Modular crate electronics: Difference between revisions

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{{Short description|Electronic used in particle generators}}

{{refimprove|date=September 2013}}

[[File:Short Nuclear Instrumentation Crate - side view.jpg|thumb|A NIM Crate with various modules]]

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There are number of types of modular crate electronic systems used on particle physics experiments.

=== RENATRAN ===

The very first standard for crate electronics was Renatran, which itself was derived from the Esone Standard published in 1964.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Renatran Basic Functional Units|year=1967|publisher=IEEE|doi=10.1109/TNS.1967.4324413|last1=Fabre|first1=R.|last2=Gallice|first2=P.|last3=Raoult|first3=N.|last4=Robin|first4=G.|journal=IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science|volume=14|issue=1|pages=170–188|bibcode=1967ITNS...14..170F}}</ref> This standard was in use mainly in France in nuclear research.

The Renatran system consisted of a 5U rackable crate that could accept up to 8 single-width or up to 4 double width plug-in units, with the backplane supplying several power rails, as well as serial and parallel communications between modules, and between the rack and external equipment such as printers and computers.

Each plug-in units had the dials, indicators and connectors on the front, and a single screw-mated 24 pin connector (Souriau 8196-17, no longer produced) on the rear to connect to the back-plane. Certain units had additional connectors on the rear, either doubled from the front panel for a more permanent installation, or extra ports for specific purposes, such as daisy chaining counting modules or linking level comparators together. A plug-in unit generally accomplished a single task, such as giving out a clock signal, inverting signal polarity, attenuating or amplifying signals, and more.

=== NIM ===

The earliestsimplest and simplestone of the earliest crate module standard is the [[Nuclear Instrumentation Module|NIM (Nuclear Instrumentation Module)]] standard. A NIM crate only has power on the backplane, there is no data bus or data connectors. The NIM backplane connector is an irregular arrangement of individual pins into sockets in the crate. NIM modules typically have multiple single logic blocks on the front with both inputs and outputs on the front panel. A typical NIM module might be, say, four discriminators on the front panel, or three AND gates. NIM modules can be [[hot swap]]ped, since there are no data connectors at the back.

=== CAMAC ===

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=== FASTBUS ===

[[FASTBUS]]<ref name="FNAL intro to Fastbus">{{cite web|title=AN INTRODUCTION TO FASTBUS|url=http://www-esd.fnal.gov/esd/catalog/intro/introfb.htm|publisher=FNAL|accessdate=21 September 2013|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130923010620/http://www-esd.fnal.gov/esd/catalog/intro/introfb.htm|archivedate=23 September 2013}}</ref> is a crate/module standard developed later than the other two for high-speed parallel data acquisition.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Barsotti |first1=Edward J. |title="FASTBUS" - A DESCRIPTION, A STATUS REPORT, AND A SUMMARY OF ONGOING PROJECTS |url=https://inis.iaea.org/collection/NCLCollectionStore/_Public/13/651/13651016.pdf |publisher=FNAL |accessdate=22 August 2018 |date=1981}}</ref>. Rather than individual components, FASTBUS modules tend to be data acquisition modules with many input connectors on the front, while the stored data is read out on the backplane. The connectors on the back of a FASTBUS module are two parallel pin sockets on the module and pins sticking out of the backplane. The main connector in a FASTBUS crate covers about the bottom 2/3 of the module. There is also an upper connector that consists of pass-through pins to the back side of the backplane; this allows custom modules to be plugged in there.

FASTBUS modules are much taller than the other types of crate modules, so the crates are correspondingly taller.

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This allows to perform an array of maintenance task remotely.

The standard is governed by the [[PICMG]] consortium.

<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.picmg.org/openstandards/advancedtca/|title=PICMG &#124; AdvancedTCA}}</ref>

The requirements for cards to be used in AdvancedTCA crates, are called [[Advanced Mezzanine Card]]s (AMCs) and are specified independently in their own standard.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.picmg.org/openstandards/advanced-mezzanine-card/|title=PICMG &#124; Advanced MC®}}</ref>

===MicroTCA===

[[MicroTCA]] is an open, modular standard, based upon [[Advanced Telecommunications Computing Architecture|AdvancedTCA]], but with a smaller form factor.

Initially developed for applications in telecommunications, it has since outgrown its initial purpose by developing modules for military, aerospace and scientific use.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.picmg.org/openstandards/microtca/|title=PICMG &#124; MicroTCA}}</ref>

As AdvancedTCA, it uses [[Advanced Mezzanine Card|AMCs]], which makes cards interchangeable between those two.