  The next generation of proton decay and neutrino experiments, the
post-SuperKamiokande detectors as those that will take place in megaton size
water tanks, will require very large surfaces of photodetection and a large
volume of data. Even with large hemispherical photomultiplier tubes, the
expected number of channels should reach hundreds of thousands. A funded R&D
program to implement a solution is presented here. The very large surface of
photodetection is segmented in macro pixels made of 16 hemispherical (12
inches) photomultiplier tubes connected to an autonomous front-end which works
on a triggerless data acquisition mode. The expected data transmission rate is
5 Mb/s per cable, which can be achieved with existing techniques. This
architecture allows to reduce considerably the cost and facilitate the
industrialization. This document presents the simulations and measurements
which define the requirements for the photomultipliers and the electronics. A
proto-type of front-end electronics was successfully tested with 16
photomultiplier tubes supplied by a single high voltage, validating the
built-in gain adjustment and the calibration principle. The first tests and
calculations on the photomultiplier glass led to the study of a new package
optimized for a 10 bar pressure in order to sustain the high underwater
pressure.
