Title: BASEBAND AND DIGITAL RECEIVER SYSTEMS OF THE GMRT
1BASEBAND AND DIGITAL RECEIVER SYSTEMS OF THE
GMRT
- B. Ajith Kumar
- Group Co-ordinator Back-end Systems
2(No Transcript)
3Radio Telescope ReceiverAn Introduction
4A Single Dish Radio Telescope
- Collects radio waves from the celestial sky over
an effective aperture area and converts the
signal to an electrical voltage, in 2 orthogonal
polarisations. - A Highly sensitive Receiver with Low Noise
Amplifiers provide a total Gain (approx) 100 dB. - Power detectors are used to measure the power in
the amplified signal and it is integrated to
achieve the desired signal-to-noise ratio. - Final sensitivity depends on Collecting Area,
Bandwidth, Integration Time Receiver Noise
Temperature.
5A Single Dish Radio Telescope
- For High Sensitivity Signal-to-Noise Ratio
Collecting Area HIGH, -
Bandwidth -
LARGE, -
Integration Time-
LARGE, -
Receiver Noise -
LOW. - Map of the Source Structure is made by multiple
pointings over different parts of the source. - Celestial Radio signals are VERY weak unit of
flux used is - 1 Jansky 10 26 W / m2 / Hz
- Input radio power into a typical telescope is
-100 dBm ! - (would take 1000 years of continuous
operation to collect 1 milliJoule of energy !!)
6Single Dish Array Telescopes
- Resolution and sensitivity depend on the physical
size (aperture) of the radio telescope. - Due to practical limits, fully steerable single
dishes of more than 100 m diameter are very
difficult to build. - ? resolution (? / D) 0.5 degree at 1
metre (very poor compared to optical
telescopes). - To synthesize Telescopes of larger size, many
individual dishes spread out over a large area on
the Earth are used. - Signals from such array telescopes are combined
and processed in a particular fashion to generate
a map of the source structure EARTH ROTATION
APERTURE SYNTHESIS - ? resolution ? / Ds , Ds largest
separation.
New 100-m Greenbank Telescope
The Very Large Array
7Radio Interferometry Aperture Synthesis
- Signals from a pair of antennas are
cross-correlated (cross-spectrum is obtained). - This functions like a Youngs double slit,
measures one Fourier component of the image in
the U,V Plane.
- From measurements using different pairs of
antennas, several Fourier components of
the image are obtained. - Inverse Fourier transform of the combined
visibilities gives a reconstruction of the
original image ? aperture synthesis.
8GMRT Receiver - Existing SystemBaseband
Digital Receivers
9Baseband Digital Receivers
- Generate Intermediate Freq-uency (IF) signals at
Dish base for transportation to Central
Electronics Building (CEB) through OF cables. - Down convert Bandshape the IF signals at CEB to
facilitate the digitisation. - Processing of signals in digital domain to
generate Correlator data and record them. - Generate and distribute coherent Local Oscillator
signals for all Frequency Conversions.
10Baseband Digital Receiver Systems
- Analog IF Receiver circuits at the Antenna site.
- Baseband Receiver circuits at the Central Station
(CEB). - Local Oscillator circuits Phase locked to a
Master Ref. - Digital Back-ends for Interferometry Pulsar
Observations.
11Analog Receiver at Antenna
- The Analog Receiver systems at the antenna
converts the RF signal in both polarisations to a
common IF Frequency of 70 MHz. - SAW (Surface Acoustic Wave) Filters are used at
70 MHz for Band shaping of the signals. - The IF signals are then upconverted to 130 and
175 MHz for transportation to CEB through Optical
Fiber. - High dynamic range ALC circuits are used before
the signal is given to OF Transmitter to maintain
a constant power.
12Analog Receiver at Antenna
- Choice of three IF bandwidths 6, 16, 32 MHz.
Bandwidth compensation circuits to provide
constant power irrespective of selected
bandwidth. - Variable pre-attenuator values in the range 0 to
30 dB in 2 dB steps. - Variable post-attenuator values in range 0 to
30 dB in 0.5 dB steps. - Automatic Level Control (ALC) circuits with
dynamic range 30 dB and 1.0 sec time constant
with facility to switch off for specific
observations. - Overall gain of 60 dB (approx) in IF chain with
linearity upto 5 dBm at output (in ALC off mode).
