| CalTempFromBias | stsdas.hst_calib.nicmos | CalTempFromBias |
CalTempFromBias -- Calculate the temperature of the detectors from their measured bias.
CalTempFromBias input
The routine first makes an estimate of the signal in the 0th read and subtracts it off. The goal is a clean measure of the bias level in each of the quads in the 0th read. This is usually done by taking the difference between the 1st and 2nd reads, which in ALL NICMOS sequences have exactly the same exposure time. This difference removes any shading, and gives a fairly linear signal image, which is then subtracted from the 0th read. An amp-glow image is also subtracted. If there are only 2 reads in the image, a signal estimate is made using the 1st minus 0th read difference. This leaves some shading, so a threshold is employed to only subtract the signal if it is larger than the error induced by the residual shading. There is also a placeholder for a ringcleaner, but it isn't implemented at this time, as there's probably no need. The temperature cannot be determined from an ACCUM mode exposure, as the pertinent bias information has been subtracted away onboard the spacecraft before downlink. Once the signal is removed, the median value of each quad of the cleaned 0th read is determined. These 4 numbers are then used in the algorithms below. Strictly speaking, each pixel is a separate diode and should be treated individually, but experiments show that there is no gain to be had over averaging a quad in terms of absolute temperature resolution, and its far easier to carry around only 4 sets of coefficients than 65000 coefficients!
There are actually two methods for calculating the temperature from bias in the routine. The methods are named the Blind-Correction method and the Quietest-Quad method.
Both work on the pretext that the voltage drop across a diode changes as some function of the temperature. Each NICMOS detector is an array of 65536 diodes. Each detector is further broken down into 4 quadrants. This is significant, because each quadrant is biased separately (each one gets its own reset voltage, which is the voltage that is actually measured when reading out the array). Immediately following the reset the applied reset voltage across each diode is measured. The NICMOS detectors are currently biased at 0.6 Volts (keywords ND*BIASV in the spt files). In a perfect world, all one would need to do to get the temmperature of a give quadrant would be to measure the value of a given pixel right after reset and apply a simple function that relates counts to temperature. And that's just what each of the above algoritms does, but each handles the imperfections of the world a little differently - each has a different strength in a particular situation.
There is a large "noise" on the reset levels of the quads. This is sometimes referred to as the kTC noise, although that is a misnomer. This noise appears as random jumps in the mean bias level of each quad of up to ± 200 DN from readout to readout. Since the bias increases by about 290 DN/K, a 400 DN PtoP random error on the measurement of the bias translates into more than a degree of uncertainty in the derrived temperature. A method to remove the noise is desireable.
It has been discovered that the apparently "random" reset levels are not so random. They fall into 6-13 (maybe more) discreet, quantized levels, which I call "states". The quads are independent, but their reset levels are fixed relative to one another in a given state. Unfortunately, it seems that the states are not constant with time; since the states can not definetely be determined, the state information can not be reliably used as a method in calculating the temperature from bias.
The Blind-Correction algorithm uses the fact that certain quad differences can be scaled and subtracted from another quad to give "near- perfect" correction without the need to figure out which state is which. This method has the obvious advantage that it doesn't care what the states have done in the past or future. The reason it even works is likely because of the timing differences between quads.
The Quietest-Quad method uses the fact that the amplitude of the noise signal on some of the quads is lower than on the other quads (smaller phase probably). By using just that quiet quad, or an average of the two quietest quads in some cases, one can gte a temperature that is accurate to ± 0.15 K, without any correction whatsoever.
By default, both algorithms are run and temperatures and error estimates made for each. The errors are then cascaded to select the one with the smallest error, and that temperature is returned as the result. Maximum uncertainty should not be larger than 0.15-0.2 K.
1. Calculate the temperature for the NICMOS image "n8tf30jnq_raw.fits" using both algorithms, and write the default keywords for the algorithm having the least estimated sigma to the input file.
--> tfb = CalTempFromBias.CalTempFromBias( "n8tf30jnq_raw.fits") --> [temp, sigma, winner ]= tfb.calctemp() --> stat = tfb.update_header( temp, sigma, winner)
2. Calculate the temperature for the same image using only the Quietest-Quad algorithm, write the keywords MYHKEY for the temperature and MYEKEY for the estimate of the associated error for the temperature to the SPT file "n8tf30jnq_spt.fits"
--> tfb = CalTempFromBias.CalTempFromBias( "n8tf30jnq_raw.fits", edit_type="SPT",
force="QUIET", hdr_key="MYHKEY", err_key="MYEKEY")
--> [temp, sigma, winner ]= tfb.calctemp()
--> stat = tfb.update_header( temp, sigma, winner)
Initial implementation: May 2008.
This task was written by D. Grumm based on the description and prototype code by Eddie Bergeron.