Development of an ATCA based data acquisition system for high speed, direct detection X-ray pixel sensors

Large format X-ray pixel sensors operating at frame rates higher than 100 frames per second have driven the need to develop data acquisition systems capable of handling large volumes of acquired data using ultra-fast communication links operating at 10 Gigabit/s rates. The new generation 1 Megapixel X-Ray cameras currently being developed at LBNL, operating at readout speeds of up to 200 frames per second, are capable of producing greater than 400 Megabytes of image data per second. Because these sensors are used in continuous source applications with long acquisition periods (e.g., at synchrotron radiation light sources), the acquired data must be reliably processed and stored in real-time to minimize exposure dead time or data loss that could compromise the integrity of the data and thus limit the scientific reach of the experiment. This work describes the development and performance of an Advanced Telecommunications Computing Architecture (ATCA) based data acquisition system used for high speed, direct detection X-ray pixel sensors, focusing on the technical challenges and solutions of moving large data volumes through digital signal processing algorithms and to storage arrays in real-time.