We report on the development of a GEM-based TPC prototype for the PANDA experiment. The design and requirements of this device will be illustrated, with particular emphasis on the properties of the recently tested GEM-detector, the characterization o
f the read-out electronics and the development of the tracking software that allows to evaluate the GEM-TPC data.
A package for pattern recognition and PID by COMPASS RICH-1 has been developed and used for the analysis of COMPASS data collected in the years 2002 to 2004, and 2006-2007 with the upgraded RICH-1 photon detectors. It has allowed the full characteriz
ation of the detector in the starting version and in the upgraded one, as well as the PID for physics results. We report about the package structure and algorithms, and the detector characterization and PID results.
