Low-cost Zynq FPGA SoC-based Data Acquisition System for Applications in the Field of Astrophysics

Abstract

This paper describes the design of an FPGA System-on-Chip for acquisition and processing up to sixteen simultaneous channels, its integration in a DAS module and its validation. The SoC receives the digital signals from two high resolution and speed ADC (24 bits and 256 KSPS), stamps the samples with Unix real-time with second or millisecond resolution, averages the samples and sends the processed samples as binary files to a remote station through Ethernet. In addition, the design allows control and configure by commands and an interactive configuration menu the module, due to the DAS is composed of configurable gain amplifiers and analog-to-digital conversion boards and a controllable internal power supply, and is even capable of shutting down it in the event of a power supply failure. This SoC has been developed using high-level and RTL-level design techniques and platform-based design methodologies.