Mezzanines

Back from CASCA since Friday. I've been working on getting a few things built, namely my mezzanine board which I'm going to mount on the FPGA board. The mezzanine is really simple; I have an input that takes the signal from each camera pixel and converts it into a signal that the FPGA can read via a really fast comparator.

For those of you who don't know, a comparator is (typically) an op-amp that compares two voltages at its input and then produces a high or low output depending on which of the two is greater. 

Once the mezzanine is on order, I have to buckle down and finish debugging a few pits and pieces of code that aren't working exactly like they are supposed to. Namely, some of my data isn't making its way into the packets that are being streamed to the computer.

The poster that I made for CASCA is available here.

Low voltage differential signaling is really fast, faster than a nanosecond response time,
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Spent the day working on my photometer. Could not have chosen a more obscure signaling standard.
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Back from CASCA. Crazy tired. Will blog about this later. On my way to Indigo with a friend, them nap.
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CASCA 2010 (Day 1 and 2)

Hello, everyone. 

I write this from my dorm room at St. Mary's University in Halifax. For fifty bucks a night, I can't complain. 

We're 20 minutes on foot away from at least two brewpubs (which are fantastic, for the record). The conference starts tomorrow, 9AM. I will be giving a poster presentation on my research. 

Right now I'm getting ready to go to bed, got a big day tomorrow. Talks all day, then a pub crawl at night (Canadians are awesome).

I'll try to comment on the more interesting talks tomorrow. 

On my way to the airport. Big Astro conference.
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Status report, Stardate.... 2010oh five point.... now.

Okay, so, needless to say, I've been pretty busy lately. Let's start at the beginning, shall we?

I'm flying to Halifax next Monday for a CASCA (Canadian Astronomical Society) conference at St. Mary's University. I'll be giving a poster presentation on my research project (which I'll be making available online once it's complete). I fly back to Montreal on the Friday night, right after the conference, so exhausted as I may be, at least I'll not lose out on the weekend. 

After that, I have a trip to VERITAS to test out a new piece of hardware we're building that will be testing the reflectivity of the mirrors of the telescope dish (i.e. how much light they reflect). That trip is a short one, only four days. 

Kegged a batch of beer last night. An apricot ale in preparation for a graduation party I'll be going to at the end of the month. I also bought tubing and fittings for my CO2 tank and regulator. I'm curious to see how it turns out; this is my first keg.

Anyways, back to work, got to get this poster in the bag.