Design of a large-format high-rate scientific CMOS camera

Abstract

With the increase of human activities in space, a large number of space artifacts have been generated around the Earth which called Near Earth Objects (NEO), most of which are space debris. CMOS image sensor can achieve very high frame rate by electronical shutter and suitable for NEO observation with its fast moving. For space objects observation, key technologies of a large-format and high-rate scientific CMOS camera were studied, including low-noise readout and low-interference refrigeration technology, real-time processing algorithm, high-speed data transmission technology, system integration technology and high precision timing technology , etc. A 4K*4K pixel scientific CMOS camera is introduced in this paper with 24fps rate in full frame mode and high timing accuracy of exposure synchronization with 10ns, which has great advantages for the initial orbit positioning of the space objects. The overall size of the camera is 143mm * 160mm * 168mm. The readout noise of the camera is about 4.4e-. At present, the camera has been installed and running at Xinglong Observatory.