The MicroTCA Standard Platform for Accelerator Instrumentation & Controls
by
IEEE, Raymond Larsen, SLAC
→
Europe/Stockholm
FB42 (AlbaNova)
FB42
AlbaNova
Description
Standards are at the heart of all major technology developments which result in wide acceptance by the public, industry and commerce. An underlying principle is to achieve multiple applications for basic development investments, rapid scaling for improved economics, ease in maintainability, and interoperability of components made by different companies for lower cost and more choices for customers. In nuclear and particle Physics before 1965 several vendors in the US offered modular instrument solutions, namely nanosecond logic modules in a common crate, but all were incompatible both physically and electrically; while in Europe similar modular efforts were underway using a Eurocard base. The US National Bureau of Standards (NBS) and Europeans Standards on Nuclear Electronics (ESONE) groups came together to collaborate on three subsequent generations of standards, all driven by technology developments: NIM (Nuclear Instrument Module, 1960s); CAMAC (Computer Automated Measurement and Control, 1970s); and FASTBUS (1980s), basically spanning the era from fast analog logic circuits to computer control and instruments to much higher data bandwidth and speeds and much higher density of custom integrated circuits for experiments. The latest family to emerge is driven by the advent of highly integrated analog and digital solutions based on standard gigahertz speed serial interfaces and intelligent platform management (IPMI), an extension of the PCI Industrial Computer Manufacturers Group (PICMG) standards called ATCA and MicroTCA. The basic architecture and new extensions adapted since 2009 are described including examples of usage in new accelerators and detectors. Both hardware standards and software guidelines are described briefly. The internecine disputes common to the introduction of all new standards also will be mentioned.
Ray Larsen is former Head of the Electronics Department at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory at Stanford University and leader of the physics detector and controls departments at the peak of SLAC development. He played a role in the development of four generations of standards starting in the late 1960s with NIM, CAMAC, FASTBUS and most recently, xTCA (ATCA plus MicroTCA.4). He is Chair of the xTCA for Physics Coordinating Committee which includes Hardware and Software Working Groups. He is currently a Special Projects Manager for the SLAC Technology Innovation Division (part time).
Welcome!
Bo Cederwall Christian Bohm