13IF System Response
14Analog Receiver at Antenna - Main Plug in Units
70 to 130/175 MHz Converter
RF to 70 MHz Converter
Monitor Unit
Control Unit
15Baseband Receiver at CEB
- Converts IF Frequency signals to two sidebands
each of 0 to 16 MHz) with high Image Rejection. - 8th order Butterworth Filters for Bandshaping of
the sideband signals. - Facility to choose different observaion bands in
the two IF channels. - ALC circuits are used before the signal is given
to Sampler in the ADC cards to maintain a
constant power.
16Baseband Receiver at CEB
- Choice of nine BB bandwidths 65 KHz to 16 Mhz
in octave steps for each sideband. Bandwidth
compensation circuits to provide constant power
(0dBm) irrespective of selected bandwidth. - Variable gain amplifier circuits to vary the gain
in system from 0 to 24 dB in 0.5 dB steps. - Automatic Level Control (ALC) circuits with
dynamic range 8 dB and 1.0 sec time constant with
facility to switch off for specific observations. - Overall gain of 50 dB (approx) in BB chain with
linearity upto 10 dBm at output (in ALC off
mode). - Local Oscillator for Baseband Conversion
- DDS based Synthesisers 50 to 90 Mhz, Step 100
Hz. - Spurious lt -60 dBc, Phase Noise , -80 dBc/Hz at 1
KHz.
17BB System Response
18Baseband Receiver at CEB - Main Plug in Units
IF to BB Converter
BB Filter ALC
BB Control Monitor
19Spectrum at FE, IF, BB, Corr-self Outputs
FE
CORR
BB
IF
20Gain Distribution in Analog System
21Local Oscillator Generation System
- A 5 MHz Rubidium Frequency Standard at CEB is
used as the Master Reference. - LO Ref circuits at CEB generate the 105 and 200
MHz reference signals which is sent to antenna. - At antenna site LO Synth circuits generate LO
frequency in 100 to 1500 MHz range from the
reference signals. - Fourth LO circuits at CEB generate the LO for IF
to BB conversion.
22LO Master Reference System at CEB
23LO Master Features
- Uses a GPS disciplined Rubidium Standard as the
Main Time and Frequency Standard. - Reference signals generated from the standard are
send to antenna locations for generating coherent
LO signals. - Generates LO signals for Frequency conversions in
CEB electronics.
24TM-4 GPS Receiver Features
- High performance OCXO - 10 MHz
- Phase Nose lt -124 dBc/Hz (10Hz)
- Spurious lt -70 dBc,
- Harmonics lt -50 dBc
- Short Term Stability lt 1 X 10-11 (1Sec),
- Long Term Stability lt 1 X 1012 (24Hrs)
- Accuracy of 1pps 1nS
25Rubidium Standard Features
- Output 10 MHz, Sinewave
- Phase Noise -137 dBc/Hz at 10 Hz, Spurious lt
-130 dBc, - Harmonic lt -25 dBc
- Short Term Stability lt 2 X 10-12 (100S),
- Long Term Stability lt 5 X 1011 (monthly)
26LO Reference Regeneration at Antenna Site
27LO-Ref Regeneration
- Transistorised VCXO with Operating Frequency
of 105 MHz and 200 Mhz in a Phase Locked Loop
(PLL) configuration with Loop BW 70 Hz.
28LO Synthesiser System at Antenna Site
29LO Synth Features
- Freq Coverage 100 to 1500 MHz
- Step Size 1 MHz ( lt 350 M )
- 5 MHz ( gt 350 M )
- Power Output 11 dBm /- 3dB
- Spurious Level lt -60 dBc
- Harmonic Level lt -20 dBc
- Phase Noise lt -60 dBc/Hz
- 10 KHz Offset
- Phase Jitter 0.1 mS
- Line Freq Mod lt -20 dBc
30Digital Receiver at CEB
- The Digital Receiver supports two modes of
operation - The Earth Rotation Aperture Synthesis
Interferometry - The Phased Array Mode Pulsar Observations
31Digital Receiver at CEB
- The Synthesis Mode
- Useful for making maps of extended radio sources.
