detect small-scale structures in the ionosphere, which is important for space weather analysis. An application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) is being developed at UiO to replace the off-the-shelf components currently used. A field-programmable gate array (FPGA) based system has been used to test this ASIC before, but in a constrained manner as it lacked the ability to save data and was not very intuitive to use. In this thesis a read-out system for testing and reading-out of this ASIC using a PYNQ-Z2 development board was developed, improving on the downsides of the previous system. This read-out system was successfully tested, with performed measurements for the ASIC ADC and the front-end.