SBIR-STTR Award

Alphacore will develop an Intermediate Frequency (IF) Conversion System for High-Bandwidth Multiplexed Sensors Arrays for NIST’s 2018 solicitation for Exploratory Measurement Science Topic 9.04.02.68. The proposing team has already successfully developed and evaluated a similar printed-circuit board (PCB)-based system for NIST (ROACH2 BLAST-TNG, refer section 1.2). The goal in Phase I is therefore to achieve two primary main objectives: 1) Optimize a system architecture for a single-board Intermediate Frequency Conversion System 2) Design, fabricate and test the individual components that comprise the Intermediate Frequency Conversion System. The final single-board design will be evaluated and optimized in the Phase II program. Both in Phase I and II programs Alphacore’s technical team will collaborate with a research/engineering group at ASU that is led by Dr. Philip Mauskopf, a Professor at the School of Earth and Space Exploration – SESE. Dr. Mauskopf’s group has extensive experience on the area of frequency converting readout systems for multiplexed cryogenic sensor arrays.

Alphacore will develop an Intermediate Frequency (IF) Conversion System for High-Bandwidth Multiplexed Sensors Arrays for Phase II of NIST's 2018 soliciation for Exploratory Measurement Science Topic 9.04.02.68.The proposing team has already successfully developed and evaluated a prototype board in Phase I.The goal in Phase II is therefore to achieve three primary objectives:1) Optimize the design and performance of an integrated single-board Intermediate Frequency Conversion System.2) Develop software to allow for flexible and simple user interfaces for control of amplification and attenuation settings and IQ calibration.3) Demonstrate end to end performance of the system as part of a cryogenic detector readout.