SoC FPGA-based Multichannel Data Acquisition System with Linux-Baremetal AMP for Applications in the Field of Astrophysics

Abstract

This paper describes the design of a modular system based on an FPGA System-on-Chip for the acquisition and processing of sixteen (scalable) simultaneous channels, its integration in a two-module 32-channel DAS as well as its validation. Each 16-channel MPSoC receives the digital signals from two high-speed and resolution ADCs (256 KSPS and 24 bits), stamps the samples with seconds or milliseconds Unix real-time marks, and sends the processed samples as binary files to a remote server using an Ethernet connection. In addition, the design allows module control by commands using an interactive configuration menu over the 32 channels DAS, as it incorporates, in a two-board assembly, 32 programmable gain amplifiers, four 8-channel A to D converters, and a common controllable capacitive UPS that allows orderly starts of DAS and safe stops in case of mains power failure. The whole process is conceived as a hardware/software solution. The Processing System implements an Asymmetric Multi-Processing System, using OpenAMP for data transfer and synchronization. Applications are client-server running on Linux OS, where the server runs on the ZedBoard, and the client runs on a remote Linux computer using TCP/IP over an Ethernet link.