The MINOS data acquisition system

Author

Belias, A. ; Crone, G.J. ; Harris, E. Falk ; Howcroft, C. ; Madani, S. ; Nicholls, T.C. ; Pearce, G.F. ; Reyna, D.E. ; Tagg, N. ; Thomson, M.A.

Author_Institution

CCLRC Rutherford Appleton Lab., Didcot, UK

Volume

3

fYear

2003

fDate

19-25 Oct. 2003

Firstpage

1663

Abstract

The MINOS long-baseline neutrino experiment consists of two detectors separated by 730 km. Both are equipped with identical data acquisition systems, based on continuous, dead time free readout. Data are read from the untriggered front-end electronics by VME single board computers and transferred across high-speed PCI data links for consolidation by data routing processors. An array of Linux computers selects events of interest using software-based trigger algorithms. We present the design of the DAQ system and report on experience gathered during early operation of the experiment.

Keywords

data acquisition; neutrino detection; neutrino oscillations; readout electronics; 730 km; Linux computers; MINOS data acquisition system; MINOS long-baseline neutrino experiment; VME single board computers; data routing processors; dead time free readout; high-speed PCI data links; software-based trigger algorithms; untriggered front-end electronics; Astronomy; Data acquisition; Earth; Extraterrestrial measurements; Laboratories; Neutrino sources; Optical fibers; Physics; Protons; Solid scintillation detectors;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Nuclear Science Symposium Conference Record, 2003 IEEE

ISSN

1082-3654

Print_ISBN

0-7803-8257-9

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/NSSMIC.2003.1352198

Filename

1352198