Self-adaptive low-energy particle detection system

Abstract

The invention provides a self-adaptive low-energy particle detection system, which comprises a low-energy ion analyzer and a low-energy electronic analyzer, and the two analyzers respectively adopt the same FPGA control program; component grouping measurement is added in the FPGA design and is used for realizing multi-component detection in unit measurement time; an instrument number interface is added in the interfaces and is used for reading the level of the instrument number interface; a number identification and control module is added and used for identifying the current instrument type and generating instrument identification parameters; the parameter acquisition module is used for acquiring engineering parameters of different paths when an instrument is a low-energy ion analyzer or a low-energy electronic analyzer; the control module is used for controlling and receiving an instruction conforming to equipment where a current FPGA configuration item is located; and the control module is also used for controlling to output a data packet conforming to the equipment where the current FPGA configuration item is located. According to the system provided by the invention, the same FPGA executable code is programmed on two different devices, namely the low-energy ion analyzer and the low-energy electronic analyzer, so that FPGA configuration item self-adaption is realized.

Description

[0001] This application is a divisional application of the invention application with application number "202510267018.6", invention name "A multi-component charged particle detection system", and application date of March 7, 2025. Technical Field

[0002] The present application belongs to the key technical field of space plasma detection, and specifically relates to an adaptive low-energy particle detection system. Background Art

[0003] Charged particle analyzers are a key component of space environment detectors. With the advancement of technology, deep space exploration is placing increasing demands on detector performance, requiring them to possess a wide field of view and multi-component detection capabilities. A wide field of view can be achieved by using multiple detectors distributed across the satellite for simultaneous detection. Multi-component detection can be achieved by using multiple detectors to detect different components separately, or by using a single device to perform time-sharing detection of different components. Large field of view and multi-component detection place extremely high demands on the detector's FPGA design.

[0004] The low-energy ion analyzer and low-energy electron analyzer are key components of charged particle detectors. They detect different components, primarily low-energy ions and low-energy electrons. The low-energy ion analyzer measures positively charged ions and distinguishes ions of different components, while the low-energy electron analyzer measures negatively charged electrons. The charges detected by the two analyzers are of opposite polarity, requiring the hardware circuitry to generate high voltages of opposite polarity. Therefore, the hardware circuitry for the low-energy ion analyzer and low-energy electron analyzer cannot be combined. Two separate stand-alone devices must be designed to detect low-energy ions and low-energy electrons. The FPGA configuration options for the low-energy ion analyzer and low-energy electron analyzer are similar in functionality and performance, but differ in their external interfaces.

[0005] The current low-energy ion analyzer cannot distinguish the composition of ions in space. Furthermore, the FPGA configuration items for the low-energy ion analyzer and the low-energy electron analyzer are independent of each other. The two instruments are assigned separate FPGA configuration management, design, and test personnel. This results in poor consistency in the design and testing of the instrument's FPGA configuration items, and consumes significant manpower and development costs. Summary of the Invention

[0006] The purpose of this application is to overcome the defects of existing low-energy ion analyzers and low-energy electron analyzers, which have single detection component functions and each device's FPGA configuration items are independently developed, resulting in excessive maintenance of FPGA configuration items.

[0007] To achieve the above objectives, the present application proposes an adaptive low-energy particle detection system, including a low-energy ion analyzer and a low-energy electron analyzer;

[0008] The low-energy ion analyzer and the low-energy electron analyzer have different instrument numbers in the communication protocol with the external device;

[0009] Adding an instrument number interface to the FPGA interface of the low-energy ion analyzer and the low-energy electron analyzer for reading the instrument number interface level;

[0010] A number identification and control module is added to the FPGA of the low-energy ion analyzer and the low-energy electron analyzer, which is used to obtain the instrument number interface level from the instrument number interface, identify the current instrument type, and generate instrument identification parameters; is used to control the engineering parameter acquisition module to realize the acquisition of engineering parameters of different channels when the instrument type is a low-energy ion analyzer or a low-energy electron analyzer; is used to control the data receiving, parsing and response module to receive instructions that comply with the device where the current FPGA configuration item is located, record errors when receiving instructions from other instruments, and ignore the instructions; and is also used to control the data packaging and sending module to output data packets that comply with the device where the current FPGA configuration item is located.

