The STM32 microcontroller based pulse intensity registration system for the neutron monitor

TL;DR

This paper introduces a microcontroller-based data acquisition system for cosmic ray neutron monitoring, capable of high-resolution time series registration, flexible configuration, and real-time data visualization, enhancing long-term measurement reliability.

Contribution

The paper presents a novel STM32 microcontroller system supporting flexible, high-precision neutron signal registration and real-time configuration changes for cosmic ray experiments.

Findings

Supports up to 16 input signals

Provides high-resolution time series data (5-10us)

Enables real-time data visualization and configuration adjustments

Abstract

We present the outlines of a new microcontroller based data acquisition system which is aimed for reliable operation in a typical cosmic ray particle registration experiment. The system supports connection of up to 16 input signals and ensures the following operation functionality: (1)stable monitoring of the intensity of a digital pulse signal, or digitization of a continuous potential level with a low time resolution (typically, in the limits of 1-100s); (2)registration of a continuous high-resolution (up to 5-10us) time series of the intensity of input signal; (3)synchronization of registered time series with both external (physical) or local (program-based) trigger signal; (4)possibility of an on-the-fly change of the whole configuration of informational system (both the combination and type of input signals, time resolution and sum duration of the time series measurements, trigger logic, etc) immediately in operation time through convenient communication with a plain text message in dialog mode. In particular, the considered system is applied now for a long-term, high precision measurement of the counting rate of neutron signals at the NM64 type neutron supermonitor of the Tien~Shan mountain cosmic ray station, with a real-time representation of the whole collected dataset in a WWW database.