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23 records · Page 2

Architecture for a 1-GHz Digital RADAR

An architecture for a Direct RF-digitization Type Digital Mode RADAR was developed at GSFC in 2008. Two variations of a basic architecture were developed for use on RADAR imaging missions using aircraft and spacecraft. Both systems can operate with a pulse repetition rate up to 10 MHz with 8 received RF samples per pulse repetition interval, or at up to 19 kHz with 4K received RF samples per pulse repetition interval. The first design describes a computer architecture for a Continuous Mode RADAR transceiver with a real-time signal processing and display architecture. The architecture can operate at a high pulse repetition rate without interruption for an infinite amount of time. The second design describes a smaller and less costly burst mode RADAR that can transceive high pulse repetition rate RF signals without interruption for up to 37 seconds. The burst-mode RADAR was designed to operate on an off-line signal processing paradigm. The temporal distribution of RF samples acquired and reported to the RADAR processor remains uniform and free of distortion in both proposed architectures. The majority of the RADAR's electronics is implemented in digital CMOS (complementary metal oxide semiconductor), and analog circuits are restricted to signal amplification operations and analog to digital conversion. An implementation of the proposed systems will create a 1-GHz, Direct RF-digitization Type, L-Band Digital RADAR--the highest band achievable for Nyquist Rate, Direct RF-digitization Systems that do not implement an electronic IF downsample stage (after the receiver signal amplification stage), using commercially available off-the-shelf integrated circuits.

Mallik, Udayan↗

Precision of FLEET Velocimetry Using High-speed CMOS Camera Systems

Femtosecond laser electronic excitation tagging (FLEET) is an optical measurement technique that permits quantitative velocimetry of unseeded air or nitrogen using a single laser and a single camera. In this paper, we seek to determine the fundamental precision of the FLEET technique using high-speed complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) cameras. Also, we compare the performance of several different high-speed CMOS camera systems for acquiring FLEET velocimetry data in air and nitrogen free-jet flows. The precision was defined as the standard deviation of a set of several hundred single-shot velocity measurements. Methods of enhancing the precision of the measurement were explored such as digital binning (similar in concept to on-sensor binning, but done in post-processing), row-wise digital binning of the signal in adjacent pixels and increasing the time delay between successive exposures. These techniques generally improved precision; however, binning provided the greatest improvement to the un-intensified camera systems which had low signal-to-noise ratio. When binning row-wise by 8 pixels (about the thickness of the tagged region) and using an inter-frame delay of 65 micro sec, precisions of 0.5 m/s in air and 0.2 m/s in nitrogen were achieved. The camera comparison included a pco.dimax HD, a LaVision Imager scientific CMOS (sCMOS) and a Photron FASTCAM SA-X2, along with a two-stage LaVision High Speed IRO intensifier. Excluding the LaVision Imager sCMOS, the cameras were tested with and without intensification and with both short and long inter-frame delays. Use of intensification and longer inter-frame delay generally improved precision. Overall, the Photron FASTCAM SA-X2 exhibited the best performance in terms of greatest precision and highest signal-to-noise ratio primarily because it had the largest pixels.

