NIIS Electronics
The main electronic components of NIIS can be broadly catagorized into three groups: instrument control, array control, and system monitoring and control. Instrument control referes to the electronics needed to control mechanical devices within the instrument, such as the filter wheel. The array is controlled with a control system, which in itself contains multiple electronic components. Finally, the System monitoring referes to programs used to run the instrument, including Labview and Voodoo. The Infrared detector array, called the Hawaii-II HgCdTe detector, is operated and controlled by a controller we call the .Leach Controller.. This controller system was developed by Bob Leach from SanDiego State University. The controller basically runs all the electronics necessary to use the array and produce images from it. In addition to the Leach Controller, a pre-amplifier is needed to interpret the signal from the array. The pre-amplifier we use is called the GUMP. The gump is powered by a rather large power supply which sits in its own grey case. To take an image, change settings in the controler, and to look at the images we use a program called Voodoo.