Advanced System-on-Chip Field-Programmable-Gate-Array-Powered Data Acquisition System for Pixel Detectors

Particle detector systems require data acquisition systems (DAQs) as their back-end. This paper presents a new edge-computing DAQ that is capable of handling multiple pixel detectors simultaneously and was designed for particle-tracking experiments. The system was designed for the ROC4SENS readout chip, but its control logic can be adapted for other pixel detectors. The DAQ was based on a system-on-chip FPGA (SoC FPGA), which includes an embedded microprocessor running a fully functional Linux system. An application using a client-server architecture was developed to facilitate remote control and data visualization. The comprehensive DAQ is very compact, thus reducing the typical hardware load in particle tracking experiments, especially during the obligatory characterization of particle telescopes.

AIoT in Agriculture: Safeguarding Crops from Pest and Disease Threats

A significant proportion of the world's agricultural production is lost to pests and diseases. To mitigate this problem, an AIoT system for the early detection of pest and disease risks in crops is proposed. It presents a system based on low-power and low-cost sensor nodes that collect environmental data and transmit it once a day to a server via a NB-IoT network. In addition, the sensor nodes use individual, retrainable and updatable machine learning algorithms to assess the risk level in the crop every 30 min. If a risk is detected, environmental data and the risk level are immediately sent. Additionally, the system enables two types of notification: email and flashing LED, providing online and offline risk notifications. As a result, the system was deployed in a real-world environment and the power consumption of the sensor nodes was characterized, validating their longevity and the correct functioning of the risk detection algorithms. This allows the farmer to know the status of their crop and to take early action to address these threats.

Optimizing Time Resolution Electronics for DMAPs

Depleted Monolithic Active Pixel Sensors (DMAPSs) are foreseen as an interesting choice for future high-energy physics experiments, mainly because of the reduced fabrication costs. However, they generally offer limited time resolution due to the stringent requirements of area and power consumption imposed by the targeted spatial resolution. This work describes a methodology to optimize the design of time-to-digital converter (TDC)-based timing electronics that takes advantage of the asymmetrical shape of the pulse at the output of the analog front-end (AFE). Following that methodology, a power and area efficient implementation fully compatible with the RD50-MPW3 solution is proposed. Simulation results show that the proposed solution offers a time resolution of 2.08 ns for a range of energies from 1000 e^- to 20,000 e^-, with minimum area and zero quiescent in-pixel power consumption.

Controlled Electromagnetic Field Based Safety System for Handheld Circular Saw

This paper presents the design of a safety system based on controlled electromagnetic field (CEMF) sensing technology to prevent accidents caused by power tools, especially related to handheld circular saws. The safety system creates an invisible protection bubble of electromagnetic field around the cutting edge. The system can provide early warning or critical warning when a person penetrates the safety bubble. This paper covers how the CEMF technology has been adapted to add value within this application where it needs to coexist with a difficult environment of metallic parts turning thousands of times per minute, strong vibrations, and different ranges of materials to be processed. The proposed contactless solution successfully detects the user, providing enough time for the power tool to totally stop its movement before touching and harming the user. This key property has required a careful optimization of the electromagnetic field generation, the design of a shield circuitry capable of operating properly in a large metal device, and the development of a multi-frame algorithm to address the stringent requirements related to the ability of the system to react to both very fast and very slow events. The feasibility of the system has been validated by a virtual testbench.