# Cosmo ArduSiPM: An All-in-One Scintillation-Based Particle Detector for Earth and Space Application
## 1 Introduction  
The necessity to use fragile and big photomultiplier tubes (PMTs) as light detectors limited the use of scintillators in radiation-handled devices. The appearance on the market of new silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) solid-state sensors, with characteristics close to PMT, changes the paradigm [1]. SiPMs are near-single-photon sensors with performance characteristics close to a conventional PMT with the practical advantages of a solid-state sensor and a low-voltage power supply. They are suitable for medical imaging, radiation detection, and bioluminescence applications. In 2014, at the IEEE NSS/MIC conference in Seattle [2], we introduced the innovative ArduSiPM architecture, which integrated the control and acquisition of a single silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) sensor into one system-on-chip (SoC) microcontroller. This was a major breakthrough, as SiPMs achieved the single-photon limit with a dark count rate (DCR) below 0.05 Mcps/mm\({}^{2}\)[3] (mega counts per second), eliminating the need for two SiPMs in coincidence to reduce noise. Concurrently, microcontroller manufacturers developed a new generation of SoC chips, enabling the integration of a programmable acquisition system in just a few square centimeters with minimal external components. Our original approach at the time intensively utilized the microcontroller's peripherals, limiting external components to analog signal conditioning, and its potential was interesting enough that it was subsequently adopted by other research groups as well [4; 5; 6; 7; 8; 9; 10]. The internal counters of the microcontroller functioned as fast event counters and time measurement tools with nanosecond precision, while ADCs and DACs managed analog input and output signals. By knowing the shape of the SiPM signal, we can estimate the number of photons with good accuracy based on the height of the signal with respect to the bias voltage. The ArduSiPM technology has found applications in many fields of high-energy physics and beyond. The compact size, lightweight, and low energy consumption have identified space applications, particularly for small-sized satellites and CubeSats, as a natural fit for this technology [11]. Thanks to the collaboration with Microchip Technology, a new detector has been developed based on this technology, named Cosmo ArduSiPM, specifically designed for the applications mentioned earlier. Some key performances and design improvements expand its use in a broader range of applications. The compact design of the Cosmo ArduSiPM detector enables small satellites to integrate it as one of several onboard instruments. This provides an improvement over past missions, where radiation detection equipment, due to its bulk, was often the primary payload [12; 13]. When integrated into a small satellite, it can monitor space weather, study the Van Allen radiation belts; detect cosmic rays; and force the hibernation of subsystems at risk from high particle fluxes due to solar flares. It can also be used to provide information about local gamma-ray radiation background aboard small satellites in space, based on ten-second and minute-period measurements, without the use of a high-voltage Geiger tube. This latter task could also be performed by alternative technologies, either commercial [14] or under development [15]. Additionally, it supports a wide range of scientific studies, such as those in the JEM-EUSO program, which investigates high-energy cosmic rays and other extreme universe phenomena and can contribute to research in astrophysics and environmental monitoring of outer space. The use of such detectors in satellite constellations can be particularly interesting for studying the directions and positions of potential sources of various phenomena. This type of device can be cost-effective and compete with pricier solutions. Excluding high prototype costs, electronics production costs can be low for a few hundred units.