IMAGE ACQUISITION SYSTEM

MONSOON is an NOAO "full open-source" development effort to address the need for detector-limited image acquisition for the next generation of astronomical instruments not only for NOAO but for the entire astronomical community.
 

Why a New Controller?

New project initiatives at NOAO such as ORION, NEWFIRM, QUOTA, and ODI have defined the need for scalable, multichannel, high-speed image acquisition. Systems of this scale and performance raise new challenges in terms of communication bandwidth, data storage and data processing requirements which are not adequately met be currently existing astronomical controllers. In order to meet this demand, new techniques for not only a new detector controller but rather a new image acquisition architecture, have been defined. These very same concepts can and should be extended to even larger systems. These extremely large scale imaging systems also raise less obvious concerns in previously neglected areas of controller design such as physical size and form factor issues, power dissipation and cooling near the telescope, system assembly/test/ integration time, reliability, and total cost of ownership.
 

Our Vision

At NOAO we have taken efforts to look outside of the astronomical community for solutions found in other disciplines to similar classes of problems. A large number of the challenges raised by these system needs are already successfully being faced in other areas such as telecommunications, instrumentation, aerospace, and others. Efforts have also been made to use true commercial off the shelf (COTS) system elements, and find truly technology independent solutions for a number of system design issues whenever possible.

Any new detector acquisition system should:

1. Look out to the foreseeable future using the latest technology.
2. Embrace all the relevant imaging devices and systems currently existing, in the planning stages, or on the visible horizon.
3. Consider the “total” view of the observatory as an integrated system where the output is high-quality science data ready to fuel the production of scientific papers and the advancement of astronomy.
4. Maximize “open-shutter” integration time, including reduced system overhead, and increased system reliability, thereby maximizing observing time.
5. Provide “detector-limited” imaging system performance.

MONSOON:  Path to the Future

This forward looking approach has moved our efforts at NOAO toward developing a modular, scalable architecture, which addresses the larger data pipeline and information flow issues, not simply device interface. In reference to the torrential summer rains of Tucson, and the flood of pixels defined by the next generation imaging systems, this system is named MONSOON.  MONSOON is more than a controller, but rather an image acquisition system architecture. MONSOON has been specifically designed to meet and exceed the requirements of ORION, NEWFIRM, QUOTA, and ODI.