Ethernet based list processing controller for high speed data acquisition systems

CAMAC standard crates and modules continue to be used for nuclear and high energy physics experiments and test setups. They provide unbeaten performance in high precision measurements, flexibility and simplicity in the design of modules. We have designed and fabricated a new type of CAMAC crate controller with list processing capability to maximize the data throughput, event rate handling capability, while simultaneously simplifying software development efforts for data acquisition systems, also maintain complete compliance with CAMAC standards and ability to utilize all existing CAMAC compliant modules. The throughput increase is achieved by eliminating the arbitration between the CAMAC crate controller and list processing modules by integrating the list processor (auxiliary crate controller) and the crate controller. The event rate handling capability is increased by advanced list processing techniques such as Q-stop and hit-pattern based list processing. The resulting ethernet based list processing crate controller can transfer up to 1700 kbytes/s reaching up to hundreds of kilo eventss in 16 bit transfer mode from CAMAC modules measured at the analysis engine end. This makes it suitable for use in experimental systems, where a large number of signals with high event rates need to be collected with high precision. (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics.