Real-time data acquisition and control system for the 349-pixel TACTIC atmospheric Cherenkov imaging telescope

摘要

An interrupt-based multinode data acquisition and control system has been developed for the imaging element of the TACTIC γ-ray telescope. The system which has been designed around a 3-node network of PCs running the QNX realtime operating system, provides single-point control with elaborate GUI facilities for operating the multi-pixel camera of the telescope. In addition to acquiring data from the 349-pixel photomultiplier tube based imaging camera in real time, the system also provides continuous monitoring and control of several vital parameters of the telescope for ensuring the quality of the data. The paper describes the salient features of the hardware and software of the data acquisition and control system of the telescope.