JPH03148917A - Multiple channel type analog signal processor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To attain highly precise measurement, to save power and to miniaturize a processor by making an amplifier and an analog processing part into IC and detaching an analog input part, an A/D conversion means and a storage means. CONSTITUTION:The part of the amplifier 11 is made into hybrid IC, a time/ voltage converter 14 and a charge quantity/voltage converter 15 are constituted by analog ASIC and the circuit part of a timing circuit 12 and the like is constituted in PLA or CMOS which can freely constitute an AND/OR circuit so as to attain miniaturization. Thus, input channels 2 more than 12 channels can be constituted and a multiplexer 3, A/D converter 4 and an FIFO memory 5, all of which come to a digital-side are included and integrally constituted. Thus, the whole controller becomes compact. Consequently, the number of substrates generating the input channels can considerably be reduced compared to a conventional one when a cosmic ray measurement device coming to several thousand channels is constituted.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Object of the Invention] [Industrial Field of Application] The present invention is directed to a multi-channel analog signal that processes minute and high-speed analog signals in multiple channels in the field of cosmic ray measurement or radiation measurement. It relates to a processing device.

[Conventional technology]

Recently, in the field of cosmic ray measurement, measurements of 221 Turin emitted from space have been carried out.

Current measurements of neutrinos are 1,000 underground.
A huge water tank is installed at a distance of about 100 m, and about 1,000 detectors such as photomultiplier tubes are installed on the bottom and sides of this tank. Then, multiple detectors will detect the so-called Cerenkov light generated when 221 Torino from space collides with water molecules in the aquarium, and measure the time it takes for the light to reach each detector and the amount of charge detected. By doing this, the propagation direction of the generated light ring is measured and used for analysis of 221 Turin.

In such an analog signal processing device for cosmic ray measurement, all detectors are connected to a number of corresponding analog processing boards, and each channel receives minute and high-speed signals sent from the detectors. The randomly generated analog signals are amplified by amplifiers installed on each analog processing board, and the amplified detection signals are converted into voltages for measuring the amount of charge and arrival time, and then converted into digital signals. It was converted to .

However, analog processing boards require large currents to process small, high-speed analog signals, resulting in large power consumption and the amount of heat generated by each board. In addition, the signal amplification section and voltage conversion section of analog processing boards are easily affected by external noise, and in particular, the amplification section that amplifies minute analog signals with a large gain is susceptible to even small noises. This was a problem in performing highly accurate detection signal processing.

In addition, the signal amplification section and voltage conversion section of analog processing boards are constructed using hundreds of transistors, etc., and the number of channels that can be connected to one board is at most 4.
It was about one. Therefore, in actual cosmic ray measurements, 10
In order to construct a device having 00 to several 1000 input channels, an enormous number of boards are required, resulting in an increase in the size of the device.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

Therefore, conventional analog signal processing devices of this type have problems in that measurement accuracy tends to decrease due to the influence of noise, power consumption is large, and the device becomes large.

The present invention was made in view of the above-mentioned circumstances, and enables highly accurate measurement, reduces power consumption, downsizes the device, and facilitates the construction of a large-scale cosmic ray measurement system. The purpose of the present invention is to provide a multi-channel analog signal processing device that can perform the following tasks.

[Structure of the Invention] [Means for Solving the Problems] In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides an analog input section that amplifies and outputs an analog detection signal from a detector with an amplifier, and an analog input section that amplifies and outputs an analog detection signal from a detector. a timing circuit that generates a gate signal with an output signal as a start timing and sets the gate width using an externally applied signal; and a timing circuit that outputs a voltage corresponding to the gate width of the gate signal as detection time information of the detection signal. , and a plurality of input channels comprising an analog processing unit that outputs a charging voltage when a detection signal output from the amplifier is gated with the gate signal as an amount of charge of the detection signal, and a plurality of the input channels. comprising means for A/D converting the output signal from the analog processing section of each input channel by selectively switching the input channel; and a storage means for storing the digital signal A/D converted by the A/D conversion means; At least the amplifier and the analog processing section are integrated into ICs, and the analog input section and analog processing section, which are on the analog processing side, are separated from the A/D conversion means and storage means, which are on the digital control side. .

[For production]

By taking the above measures, the present invention has the following effects. In other words, by converting the amplifier and analog processing section into ICs, each input channel has been significantly miniaturized, allowing at least a dozen or more input channels to be mounted on a board that could previously only mount only about four input channels, and moreover, it is now possible to mount at least a dozen or more input channels on the same board. Even A/D conversion means and storage means, which are on the digital control side, can be implemented in the system. As a result, the size of the entire device is also made more compact. Furthermore, since the analog input section and analog processing section, which are on the analog processing side, and the A/D conversion means and storage means, which are on the digital control side, are separated from each other on the same board, the digital control side can effectively prevent the digital signal noise from being influenced by the analog processing side,
This makes it possible to perform highly accurate measurements.

〔Example〕

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a circuit diagram of a multi-channel analog signal processing device according to an embodiment of the present invention. This multi-channel type analog signal processing device has at least one input signal that receives minute and high-speed analog signals from a large number of detectors 1-1 to l-n.
It has two or more input channels 2-1 to 2-n,
These input channels 2-1 to 2-n and each input channel 2
Multiplexer 3 that selectively takes out outputs from -1 to 2-n
and an A/D converter for A/D converting the output signal taken out via this multiplexer 3 at a speed of 10us/channel or less.
A D converter 4, a FIFO memory 5 that sequentially stores the output of the A/D converter 4, and a calibration signal generator that outputs calibration signals to be applied independently to each of the input channels 2-1 to 2-n. 6 are constructed on the same substrate 7. In addition,
8 shown in the figure is a host computer connected to the board 7,
It is connected to the board 7 via the data bus 9 and has the function of controlling the operation of each component mounted on the board 7.

Here, each input channel 2-1 to 2-n is connected to a corresponding detector 1-1 to 1-n, respectively, and an amplifier 1
1. Comparator 12. Timing circuit 13. Time/voltage converter 14. It is composed of a charge ffi/voltage converter 15. In the input channel 2, the input detection signal is amplified by the amplifier 11 and output to the comparator 12. The comparator 12 compares the detection signal with the discretization level set by the host computer 8 and outputs a signal with noise removed. The output of the comparator 12 becomes the driving start timing of the timing circuit 13, and the output of the high-level computer 8
Driving is stopped by a stop signal given from , and a gate signal set to a predetermined width is generated. Time/voltage converter 14. @Load amount/@Pressure transducer 15 is the same 2
There are two units, and the two units are used while switching between them. The time/voltage converter 14 conducts current for the gate width of the gate signal and outputs the charging voltage. In addition, charge amount/voltage converter 1
Reference numeral 5 applies a gate to the detection signal output from the amplifier 11 using a gate signal, converts the amount of charge of the detection signal charged at that time into a voltage, and outputs the voltage. Further, the amplifier 11 of each input channel 2 is provided with an analog switch SW, and the calibration signal outputted from the calibration signal generator 6 is inputted via the analog switch SW, independently of the other input channels 2. Ru.

In addition, in this embodiment, the amplifier 11 portion is a hybrid I
C and time/voltage converter 14. The charge ffi/voltage converter 15 is configured with an analog ASIC, and circuit parts such as the timing circuit 12 are configured using PLA (Prograsable Loglc), which can freely configure an ANDloR circuit.
Array) or CMOS.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a concrete implementation state of the multi-channel analog signal processing device configured as described above. As shown in the figure, each amplifier 11 that receives a high-speed analog signal from the detector 1 is arranged vertically in an area A shown on the input side of the substrate 7. Then, a time/voltage converter 14. An analog ASIC constituting the charge/voltage converter 15 is arranged, and a comparator 12 is arranged next to it in region C shown in the figure. These A, B, and C areas become the analog section.

On the other hand, the digital section has a timing circuit 13 in the area shown in the figure.
are arranged vertically corresponding to the comparators 13 of each channel. Then, multiplexer 3. F
A/D converter in the area 4. FIFO memory in G area5. H
A calibration signal generator 6 is arranged in each region. Further, a power supply section is arranged in the region (3) on the output side of the digital section, and a control circuit is arranged in the region J between the power supply section and the timing circuit 13.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a cosmic ray measuring device configured to process several thousand channels of cosmic ray signals using the multi-channel analog signal processing device. A large number of the above-mentioned multi-channel analog signal processing device group 2
0 is connected to the host computer 8 via the host computer interface card 21, and an analog signal bus controller guide 22 is provided on the analog signal input side.

Next, regarding the operation of this embodiment, FIGS. 3 and 4v! J
Explain with reference to.

First, a control signal is output from the host computer 8 to the calibration signal generation section 6, and a calibration signal is output from the calibration signal generation section 16. A calibration signal is input independently to each amplifier 11 via an analog switch SW. Then, the output from the amplifier 11 into which the calibration signal is input is taken out from the input channel 2 via the multiplexer 3, converted into a digital signal by the A/D converter 4, and stored in the FIFO memory 5.

In this way, calibration data for each input channel 2-1 to 2-n is obtained. The calibration data stored in the FIFO memory 5 is read out to the host computer 8 as necessary and used as data for adjusting each input channel 2.

Next, each analog switch SW is turned off and cosmic rays are measured. A minute and high-speed analog detection signal from the corresponding detector 1 is input to each input channel 2 . The analog signal input to the input channel 2 is amplified by the amplifier 11, and then compared with the discret level by the comparator 12, and the signal shown in FIG. 3(a) is output. When the output signal from the comparator 12 is input, the timing circuit 13 turns on the gate of the gate signal and outputs the signal from the host computer 8 to the third
When a stop signal is input at the timing shown in FIG. 3(b), the gate is turned off and the gate signal shown in FIG. 3(c) is output. As shown in FIG. 3(d), the time/voltage converter 14 charges a certain amount of current while the gate of the gate signal is open, and outputs a voltage v1 when the gate is closed. This voltage v1 becomes the arrival time information of the detection signal. Further, the charge j1/voltage converter 15 receives the signal shown in FIG. 4(a) output from the amplifier 11, and also receives a gate signal (FIG. 4(b)) generated based on this signal. is input from the timing circuit 13. Charge amount/
The voltage conversion unit 15 charges the detection signal output from the amplifier 11 for the gate period of the gate signal shown in FIG. 4(b), and converts the charging voltage v2 at that time as shown in FIG.
Output. This voltage v2 becomes the detected charge amount information. Voltage V converted by each input channel 2-1 to 2-n
l and V2 are input to the A/D converter 4 via the multiplexer 3, where they are converted into digital signals. The information converted into a digital signal is stored in the FIFO memory 5, and is read out to the host computer 8 as necessary to perform processing for cosmic ray measurement.

Measurement of cosmic rays is performed as described above.

According to this embodiment, the amplifier 11 is made into a hybrid IC, the time/voltage converter 14 and the charge amount/voltage converter 15 are made of analog ASIC, and the timing circuit 12 and other circuit parts are made of an ANDloR circuit. PLA (Programable Logic
Because it is configured using CMOS or CMOS, it is possible to configure at least 12 input channels 2, whereas conventionally only about 4 channels could be configured on one board, and moreover, the digital side The multiplexer 3. A/D converter4. It is possible to integrate up to the FIFO memory 5 and make it possible to make the entire device more compact. As a result, when a cosmic ray measurement device with thousands of channels is configured,
The number of boards on which input channels are built can be significantly reduced compared to the conventional method.

Moreover, by implementing each of the above-mentioned components into an IC, significant power savings can be achieved.

In addition, since the analog section and the digital section configured on the same board 7 are separated, it is possible to reduce the influence of mutual interference between the analog section and the digital section, and especially for digital signals generated from the digital section. Noise is amplifier 1
1. Time/Ws pressure converter 14. Charge amount/time converter 15
can effectively prevent adverse effects on Further, since a calibration signal is independently applied to each amplifier 11 via the analog switch SW, highly reliable measurement signals can be obtained. Furthermore, since the measurement is performed with the analog switch SW in the OFF state, it is possible to reliably prevent noise from being mixed into the detection signal from the calibration signal generation section 6 side.

Furthermore, the comparator 12 compares the detection signal output from the amplifier 11 with the discretization level to cut noise, making it possible to perform measurement using a detection signal that does not contain noise. Therefore, noise applied from the outside can be effectively blocked and side chambering can be performed with high precision.

[Effects of the Invention] As detailed above, according to the present invention, it is possible to perform highly accurate measurements, save power and downsize the device, and easily construct a large-scale cosmic ray measurement system. It is possible to provide a multi-channel analog signal processing device that can be constructed.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a multi-channel analog signal processing device according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the implementation state of the embodiment, and FIGS. 3 and 4 are explanations of the operation of the embodiment. 5 are schematic configuration diagrams of the cosmic ray measuring device. 1...Detector, 2...Input channel, 3...Multiplexer, 4...A/D converter, 5...FIFO
Memory, 6... Calibration signal generation section, 7... Board, 8.
...Host computer, 11...Amplifier, 12...Comparator, 13...Timing circuit, 14...Time/
Voltage converter, 15... Charge amount/7m pressure converter. Applicant's agent Patent attorney Takehiko Suzue 771] τgP First ■! 2nd
A Mouth Figure 3

Claims (1)

[Claims] An analog input section that amplifies and outputs an analog detection signal from a detector using an amplifier, and generates a gate signal whose start timing is the output signal from the analog input section,
a timing circuit that sets the gate width using a signal given from the outside; and a timing circuit that outputs a voltage according to the gate width of the gate signal as detection time information of the detection signal; a plurality of input channels consisting of an analog processing section that outputs a charging voltage when gated with a signal as the amount of charge of the detection signal; and an analog processing section of each input channel that selectively switches among the plurality of input channels. and storage means for storing the digital signal A/D converted by the A/D conversion means, at least the amplifier and the analog processing section are integrated into an IC, and A multi-channel analog signal processing device characterized in that the analog input section and analog processing section on the processing side are separated from the A/D conversion means and storage means on the digital control side.