Abstract

This thesis presents the design and development of a highly scalable, end-to-end data acquisition (DAQ) system for nuclear physics experiments that can be deployed in configurations ranging from a few to thousands of detector channels. The system is built as an extensible platform composed of modular 16-channel chipboards that support a wide range of scintillator and detector types and perform real-time, on-board data sparsification and pulse-shape processing. Three versions of the chipboard have been fabricated to date.

The DAQ architecture is based on a family of analog pulse-shape-processing application- specific integrated circuits (ASICs) developed by the IC Design Laboratory at SIUE. Each 16-channel board integrates one CFD16Cv2 ASIC, two PSP8Cv4 ASICs, and commercial analog delay lines. The CFD generates precise, low-jitter constant-fraction triggers for the PSDs, which perform multi-region charge integration and time-to-voltage conversion to enable particle identification via pulse-shape discrimination.

Each chipboard functions as a standalone device or as part of a multi-board array, featuring timestamping and a single USB link for configuration and data readout. With minimal infrastructure requirements, the system scales efficiently without the VME crates, XLM modules, external delay lines, or multi-FPGA layers typical of current readout systems.

Committee Chair

Roger Chamberlain

Committee Members

George Engel, Michael Hall

Degree

Master of Science (MS)

Author's Department

Computer Science & Engineering

Author's School

McKelvey School of Engineering

Document Type

Thesis

Date of Award

Spring 5-2026

Language

English (en)

Author's ORCID

https://orcid.org/0009-0008-1516-0433

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