FPGA-Based Data Acquisition System for Muon Scattering Tomography

Abstract

Muon scattering tomography is a non-destructive imaging technique that utilizes the penetrating properties and multiple Coulomb scattering of muons to produce detailed internal images of objects. This information is crucial for various applications, including material identification, civil structure investigation, geological surveys, archaeological investigations, and industrial inspections. In this work, we present the development of a multi-channel DAQ for muon tracking in a muon scattering tomography setup. The salient features of the proposed DAQ system include the direct acquisition and processing of LVDS signals, a 500MHz sampling frequency, and scalability. It consists of a front-end electronics stage built around the NINO ASIC, while the back-end electronics are configured with an Intel Altera MAX-10 FPGA development board, which transmits data to storage following the UART protocol. The performance of the DAQ system is tested with an RPC prototype to demonstrate its capability to accurately acquire two-dimensional position information of muon events. The proposed system provides an effective solution for large-scale muon tracking applications in non-destructive evaluation techniques such as muon scattering tomography.