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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 73 records · Page 4

Leveraging FPGA Advantages for Quicker Data Processing for LBNF

The Long Baseline Neutrino Facility (LBNF) will deliver a 2.4 MW muon neutrino beam from Fermilab to the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE), requiring unprecedented precision in beamline alignment to achieve DUNE's neutrino oscillation measurement goals. Vertical misalignments of beamline components as small as 0.5 mm can contribute 6-7\% uncertainty in predicted neutrino flux, necessitating sub-0.1 mm alignment monitoring capabilities. The Horn Location Sensor (HLS) system employs frequency sweep interferometry (FSI) in a distributed hydrostatic leveling network to achieve the required precision under harsh radiation conditions up to 5000 kRad/year. Traditional FSI implementations suffer from laser sweep nonlinearities that degrade resolution and require computationally intensive post-processing corrections using gas reference cells. This work presents a real-time FPGA-based implementation of the HLS data acquisition and processing system using a sweep tracker interferometer for dynamic sweep linearization. The system utilizes a PYNQ-Z2 FPGA with programmable logic implementing parallel 16k-point FFT processing across four channels, synchronized by the sweep tracker signal to eliminate post-processing requirements. Spectral performance testing demonstrates significant improvements in peak sharpness compared to traditional fixed-frequency digitization. The FPGA implementation enables real-time displacement monitoring with processing speeds orders of magnitude faster than software-based approaches, essential for the operational requirements of LBNF's eventual distributed sensor network. This advancement in real-time FSI processing directly supports DUNE's precision neutrino physics program by providing the rapid feedback necessary for maintaining stringent beamline alignment tolerances during high-power beam operations.

Rossel, Jacob↗

Real-Time FPGA Implementation For Frequency Sweep Interferometry In The LBNF Complex

The Long Baseline Neutrino Facility (LBNF) will deliver a 2.4 MW muon neutrino beam from Fermilab to the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE), requiring unprecedented precision in beamline alignment to achieve DUNE's neutrino oscillation measurement goals. Vertical misalignments of beamline components as small as 0.5 mm can contribute 6-7\% uncertainty in predicted neutrino flux, necessitating sub-0.1 mm alignment monitoring capabilities. The Horn Location Sensor (HLS) system employs frequency sweep interferometry (FSI) in a distributed hydrostatic leveling network to achieve the required precision under harsh radiation conditions up to 5000 kRad/year. Traditional FSI implementations suffer from laser sweep nonlinearities that degrade resolution and require computationally intensive post-processing corrections using gas reference cells. This work presents a real-time FPGA-based implementation of the HLS data acquisition and processing system using a sweep tracker interferometer for dynamic sweep linearization. The system utilizes a PYNQ-Z2 FPGA with programmable logic implementing parallel 16k-point FFT processing across four channels, synchronized by the sweep tracker signal to eliminate post-processing requirements. Spectral performance testing demonstrates significant improvements in peak sharpness compared to traditional fixed-frequency digitization. The FPGA implementation enables real-time displacement monitoring with processing speeds orders of magnitude faster than software-based approaches, essential for the operational requirements of LBNF's eventual distributed sensor network. This advancement in real-time FSI processing directly supports DUNE's precision neutrino physics program by providing the rapid feedback necessary for maintaining stringent beamline alignment tolerances during high-power beam operations.

Rossel, A. Jacob [Fermilab; Unlisted]↗

Accelerating data acquisition with FPGA-based edge machine learning: a case study with LCLS-II

New scientific experiments and instruments generate vast amounts of data that need to be transferred for storage or further processing, often overwhelming traditional systems. Edge machine learning (EdgeML) addresses this challenge by integrating machine learning (ML) algorithms with edge computing, enabling real-time data processing directly at the point of data generation. EdgeML is particularly beneficial for environments where immediate decisions are required, or where bandwidth and storage are limited. In this paper, we demonstrate a high-speed configurable ML model in a fully customizable EdgeML system using a field programmable gate array (FPGA). Our demonstration focuses on an angular array of electron spectrometers, referred to as the ‘CookieBox,’ developed for the Linac Coherent Light Source II project. The EdgeML system captures 51.2 Gbps from a 6.4 GS s −1 analog to digital converter and is designed to integrate data pre-processing and ML inside an FPGA. Our implementation achieves an inference latency of 0.2 µs for the ML model, and a total latency of 0.4 µs for the complete EdgeML system, which includes pre-processing, data transmission, digitization, and ML inference. The modular design of the system allows it to be adapted for other instrumentation applications requiring low-latency data processing.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Asynchronous FPGA risks

The worst case timing margin of a synchronous design implemented with a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) is easy to perform using available FPGA design tools. However, it may be difficult to impossible to verify that worst case timing requirements are met for complex asynchronous logic design.

risk FPGA asynchronous↗

FPGA development for high altitude subsonic parachute testing

This paper describes a rapid, top down requirements-driven design of an FPGA used in an Earth qualification test program for a new Mars subsonic parachute. The FPGA is used to process and store data from multiple sensors at multiple rates during launch, ascent, deployment and descent phases of the subsonic parachute test.

telemetry↗

FPGA development for high altitude subsonic parachute testing

This paper describes a rapid, top down requirements-driven design of a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) used in an Earth qualification test program for a new Mars subsonic parachute. The FPGA is used to process and control storage of telemetry data from multiple sensors throughout launch, ascent, deployment and descent phases of the subsonic parachute test.

Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA)↗

An FPGA-based Doppler Processor for a Spaceborne Precipitation Radar

Measurement of precipitation Doppler velocity by spaceborne radar is complicated by the large velocity of the satellite platform. Even if successive pulses are well correlated, the velocity measurement may be biased if the precipitation target does not uniformly fill the radar footprint. It has been previously shown that the bias in such situations can be reduced if full spectral processing is used. The authors present a processor based on field-programmable gate array (FPGA) technology that can be used for spectral processing of data acquired by future spaceborne precipitation radars. The requirements for and design of the Doppler processor are addressed. Simulation and laboratory test results show that the processor can meet real-time constraints while easily fitting in a single FPGA.

measurements↗

Design for Review - Applying Lessons Learned to Improve the FPGA Review Process

Flight Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) designs are required to be independently reviewed. This paper provides recommendations to Flight FPGA designers to properly prepare their designs for review in order to facilitate the review process, and reduce the impact of the review time in the overall project schedule.

Process Improvement↗

Radiation Tolerant, FPGA-Based SmallSat Computer System

The Radiation Tolerant, FPGA-based SmallSat Computer System (RadSat) computing platform exploits a commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) with real-time partial reconfiguration to provide increased performance, power efficiency and radiation tolerance at a fraction of the cost of existing radiation hardened computing solutions. This technology is ideal for small spacecraft that require state-of-the-art on-board processing in harsh radiation environments but where using radiation hardened processors is cost prohibitive.

On-board processing for harsh radiation environmen↗

Leveraging High-Level Synthesis to Migrate Motor Control Algorithms From Microcontroller to FPGA

As motor control algorithms become increasingly complex, traditional microcontroller-based implementations are reaching computational limits that prevent the controller from operating at the required speed. This paper presents a novel workflow leveraging High-Level Synthesis (HLS) to migrate motor control algorithms from a microcontroller implementation to a Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) implementation. The proposed approach utilizes the free Vitis HLS software to automatically convert Embedded Coder-generated C code from a Simulink model into Hardware Description Language (HDL) code suitable for FPGA deployment.

FPGA↗

Leveraging High-Level Synthesis to Migrate Motor Control Algorithms From Microcontroller to FPGA

As motor control algorithms become increasingly complex, traditional microcontroller-based implementations are reaching computational limits that prevent the controller from operating at the required speed. This paper presents a novel workflow leveraging High-Level Synthesis (HLS) to migrate motor control algorithms from a microcontroller implementation to a Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) implementation. The proposed approach utilizes the free Vitis HLS software to automatically convert Embedded Coder-generated C code from a Simulink model into Hardware Description Language (HDL) code suitable for FPGA deployment.

FPGA↗

FPGA-based HPC accelerators: An evaluation on performance and energy efficiency

Hardware specialization is a promising direction for the future of digital computing. Reconfigurable technologies enable hardware specialization with modest non-recurring engineering cost, but their performance and energy efficiency compared to state-of-the-art processor architectures remain an open question. In this article, we use FPGAs to evaluate the benefits of building specialized hardware for numerical kernels found in scientific applications. In order to properly evaluate performance, we not only compare Intel Arria 10 and Xilinx U280 performance against Intel Xeon, Intel Xeon Phi, and NVIDIA V100 GPUs, but we also extend the Empirical Roofline Toolkit (ERT) to FPGAs in order to assess our results in terms of the Roofline model. We show design optimization and tuning techniques for peak FPGA performance at reasonable hardware usage and power consumption. As FPGA peak performance is known to be far less than that of a GPU, we also benchmark the energy efficiency of each platform for the scientific kernels comparing against microbenchmark and technological limits. Results show that while FPGAs struggle to compete in absolute terms with GPUs on memory- and compute-intensive kernels, they require far less power and can deliver nearly the same energy efficiency.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Machine learning on FPGA for event selection

Real-time data processing is a frontier field in experimental particle physics. The application of FPGAs at the trigger level is used by many current and planned experiments (CMS, LHCb, Belle2, PANDA). Usually they use conventional processing algorithms. LHCb has implemented Machine Learning (ML) elements for real-time data processing with a triggered readout system that runs most of the ML algorithms on a computer farm. The work described in this article aims to test the ML-FPGA algorithms for streaming data acquisition. Herein, there are many experiments working in this area and they have a lot in common, but there are many specific solutions for detector and accelerator parameters that are worth exploring further. This report describes the purpose of the work and progress in evaluating the ML-FPGA application.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗

An FPGA-based readout chip emulator for the CMS ETL detector upgrade

Here, we present an FPGA-based readout chip emulator board for the CMS Endcap Timing Layer (ETL) detector upgrade. The emulator board uses an Intel Cyclone 10 GX FPGA to emulate the digital functions of four Endcap Layer Readout Chips (ETROCs). Based on the actual ETROC design, the firmware is implemented and verified. The emulator board is being used for the ETROC digital design verification and system development.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

A demonstrator for a real-time AI-FPGA-based triggering system for sPHENIX at RHIC

The RHIC interaction rate at sPHENIX will reach around 3 MHz in pp collisions and requires the detector readout to reject events by a factor of over 200 to fit the DAQ bandwidth of 15 kHz. Some critical measurements, such as heavy flavor production in pp collisions, often require the analysis of particles produced at low momentum. This prohibits adopting the traditional approach, where data rates are reduced through triggering on rare high momentum probes. We explore a new approach based on real-time AI technology, adopt an FPGA-based implementation using a custom designed FELIX-712 board with the Xilinx Kintex Ultrascale FPGA, and deploy the system in the detector readout electronics loop for real-time trigger decision.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