  SHiP (Search for Hidden Particles) is a proposed experiment to be installed
at CERN, with the aim of exploring the high intensity beam frontier to
investigate the so-called Hidden sector. Since the SPS proton beam interacting
with the SHiP high density target is expected to produce a large neutrino flux,
the experiment will also study neutrino physics with unprecedented statistics.
A dedicated Scattering and Neutrino Detector (SND) is thus being designed. It
consists of a nuclear emulsion target and a tracking fibres detector in
magnetic field followed by a Muon Identification System. The Muon System is
composed of iron filters interleaved with tracking planes, instrumented with
Resistive Plate Chambers (RPCs) operated in avalanche mode. Each plane consists
of three gaps readout by two planes of perpendicular strips. The RPC readout
electronics is being developed. It is based on the use of front-end Field
Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) connected to a concentration system,
transmitting data serially at high speed via optical link to the data
acquisition and control system. A small-scale prototype of the SHiP Muon
Identification System, with five RPC planes consisting of one large gap each,
has been produced and exposed at CERN H4 in a test beam.
