Design, Development, and Test of Data Acquisition Systems for Physics in Space

Development of novel detectors, readout, and data acquisition systems capable of operating in the space environment is paramount to properly support the ever-growing interest in astrophysics and astroparticle physics. The new physics detectors have increasing requirements of accuracy, resolution, and data throughput, that the data acquisition systems shall meet to reach the performance within the limited resources available for a typical space application. Besides, the electronics systems must operate in the space environment, which is made of thermal, vacuum, and radiation stresses. Each component of a physics experiment, from the detector to the data acquisition, equally contribute to the success of the mission, thus it is crucial that their synergy meets the expected performance. The activity I carried out focused on the design, development, and test of data acquisition systems for innovative physics missions in space, embedding novel physics detectors. In collaboration with the Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN) and international partners, I worked on two missions: IXPE (NASA) and PAN (project 862044 EU H2020 FETOPEN). For both missions, I designed and developed the custom data acquisition systems based on FPGA, including their simulation, tests, and characterization. I also designed the ancillary support electronics that helped throughout the development and verification process. Finally, IXPE was launched on 9 December 2021 and is collecting data since then.