A general-purpose VME module

A general-purpose Versa Module Europa (VME) module has been developed for trigger and DAQ application. It takes advantage of the flexibility of field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) and the modularity of personality cards. It can perform different functions without hardware modification simply by changing the design of the firmware in the FPGA. Higher gate-count FPGAs can also be used for more complex logic applications. The personality card is mainly used for adapting TTL to various level standards at the front panel. A personality card, featuring a 12-bit DAC and analog switch that generates calibration pulses, has also been designed. An example of FPGA program for a "4-channel 16-bit scaler" is also presented in this paper. The concept of a general-purpose VME module can also be extended to CAMAC, cPCI (compact peripheral component interconnect), or other modular standards. Several logic functions can be combined in one module, which is especially useful for trigger and DAQ control of a small experiment.