The Data Handling system of the gamma-ray space detector AGILE

AGILE is an innovative, cost-effective gamma-ray mission approved by the Italian Space Agency for the Program of Small Scientific Missions.' The AGILE gamma-ray instrument is designed to detect and image photons in the 30 MeV-50 GeV energy band with good sensitivity and very large field of view (FOV). AGILE is planned to be operational during the year 2002 and will be open to the international community for the study of gamma-ray sources. A main aim of the AGILE Data Handling system is to provide an on-board processing and filtering of events reducing the background rate to an acceptable value within a factor of 1-10 of the gamma-ray photon rate. In order to maximize the instrument FOV and detection efficiency for large-angle incident gamma-rays (and minimize the effect of particle backscattering from the mini-calorimeter), the data acquisition logic uses the combination of top and lateral AC signals and a coarse on-line direction reconstruction in the Si-tracker. Appropriate data buffers are envisioned to maximize data acquisition for impulsive gamma-ray events in the tracker and mini-calorimeter, respectively. The AGILE tracker design can be traced back to the GILDA project.(2).