The LED Beacon prototype system for the on-shore time calibration of the KM3NeT-IT Towers

The first implementation of the KM3NeT-IT neutrino telescope consists in the installation of 24 Strings and 8 Towers. Focusing on the Towers, the idea behind this work is to exploit the LED sources mounted in the OMs to develop a complementary system, on shore and before the deployment, for the determination of time delays, aiming at the characterizations of the time response of the different elements of the detector. During the assembling of the first tower, a set of measurements has been carried out; the test set-up and the measurement procedure are described, together with preliminary results of the calibration system. Lesson learnt is quite encouraging: uncertainties of the order of 400 ps are reached with very few cautions taken during the short calibration session, and with large room for improvement, making this system feasible and effective for the KM3NeT-IT experiment.