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The Central Tracking Detector of the ZEUS experiment employs a time difference technique to measure the z coordinate of each hit. The method provides fast, three-dimensional space point measurements which are used as input to all levels of the ZEUS trigger. Such a tracking trigger is essential in order to discriminate against events with vertices lying outside the nominal electron-proton interaction region. Since the beam crossing interval of the HERA collider is 96 ns, all data must be pipelined through the front-end readout electronics. Subsequent data aquisition employs a novel technique which utilizes a network of approximately 120 INMOS transputers to process the data in parallel. The z-by-timing method and its data aquisition have been employed successfully in recording and reconstructing tracks from electron-proton interactions in ZEUS. © 1993.

Summary form only. The current data acquisition electronics at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory's ISIS Facility has been in operation since the facility started in 1984. Improving neutron detector technology, changing computing environments, and more exacting experiments will soon exceed its design specification. A new data acquisition and control system is thus required, taking advantage of the latest technology, which can accommodate increased detector numbers, monitor, control and preprocess acquired data, and yet still remain manageable. >