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A Prototype PCI-based Data Acquisition System for Cosmic Ray Detection Below 10^18 eV

S. BenZvi·S. Westerhoff·J. Ban·W. Sippach
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Abstract

A prototype flash analog-to-digital readout system for cosmic ray detection at energies below 10^18 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.

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S. BenZvi, S. Westerhoff, J. Ban, W. Sippach. 2006-03-28. A Prototype PCI-based Data Acquisition System for Cosmic Ray Detection Below 10^18 eV. https://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0603233

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