An innovative SiPM-based camera for gamma-ray astronomy with the small size telescopes of the Cherenkov Telescope Array

A prototype camera for one of the Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) projects for the small size telescopes, the single mirror Small Size Telescope (SST-1M), has been designed and is under construction. The camera is a hexagonal matrix of 1296 large area (95 mm2) hexagonal silicon photomultipliers. The sensors are grouped into 108 modules of 12 pixels each, hosting a preamplifier board and a slow-control board. Among its various functions, this latter implements a compensation logic that adjusts the bias voltage of each sensor as a function of temperature. The fully digital readout and trigger system, DigiCam, is based on the latest generation of FPGAs, featuring a high number of high speed I/O interfaces, allowing high data transfer rates in an extremely compact design.