CAEN Summer School 2026: Shaping the Next Generation of FPGA Experts

The 5th International Summer School on Open FPGA for Nuclear and Scientific Applications returns to CAEN Headquarters, from 20 to 24 July 2026.

Earlier this summer, at the CAEN S.p.A. headquarters in Viareggio, Italy, the 5^th International Summer School on Open FPGA for Nuclear and Scientific Applications was held from July 20^th to July 24^th, 2026.

The event lasted five days and featured a balanced combination of theoretical lectures and hands-on laboratory sessions, aimed at enhancing participants’ knowledge and skills in front-end electronics and FPGA-based data acquisition.

The school opened with the fundamentals of front-end electronics algorithms, including digital signal processing techniques commonly used in scientific and nuclear instrumentation, together with an introduction to modern digitizers and FPGA-based systems. Building on this foundation, the program progressively focused on practical FPGA development using the SCI Compiler framework, guiding participants through the complete workflow of designing, implementing, and testing firmware for real-time data acquisition and processing.

Each of the selected participants – students and young professionals holding at least a Bachelor’s degree in Physics, Nuclear Engineering, or related fields – was provided with their own dedicated experimental setup, allowing them to directly apply the concepts learned during the lectures. Over the course of the week, students developed complete processing chains, from signal acquisition and filtering to triggering, feature extraction, and data readout, while gaining hands-on experience in modular FPGA design, debugging, and performance optimization.

These sessions offered valuable insights into the latest advancements in FPGA-based instrumentation and allowed participants to engage directly with CAEN’s cutting-edge technology.

The success of the International Summer School 2026 was the result of the dedication of both instructors and participants. We are thankful for the enthusiasm and active involvement of everyone who took part, which made the event both productive and rewarding.