Alpha Data Analog Capture System goes live at CERN

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Free-Press-Release.com) April 29, 2009 --

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Alpha Data Analog Capture System goes live at CERN

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San Jose, CA and Edinburgh, U.K - April 30, 2009 – 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,” said Jeroen Belleman, CERN, Switzerland. “We were very pleased with the level of proactive support from Alpha Data, during the system integration and test process.”

“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,” stated Keith Baker, CTO at Alpha Data. "With 120 channels of data needing to be processed accurately and reliably, in real-time, at an equivalent rate of 15 billion samples per second, it was certainly a challenging engineering task, and I am pleased we have reached this successful conclusion.”

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 VirtexTM 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-data.com/acp-fx-n2.html.
In addition, Jeroen Belleman will present more information on the TMS system at DIPAC09, the 9th European Workshop on Beam Diagnostics and Instrumentation for Particle Accelerators (http://dipac09.web.psi.ch ), to be held in Basel, Switzerland, on 25th – 27th May ’09.

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.

About Alpha Data

Founded in 1993 and with offices in California and Scotland, Alpha Data is a leading designer and manufacturer of COTS board-level solutions based on Xilinx FPGA technology. The company provides all the essential hardware and development tools required by OEMs looking to develop and deploy their innovative systems in defense, communications, instrumentation, and life sciences applications. Alpha Data products and services provide an integrated framework that meets OEM development and support needs, from prototype-to-production and which span a variety of hardware formats, including AMC, PCI/PCI-X, CompactPCI, PMC/PMC-X, VME/VXS, PCI Express and proprietary XRM-IO standard. For more information on Alpha Data and COTS products, visit www.alpha-data.com

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More information can be found online at http://www.alpha-data.com

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