- Each antenna pair used as an interferometer that
measures one Fourier component of the radio image
? (3029)/2 435 instantaneous Fourier
components. - Rotation of the Earth is used to get more Fourier
components (UV plane). - Array configuration optimized to give maximum,
uniform coverage in the Fourier domain. - Final image obtained by 2-D inverse Fourier
Transform of recorded data.
32Digital Receiver at CEB
- Both Back-ends (FX Correlator Pulsar Receiver)
can operate simultaneously. - Common signal processing stages ADC, Delay
correction, Fringe stopping and FFT.
33Features of the ADC Section
- Clock Rate 32 Msamples/Sec.
- No. of bits 8 bits (only 6 msb bits used).
- Analog Input Voltage /-1 Vpp.
- Input Power Level 0 dBm.
- Output Logic Levels ECL Level.
- ADC chip used AD9058 Flash type ADC
34ADC Circuit
35Delay Section
- Max Delay of 2.048 mS (in units of 32 ns).
Dynamic update in 2 Sec. - Noise switching Walsh demodulation. RFI
mitigation in time domain. - Conversion of unsigned 6 bits from ADC to 4 bits
sign magnitude form. - Dual clock support to take care of extra overhead
cycles in the FFT. - Narrow bandwidth support for spectral line mode
of observation, using the decimation technique
(de-sampling) on the sampled data. - Bandwidths supported 125 KHz - 16 MHz of analog
Baseband signal. - Channel multiplexing at the output (as needed
for the full polar mode). - The hardware implemented using two Altera FPGA
devices per antenna (all 4 channels) on one
board, and PLDs for bus arbitration logics.
36Delay Section
37FFT Section
- ASICs are used as basic building block for FFT
operation, each operates at 32.25 MHz clock
speed. This is different from 32 MHz sampling
clock, mainly to accommodate the extra four
overhead clock cycles consumed by FFT operation. - The FFT operation is pipelined and uses Divide
and Conquer Approach algorithm to compute a 512
point FFT. Five ASICs per pipeline are used to
calculate the 512 point FFT operation, with the
operations split as radix 2, 4, 4, 4 4
computations. - Online Fringe Stopping and Fractional sample time
correction. - Input 4 bits, sign magnitude format.
- Output 4 bits real, 4 bits imaginary and
4 bits of common exponent. - The Output from two polarisations of same
sideband is time multiplexed.
38FFT Circuit
39FX Correlator at CEB
- Computes the Cross Self spectra for each
antenna in real time using ASIC. - Input data rate 1.9 GS/s.
- Output visibilities integrated 8192 times to a
time resolution of 128 ms. - Supports sub-array mode of GMRT with different
sources / frequencies for each sub-array. - Total compute power 100GCops
- Uses mostly ASICs some FPGAs.
40Main Features of the MAC Sub-system
- MAC sub-system Multiplies and Accumulates the
signals from each pair of antennas. - Provides a 30x30 matrix for each of 2 sidebands
2 polarisations, with 256 spectral channels per
sideband. - Visibilities are output at the rate of once every
128 ms. - Number of spectral channels is
- 128 in 32 MHz BW, Indian Polar,
- 128 in 16 MHz BW, Full Polar,
- 256 in 16 MHz BW, Non-polar.
41The ASIC in MAC mode
- Each ASIC takes input from 2 FFT cards, 12 bits
each. - The inputs go to registers and they get
multiplied and then accumulated for the N number
of FFT cycles. - The accumulated data of one cycle is stored in
the first bank of the ASIC RAM, which is 256 36
( of spectral channels Bits in output
15,15,6). In the next cycle, MAC operation uses
the second bank of the ASIC RAM. - During the four dead cycles, the Data goes to the
acquisition machine through back plane and DAS
card.
42MAC Card Layout
- Each MAC card accepts inputs from 8 FFT cards.
