A novel digital pulse processing architecture for nuclear instrumentation

Yoann Moline (1) , Mathieu Thevenin (1) , Gwenolé Corre (1) , M. Paindavoine (2)

1 LCAE (CEA, LIST) - Laboratoire Capteurs et Architectures Electroniques (CEA, LIST)
2 LEAD - Laboratoire d'Etude de l'Apprentissage et du Développement [Dijon]

This paper introduces a specific Multiple Program Multiple Data (MPMD) architecture designed to address the issues of nuclear instrumentation: pulse processing, real-time, multi-channel flexibility, dead-time management and programmability. The proposed architecture comprises a set of independent and programmable functional units. Their execution is driven by the pulses arrival. It is able to deal with non-deterministic events and program durations. The virtual prototype of the architecture is developed in cycle-accurate SystemC and shows promising results in terms of scalability while maintaining zero dead-time. This architecture paves the way for novel programmable embedded real-time pulse processing restricted until now to offline processing.

Mots clés: Algorithm design and analysis; fission reactor instrumentation; nuclear engineering computing; digital pulse processing architecture; nuclear instrumentation; multiple program multiple data architecture; MPMD architecture; real-time flexibility; multichannel flexibility; dead-time management; dead-time programmability; programmable functional unit; independent functional unit; program durations; virtual architecture prototype; cycle-accurate SystemC; dead-time scalability; programmable embedded real-time pulse processing; offline processing; Digital Pulse Processing; Digital Architecture; Computer architecture; Instrumentation; Software algorithms; Digital signal processing; Scalability; Field programmable gate arrays; electronic architecture; signal processing

Domaines: Physique Nucléaire Expérimentale [nucl-ex]; Traitement du signal et de l'image [eess.SP]; Instrumentations et Détecteurs [physics.ins-det]; Electronique; Méthodologie [stat.ME]

Yoann Moline, Mathieu Thevenin, Gwenolé Corre, M. Paindavoine. A novel digital pulse processing architecture for nuclear instrumentation. 2015 4th International Conference on Advancements in Nuclear Instrumentation Measurement Methods and their Applications (ANIMMA), Apr 2015, Lisbon, Portugal. pp.7465559, ⟨10.1109/ANIMMA.2015.7465559⟩. ⟨cea-01823367⟩