Development of Raspberry Pi-based Processing Unit for UV Photon-Counting Detectors.

In ultraviolet (UV) astronomical observations, photons from the sources are very few compared to the visible or infrared (IR) wavelength ranges. Detectors operating in the UV usually employ a photon-counting mode of operation. These detectors usually have an image intensifier sensitive to UV photons and a readout mechanism that employs photon counting. The development of readouts for these detectors is resource-intensive and expensive. In this paper, we describe the development of a low-cost UV photon-counting detector processing unit that employs a Raspberry Pi (RPi) with its built-in readout to perform the photon-counting operation. Our system can operate in both 3 × 3 and 5 × 5 window modes at 30 frames per second (fps). The system can be built quickly from readily available custom-off-the-shelf (COTS) components and is thus used in inexpensive CubeSats or small satellite missions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]