Proposal for a new ALICE CPV-HMPID front-end electronics topology

Abstract

This paper presents the proposal of a new front-end readout electronics (RO) architecture for the ALICE Charged-particle Veto detector (CPV) located in PHOton Spectrometer (PHOS), and for the High Momentum particle IDentification detector (HMPID). With the upgrades in hardware typology and proposed new readout scheme in FPGA design, the RO system shall achieve at least five times the speed of the present front-end readout electronics. Design choices such as using the ALTERA Cyclone V GX FPGA, the topology for parallel readout of Dilogic cards and an upgrade in FPGA design interfaces will enable the RO electronics to reach an approximate interaction rate of 50 kHz. This paper presents the new system hardware as well as the preliminary prototype measurement results. This paper concludes with recommendations for other future planned updates in hardware schema.