FPGA-based system-on-chip designs for real-time applications in particle physics

In this paper we describe our experience in designing real-time hardware/software systems for data acquisition and analysis applications in particle physics, which are based on a system-on-chip (SoC) approach. Modern FPGA devices with embedded RISC processor cores, high-speed differential LVDS links and ready-to-use multi-gigabit transceivers allow developments of compact systems with substantial number of IO channels, where required performance is obtained by a subtle separation of tasks among closely cooperating programmable hardware logic and user-friendly software environment. We report on the implementation of two such systems to illustrate these advantages of the SoC architectures. One is a flexible test bench for the off-shore readout system of the ANTARES neutrino experiment. Another is a selective read-out processor device for the CMS electromagnetic calorimeter at LHC