The European Spallation Source (ESS) is a research facility being built in Lund (Sweden) that will produce neutrons by the spallation process. It uses the Micro-Research Finland (MRF) Timing System, which provides a complete event-based timing distribution system. The timing signal generation consists of a basic topology: an Event Generator (EVG), an optical distribution layer (fan-out modules) and an array of Event Receivers (EVRs). The timing system will provide clock synchronization and

more »

... g services to devices with real time requirements. Its main purposes are event generation and distribution, time stamping and synchronous data transmission. The event clock frequency will be 88.0525 MHz, divided down from the bunch frequency of 352.21 MHz. An integer number of ticks of this clock will define the beam macropulse full length, around 2.86 ms, with a repetition rate of 14 Hz. ESS will be the first facility to deploy large amounts of uTCA EVRs, and is planning to take advantage of the features provided by the uTCA standard, like trigger and clock distribution over the backplane. These EVRs are already being deployed in some systems and test stands.