| dc.description.abstract | The Atmosphere-Space Interactive Monitor (ASIM) is a project running under the guideline and financial support of the European Space Agency (ESA). The ASIM instrument consists of several high resolution, optical cameras and an X-ray and Gamma-ray detector. The ASIM payload is to be installed on the Columbus module on International Space Station (ISS) which will orbit the Earth at an altitude of 300-400 km, and will observe the Earth's atmosphere for a time span of two years after installation. A new H-2B heavy lift rocket carrying the H-2 Transfer Vehicle (HTV) is expected to install ASIM onto the Columbus module in 2014, which is developed by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). The main goals of the ASIM project are to study the Transient Luminous Events (TLEs) and Terrestrial Gamma Flashes (TGFs) with their effects on the atmosphere and space, and to collect the data related to the Earth's atmosphere, including the climate changes. The ASIM payload consists of a Modular X-ray and Gamma-ray Sensor (MXGS), six high resolution optical cameras, six photometers and other supporting electronics. Further the MXGS instrument consists of two detector modules named the CZT and the BGO having high imaging capability and are sensitive to Photons having energy range of 10 keV to 20 MeV. The University of Bergen is working together with the Danish National Space Center (DNSC), University of Valencia, the Polish Academy of Sciences Warszawa and many other research groups on this project under the supervision of the European Space Agency (ESA). The University of Bergen is responsible for the development of the MXGS-detector plane, Detector array and its Front End Electronics (DFEE). At the time of writing, the project is in phase C/D where a full-fledged ASIM payload engineering model for Flight Version is under development. The phase C/D will end with the installation of final Flight Version of ASIM onto the ISS. For testing the MXGS instrument in the lab at UiB, a readout and configuration program is developed in LabVIEW programming environment. This thesis describes the designing, and development of the readout and configuration program developed for the MXGS instrument in LabVIEW environment. A LabVIEW program is developed and used to communicate with different detector modules in MXGS instrument. The user can use this program from the PC to send commands to the detector (RCU-Readout Control Unit), to configure the ASICs in the detector modules (to activate them for event signals) and for acquisition and analysis the measurement data in the form of real-time plots visualization on the PC monitor. Each detector assembly unit consists of a RCU (Readout Control unit). The RCU hosts a FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array). There are number of Control and Status Registers defined in the various modules of the RCU firmware. The developed program creates an interface between the user and these CRs/ SRs to trigger the various functions in the detector. Whenever any photon event occurs on the detector, the science data packets (SCDPs) contain the photon energy and time information is created at the RCU. These SCDPs are made available for analysis on the user's PC in the form of real-time visual plots by using the LabVIEW program. A Control and Status Command Interface (CSCI) is developed, where it is much easier to send commands to the RCU and to verify the results. A separate graphical user https://bora.uib.no/handle/1956/5580 | en_US |
