High-speed nuclear data acquisition and processing system

High-Speed Nuclear Data Acquisition and Processing System

Document Date:  20 Mar 2024

1. Scope: The measurement of short-lived nuclear events requires instrumentation with fast acquisition rates. Further, as multi-detector systems are often employed in these experiments to improve counting efficiency and/or measure additional event characteristics, there is a need for simultaneous measurement across several data acquisition channels. Real-time monitoring of experiment status is facilitated by the associated pulse processing software.

1.1 Background:  AFIT’s current nuclear digital data acquisition capability is not at the state-of-the-art in digitization rate, computational speed, or storage capacity. Whereas the digitization frequency of modern data acquisition equipment is about 100 GHz, AFIT’s current capability is 5 GHz at best, and usually slower. As a result, nuclear events of 100 picoseconds or less cannot be measured by students and faculty in our Nuclear Engineering program.

An appropriate High-Speed Data Acquisition and Processing System for Nuclear Measurements includes several subsystems: Digital Pulse Acquisition, Digital Pulse Processing and Transduction, Fast Optical Download, and Data Storage. These integrated hardware components are typically accompanied by control modules for instrument set-up and data acquisition, and for post-collection data analysis.

In one intended research application, the data acquisition system will interface with the recently procured dual, double-sided strip detector (dDSSD), which outputs 40 channels of data (from two 10x10 imaging arrays). The limiting factor in image acquisition rate is the speed of the multichannel acquisition hardware and the transfer of data from the acquisition buffer into the data storage system. The currently available (analog) acquisition hardware severely limits data collection and, consequently, the range of applications in which the dDSSD would be considered an acceptable imager choice. Here, the data download capability is also key and fast throughput would allow efficient generation of rich datasets amenable to Artificial Intelligence interrogation s. In another application, the fast data acquisition system would allow coincidence detection of multiple nuclear events with the necessary timing resolution to investigate material properties with much greater accuracy.

2. Applicable Documents

N/A

3. Requirements/Salient Characteristics:

• Ability to sample waveforms from charge-sensitive preamp of radiation detector, with unipoloar Vpeak ≤ 2 V
• Simultaneous sampling at ≥ 500 MS/s on ≥ 40 channels, with all channels time-synched
• ≥ 14-bit analog-to-digital conversion (ADC) resolution
• Internal ADC sampling clock with ≥ 50 MHz timing resolution; capability to utilize an external clock signal
• Individual self-trigger with channel over/under threshold, and trigger stamp resolution of better than 100 ps
• Memory buffer ≥ 5 MS/channel
• Communication interface that enables data in all active channels to simultaneously transfer data to data storage at a rate ≥ 80 MB/s, with included hardware for data storage (≥ 50 TB)
• Online digital pulse processing with ability to customize gating, pulse shaping parameters and pulse discrimination (over/under threshold, coincidence, veto, etc.)
• Compatible DAQ software that allows independent control of each active channel
• All necessary cables and interfaces to implement ≥ 40 channels of simultaneous data acquisition, data processing, and transfer to data storage

4. Delivery/Period of Performance: Equipment will be shipped to WPAFB.

PoP 12 week after contract award.

4.1 Place of Performance:

Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT/EN)

2950 Hobson Way

Wright-Patterson AFB, OH 45433-7765