A Compact, Flexible, High Channel Count DAQ Built From Off-the-Shelf Components

Journal Article · 01 June 2013 · IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/TNS.2013.2259846 · OSTI ID:1343050

Heffner, M. ^[1]; Riot, V. ^[1]; Fabris, L. ^[2]

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1. Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
2. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)

Medium to large channel count detectors are usually faced with a few unattractive options for data acquisition (DAQ). Small to medium sized TPC experiments, for example, can be too small to justify the high expense and long development time of application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) development. In some cases an experiment can piggy-back on a larger experiment and the associated ASIC development, but this puts the time line of development out of the hands of the smaller experiment. Another option is to run perhaps thousands of cables to rack mounted equipment, which is clearly undesirable. The development of commercial high-speed high-density FPGAs and ADCs combined with the small discrete components and robotic assembly open a new option that scales to tens of thousands of channels and is only slightly larger than ASICs using off-the-shelf components.

• Research Organization: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• Grant/Contract Number: AC52-07NA27344
• OSTI ID: 1343050
• Report Number(s): LLNL-JRNL-607590
• Journal Information: IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science, Vol. 60, Issue 3; ISSN 0018-9499
• Publisher: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)Copyright Statement
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English