FPGA-based low-cost synchronized fiber network for experimental setups in space

authored by

Tim Oberschulte, Thijs Wendrich, Holger Blume

Abstract

Custom experiment setups in physics often require control electronics to execute actions and measurements on a small time scale. When further constraints limit the experiment's environment, for example when the experiment is inside a sounding rocket, conventional network systems will not suffice those constraints because of weight, heat or budget limitations. This paper proposes a network architecture with a time resolution of less than 1 ns over a pair of plastic fibers while using low-cost commercial hardware. The plastic fibers in comparison to copper fibers have a low weight and additionally can isolate parts of the setup galvanically. Data rates of 40 Mbit/s enable the network to transfer large amounts of measurements and configuration data over the network. Proof-of-concept implementations of network endpoints and switches on small FPGAs are analyzed in terms of synchronicity, data rate and resource usage. Using commercial parts the resolution of 1 ns is reached with a standard deviation of less than 100 ps. Compared to a copper wire implementation the weight is reduced by about one order of magnitude. With its low weight at a low cost, the network is useful in space or laboratory setups which require high time resolution.

Organisation(s)

Institute of Quantum Optics
Architectures and Systems Section

Type

Article

Journal

Journal of Instrumentation

Volume

16

ISSN

1748-0221

Publication date

15.11.2021

Publication status

Published

Peer reviewed

Yes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Instrumentation, Mathematical Physics

Electronic version(s)

https://arxiv.org/abs/2109.11638 (Access: Open)
https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-0221/16/11/p11016 (Access: Closed)