THE GROUND SUPPORT EQUIPMENT FOR THE TRANSIENT GAMMA-RAY SPECTROMETER

We describe the function and implementation of the ground support equipment (GSE) for the transient gamma-ray spectrometer (TGRS), to be flown on-board the WIND spacecraft. A particularly novel feature of the system is that it was assembled almost entirely from commercially available, off-the-shelf components (including software), offering simplicity, portability, reliability and low cost. It was designed so that nearly every aspect of data accumulation, instrument verification, and analysis can be carried out by the GSE, which alleviates the necessity of a mainframe computer for all but the most comprehensive of data processing. For example, the bulk of the spectral analysis can be carried out using a commercially available, PC based PHA/MCA analysis package. Data products are archived directly onto a removable media optical disk drive, providing more than 20 days storage per disk at the nominal telemetry bit rate of approximately 400 bps. Data packets are made available for distribution over a local area network based on thin-wire Ethernet.