PHOBOS Event Builder System: Hardware


This page will contain information about the various pieces of hardware that constitute the PHOBOS Event Builder system. Items will be added as they are incorporated into the prototype system.


VME Crates

We have two 12-slot, 6U VME crates at Yale. A high-performance VME crate with a 10-layer backplane was purchased for the Mercury system and has been shipped to MIT.


VME Processor Boards

We have four 68k-based processor boards and two PowerPC based boards.

68K Based Boards:

  1. MVME167 with 16 MB RAM: NOTES
  2. MVME167 with 4 MB RAM: NOTES
  3. MVME162LX with 4 MB RAM: NOTES
  4. MVME162FX with 4 MB RAM: NOTES

The first three boards require a transition module MVME712M (NOTES) for serial port connection (to a terminal), 10 Mbit ethernet and SCSI device access. We have two of these transition modules. Note that the PowerPC based MVME2604 also requires such a transition module.

Power PC Based Boards:

  1. MVME2604 with 32 MB RAM: NOTES
  2. MVME2306 with 32 MB RAM: NOTES

As mentioned earlier, the MVME2604 requires an MVME712M for serial/SCSI/ethernet connections, but we also have a fast ethernet PMC, MPMC202 (NOTES).

These boards were purchased from Systems Integration Plus. The contact person is Gunnar Buzzard (phone: (602)443-0454, email: gwb@imsystems.com)


Other VME Boards

Acromag 9412/9460:

The 9412 is a 6U digital I/O board with 32 outputs accessible from the front panel. The outputs can be configured as four 8-bit ports or two 16-bit ports. The 9460 has 64 input/output points accessible from the front panel and can be configured as eight 8-bit I/O ports or four 16-bit I/O ports. Here are some notes and sample code for this board.

LeCroy 1151E

This is a 6U VME Scaler, with 16 channels, 80 MHz counting and 32 bit dynamic range. Note that it requires ECL inputs. Here are some notes and sample code for this board.

Silicon Control VME210

This is a VME Bus Analyzer. Notes

CAEN V262

This is a multi-purpose 6U VME IO Register currently on order, with 4 NIM inputs, 4 NIM outputs and 16 differential ECL outputs.

CAEN V560N

This is a 16 channel, 32 bit, 100 MHz 6U VME Scaler with NIM inputs, currently on order.

Truetime VME SG2

This is a 6U VME GPS receiver board that we evaluated in Jan '98. Here are some code samples: gps1.c gps2.c gps3.c.


Sun Server HPC 3000 (phobosx)


Sun Quad Fast Ethernet Adapter


HP 9000/715 (beowolf)


Gateway G6200 (phobos-pc)


Ashutosh Sanzgiri