[0011] As an improvement to the above system, when the instrument type is a low-energy ion analyzer, 16 engineering parameters are collected; when the instrument type is a low-energy electron analyzer, 12 engineering parameters are collected.

[0012] As an improvement to the above system, the following is also included:

[0013] A timing control function is added to the scientific data acquisition module of the FPGA of the low-energy ion analyzer and the low-energy electron analyzer, and the minimum detection time unit is divided into multiple component detection time units. The high-voltage circuit output gated high-voltage switch is controlled to have different durations in different time units to achieve detection of different components.

[0014] As an improvement to the above system, the following is also included:

[0015] The FPGA interfaces of the low-energy ion analyzer and the low-energy electron analyzer also include: a crystal oscillator, an SRAM interface, an MRAM interface, a multiplexer interface, an AD conversion circuit interface, an asynchronous serial RS422 interface, a high-voltage power supply control interface, a DA conversion interface, a preamplifier interface, and a time-of-flight measurement chip interface.

[0016] As an improvement to the above system, the following is also included:

[0017] The FPGA modules of the low-energy ion analyzer and the low-energy electron analyzer also include: a scientific data acquisition module, a scientific data processing module, a working parameter table reading and writing module, a high-voltage power supply control module, a preamplifier threshold adjustment module, a preamplifier test signal output module, and a system timing and sequence control module.

[0018] Compared with the prior art, the advantages of this application are:

[0019] 1. The present invention innovatively adds a timing control function. Combining the principle that the on / off duration of the gate-controlled high-voltage circuit can control the entry of ions of a certain component, the minimum detection time unit is divided into multiple component detection time units. In different time units, the high-voltage circuit is controlled to output different gate-controlled high-voltage switching durations to achieve detection of different components.

[0020] 2. This invention adds instrument number identification and control functionality, employing a collaborative design of hardware interface circuits and FPGA configuration items to achieve FPGA configuration item adaptation. The FPGA configuration item reads the instrument number interface level to identify the current device and control the "injection command reception, parsing, and response," "engineering parameter collection," and "data packaging and transmission" modules to adaptively execute related functions based on the device where the current FPGA configuration item resides. This effectively avoids wasted human resources, reduces FPGA configuration item development costs, and improves the consistency of FPGA configuration item operation across multiple devices. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0021] Figure 1 Shown is a block diagram of the interface between the low energy ion analyzer, the low energy electron analyzer and the load management unit;

[0022] Figure 2 The figure shows the external interface block diagram of FPGA for adaptive low-energy particle detection;

[0023] Figure 3 Shown is a functional diagram of an FPGA product for adaptive low-energy particle detection;

[0024] Figure 4 Shown is a component detection timing diagram of an FPGA for adaptive low-energy particle detection. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0025] The technical solution of this application is described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0026] The adaptive low-energy particle detection system provided in this application is based on improvements to existing low-energy ion analyzers and low-energy electron analyzers. By adding a multi-device autonomous identification and execution functional module to the FPGA, this system overcomes the current problem of multiple charged particle analyzers with independent FPGA configuration items, resulting in poor design consistency and wasted human resources. In this application, the hardware circuits of the low-energy ion analyzer and the low-energy electron analyzer are each designed with an instrument ID interface. After the FPGA is powered on and reset, it actively reads the instrument ID interface level, identifies the current stand-alone device, generates an instrument number, executes each functional module according to the FPGA requirement specifications, and communicates according to the external communication protocol.