Four column inputs and Four row inputs. - The 16 ASICs compute the basic 4x4 MAC matrix
- The inputs to each ASIC are in 4,4,4 format the
output is in 15,15,6 format - All ASIC outputs are connected to a common bus
- Total of input signals/card 8 12 2 (
of FFT of o/p bits/FFT ECL form of each
bit) 192 - Total output signals/sideband 192 11 3 (
of signals/MAC card of cards/FX rack of
FX racks/sideband) 6336
43MAC Card
44System Parameters for the GMRT (in
Synthesis Mode)
45Pulsar Receiver at CEB
- Delay and phase corrected data from the FFT
outputs is given to the GMRT Array Combiner (GAC) - The GAC allows any user selected set of antenna
signals to be added to get the array output. - Simultaneous operation in two modes possible -
- IA - Incoherent Array (power sum)
- PA - Phased Array (voltage sum)
- Simultaneous multi-frequency observations ---
trade-off BW for different sub-arrays.
46Pulsar Receiver - Features
- The GMRT Pulsar Receiver provides high time
resolution, single dish output by suitably
adding the signals from individual antennas of
the GMRT. - User selectable gains can by applied to the
signals passing through the GAC, for individual
spectral channels in each polarisation. - The output of the GAC is at the raw rate of 16
microsec per sample, with 256 spectral channels
present per 16 MHz bandwidth, per polarization. - It uses the ADSP 21020 as the main processing
unit, along with a mix of PLDs and FPGAs for
control and computation. - Both the modes (Incoherent Array Phased Array)
are fully operational for both LSB and USB parts
of the Digital Backends, hence can be used for
full Bandwidth ( 32 MHz) operation. - The entire pulsar receiver can be configured and
controlled from a GUI that can be run from a
Linux machine in the Main Control Room.
47Block Schematic of Pulsar Receiver
48IA PA Pulsar Receiver
- These two back-ends allow the raw data stream
from the GAC to be integrated in time / frequency
to achieve a net data rate at which the signals
can be recorded using PC based data acquisition
systems. - In addition, the PA bin computes the basic self
and cross terms between the voltage signals of
the two polarizations, from which the full
Stokes parameters can be constructed. - The highest time resolution achievable is 128
microsec for the IA mode and 512 microsec for
the full Stokes PA mode. - These back-ends are available only for one
sideband (16 MHz) BW and are connected to the
upper sideband (USB).
49Polarimeter
- Like the IA and PA Receivers, it takes in the raw
data from the IA and PA outputs of the GAC and
further processes them in Time/Frequency before
recording on PC based DAQ systems. - Uses Altera FPGA ( FLEX 10k100 ) for the
computation of four stokes parameters and
implementation of the signal flow logic for
different modes of observations like IA PA. - The highest time resolution achievable at present
is 64 microsec for the IA mode and 256 microsec
for the full Stokes PA mode. - Is available for both LSB and USB, Provides full
polar mode phased array data.
50System parameters for the GMRT (in Array
Mode)
- Effective Area 30,000 sq. m. for 610
MHz and below - 20,000 sq.
m. for 900-1400 MHz - Maximum Bandwidth 32 MHz
- Sampling time gt 16 microsec for
Incoherent Dedispersion - lt 1
microsec for Coherent Dedispersion - Polarization All 4 Stokes parameters for
Coherent Phased Array - Total intensity for
Incoherent Array - Sensitivity
- For single pulse mode (using PA) Sav
35 mJy - For pulsar search mode (using IA) Sav 1
mJy - Freq 325 MHz all 30 dishes added 2 Pol
- 100 uS sampling 10 minute scans
51System Failure Summary Spares
- Total No. of Problems in 2007 1777
- Antenna Base Electronics 4.5
- Baseband Electronics 1.0
- LO System 3.5
- Digital Back-ends 17.5
- Working Spare Availability 3 set each
- Average Service Time for Faults lt 1 Hr
52GMRT Baseband Digital ReceiversRecent
Modifications XI Plan Upgrades
53- Software Back-end
- 30 to 1 Power Level monitoring System
- 100 MHz Backend for tests with Broadband signal
- System Upgrades XI Plan
54Software Back-end
- Real-time correlation for 30 antennas, 2 pols, 16
MHz band. - 4 bit Raw voltage recording 30 antennas, 2 pols,
16 MHz band. - Modes of Operation
- Real-time data acquisition writing to disks,
off-line read-back of recorded data and
computation - Real-time Data Acquisition computation.
