A VME: Versa Module Europa, crate controller for high speed data acquisition of heterogeneous, multi-detector systems

Area of Science:

• Physics
• Instrumentation
• Computer Engineering

Background:

• Complex physics experiments require high-performance data acquisition systems.
• Existing systems face limitations in signal resolution, dead time, and event rate handling.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop an intelligent controller for advanced data acquisition systems.
• To improve event rate handling and reduce dead time in physics experiments.

Main Methods:

• Developed an intelligent controller featuring a field-programmable gate array (FPGA).
• Incorporated a sequencer engine, dual-port RAM for simultaneous data acquisition and transfer, and a busy logic interface.
• Integrated a time-stamping engine with 10 ns interval and a Versa Module Europa (VME) backplane interface.
• Utilized a superspeed universal serial bus (USB) for data transfer to a computer/single board computer (SBC).

Main Results:

• Achieved a throughput of 32 megabytes per second (MB/s) with an event size of 288 signals at 30 kiloevents per second.
• Demonstrated potential for throughput increase up to 45 MB/s with faster slave modules.
• The VME controller supports event sizes up to 1023 signals within a single VME crate.

Conclusions:

• The developed sequencer engine-based VME crate controller significantly enhances data collection capabilities for physics experiments.
• The system facilitates handling high volumes of data with numerous signals at increased event rates and minimal dead time.
• The controller, named Readout Ordained Sequencer Engine, addresses the growing demands of modern experimental physics.