Design and Characterization of a Radiation-Tolerant Wireless Physical Layer for Control Applications in CERN Particle Accelerators

The article explores the design and radiation characterization of a wireless physical layer (PHY) specifically tailored for equipment control in harsh radiation environments, such as those in particle accelerators like the large hadron collider (LHC). The PHY, built with commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS), leverages a software-defined radio (SDR), which, compared to dedicated transceivers, provides more flexibility and enables enhanced reliability through mitigation techniques. It is designed for low latency to meet the sampling time requirements of current LHC control applications. The PHY is developed to be radiation-tolerant, capable of withstanding the LHC radiation environment. The article presents the radiation characterization of all system components using a 200-MeV proton beam. Experimental results show the link’s robustness against total ionizing dose (TID) and single-event effects (SEEs), with no performance degradation due to SEEs and tolerance up to kGy of dose. Radiation-induced link losses were observed, and strategies to enhance link reliability were discussed.