PLATO consists of 24+2 high precision cameras, which perform photometric measurements for approximately 600,000 stars simultaneously. Each four cameras share one digital processing unit. Two cameras are acting as so called fast cameras, concentrating on just a few stars, but providing much higher time resolution.
All data from the processing, power, and housekeeping units are fed via the router unit to the instrument controller. Although the router is just a small component, it is an essential element and high attention is drawn on its reliability.
The instrument controller collects all data and performs a lossless compression, before generating the telemetry packets. The compression unit - developed in cooperation with the University of Vienna - is a hardwired logic in an FPGA providing efficient and high-performance data reduction.
The RDCU will be manufactured and assembled at IWF and will be finally integrated into the instrument controller.