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San Jose, CA and Edinburgh, U.K – Alpha Data, the leading supplier of COTS board-level solutions based on Xilinx FPGA technology, announced today the full acceptance and commissioning of a Trajectory Measurement System (TMS) for the Proton Synchrotron, CERN, Switzerland, utilizing multiple Alpha Data ACP-FX-N2/125 high-performance analogue capture cards. The system individually measures the trajectories of up to 21 particle bunches, as they orbit the 200m diameter Proton Synchrotron ring at a frequency of up to 477 kHz. Such requirements necessitate very high-speed data capture and real-time processing of the sensor data, in order to provide sufficient time for the system computer to analyze the data and adjust the beam magnets which control the position and velocity of the particle bunches.
“The Trajectory Measurement System is an essential instrument for the Proton Synchrotron, which prepares proton and ion beams for the Large Hadron Collider. It was therefore, very important that the boards met our demanding performance requirements,”
“Alpha Data have designed an impressive data processing engine which utilizes all the key features and performance Xilinx FPGA technology delivers,” said David Tokic, Senior Director, Partner Ecosystems and Alliances, Xilinx Inc., ”Xilinx devices are being used in a number of the Large Hadron Collider systems and detectors, and we are pleased our technology is being used in an endeavor which will help improve human understanding of the universe.”
"This achievement is a great testament to the engineers and staff involved in its development,”
About the Capture System
The TMS system measures the amplitude and x/y displacement of the individual particle bunches as they pass 40 analogue sensors in the synchrotron ring. The system captures and integrates the sensor data received for each particle bunch and stores the processed results in memory for later access. High-performance phase locked loops are used in order to synchronize the data capture and ensure the required timing accuracy. The system is highly modular, featuring 3 + 1 independent processing modules, each containing five Alpha Data analog capture boards. This arrangement provides sufficient processing power and a level of redundancy in order to provide 24/7 service with minimal downtime. The boards are housed in two robust 9U CompactPCITM racks, enabling interconnectivity between the cards and the system computer via the PCI backplane, while on board Gigabit Ethernet ports are utilized for control and system management purposes. Each analog capture card features nine high-performance, high-resolution, wideband A/Ds running at up to 125 MHz, alongside a Xilinx Virtex® 4 FPGA. The FPGA provides control over the A/Ds and handles the distribution of the high-speed converted data, while also providing user-configurable pre-processing of the data, enabling functions such as digital filtering, signal integration, decimation and data interleaving to be performed.
More details the capture card utilized in the TMS system can be found at: http://www.alpha-
Development Tools and System Integration
Alpha Data offers complete software development and board bring-up tools for their COTS boards, including those used in the TMS. These enable designers to more easily develop and integrate the boards into their own systems, saving many hours of engineering development effort and reducing costs.
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