TNT digital pulse processor

We report on the development of Tracking Numerical Treatment (TNT) boards, which are the basic bricks of a more ambitious data acquisition system intended for online data acquisition and treatment in future European experiments. The module makes extensive use of field programmable gate arrays (FPGA) for signal deconvolution and energy calculation with a minimum of data loss. Four channels can be processed simultaneously. Event collection is performed through a fast universal serial bus (USB2). The system can sustain an event rate of 100 kHz without dead time. Here we describe the practical implementation of pulse processing algorithms in a digital electronic module based on high density FPGAs for event processing. The overall system and its architecture are portrayed, along with some technical characteristics. Finally, we present some results and future developments.