Speaker
Description
The Fast Tracker Processor (FTK) is an ATLAS trigger upgrade built for full event,
low-latency, high-rate tracking. The FTK core, made of 9U VME boards, performs the most
demanding computational task. The "Associative Memory Board Serial Link Processor"
(AMBSLP) and the "Auxiliary card" (AUX), plugged on the front and back sides of the same VME slot, constitute the Processing Unit (PU), which finds tracks using hits from 8 layers of the inner detector. The PU works in pipeline with the "Second Stage Board" (SSB), which finds 12-layer
tracks by adding extra hits to the identified tracks.
In the designed configuration, 16 PUs and 4 SSBs are installed in a VME crate. The high power-
consumption of the AMBSLP, AUX and SSB (respectively 250 W, 70 W and 160 W per board)
required the development of a custom cooling system. Even though the consumption expected for
each VME crate of the FTK system is high compared to a common VME setup, the 8 FTK core
crates will use ~ 50 kW, which is just a fraction of the power and the space needed for a CPU farm
performing the same task.
We report on the integration of 32 PUs and 8 SSBs inside the FTK system, on the infrastructures
needed to run and cool them, and on the tests performed to verify the system processing rate and the
temperature stability at a safe value.
| Minioral | Yes |
|---|---|
| IEEE Member | No |
| Are you a student? | No |
