The STAR MAPS-based PiXeL detector

The PiXeL detector (PXL) for the Heavy Flavor Tracker (HFT) of the STAR experiment at RHIC is the first application of the state-of-the-art thin Monolithic Active Pixel Sensors (MAPS) technology in a collider environment. Custom built pixel sensors, their readout electronics and the detector mechanical structure are described in detail. Selected detector design aspects and production steps are presented. The detector operations during the three years of data taking (2014-2016) and the overall performance exceeding the design specifications are discussed in the conclusive sections of this paper

From FPGA to ASIC: A RISC-V processor experience

This work document a correct design flow using these tools in the Lagarto RISC- V Processor and the RTL design considerations that must be taken into account, to move from a design for FPGA to design for ASIC

Remote reconfiguration of FPGA-based wireless sensor nodes for flexible Internet of Things

Recently, sensor nodes in Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) have been using Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGA) for high-speed, low-power processing and reconfigurability. Reconfigurability enables adaptation of functionality and performance to changing requirements. This paper presents an efficient architecture for full remote reconfiguration of FPGA-based wireless sensors. The novelty of the work includes the ability to wirelessly upload new configuration bitstreams to remote sensor nodes using a protocol developed to provide full remote access to the flash memory of the sensor nodes. Results show that the FPGA can be remotely reconfigured in 1.35 s using a bitstream stored in the flash memory. The proposed scheme uses negligible amount of FPGA logic and does not require a dedicated microcontroller or softcore processor. It can help develop truly flexible IoT, where the FPGAs on thousands of sensor nodes can be reprogrammed or new configuration bitstreams uploaded without requiring physical access to the nodes. © 202

Remote control and monitoring of a hybrid power system

Includes abstract.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 90-92).Increasingly, South Africa is developing a need for grid-independent power systems. Many options exist already in the form of diesel generators, solar panels and wind generators. This project is to do with marrying the various sources of power with efficient and intelligent control. Specifically, the terms of reference describe an existing solution that has been developed. The focus of this thesis is to design a replacement system for the existing system which incorporates many communication technologies and additional features. The design centres on a central digital signal processor board. The redesign of this hardware and software will form the bulk of the content of this document. The scope of the design encompasses all the communications and new features including remote programming, control and monitoring software and robustness. The new system is to form the infrastructure or base hardware and software for many different power-related applications. A specific example of such an application, the hybrid power system, is discussed in detail to demonstrate the success of the design

MASCOT ON-BOARD COMPUTER BASED ON SPACEWIRE LINKS

The general concept of the “Mobile Asteroid Surface Scout” (MASCOT) is to provide a small landing system intended to be deployed from a supporting main spacecraft. It is specifically designed to be compatible with JAXA’s Hayabusa 2 (HY2, scheduled for launch in 2014) mission design and the environment given by the target asteroid 1999JU3. The design foresees an OBC for gathering, processing, compressing and storing of the scientific payload and the housekeeping data and to run system and subsystem tasks

Implementation and performances of the IPbus protocol for the JUNO Large-PMT readout electronics

The Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory (JUNO) is a large neutrino detector currently under construction in China. Thanks to the tight requirements on its optical and radio-purity properties, it will be able to perform leading measurements detecting terrestrial and astrophysical neutrinos in a wide energy range from tens of keV to hundreds of MeV. A key requirement for the success of the experiment is an unprecedented 3% energy resolution, guaranteed by its large active mass (20 kton) and the use of more than 20,000 20-inch photo-multiplier tubes (PMTs) acquired by high-speed, high-resolution sampling electronics located very close to the PMTs. As the Front-End and Read-Out electronics is expected to continuously run underwater for 30 years, a reliable readout acquisition system capable of handling the timestamped data stream coming from the Large-PMTs and permitting to simultaneously monitor and operate remotely the inaccessible electronics had to be developed. In this contribution, the firmware and hardware implementation of the IPbus based readout protocol will be presented, together with the performances measured on final modules during the mass production of the electronics

ZigBee/ZigBee PRO security assessment based on compromised cryptographic keys

Sensor networks have many applications in monitoring and controlling of environmental properties such as sound, acceleration, vibration and temperature. Due to limited resources in computation capability, memory and energy, they are vulnerable to many kinds of attacks. The ZigBee specification based on the 802.15.4 standard, defines a set of layers specifically suited to sensor networks. These layers support secure messaging using symmetric cryptographic. This paper presents two different ways for grabbing the cryptographic key in ZigBee: remote attack and physical attack. It also surveys and categorizes some additional attacks which can be performed on ZigBee networks: eavesdropping, spoofing, replay and DoS attacks at different layers. From this analysis, it is shown that some vulnerabilities still in the existing security schema in ZigBee technology.Les xarxes de sensors tenen moltes aplicacions en el control i la monitorització de les propietats del medi ambient, com ara el so, l¿acceleració, la vibració i la temperatura. A causa dels limitats recursos en la capacitat de càlcul, la memòria i l'energia són vulnerables a molts tipus d'atacs. L'especificació ZigBee basada en l'estàndard 802.15.4, defineix un conjunt de capes, adaptada específicament per a xarxes de sensors. Aquestes capes suporten missatgeria segura mitjançant criptografia simètrica. Aquest article presenta dues formes diferents per agafar la clau de xifrat en ZigBee: atac a distància i atacs físics. També les enquesta i classifica alguns atacs addicionals que es poden realitzar en les xarxes ZigBee: espionatge, falsificació, reproducció i atacs DoS en les diferents capes. A partir d'aquesta anàlisi, es demostren algunes vulnerabilitats existents en l'esquema de seguretat en tecnologia ZigBee.Las redes de sensores tienen muchas aplicaciones en el control y la monitorización de las propiedades del medio ambiente, como el sonido, la aceleración, la vibración y la temperatura. Debido a los limitados recursos en la capacidad de cálculo, la memoria y la energía son vulnerables a muchos tipos de ataques. La especificación ZigBee basada en el estándar 802.15.4, define un conjunto de capas, adaptada específicamente para redes de sensores. Estas capas soportan mensajería segura mediante criptografía simétrica. Este artículo presenta dos formas diferentes para coger la clave de cifrado en ZigBee: ataque a distancia y ataques físicos. También las encuesta y clasifica algunos ataques adicionales que se pueden realizar en las redes ZigBee: espionaje, falsificación, reproducción y ataques DoS en las diferentes capas. A partir de este análisis, se demuestran algunas vulnerabilidades existentes en el esquema de seguridad en tecnología ZigBee