1. The H.E.S.S. central data acquisition system
- Author
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M. de Naurois, D. Göring, Ullrich Schwanke, S. Schlenker, A. Lopatin, M. Gajdus, A. Balzer, M. Füßling, and Christian Stegmann
- Subjects
Physics ,Astrophysics and Astronomy ,COSMIC cancer database ,Calorimeter (particle physics) ,Emphasis (telecommunications) ,Institut für Physik und Astronomie ,FOS: Physical sciences ,Astronomy and Astrophysics ,Astrophysics ,Gamma-ray astronomy ,High Energy Physics - Experiment ,law.invention ,Telescope ,High Energy Physics - Experiment (hep-ex) ,Data acquisition ,law ,ddc:540 ,High Energy Stereoscopic System ,Astrophysics - Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics ,Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics (astro-ph.IM) ,Cherenkov radiation ,Remote sensing - Abstract
The High Energy Stereoscopic System (H.E.S.S.) is a system of Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes (IACTs) located in the Khomas Highland in Namibia. It measures cosmic gamma rays of very high energies (VHE; >100 GeV) using the Earth's atmosphere as a calorimeter. The H.E.S.S. Array entered Phase II in September 2012 with the inauguration of a fifth telescope that is larger and more complex than the other four. This paper will give an overview of the current H.E.S.S. central data acquisition (DAQ) system with particular emphasis on the upgrades made to integrate the fifth telescope into the array. At first, the various requirements for the central DAQ are discussed then the general design principles employed to fulfil these requirements are described. Finally, the performance, stability and reliability of the H.E.S.S. central DAQ are presented. One of the major accomplishments is that less than 0.8% of observation time has been lost due to central DAQ problems since 2009., 17 pages, 8 figures, published in Astroparticle Physics
- Published
- 2014
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