55Software Back-end - Operation
- Run synchronous sampling on 8 ADC boards (32
antennas) 16/32 MHz BW. - Transfer data from ADC board to CPU unit (via
interrupt driven DMA) in large blocks (32 MB
block size --gt 8 MB per antenna). - For recording mode, synchronous write to disk
locally at each node. - For correlations, distribute data from all
antennas (using time division multiplexing) to
all nodes -- each node handles 1/8 time slice
from each block. - Carry out Delay correction, FFT, Fringe stop, MAC
and other required operations at each node. - Record integrated visibilities results to local
disk on each node, or send them to collector
nodes.
56Software Back-end Current Implementation
- Layer 1 ACQ Nodes Dual core, Dual processor
Intel Xeon CPUs, 1 GB RAM, Dual Gigabit Ethernet
ports, 8-bit, 4 Channel, 100 MSPS, PCI-X
compliant ADC card - Layer 2 Compute Nodes Quad core, Dual
processor Intel Xeon CPUs, 2 GB RAM, Dual Gigabit
Ethernet ports, 2 TB storage capacity - Layer 3 Recording Nodes Dual core, Dual
processor Intel Xeon CPUs, 2 GB RAM, Dual Gigabit
Ethernet ports, 2 TB storage capacity - This results into total No of Nodes required 48
57Software Back-end - Features
- More Dynamic range --gt More bits per sample
-- for better protection against Radio
Frequency Interference (RFI). - Better Frequency Resolution for Full Bandwidth
--gt Longer FFT lengths. - Ability to filter out impulsive RFI and
Power-line RFI from raw data, visibility data. -
- Ability to record raw data from each antenna
and play back with different options. -
- Ability to form multiple beams within the
primary beam (in Phased Array mode). - Ability to modify, add new sophisticated
algorithms with ease.
58Software Back-end Systems
Front Side
Rear Side
59Software Back-end Systems
ADC Card
DAQ PC
60Hardware Software Backend Comparison
61Hardware Software Backend Comparison
62First Image
- Image made from S/W back-end (by J. Chengalur)
- Source 3C286
- Frequency 1280 MHz
- Bandwidth 16 MHz
- Time 20 mins data
63New IF Conversion for Software Back-end
- Interface the Software Correlator to the current
GMRT Receiver. - Facilitates Simultaneous use of both Software and
current Correlator Back-ends. - Provides Analog signals at 32 MHz BW to the ADCs.
- Facility to inject a noise signal to Baseband and
SW Correlator for easy trouble shooting.
64New IF Conversion for SW Back-end
65LO Generation for New IF Conversion
- Harley CTI make DDS units used for generation
of LO signals. - Freq 100 1600 MHz
- Freq Step 1 MHz
- Ref Signal 10 MHz
- Facilitates shifting the IF signal to any value
less than 100 MHz.
66New 30 to 1 program
- 30 to 1 sytem is used for monitoring the IF
signals at CEB. - New 30 to 1 program based on Labview is Ready.
- Switch selection through NI DAQ and Instrument
control through GPIB. - Works in Windows and Linux platforms.
- Limitations on the PC clock speed and processor
removed.
67Existing 30 to 1 System
68- Two quadrature phase signals of 50 MHz BW each is
generated from incoming L-band signal. - Broadband Quadrature Hybrid is used to generate
the LO signals at 90 deg phase. - Quadrature Sampling, Digit-isation, Signal
Conditioning and Correlation (FX) to be
imple-mented on composite Serendip-V boards. - These Back-ends will be used for the 15 mtr dish
Receiver also.
69Analog Circuits - Status
- Status Circuit Design completed, Components
ordered. - Schedule Two antenna system expected to be
ready in three months time. - Estimated cost US 300 (2 ant)
70Quadrature Hybrid
- Pulsar Microwave
- Model QSA-09-464/6
- Frequency Range
- 400 to 2000 MHz.
