[Halld-cal] BCAL beam test in Hall-B: electronics

[Alexander Somov]

Hi Zisis,

I think that we should discuss our plans during the next meeting
on Feb. 7.

In short, in the lab (downstairs) I have a VXS crate with all
new electronics boards I am using for the trigger tests: linux ROC,
TI, SD, and two flashes. I also have the F1TDC and the LE 
discriminator (there is also a NIM bin with modules we can use
to form an external trigger). We can use all these modules for the
beam test.

It seems that we'll need 2 flashes to readout the BCAL (4x4*2 = 32 ch ) +
we will probably need another flash to readout  trigger scintillators
(and to have a few 'spare' flash channels). We might have problems with 
getting an extra flash(es). The Hall-B guys are planning to use 'all' 
boards available in the lab for their HPS experiment in March/April.
We will need to coordinate with them.

Another thing, which Elton has probably already mentioned, is that Hall A
people  are planning to test their Shashlik calorimeter under the
tagger... I think that we have to decide on the prototype location and
come up with the beam test request asap. (probably we can move our
FCAL later on to this "sweet spot" as a place holder :))

The Hall-B daq gurus are aware of our plans and will help us
(we have briefly discussed our beam plans with them today).

Let's talk the things over during the next BCAL readout meeting.

Cheers,
        Sascha





On Wed, 1 Feb 2012, Zisis Papandreou wrote:

> Hi Sascha:
>
> we had a discussion yesterday during our Calorimetry Working Group meeting 
> about the equipment that would be needed for a BCAL beam test in Hall B (in 
> the event that we manage to pull this off before shutdown).  Someone 
> mentioned that you had looked into the issue of electronics and that enough 
> flash250 boards, etc, should be available and that a second DAQ could be set 
> up, in the event that the FCAL is still taking data.
>
> I would like to get this discussion rolling since we need to plan ahead of 
> time to get everything in place.
>
> We are thinking of fully instrumenting the BCAL Mini Cal, with 80 SiPMs plus 
> their electronics.  I am not sure if cooling is possible in Hall B (Elton and 
> Tim may answer this).  We plan to add a few 5 -10(?) scintillators as 
> triggers, using PMTs (we need to check stray fields in alcove -- floor should 
> be ok).  I am assuming that Fernando and Tim will provide us with a setup 
> including the summing (into towers) boards, to mimic the eventual experiment. 
> In that case, we know the number of ADC and TDC channels we need, although 
> for this test I would like us to instrument the outer layers with the F1TDCs. 
> Ditto for discriminators, I hope. We, will of course, need the crates for 
> these, trigger module, etc all the way to the online software.
>
> It is not clear to me who will do all this.  We at Regina will do all the 
> offline software for analysis, and we will have people down for setup and 
> data taking.  We need to discuss all these things starting next Tuesday 
> morning during the readout meeting.
>
> John says that the updated schedule in Hall B will have some small 
> installation time in early March.  If this is the case, we should discuss how 
> to take advantage of this.  One scenario has us use that time to at least get 
> cables and electronics in place, even if the SiPMs are not ready.  Once the 
> Mini Cal is ready (everything can be mounted on it, say, in the ESB and then 
> moved as one piece into the hall and quickly cabled.  Such a scenario might 
> require access to the hall for a few hours (1-2 if all else is in place), to 
> position and cable it.
>
> The starting point could be the alcove, as the FCAL should be out on the 
> floor by then.  If we have 5 pass beam, at 5% in the alcove we'll get ~ 
> 275MeV e- in the Mini Cal.  On the floor at 5 pass we'll get 1.8 GeV at the 
> 30% location.  If we have time we can consider going further up in energy.
>
> All these things need to be discussed.
>
> Finally, but most importantly, we need to get a proposal done to be submitted 
> by Eugene to Volker. I will work on this.  Fortunately, much of the hard work 
> has been done be Indiana and their proposal will be used as a reference. And 
> I know there is other paperwork as well: TOSP, ESAD, RSAD, but we can 
> probably just tweak the 2006 ones 
> <https://halldweb1.jlab.org/wiki/index.php/Beam_Test_Run_Plan#Safety> to 
> reflect the tagger alcove and floor (as opposed to the beam dump area alcove 
> in 2006).
>
> There is much more, but I better stop here.  I'll have this item on the Feb 7 
> BCAL Readout meeting.  I am hoping for a good attendance.
>
> Cheers, Zisis...
>
> P.S. The Wiki page for all this is at: 
> https://halldweb1.jlab.org/wiki/index.php/BCAL_Beam_Tests_2012
>
> -- 
> Prof. Zisis Papandreou, Ph.D., P.Phys.
> Department of Physics      |  tel.:     (306) 585-5379
> University of Regina          |  fax.:     (306) 585-5659
> Regina, SK  S4S 0A2        |  email:  zisis at uregina.ca
> Web:  http://web.me.com/zisis/professional/
>