Test beam studies for a highly granular GRPC Semi-Digital HCAL

The Particle Flow Analysis approach retained for the future ILC detectors requires high granularity and compact particle energy deposition. A Glass Resistive Plate Chamber based Semi-Digital calorimeter can offer both at a low price for the hadronic section. This paper presents some recent developments and results near test beam in the use of Glass Resistive Plate Chamber with embedded front-end electronics to build a prototype based on this principle. All the critical parameters such as the spatial and angular uniformity of the response as well as the noise level have been measured on small chambers and found to be appropriate. Small semi-conductive chambers allowing for high rates and a large chamber have also been tested.