| dc.description.abstract | The ProtonCT project is a collaborative effort spearheaded by the University of Bergen. It aims to develop a novel CT machine that uses protons instead of photons. This will increase the accuracy of measuring the relative stopping power of protons, improving the dose planning for proton therapy. The pCT detector system being developed has 2 main subsystems. The readout system collects and processes data from sensors in the detector. The second system is the power control system. The power control system powers and monitors the sensors during operation. It also acts as a failsafe if an issue with the sensor operation arises. The power control system is the focus of the thesis. The power control system comprises three distinct designs. First, the monitor boards are responsible for delivering power and monitoring the sensor’s operation. Second, the control software includes the necessary functions and database to configure the monitor boards. Lastly, the monitor board hub acts as the connection between the monitor board and the control software. Implementing the monitor board hub is required because multiple monitor boards are needed. The monitor board hub utilizes an FPGA to set up a bus system to address each monitor board. The work done in this thesis is to integrate the power control system. The integration of the full communication chain of the power control system is the overall objective of this thesis. This can be broken down into several concrete tasks. The first task is to design an adapter card for the monitor board hub so that all monitor boards can be connected using the LVDS UART protocol. To accommodate this, the FPGA design is adapted and updated with new features. Finally, the adapter card, the FPGA design, and the integrated system are subjected to an extensive test period. During this testing, a few issues were found, where the most prominent one was the difference in the electrical protocol between the monitor board and the monitor board hub. Eventually, this was understood, and a workaround was made so that the tests could continue. In the end, the system was tested with millions of transactions over several hours without a single error. The adapter card was made in two versions. The prototype version had a few minor layout errors. These were corrected for the revised version, which was later electrically tested, and no errors were detected. While the testing program is completed, certain aspects of the power control system need revision and further testing. The monitor board needs to be updated and tested to include the correct electrical standard for communication. The control software remains largely untested. This was due to the added complexity of including it in the test program. Nevertheless, the software should get its own dedicated test program. Once this work is completed, the system is ready to start production. | |
