Physics and Engineering of Radiation Detection

722 Chapter 13. Data Acquisition Systems

A.1 NIMLayout...........................

A complete NIM system consists of aNIM crateorNIM binandNIM modules.A
typical NIM crate has 12 slots for insertion of modules.
The communication and data transfer between the modules is realized through a
built-in backplane. One of the deficiencies of the standard NIM backplane is that it
does not have a digital data bus to allow computer based control. However some of
the modern NIM modules have built-in communication ports, which allow them to
be controlled and read out through a computer. Examples of typical communication
ports are RS-232, Ethernet, USB, and IEEE-488.

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Ground

Figure 13.2.1: Rear view of a standard NIM bin. A mod-

ule connector is simply a mirror image of this. The con-

nector assignments can be found in Table 13.2.1.

A standard NIM crate has a built-in power supply that draws power from 110V
or 240V AC outlets, though crates having other specific input voltage ratings are
also available. The DC voltages are generated within the crate, that is, no extra DC
supply module is needed. The voltages are distributed through the backplane and
are also available in front of the crate for other user-specific requirements.