Skip to content

A Prototype PCI-based Data Acquisition System for Cosmic Ray Detection Below 1018 eV

S. BenZvi, S. Westerhoff, J. Ban, W. Sippach

physics.ins-detarXiv:physics/0603233

Abstract

A prototype flash analog-to-digital readout system for cosmic ray detection at energies below 1018 eV has been designed and tested at Columbia University Nevis Laboratories. The electronics consist of an FADC module that digitizes 16 photomultipliers at 40 MHz with 14-bit dynamic range. The module is read out to a PC (running Linux) through a PCI interface. Taking advantage of the large bandwidth provided by the PCI bus, we have implemented a software-based data acquisition system. This note describes the software and electronics, as well as preliminary tests carried out using a prototype FADC module.

Create a lesson