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The data processing system of the POEMMA-Balloon with Radio mission

Valentina Scotti, Antonio Anastasio, Alfonso Boiano, Francesco Cafagna, Vincenzo Masone, Marco Mese, Giuseppe Osteria, Giuseppe Passeggio, Francesco Perfetto, Haroon Akhtar Qureshi

TL;DR

This paper presents the data processing system (DP) for the POEMMA-Balloon with Radio (PBR) mission, a stratospheric balloon platform to detect ultra-high-energy cosmic rays and astrophysical neutrinos using a hybrid focal surface and a radio instrument. The DP builds on the EUSO-SPB2 fluorescence-DAQ, adding radio capability, hot/cold CPU redundancy, precision GPS timing, a central clock, and comprehensive environmental monitoring to ensure synchronized, low-latency data handling across FC, CC, RI, and X-Gamma detectors. It details the trigger hierarchy, time synchronization to sub-microsecond precision, onboard data storage with prioritization, and multi-channel telemetry (Iridium, TDRSS, and Starlink). The modular, autonomous design supports long-duration flights, ground-independent operation, and serves as a testbed for future space-based multi-messenger observatories.

Abstract

The POEMMA-Balloon with Radio (PBR) mission incorporates an advanced data processing system (DP) to enable the detection and characterization of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays and astrophysical neutrinos. The data acquisition (DAQ) system integrates inputs from the Cherenkov Camera, the Fluorescence Camera, the Radio Instrument and the X-Gamma detectors, ensuring synchronized event detection. Built upon the heritage of the EUSO-SPB2 DAQ architecture, the system has been adapted to support both the hybrid focal surface and radio instrumentation. The DP features two redundant CPUs, differential GPS receivers, and environmental monitoring capabilities, including temperature, humidity, and gyroscope-based orientation tracking. A central clock board synchronizes data collection across all instruments, ensuring precise event reconstruction. The main trigger and clock board manages trigger signals from different detectors, supporting both joint and independent data acquisition modes. These advancements enhance the mission's contribution to multi-messenger astrophysics and provide valuable insights for future space-based observatories. In this paper, we describe the system's main components and the design developed for this new mission.

The data processing system of the POEMMA-Balloon with Radio mission

TL;DR

This paper presents the data processing system (DP) for the POEMMA-Balloon with Radio (PBR) mission, a stratospheric balloon platform to detect ultra-high-energy cosmic rays and astrophysical neutrinos using a hybrid focal surface and a radio instrument. The DP builds on the EUSO-SPB2 fluorescence-DAQ, adding radio capability, hot/cold CPU redundancy, precision GPS timing, a central clock, and comprehensive environmental monitoring to ensure synchronized, low-latency data handling across FC, CC, RI, and X-Gamma detectors. It details the trigger hierarchy, time synchronization to sub-microsecond precision, onboard data storage with prioritization, and multi-channel telemetry (Iridium, TDRSS, and Starlink). The modular, autonomous design supports long-duration flights, ground-independent operation, and serves as a testbed for future space-based multi-messenger observatories.

Abstract

The POEMMA-Balloon with Radio (PBR) mission incorporates an advanced data processing system (DP) to enable the detection and characterization of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays and astrophysical neutrinos. The data acquisition (DAQ) system integrates inputs from the Cherenkov Camera, the Fluorescence Camera, the Radio Instrument and the X-Gamma detectors, ensuring synchronized event detection. Built upon the heritage of the EUSO-SPB2 DAQ architecture, the system has been adapted to support both the hybrid focal surface and radio instrumentation. The DP features two redundant CPUs, differential GPS receivers, and environmental monitoring capabilities, including temperature, humidity, and gyroscope-based orientation tracking. A central clock board synchronizes data collection across all instruments, ensuring precise event reconstruction. The main trigger and clock board manages trigger signals from different detectors, supporting both joint and independent data acquisition modes. These advancements enhance the mission's contribution to multi-messenger astrophysics and provide valuable insights for future space-based observatories. In this paper, we describe the system's main components and the design developed for this new mission.

Paper Structure

This paper contains 11 sections, 2 figures.

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. The DP architecture
  3. Requirements
  4. The subsystems
  5. Time synchronization
  6. Trigger Hierarchy and Data Flow
  7. Data Storage and Redundancy
  8. Telemetry and Communications
  9. The software
  10. Conclusion
  11. Acknowledgements

Figures (2)

  • Figure 1: Block diagram of the Data Processing (DP) system for the POEMMA-Balloon with Radio (PBR) mission. The diagram illustrates the interconnection between the DP and key subsystems, including the Fluorescence Camera (FC), Cherenkov Camera (CC), Radio Instrument (RI), GPS modules, and telemetry interfaces. It highlights the modular architecture designed for redundancy, environmental monitoring, real-time data handling, and synchronization across all science instruments.
  • Figure 2: Schematic representation of the timing and synchronization signals within the PBR data acquisition system. The CC Trigger & Sync board distributes the 1 PPS GPS signal, Global Trigger Unit (GTU) clock, and trigger signals to all sub-detectors. Dead time, live time, and trigger counters are included in each event packet to ensure precise inter-subsystem synchronization with sub-microsecond accuracy. This infrastructure supports coherent time-tagging across heterogeneous instruments during flight operations.