Peters, Christopher J.↗

Precision of FLEET Velocimetry Using High-Speed CMOS Camera Systems

Femtosecond laser electronic excitation tagging (FLEET) is an optical measurement technique that permits quantitative velocimetry of unseeded air or nitrogen using a single laser and a single camera. In this paper, we seek to determine the fundamental precision of the FLEET technique using high-speed complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) cameras. Also, we compare the performance of several different high-speed CMOS camera systems for acquiring FLEET velocimetry data in air and nitrogen free-jet flows. The precision was defined as the standard deviation of a set of several hundred single-shot velocity measurements. Methods of enhancing the precision of the measurement were explored such as digital binning (similar in concept to on-sensor binning, but done in post-processing), row-wise digital binning of the signal in adjacent pixels and increasing the time delay between successive exposures. These techniques generally improved precision; however, binning provided the greatest improvement to the un-intensified camera systems which had low signal-to-noise ratio. When binning row-wise by 8 pixels (about the thickness of the tagged region) and using an inter-frame delay of 65 microseconds, precisions of 0.5 meters per second in air and 0.2 meters per second in nitrogen were achieved. The camera comparison included a pco.dimax HD, a LaVision Imager scientific CMOS (sCMOS) and a Photron FASTCAM SA-X2, along with a two-stage LaVision HighSpeed IRO intensifier. Excluding the LaVision Imager sCMOS, the cameras were tested with and without intensification and with both short and long inter-frame delays. Use of intensification and longer inter-frame delay generally improved precision. Overall, the Photron FASTCAM SA-X2 exhibited the best performance in terms of greatest precision and highest signal-to-noise ratio primarily because it had the largest pixels.

Peters, Christopher J.↗

324GHz CMOS VCO Using Linear Superimposition Technique

Terahertz (frequencies ranged from 300GHz to 3THz) imaging and spectroscopic systems have drawn increasing attention recently due to their unique capabilities in detecting and possibly analyzing concealed objects. The generation of terahertz signals is nonetheless nontrivial and traditionally accomplished by using either free-electron radiation, optical lasers, Gunn diodes or fundamental oscillation by using III-V based HBT/HEMT technology[1-3]... We have substantially extended the operation range of deep-scaled CMOS by using a linear superimposition method, in which we have realized a 324GHz VCO in 90nm digital CMOS with 4GHz tuning range under 1V supply voltage. This may also pave the way for ultra-high data rate wireless communications beyond that of IEEE 802.15.3c and reach data rates comparable to that of fiber optical communications, such as OC768 (40Gbps) and beyond.

voltage controlled oscillators (VCO)↗

CMOS Imager Has Better Cross-Talk and Full-Well Performance

A complementary metal oxide/semiconductor (CMOS) image detector now undergoing development is designed to exhibit less cross-talk and greater full-well capacity than do prior CMOS image detectors of the same type. Imagers of the type in question are designed to operate from low-voltage power supplies and are fabricated by processes that yield device features having dimensions in the deep submicron range. Because of the use of low supply potentials, maximum internal electric fields and depletion widths are correspondingly limited. In turn, these limitations are responsible for increases in cross-talk and decreases in charge-handling capacities. Moreover, for small pixels, lateral depletion cannot be extended. These adverse effects are even more accentuated in a back-illuminated CMOS imager, in which photogenerated charge carriers must travel across the entire thickness of the device. The figure shows a partial cross section of the structure in the device layer of the present developmental CMOS imager. (In a practical imager, the device layer would sit atop either a heavily doped silicon substrate or a thin silicon oxide layer on a silicon substrate, not shown here.) The imager chip is divided into two areas: area C, which contains readout circuits and other electronic circuits; and area I, which contains the imaging (photodetector and photogenerated-charge-collecting) pixel structures. Areas C and I are electrically isolated from each other by means of a trench filled with silicon oxide. The electrical isolation between areas C and I makes it possible to apply different supply potentials to these areas, thereby enabling optimization of the supply potential and associated design features for each area. More specifically, metal oxide semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs) that are typically included in CMOS imagers now reside in area C and can remain unchanged from established designs and operated at supply potentials prescribed for those designs, while the dopings and the lower supply potentials in area I can be tailored to optimize imager performance. In area I, the device layer includes an n+ -doped silicon layer on which is grown an n-doped silicon layer. A p-doped silicon layer is grown on top of the n -doped layer. The total imaging device thickness is the sum of the thickness of the n+, n, and p layers. A pixel photodiode is formed between a surface n+ implant, a p implant underneath it, the aforementioned p layer, and the n and n+ layers. Adjacent to the diode is a gate for transferring photogenerated charges out of the photodiode and into a floating diffusion formed by an implanted p+ layer on an implanted n-doped region. Metal contact pads are added to the back-side for providing back-side bias.

Pain, Bedabrata↗