Modular crate electronics: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 16:59, 2 March 2022

Revision as of 21:45, 31 August 2022

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{{refimprovemore citations needed|date=September 2013}}

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

'''Modular crate electronics''' are a general type of electronics and support infrastructure commonly used for trigger electronics and data acquisition in [[particle detector]]s. These types of electronics are common in such detectors because all the electronic pathways are made by discrete physical cables connecting together logic blocks on the fronts of modules. This allows circuits to be designed, built, tested, and deployed very quickly (in days or weeks) as an experiment is being put together. Then the modules can all be removed and used again when the experiment is done.

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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 8196-178196–17, 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 ===