On-board electronics for BLIMP: a balloon-borne prototype for the INTEGRAL satellite

The data handling electronics for BLIMP, a prototype of the Imager experiment of the INTEGRAL mission, is described. An expandable arrangement electronics architecture is used to handle the data coming from the 100-pixel CsI(Tl) detection plane. The main components of the on-board electronics are based on field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) which provide flexibility and compactness. This system is capable of handling approximately 10000 events/s. The flexibility and modularity of the electronics are discussed in order to demonstrate how the BLIMP system can provide a baseline for the IMAGER development study.<
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