Distributed control and data acquisition for the EUROGAM gamma ray spectrometer

EUROGAM is an Anglo/French Gamma Ray Detector which will alternate between the Tandem Van der Graaf at Daresbury and the Vivitron at Strasbourg. Because of the need to conform to the standards of Laboratories in two different countries, and the very sensitive nature of electronics for Germanium Gamma Ray telescopes, the newly emerging VXlbus (VMEbus EXtensions for Instrumentation) was chosen as the basis for control and data acquisition. This entailed a major programme of development for both the signal processing front end modules for Germanium and Bismuth Germanate detectors, and also for the hardware and software management of resources from within the VXI environment. The paper will concentrate mainly on the latter areas. (author)