Real Time Data Acquisition for a Time Projection Chamber Using a High Speed DEC-RT11 to Unix UDP-TCP/IP Interface

We have built a high pressure xenon Time Projection Chamber to study double beta decay, a process of fundamental interest which, if observed, would indicate that the neutrino is a massive Majorana particle. Raw data rates from the TPC exceed 200 Kbytes per second. The TPC is operated through a CAMAC interface with a DEC LSI-11/73 computer networked to a Tektronix 6130 workstation. Data is transmitted at about 15 Kbytes per second although the network is capable of transmitting data at 80 Kbytes per second. The only system level programming required was to write a UDP-TCP/IP driver for the DEC-DEQNA Ethernet board on the 11/73.