The MARS DAQ system for characterization of HV-MAPS for the LHCb Mighty Tracker

The development of the Mighty-Pixel detector for the LHCb Upgrade II requires extensive characterisation of High-Voltage Monolithic Active Pixel Sensors (HV-MAPS) across multiple prototype generations. This includes laboratory measurements, irradiation campaigns, and testbeam studies, all of which demand a flexible and scalable data acquisition system capable of supporting a wide range of devices and operating conditions.

To address these requirements, the Mighty ASIC Readout System (MARS) has been developed as a dedicated DAQ platform for HV-MAPS characterisation. MARS is a modular system combining custom hardware, firmware, and software, designed to provide a versatile and user-friendly environment for sensor testing. The architecture is based on established concepts from the BDAQ53 framework, ensuring reliability while allowing adaptation to the specific needs of the MightyPix development programme.

The hardware design consists of three main components: a device-under-test (DUT) carrier, an adapter board, and an FPGA carrier board. This separation enables support for different sensor prototypes and configurations while maintaining a common readout backbone. High-speed data transmission to the host system is achieved via Ethernet or SFP+ links, allowing operation at high hit rates and facilitating both laboratory and testbeam use cases. The system is designed to handle multiple parallel data links and control channels, reflecting the requirements of future multi-chip operation.

The firmware implements a modular architecture based on reusable building blocks, providing data decoding, communication interfaces, and system monitoring. On the software side, a Python-based control framework enables configuration, automated scan execution, and online data analysis, supporting efficient and reproducible characterisation workflows.

MARS has been successfully deployed for the evaluation of MightyPix prototypes, including measurements of timing performance, noise behaviour, and radiation effects, both in laboratory setups and in testbeam environments. The system is designed to scale towards multi-chip operation and to interface with higher-level DAQ systems foreseen for detector integration.

This talk presents the design and architecture of the MARS DAQ system, highlights key design choices and challenges, and summarises its performance in recent measurement campaigns. The current status and planned developments towards large-scale system integration are also discussed.