18
2 Front-End Electronics
position of the originating pad in the detector. In addition, a cluster finder algorithm
will be implemented on the CRU that locates clusters that cross more than one pad,
and helps in compressing the data further by only forwarding the collected charge of
the cluster instead of the individual charge per pad. This reduces the amount of data
by a factor 5 to 7 [18].
2.3.2 MCH Readout Electronics
As the MCH detector itself will not be upgraded, the new front-end electronics will
instead need to compatible with the old form factors and connections. An overview
of the readout architecture can be seen in Fig. 2.4.
New Dual SAMPA (DS) boards containing two SAMPA chips each will replace
the previous MANU boards, each connecting to 64 detector pads. The configuration
and the readout of all the SAMPA chips is ensured by about 650 SAMPA to Optical
Link for Alice Readout (SOLAR) concentration cards, replacing the previous CROCUS cards. The SOLAR boards further connect optically to the CRUs over optical
links. The CRU controls the configuration, readout and monitoring of the front-end
cards, in addition to doing the trigger handling.
Each SOLAR card can be connected to up to 40 DS boards over 6 m flexible
Kapton cables. The DS boards are grouped in clusters of up to five boards per cable.
Each SAMPA chip can be configured individually, while up to 10 SAMPA chips
share the trigger and synchronization signals. On each DS board, the two SAMPA
chips share a common 80 Mbps uplink for data to the SOLAR board.
Common
Readout
Unit (CRU)
Detector
Data Links
(DDL3)
Local
Trigger
Unit (LTU)
Detector
Control
System
(DCS)
Timing and Trigger
distribution System (TTS)
SOLAR
Front-end
card
(2x SAMA)
Front-end
card
(2x SAMA)
Up to 5
Front-end card bus
GBTSCA
GBTx
VTRx
8x
Cavern
Control
room
Online
farm
Front-end
links (GBT)
Physics &
monitoring data
Trigger, control
and configuration
Physics data
Monitoring data
Control and
configuration
Fig. 2.4 Overview of the MCH readout architecture for Run 3
2 Front-End Electronics
position of the originating pad in the detector. In addition, a cluster finder algorithm
will be implemented on the CRU that locates clusters that cross more than one pad,
and helps in compressing the data further by only forwarding the collected charge of
the cluster instead of the individual charge per pad. This reduces the amount of data
by a factor 5 to 7 [18].
2.3.2 MCH Readout Electronics
As the MCH detector itself will not be upgraded, the new front-end electronics will
instead need to compatible with the old form factors and connections. An overview
of the readout architecture can be seen in Fig. 2.4.
New Dual SAMPA (DS) boards containing two SAMPA chips each will replace
the previous MANU boards, each connecting to 64 detector pads. The configuration
and the readout of all the SAMPA chips is ensured by about 650 SAMPA to Optical
Link for Alice Readout (SOLAR) concentration cards, replacing the previous CROCUS cards. The SOLAR boards further connect optically to the CRUs over optical
links. The CRU controls the configuration, readout and monitoring of the front-end
cards, in addition to doing the trigger handling.
Each SOLAR card can be connected to up to 40 DS boards over 6 m flexible
Kapton cables. The DS boards are grouped in clusters of up to five boards per cable.
Each SAMPA chip can be configured individually, while up to 10 SAMPA chips
share the trigger and synchronization signals. On each DS board, the two SAMPA
chips share a common 80 Mbps uplink for data to the SOLAR board.
Common
Readout
Unit (CRU)
Detector
Data Links
(DDL3)
Local
Trigger
Unit (LTU)
Detector
Control
System
(DCS)
Timing and Trigger
distribution System (TTS)
SOLAR
Front-end
card
(2x SAMA)
Front-end
card
(2x SAMA)
Up to 5
Front-end card bus
GBTSCA
GBTx
VTRx
8x
Cavern
Control
room
Online
farm
Front-end
links (GBT)
Physics &
monitoring data
Trigger, control
and configuration
Physics data
Monitoring data
Control and
configuration
Fig. 2.4 Overview of the MCH readout architecture for Run 3