Two scintillator detectors feed a microcontroller

PHYSICS · Multi-part · Fermi University Physics · Electronics, Instrumentation & Communication · Digital electronics, embedded systems and data acquisition · Digital electronics, embedded systems and data acquisition

Electronics for Measurement, Ch The microcontroller as laboratory hardware

Problem

Two scintillator detectors feed a microcontroller. A coincidence is to be flagged whenever their pulses arrive within

50\,\mathrm{ns}

of each other. The microcontroller's worst-case interrupt response time (latency plus its longest critical section) is

8\,\mu\mathrm{s}

. ((a)) Estimate how many times too slow the microcontroller's worst-case response is compared with the

50\,\mathrm{ns}

coincidence window. ((b)) Estimate the clock frequency that dedicated programmable logic would need so that at least four clock periods fit inside the

50\,\mathrm{ns}

window, and decide whether

100\,\mathrm{MHz}

logic is adequate.

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