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87983 - Laboratory of Data Acquisition and Data Processing

Academic Year 2026/2027

                
                        Docente:
                        Iacopo Vivarelli
                    
                        Credits:
                        6
                    
                        SSD:
                        PHYS-01/A
                    
                        Language:
                        English
                    
                        Moduli:
                        
                            Iacopo Vivarelli
                            (Modulo 1)
                        
                            Pietro Antonioli
                            (Modulo 2)
                        
                            Davide Falchieri
                            (Modulo 3)
                        
                        Teaching Mode:
                        In-person learning (entirely or partially)
                        
                                    In-person learning (entirely or partially) (Modulo 1); 
                                
                                    In-person learning (entirely or partially) (Modulo 2); 
                                
                                    In-person learning (entirely or partially) (Modulo 3)
                                
                            Campus:
                            Bologna
                        
                            Corso:
                            Second cycle degree programme (LM) in
                            Physics (cod. 6695)

                                        Course Timetable
                                    
from Sep 17, 2026 to Dec 22, 2026

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course the student will have a basic knowledge of modern electronic data collection systems and advanced knowledge in the field of modern computer systems for experimental data processing and Monte Carlo simulation. In particular, the student will be able to: sketch the selection criteria related to the "online" data flow and to the "offline" processing, including event reconstruction, detector calibration and data analysis.

Course contents

Unit I :

Introduction to the terminology and basic concepts of a general data acquisition scheme. Basic concepts of trigger for online data selection. Issues related to dead time (interrupt vs polling) and trigger efficiency. Transition to multi-level triggers, hardware and software" (high-level triggers). Examples of trigger types used in large scale experiments. Parallel vs serial buses. The VMEbus: standard and bus transfers examples, signal specifications and protocol details. Software techniques related to DAQ: interprocess communications and threads, elements of networking and OSI model. IPbus protocol for electronic control, including coding examples.

Unit II:

Serial bus protocols. General overview and implementation examples (RS232, USB, I2C, SPI). Serial bus over high-speed optical links. 8B/10B encoding. Serializers and deserializers. Bit error rate. Practical applications on Xilinx FPGA

Unit III:

Introduction to the Reconstruction and analysis of Physical Events, global and local Pattern Recognition methods - Track Finding and Track Fitting: evaluation of track parameters – Kalman Filter. Algorithms for Particle Identification (Bayesian PID). General overview of Calibration and Alignment processes with examples connected to LHC experiments. Examples of application in a range of experiments in the field of Nuclear and Subnuclear Physics, including those currently active at LHC.

Readings/Bibliography

Slides presented in class and supplementary material. Additional bibliography indication will be provided in the slides.

Teaching methods

Lectures and classroom exercises. Practical, small teams laboratory exercises using electronic cards to practice VMEbus and IPbus.

Assessment methods

The final exam consists of an oral test on the course topics and laboratory exercises, aimed at verifying the acquisition of the theoretical and practical knowledge covered by the course.

Teaching tools

Slides that will be made available on Virtuale for later reference. Laboratory sessions on Data Acquisition aspects and development of a program for track reconstruction using the Kalman Filter technique, using the ROOT package.

Office hours

See the website of Iacopo Vivarelli

See the website of Pietro Antonioli

See the website of Davide Falchieri