Electronics Group
The Electronic Engineering Group at the UKATC is involved in the design, test and integration of very complex electronic systems for the most demanding astronomical applications. The heart of any of these systems is usually the very latest in detector technology and we have extensive experience in building complete end to end systems for optical, infrared and sub-millimetre detectors. We work closely with detector manufacturers in defining our detector requirements. For example, for SCUBA 2 we have recently funded the development of the latest CCD type sub-millimetre TES (Transition edge Sensor) detectors in collaboration with NIST and the University of Edinburgh and on the VISTA IR camera were the first customers for the new VIRGO detectors from Raytheon.
We use our own in house designed detector control and data acquisition systems (Edict for UIST and Michelle) as well as commercial systems. In support of these activities we have gained a great deal of expertise in the design of high speed, low noise, analogue and digital electronics, encompassing FPGA designs as well as cryogenic electronics. To achieve optimum detector performance, the detectors are required to be operated at extreme temperature ranges which requires specialist knowledge of materials at cryogenic temperatures, down to 100mK.
At present we are investigating the properties of the latest Rockwell HAWAII*RG detectors to determine their suitability for a radial velocity spectrometer. We have also produced a commercial high speed clock driver to be used in conjunction with the ubiquitous AstroCam controllers to drive the latest avalanche gain CCDs. We have also recently delivered WFCAM to UKIRT with the largest IR focal plane in the world consisting of 4 HAWAII-2 detectors.
We also have expertise in control engineering specifically related to the modelling and analysis required to design and built the latest 4-8m telescopes and the accurate closed loop positioning of their optical surfaces. This is done using MatLab/SimuLink etc. Previous projects include design of a zero-friction two-axis beam steering mirror and analysis and testing of telescope axis control and pneumatic force actuator systems. Finally we provide a range of solutions for mechanism, temperature and vacuum control of the instruments.
Lab facilities include a purpose built electrostatis discharge safe lab, a CCD photometry lab, class 1000 clean rooms with class 100 laminar flow control cabinets and basic enviromental test facilities. There are other more general labs for system level testing. The electronics workshop has the capability of manufacturing a wide range of electronics assemblies, such as enclosures, surface mount printed circuit boards and a very specially organised cryogenic fine wiring all to ESA space qualification level.
Head of Group
Derek Ives
Domain/Skills
Detector engineering (optical to Sub-mm); Instrument Control; Control engineering;
Data acquisition system design; low-noise analogue and cryogenic design; FPGA design; Motion control systems; image/data analysis; ESA qualified electronics manufacturing.
Tools
MatLab, Altium Designer, Mentor Graphics, IDL, Optical/IR detector calibration systems