Integrated Circuits and Data Acquisition Systems
Responsible of the WP: Frédéric Druillole
frederic.druillole@lp2ib.in2p3.fr
Detector R&D is a highly technological area of research that relies heavily on a wide range of resources and technical skills. This is particularly true for specific competences such as microelectronics and acquisition systems (hardware/software), without which it is impossible to design, build and operate a detector.
Therefore, it is essential to include in the GDR a WG taking into account electronics, data acquisition systems, data processing and data transfer which are key aspects for physics experiments and they must be taken into account when designing the detector.
To strengthen the existing strike force of the IN2P3 laboratories, the teams working on the development of detectors, including scientists as well as electronics and computer engineers, should increase their interconnection and their collaboration to promote the exchange of know-how and emergence of innovative technical solutions. This WG aims to bring together this large community to build new synergies.
In microelectronics, ASIC is increasingly becoming a “system-on-chip” with the rise of digital electronics, providing intelligent data instead of raw data compression and intelligent decision algorithmsdd instead of combinatorial trigger logic. The complexity of these ASICs is such that it becomes quite difficult for a single IN2P3 team to design them and, moreover, several years are typically required to design, prototype, qualify and produce a new chip. As the field of microelectronics evolves rapidly, mainly driven by the needs of industry, it is therefore crucial to improve technology watch, to learn and qualify emerging technologies for our needs as well as to identify a suitable route.
The expected volume of data to be processed, in the years to come, in particle and astroparticle physics, and in nuclear physics is a real challenge. The very high luminosity in future experiments will imply a higher frequency of individual bunch crossings, thus requiring faster electronics and greater granularity for the detectors. This will imply on the one hand a greater volume of data generated and on the other hand a higher level of radiation requiring radiation resistant components. In addition, with a production of very complex events it will be necessary to reject a lot of background noise by more sophisticated and flexible algorithms.
In addition, ultra-fast links will allow extremely high data flows requiring acquisition systems to evolve. At the planned rates, more intelligent management of the buffer zones, throughout the data stream, will be necessary and it will no longer be possible to directly store all the data from the electronics.