[0027] In the adaptive low-energy particle detection system provided by the present application, the low-energy ion analyzer and the low-energy electron analyzer internally use the FPGA improved by the present application, and in ion detection, the original unresolved ion components are changed to the detection of components such as hydrogen ions (H+), helium ions (He++, He+), and oxygen ions (O++). At the same time, the low-energy ion analyzer and the low-energy electron analyzer share the FPGA configuration items, as shown in Table 1. The number of FPGA designers is reduced from 2 to 1, the number of ground inspection designers is reduced from 2 to 1, the number of stand-alone testers is reduced from 2 to 1, and the number of design / test equipment is reduced from 2 sets to 1 set. The outsourcing cost of third-party evaluation of FPGA configuration items is reduced to 1 / 2 of the original, which not only reduces outsourcing funds and design / test equipment, but also saves a lot of manpower. At the same time, the internal functions, performance, and interfaces of the two instruments are implemented by the same FPGA program, with a high degree of consistency.

[0028] Table 1 Comparison of workload before and after using the FPGA improved by this application

[0029]

[0030]

[0031] In this embodiment, the low-energy ion analyzer detects the composition, energy, direction, and flux of ions in the space environment; the low-energy electron analyzer detects the energy, direction, and flux of electrons in the space environment. These two instruments function independently, each with its own interface to the payload management unit (PMU). The low-energy ion analyzer, low-energy electron analyzer, and payload management unit are all independent devices, each containing an internal FPGA.

[0032] like Figure 1 As shown, the interfaces between the payload management unit and the low-energy ion analyzer and the low-energy electron analyzer include: power supply interface, analog telemetry interface, asynchronous serial RS422 communication interface, and the hardware interface circuit design status is completely consistent.

[0033] The PMU provides primary power to the low-energy ion analyzer and low-energy electron analyzer through the power supply interface. It collects analog telemetry inputs from the two instruments through the analog telemetry interface. It also communicates with the two devices via the asynchronous serial RS422 communication interface. To distinguish the two instruments, the instrument identifiers (instrument numbers) in the RS422 communication protocol between the PMU and the two instruments are different. The two instruments have identical functions. Table 2 shows a statistical table of differences between the low-energy ion analyzer and the low-energy electron analyzer.

[0034] Table 2 Statistics of differences between low energy ion analyzer and low energy electron analyzer

[0035]

[0036] like Figure 2 As shown, the external interfaces of the FPGA configuration items for adaptive low-energy particle detection include: crystal oscillator, SRAM interface, MRAM interface, multiplexer interface, AD conversion circuit interface, asynchronous serial RS422 interface, high-voltage power supply control interface, DA conversion interface, preamplifier interface, time-of-flight measurement chip interface, and instrument number interface. Among them, the instrument number interface is a new interface added in this application, and the other interfaces are interfaces of the original FPGA configuration items.

[0037] The FPGA configuration items for adaptive low-energy particle detection include 11 functional modules. The functional module descriptions are shown in Table 3. The top-level data flow modules of each function are as follows: Figure 3 shown.

[0038] Table 3 Functional description of 11 functional modules of FPGA configuration items

[0039]

[0040] Among them, the instrument number identification and control module is a newly added module in this application, and the other modules are modules of the original FPGA configuration items.

[0041] The FPGA configuration items for adaptive low-energy particle detection include power-on reset and initialization design, normal detection cycle operation design, and command reception design as follows:

[0042] 1) Power-on reset and initialization

[0043] When the FPGA used for adaptive low-energy particle detection starts working, the instrument is powered on. After the program is loaded, the FPGA will reset each module for 2 seconds. The reset process is as follows: the reset signal becomes low level, and each state machine and register is reset according to the FPGA program design.

[0044] An instrument number identification and control module has been added to the FPGA configuration items for adaptive low-energy particle detection. After the instrument is turned on and the power-on reset is completed, this module actively reads the instrument number interface level, identifies the current instrument, and generates the "instrument identification" parameters. The "acquisition parameters" are used to control the engineering parameter acquisition module to enable the low-energy ion analyzer to collect 16 engineering parameters and the low-energy electron analyzer to collect 12 engineering parameters. The "instrument identification" module is used to control the data reception, parsing, and response module to receive instructions that comply with the device where the current FPGA configuration item is located. When receiving instructions from other instruments, it records errors and ignores the instructions. The "instrument number / packaging information" is used to control the data packaging and sending module to output data packets that comply with the device where the current FPGA configuration item is located.

[0045] 2) Normal detection cycle operation

[0046] The FPGA used for adaptive low-energy particle detection operates on a 2-second cycle, initiated by a scientific data acquisition command sent by the PMU via RS422. Upon receiving the scientific data acquisition command from the PMU, the command receiving, parsing, and response module initiates a new detection cycle and simultaneously controls the data packaging and transmission module to transmit the scientific data and engineering parameters from the previous cycle. Within each detection cycle, the FPGA controls the operating parameter table read / write module to sequentially read data from the MRAM and update internal instrument control parameters (timing control parameters, high-voltage parameters, data preprocessing parameters, and compression flags). The system timing and sequence control module controls the instrument operation sequence according to the sequence control parameters read from the MRAM, realizing time-sharing detection of ions / electrons of different components; the high-voltage power supply control module controls the operation of the high-voltage circuit according to the high-voltage parameters and outputs the high voltage required by the sensor; the preamplifier threshold adjustment module configures the DA output preamplifier threshold according to the threshold parameters; the scientific data acquisition module pre-processes the collected time-of-flight data according to the data pre-processing parameters, and then outputs the data to the scientific data processing module; the scientific data processing module performs logarithmic and lossless compression on the scientific data according to the compression flag, and outputs the processed data to the data packaging and sending module, which stores it in the external SRAM. During each working cycle, the FPGA controls the engineering parameter acquisition module to collect analog engineering parameters based on the acquisition parameter information, and caches the engineering parameters in the FPGA's internal RAM. After the FPGA receives the scientific data acquisition instruction again, it starts a new working cycle and packages the scientific data and engineering parameters cached in the previous working cycle according to the instrument number and data packaging protocol given by the instrument number identification and control module. The data is packaged and sent to the PMU via RS422. The FPGA workflow loops in sequence according to the above process. When the FPGA receives the scientific data acquisition instruction sent by the PMU for the first time after it is turned on, it does not send data and only starts one cycle of work.

[0047] like Figure 4As shown, in the FPGA used for adaptive low-energy particle detection, each detection cycle contains multiple minimum detection units, and each detection unit is configured with different pitch angle control high voltage and energy channel control high voltage to achieve scanning detection of pitch angle and energy channel. In the present invention, the minimum detection unit is further divided into different component detection units, and the principle that the switching gate length of the gate-controlled high-voltage circuit can control the entry of ions of a certain component is combined to achieve detection of different components. Specific implementation plan: First, based on the principle that the switching gate length of the gate-controlled high-voltage circuit can control the entry of ions of a certain component, simulation calculation is performed to obtain the time T1 required for ions of different components to pass through a fixed-length gate area and the time T2 of a fixed-length free flight area, and the time parameters (T1, T2) obtained by the simulation are written into the MRAM as high-voltage parameters and data preprocessing parameters. The scientific data acquisition module divides the minimum detection time unit into multiple component detection time units. In each time unit, the high-voltage power supply control module controls the gate opening time of the gated high voltage according to the high-voltage parameters, that is, allowing the target ions to enter the detection area. The scientific data acquisition module measures the ions of the target mass group according to the data preprocessing parameters in different component detection time units, and transmits the detection data groups to the scientific data processing module, ultimately realizing multi-component detection.

[0048] 3) Command reception

[0049] The scientific data acquisition instructions sent by the PMU are used to control the instrument to start a new working cycle. The instrument's working cycle is 2 seconds. When the scientific data acquisition instruction interval is greater than 2 seconds, the FPGA starts a new working cycle each time it receives a scientific data acquisition instruction and sends data packets at the same time. When the scientific data acquisition instruction interval is less than 2 seconds, the FPGA ignores the scientific data acquisition instructions received within 2 seconds.

