Detector Systems Software (RAL)
Working with colleagues across STFC and our international collaborations, we facilitate the integration of novel high-performance detectors and instrumentation into their operational environment.
We achieve this through the development of software to provide both control of detector system hardware and the acquisition, processing, and storage of the data produced.
In collaboration with Diamond Light Source, we develop and maintain the open-source ODIN control and data acquisition software packages, providing a modular, extensible, high-performance framework for the integration of the control and data planes of the detector systems.
We have experience across a wide range of scientific disciplines, including high-energy physics, light sources, free-electron lasers, neutron and muon sources, and electron microscopy.
Our capabilities include:
- Low-level hardware-software integration.
- Microcontroller software development.
- Embedded systems configuration and development across a range of architectures.
- Low-latency, high-throughput networking architectures and packet capture acceleration frameworks.
- Integration and acceleration of AI and machine learning inferencing into real-time detector data flows.
- Use of Python, C, C++ and other programming languages.
- Web application and user interface development, including backend and frontend technologies.
- Distributed software development processes, including automated testing and continuous integration.
We also operate several detector systems laboratories, providing access to extensive computing, networking, and test infrastructure.
Research papers
- The MINOS data acquisition system - IEEE Xplore
- The T2K Near Detector Data Acquisition Systems - IEEE Xplore
- Odin - a Control and Data Acquisition Framework for Excalibur 1M and 3M Detectors
- Implementing Odin as a control and data acquisition framework for eiger detectors
- Preliminary characterisation of the HEXITECMHz spectroscopic X-ray imaging detector - IOPScience
- Cadmium zinc telluride pixel detectors for high-intensity x-ray imaging at free electron lasers - IOPScience
- Probing the mechanisms of morphological evolution and phase selection of intermetallic compounds for impurity-tolerant processing of recycled Al alloys - Science Direct
Enquiries
For more information, please contact Tim Nicholls.
