CEBAF Distributed Data Acquisition System

There are thousands of signals distributed throughout Jefferson Lab’s Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility (CEBAF) that are useful for troubleshooting and identifying instabilities. Many of these signals are only available locally or monitored by systems with small bandwidths that cannot identify fast transients. The Distributed Data Acquisition (Dist DAQ) system will sample and record these signals simultaneously at rates up to 40 Msps. Its primary function will be to provide waveform records from signals throughout CEBAF to the Experimental Physics and Industrial Control System (EPICS). The waveforms will be collected after the occurrence of an event trigger. These triggers will be derived from signals such as periodic timers or accelerator faults. The waveform data can then be processed to quickly identify beam transport issues, thus reducing down time and increasing CEBAF performance. The Dist DAQ system will be comprised of multiple standalone chassis distributed throughout CEBAF. They will be interconnected via a fiber optic network to facilitate the global triggering of events. All of the chassis will also be connected directly to the CEBAF Ethernet and run EPICS locally. This allows for more flexibility than the typical configuration of a single board computer and other custom printed circuit boards (PCB) installed in a card cage.