The time history module: a FASTBUS-interfaced logical analyzer for detector monitoring and other applications

A first prototype of a FASTBUS-interfaced logical analyzer module usefully employable in detector and/or trigger system monitoring is described. Four of these time history modules (THMs) have been successfully utilized in the NA31 experiment at CERN from 1985 to 1989, principally to control the purity of the accepted events. These THMs have a built-in interface to the trigger system (based on finite state machine technique), a double input buffer and a 20-MHz sampling clock. The best features of the THM are the glitch capture, the fully programmable sampling time interval, the fast double-input buffer, the separate readout buffer, the data compression capability, the high time resolution, the FASTBUS block reading, and the easy and flexible triggering. Technological improvements are now possible in storage capacity, speed, programmability, and power dissipation.<
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