[0050] The FPGA can receive and parse the injected data instructions sent by the PMU at any time, and complete the response within the specified time. If the instruction is correct, the response is correct; if the instruction is incorrect, the response is incorrect. Upon receiving the injected data test signal parameters sent by the PMU, the FPGA can control the test signal output. Upon receiving the injected data MRAM write parameters sent by the PMU, the instrument control parameters (timing control parameters, high-voltage parameters, data preprocessing parameters, and compression flags) can be written into the MRAM. When the FPGA is first powered on, the MRAM parameter write should be completed before the injection of scientific data acquisition instructions begins the working cycle. This ensures that the data in the MRAM is not lost during power failure.

[0051] The instrument has an injection control working mode and a working parameter table control mode. When working in the working parameter table control mode, the instrument's high-voltage circuit control and preamplifier threshold control are both controlled by parameters in the MRAM. When receiving high-voltage enable setting and threshold setting instructions, the FPGA only receives them but does not execute them.

[0052] The instrument works in injection control mode. After receiving the injection data sent by PMU, the high voltage enable setting parameter can control the high voltage circuit output to set the high voltage. After receiving the injection data threshold setting parameter sent by PMU, the DA output preamplifier threshold voltage can be controlled.

[0053] The FPGA does not respond to the time code command sent by the PMU after receiving it. It is only used to update the time information of the system timekeeping and timing control module.

[0054] Finally, it should be noted that the above embodiments are intended only to illustrate the technical solutions of this application and are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention. Although this application has been described in detail with reference to the embodiments, it should be understood by those skilled in the art that modifications or equivalent substitutions to the technical solutions of this application do not depart from the spirit and scope of the technical solutions of this application and should be encompassed by the claims of this application.

Claims

1. An adaptive low-energy particle detection system, including a low-energy ion analyzer and a low-energy electron analyzer; It is characterized in that The low-energy ion analyzer and the low-energy electron analyzer have different instrument numbers in the communication protocol with the external device; Adding an instrument number interface to the FPGA interface of the low-energy ion analyzer and the low-energy electron analyzer for reading the instrument number interface level; A number identification and control module is added to the FPGA of the low-energy ion analyzer and the low-energy electron analyzer, which is used to obtain the instrument number interface level from the instrument number interface, identify the current instrument type, and generate an instrument identification parameter; is used to control the engineering parameter acquisition module to collect engineering parameters of different channels when the instrument type is a low-energy ion analyzer or a low-energy electron analyzer; is used to control the data receiving, parsing and response module to receive instructions that match the device where the current FPGA configuration item is located, record errors when receiving instructions from other instruments, and ignore the instructions; and is also used to control the data packaging and sending module to output data packets that match the device where the current FPGA configuration item is located; A timing control function is added to the scientific data acquisition module of the FPGA of the low-energy ion analyzer and the low-energy electron analyzer, and the minimum detection time unit is divided into multiple component detection time units. The high-voltage circuit is controlled to output gated high-voltage switches with different durations in different time units to achieve detection of different components; The FPGA modules of the low-energy ion analyzer and the low-energy electron analyzer also include: a scientific data acquisition module, a scientific data processing module, a working parameter table reading and writing module, a high-voltage power supply control module, a preamplifier threshold adjustment module, a preamplifier test signal output module, and a system timing and sequence control module.

2. The adaptive low-energy particle detection system according to claim 1, characterized in that: When the instrument type is a low-energy ion analyzer, 16 engineering parameters are collected. When the instrument type is a low-energy electron analyzer, 12 engineering parameters are collected.

3. The adaptive low-energy particle detection system according to claim 1, characterized in that: Also includes: The FPGA interfaces of the low-energy ion analyzer and the low-energy electron analyzer also include: a crystal oscillator, an SRAM interface, an MRAM interface, a multiplexer interface, an AD conversion circuit interface, an asynchronous serial RS422 interface, a high-voltage power supply control interface, a DA conversion interface, a preamplifier interface, and a time-of-flight measurement chip interface.

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