1. A NECTAr-based upgrade for the Cherenkov cameras of the H.E.S.S. 12-meter telescopes
- Author
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H. Leich, Thomas Murach, T. Schwab, Marko Kossatz, P. Nayman, Albert Jahnke, Francois Brun, P. Vincent, J.-P. Lenain, Jim Hinton, Christian Stegmann, A. Balzer, J. Bolmont, J. F. Glicenstein, P. Manigot, M. Füßling, Eric Delagnes, Michael Backes, Gianluca Giavitto, Marek Penno, T. Chaminade, F. Toussenel, Terry Ashton, M. de Naurois, David Salek, E. Moulin, D. Berge, Gerard Fontaine, J.-P. Tavernet, Kleopas Shiningayamwe, S. Ohm, V. Lefranc, A. Kretzschmann, J. Thornhill, H. Lüdecke, V. Marandon, Markus Schade, Stefan Klepser, B. Giebels, Iryna Lypova, D. Ross, Tobias Gräber, S. Bonnefoy, Constantin Steppa, Laboratoire de Physique Nucléaire et de Hautes Énergies (LPNHE (UMR_7585)), Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Institut de Recherches sur les lois Fondamentales de l'Univers (IRFU), Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Université Paris-Saclay, Laboratoire Leprince-Ringuet (LLR), Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-École polytechnique (X)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), 28644743 - Backes, Michael, Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université de Paris (UP), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-École polytechnique (X)-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), and Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
- Subjects
Ethernet ,data acquisition ,atmosphere [Cherenkov counter] ,computer: communications ,High-energy instrumentation upgrade ,01 natural sciences ,design [detector] ,Cherenkov camera ,Data acquisition ,Software ,HESS ,[PHYS.HEXP]Physics [physics]/High Energy Physics - Experiment [hep-ex] ,High Energy Stereoscopic System ,010303 astronomy & astrophysics ,ComputingMilieux_MISCELLANEOUS ,FPGA ,NECTAr ,Physics ,Upgrade ,H.E.S.S ,ddc:540 ,design [electronics] ,mechanical engineering ,upgrade ,Astrophysics - Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics ,performance ,Computer hardware ,Photomultiplier ,ComputingMethodologies_IMAGEPROCESSINGANDCOMPUTERVISION ,FOS: Physical sciences ,Cherenkov counter: atmosphere ,electrical engineering ,programming ,0103 physical sciences ,communications [computer] ,[PHYS.PHYS.PHYS-INS-DET]Physics [physics]/Physics [physics]/Instrumentation and Detectors [physics.ins-det] ,Electronics ,Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics (astro-ph.IM) ,detector: design ,Cherenkov radiation ,Gamma-ray astronomy ,010308 nuclear & particles physics ,business.industry ,Astronomy and Astrophysics ,PMT Cameras ,trigger ,electronics: readout ,HESS - Abteilung Hinton ,photon: detector ,readout [electronics] ,business ,detector [photon] ,electronics: design - Abstract
The High Energy Stereoscopic System (H.E.S.S.) is one of the three arrays of imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes (IACTs) currently in operation. It is composed of four 12-meter telescopes and a 28-meter one, and is sensitive to gamma rays in the energy range ~30 GeV - 100 TeV. The cameras of the 12-m telescopes recently underwent a substantial upgrade, with the goal of improving their performance and robustness. The upgrade involved replacing all camera components except for the photomultiplier tubes (PMTs). This meant developing new hardware for the trigger, readout, power, cooling and mechanical systems, and new software for camera control and data acquisition. Several novel technologies were employed in the cameras: the readout is built around the new NECTAr digitizer chip, developed for the next generation of IACTs; the camera electronics is fully controlled and read out via Ethernet using a combination of FPGA and embedded ARM computers; the software uses modern libraries such as Apache Thrift, ZMQ and Protocol buffers. This work describes in detail the design and the performance of the upgraded cameras., Comment: 35 pages, 14 figures, accepted for publication in "Astroparticle physics"
- Published
- 2020
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