- Amplitude Balance 1 dB
- Phase Balance 6 deg.
71Digital Circuits
- Serendip-V boards will be used as the Digital
Back-ends for the first prototypes. We have a
Serendip System with two Boards available with
us. - These Boards are General Purpose Digital boards
with in-built ADCs and FPGA processors suitable
for various applications. - Serendip Boards are in use in various Telescopes
for Digital Back-end processing.
72Serendip Board Schematic
- Four ADCs 8-bit ADCs with 128 MHz analog BW.
- Provision for two 100 MHz in-phase
quadrature-phase Analog signals. - Xilinx Virtex-II 6000 (XC2V6000) can be
dynamically programmed for Signal Processing. - Xilinx Virtex-II 1000 (XC2V1000) as a
reconfigurable backend processor to pass data to
an independent computer - 200 digital I/O lines 256 MB DRAM.
73SERENDIP-V Setup
74Serendip - V System
75Self-Correlation Ch-A(Noise Signal 10MHz BW)
76XI Plan Upgrade Scheme
- One stage of Frequency Conversion for all
frequencies above 800 Mhz. - Direct Sampling and digitisation these signals
using ADCs operating at a clock rate of 1600 Mhz. - Digital filter bank to separate the signals into
eight bands of 100 Mhz bandwidth each. - Any four of the above filter outputs can be
selected for correlation.
77Features Comparison with Current System
- Upgraded System
- Seamless Coverage from 50 to 1500 MHz.
- Supports instantaneous Bandwidth of 400 MHz in
each polarisation. - Facility for multi-frequency observations 100
MHz band widths at four different bands. - Integrated Power Level Monitoring Circuits for
easy trouble shooting.
- Current system
- Supports Seamless coverage in 50 to 1500 Mhz,
with a few blind spots in this range. - Instantaneous Bandwidth of 32 MHz in each
polarisation. - Facility for dual frequency observations with 32
Mhz in each band. - Power Level monitoring available at few stages in
Receiver chain.
78- Convert L-band signal from antennas to 100-900
MHz range with 1 stage conversion - The signals are digitised using high speed iADC
Boards at a clock rate of 1000MHz. - Digital Filters used to split the signal to 100
MHz bands. - Signal conditioning and Correlators to be
implemented in iBOB boards. - High-end FPGA Boards like BEE2, Roach Boards to
be used in final system.
79iADC Boards
- Digitise 2 Analog channels
- Sampling rate
- 1 Gsps 2 Channels
- or 2 Gsps 1 Channel
- ADC used
- Atmel AT84AD001B
- 8-bit, 1 GSps dual ADC
- Analog BW 1500 MHz
80iBOB Boards
- Uses a Xilinx XC2VP50 FPGA as the main compute
resource, suitable upto a four ant Back-end. - Allows input data streams to be packetised for 10
Gbit, infiniband transmission to High end FPGA
Back-ends like BEE2 boards - For Final 30 ant System we need to go for a
High-end FPGA Backend Like BEE2 or Roach.
81iBOB Boards with Two iADCs
82BEE2 Boards
- The BEE2 integrates high computational density
with high speed I/Os - Has 5 nos of XC2VP70 Virtex-II Pro FPGAs (4
user 1 control), each capable of 48
billion MAC (16 bit) operations 10x a P-5 - 4 GB of DDR2-SDRAM memory, aggregating 12.8 GBps
throughput from each user FPGA - 10 Gbps InfiniBand links from each user FPGA
total of 18 per board 2 Power PC cores. - Power budget 250 W per board
83BEE2 Board
84XI Plan Upgrade Status
- Analog Processing Circuits Prototype Design
Ready, Hardware to be implemented, Order placed
for components. - iADC iBOB Boards Order placed for eight
boards (expected in Apr 08). Currently exploring
possibility of fabricating 8 boards locally. - High-end FPGA Back-ends BEE2 / ROACH Boards to be
ordered. - Price iADC - US 1300, (one ant, two channels)
- iBOB - US 1800, (two ant, two
channels) - BEE2 - US 8000
85Thank You