System And Method For Precise Absolute Time Event Generation And Capture
US Patent:
7975160, Jul 5, 2011
Filed:
Jun 28, 2007
Appl. No.:
11/823841
Inventors:
Jeremy D. Smith - Salt Lake City UT, US Jason R. Thomas - Salt Lake City UT, US Stan B. Thomas - Salt Lake City UT, US Lawrence R. Wiencke - Salt Lake City UT, US
Assignee:
University of Utah Research Foundation - Salt Lake City UT
International Classification:
G06F 1/00, G06F 1/14
US Classification:
713500, 713502
Abstract:
The present invention is a system and method for precise absolute time event generation and capture. One embodiment of the present invention is a programmable hardware module for TTL pulse generation and capture in absolute time. The nominal accuracy of the programmable hardware module is 25 ns. The time reference is an on-board GPS (Global Positioning System) receiver. The hardware embodiment of the present invention can generate eight independently programmable outputs and capture the times on eight independently programmable inputs. An exemplary application for the present invention is triggering external light sources, and flash-lamp pumped lasers in particular, at specific times for calibration of cosmic-ray observatories. A software embodiment of the present invention is implemented in a Linux software device driver interface featuring an extensive set of user commands.