Q.R. Ahmad, J.C. Beck, M.A. Howe, R. Meijer Drees and J.F. Wilkerson

The SNO DAQ group is responsible for developing both the software needed for development and debugging of the SNO Front End Card (FEC32) readout electronics as well as the code necessary for data acquisition from the SNO detector. The final SNO DAQ code will initialize, control, readout data, and monitor the condition of the over 300 FEC32 cards that will be used in the SNO detector. Our group is working in close concert with the SNO Electronics and Calibration groups to design and implement a robust and complete acquisition system.

Software was written and used to perform low level debugging and testing of the VME-based prototype Front End Cards [pFECs]. These pFEC cards use the same custom Bipolar and CMOS integrated circuit chips that will be used in the production SNO electronics. Problems identified during this process were accounted and corrected for during the design of the FEC32 hardware.

Routines have also been written to initialize and take data using the pFEC system as the first step in developing code that will be used in the final SNO data acquisition system. We have successfully taken data using the pFEC system and the miniSNO test facility. At this point the software tools are in place to take raw data from the prototype electronics, write it to disk in the proper SNO format, and analyze it using both local tools and the collaboration's SNOMAN analysis package. We have also implemented on-line diagnostics, including the capability of performing on-line histogramming of desired quantities (e.g., charge and time, noise rates, etc.). Work continues in these areas to optimize our monitoring, diagnostic, and analysis tools. We have also recently performed an electronic calibration of the pFECs and miniSNO. This was a first attempt at checking the procedures and processes that will be used in the SNO detector calibration. Work has started on writing a task to automate this procedure for the final FEC32 based system.

Finally code has been written to support and test the development phase of SNO electronics. The software includes support of the FEC32 boards, as well as for the SNO translator cards that allow communication and control between the VME bus and the custom SNOBUS backplanes where the FEC32 hardware resides. This code is being tested and further developed as the electronics hardware becomes available.