ATLAS Level-1 Calorimeter Trigger
Hardware Progress Meeting - 20 April 1999

Minutes

1. ACTION list from previous meeting (13-4-1999):
a) Eric summarised the list of conference submissions of which he had been notified. 
From Heidelberg, the PreProcessor Readout Bus architecture would be presented at the 
LEB Workshop and the PreProcessor MCM at the IEEE NSS. From the UK, only the 
DSS system would be presented at the LEB Workshop.
b) Tony said that he would be writing summaries of the outcomes of the completed 
Reviews, which he would present at the next UK Group Meeting on Monday 26 April.

2. DSS system:
a) Serial data connectors
Tony reported that after lengthy discussions a solution to the "serial data connector 
problem" had been found. The Berg parts will be used and hopefully will be available 
by the time the DSS motherboard is ready. The minimum order quantity is about double 
what we require, but the total cost - £450 for board plus cable connectors for both 
LVDS and G-link systems is not excessive. Readily-available SMR coaxial connectors 
will be used for the G-link cards.
b) DSS motherboard design status
Viraj reported that the design file will go to the Drawing Office for layout by 21 April. 
All components have been ordered, or are ex-stock, so no further hold-ups are 
anticipated.
c) LVDS daughter-cards layout status
Richard had sent his apologies for absence, and had summarised his recent work by e-
mail. Some layout changes had been necessary due to the new connector scheme, but all 
re-work would be complete for both Receiver and Transmitter cards by 23 April, when 
they would go out for manufacture and assembly. The Berg connectors for boards and 
cables had been ordered by Birmingham University, with the minimum order quantities 
providing sufficient connectors for all LVDS cards, G-link cards and cable assemblies.
(On a different topic, Richard added that he has extended the CMOS backplane tests to 
run with supply voltages reduced to 2.5V. With maximum background noise on 
adjacent pins the BER was statistics-limited at 1.5x10**-12, with a timing window of 
4ns. The devices still worked at 1.6V, but with reduced timing margins. A technical 
report is currently being written.)
ACTION: Complete write-up on backplane transmission tests - Richard
c) G-link daughter-cards layout status
Bob reported that the Drawing Office were now modifying the Receiver card layout to 
accommodate the new connector scheme, and it would go out for manufacture and 
assembly by 23 April. The Transmitter card will follow on shortly. All components for 
these cards are available ex-stock, so there should be no holding items. Tony will 
inform Paul Hanke of the expected availability date for the Receiver card.

3. ROD prototype specifications document
Norman circulated a short list of outstanding ROD questions which must be resolved. 
They include the use of the late-arriving trigger type, the specification and handling of 
error conditions, buffer management and DSP interfacing, and the need for VME 
interrupts. He proposes defining a list of all possible data categories on the S-link (e.g. 
"data", "header", "status", etc.) rather than specifying precisely the exact data format, 
which in some cases may remain unclear for a while.
ACTION: Attempt to resolve outstanding ROD specifications - Viraj/Norman/Tony

4. CCM prototype:
a) Status of specifications document
Viraj said that version 4.0 of this document, which incorporated many of the points 
raised in discussions, was now available. Bob added that there appeared to be problems 
in printing it, so Viraj will produce some paper copies!		
b) CCM prototype programme
It was suggested that it would be very useful for Bob to become involved in this area, as 
both the TTC and CAN-bus systems are short of engineering effort. Further discussions 
will be held to formulate a work-plan.
ACTION: Generate a work-plan for CCM prototype programme - Viraj/Tony

5. System tests - software for Exploitation Plan
Norman summarised the current status of the preparations for DSS/link system tests. 
The Birmingham group has made good progress, and the objective is to offer a 
demonstration of the DSS diagnostics software within the next two weeks, with the full 
DAQ system working by mid/late-May.

6. Any other business

* Next meeting - Monday 19th April at 09.30 (before the Group Meeting) - location 
t.b.a.

Tony Gillman