#AthenaNuggets: Distributed Control and Data Processing onboard Athena WFI

The #AthenaNuggets 45, written by Markus Plattner, presents the Wide Field Imager (WFI) data processing system. The WFI is a camera with a detector based on five active pixel sensor matrices and it uses several distributed processors in two subsystems, Detector Electronics and Instrument Control and Power Distribution Unit to perform this processing. That way it can assign energy, position and arrival time to the X-ray photons reaching the camera.

All this hardware working together will ensure that WFI contributes to the breakthrough science performed with Athena.