Klaus.Schossmaier@cern.ch
ALICE DAQ Group
ALICE TPC Collaboration Meeting
Cagliari, Sardinia
16 – 17 May 2004

 Decision taken during ALICE week 15 – 19 March 2004
 TPC Sector Test at PS Test Beam T10
 TPC prototype from Hall 167
 Complete IROC (~5000 channels)  RCU readout via DDL
 Si Beam telescope  VME-based readout
 Beam Time: 03 May (10 May) – 02 June 2004
 DAQ System
 DATE software
 3.6 MB max. event size, 100 Hz max. trigger rate
 ~1 TB data volume using CASTOR
 RCU configuration via DDL
 Integration with HLT
 On-line/Off-line Monitoring
TPC Collaboration meeting, 16-17 May 2004 DAQ for the TPC Sector Test at T10
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IROC prototype of the TPC Sector
10 May 2004
Si Beam Telescope
TPC Collaboration meeting, 16-17 May 2004 DAQ for the TPC Sector Test at T10
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IROC
DDL 1
DDL 2 epaitbeam01
Detector LDC
D-RORC 201
D-RORC 202 epaitbeam02
HLT LDC
D-RORC 225
DIU 262
RCU 1
SIU 257
RCU 2
SIU 251
DDL 3 DDL 4 10 MB/s
Fast Ethernet
DIU 248
HLT
DIU 250
SIU 247
TPC Collaboration meeting, 16-17 May 2004
DDL 5
GDC
3x 250 GB disk epaitbeam03
DAQ for the TPC Sector Test at T10 pcepess30
Detector LDC
VME processor
CAEN VME boards
1 MB/s
Si Beam
Telescope
CASTOR
1.5 TB
/castor/cern.ch/alice/testbeam2004/T10
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~30 m
IROC Detector LDC epaitbeam01
RCU 1
RCU 2
DDL 1
Integrated D-RORC incoming: DDL 2 outgoing: DDL 4 to HLT
DDL 2
SIU attached to RCU 1
25 FECs (3200 ch.)
TPC Collaboration meeting, 16-17 May 2004
SIU attached to RCU 2
18 FECs (2304 ch.)
DAQ for the TPC Sector Test at T10
Integrated D-RORC incoming: DDL 1 outgoing: DDL 3 to HLT
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Farm PCs
VME crate
KVM epaitbeam01
2x Xeon 2.4GHz
RH Linux 7.3.2
epaitbeam02
2x Xeon 2.4GHz
RH Linux 7.3.2
epaitbeam03
2x Xeon 2.4GHz
3x 250 GB disk
RH Linux 7.3.4
GDC + CASTOR pcepess30
CCT VP CP1
Pentium III 850MHz
RH Linux 7.3.2
LDC: Si Telescope
CAEN VMEbus Modules
V262 – I/O registers
V551B – CRAMS sequencer
3x V50 – CRAMS
(CAMAC)
LDC: 2x D-RORC LDC: 1x D-RORC
Server
TPC Collaboration meeting, 16-17 May 2004 DAQ for the TPC Sector Test at T10
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 Functions of LDC machines
 Readout two integrated D-RORC in one LDC
 Split data from the incoming DDLs to outgoing DDL for HLT
 Readout one D-RORC with DIU from HLT via DDL
 Configure the RCUs via the DDL with the FeC2 tool
 Readout Si beam telescope (re-using Denis Nouais’ software)
 Functions of GDC machines
 Building full events from sub-events of the LDC machines
 DDL mini-header (8 32bit words) for event identification!
 Recording to local disks or upload to CASTOR
 On-line/Off-line monitoring
 Functions of Server machines
 RunControl, InfoLogger, DIM server, NFS, etc.
TPC Collaboration meeting, 16-17 May 2004 DAQ for the TPC Sector Test at T10
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 week 01-03-2004: planning of the DAQ started
 week 08-03-2003: installation of an LDC in Lab 13-R-0025 for the integration FEC  RCU  DDL  FeC2 and DATE
 week 15-03-2004: upgrading/fixing FeC2
 week 22-03-2004: moving LDCs to T10
 week 29-03-2004: moving VMEbus crate to T10; installation of DATE
 week 05-04-2004: installation of the GDC with 3x 250GB disks
 week 12-04-2004: testing DATE at T10; setting up MOOD
 week 19-04-2004: installation of an LDC in Lab 13-R-0021 for the integration FEC  RCU  DDL  HLT
 week 26-04-2004: installation of the D-RORCs at T10; testing the data splitter with 2 LDCs for the HLT integration in Lab 4-R-0002
 week 03-05-2004: integration RCU  DATE works (~80 MB/s) in Lab
13-R-0025; setting up CASTOR; cabling at T10; finishing and testing
DDL setup; first data taking with 2x RCUs  2x DDLs  DATE
 week 10-05-2004: test runs without beam (e.g. pedestals)
TPC Collaboration meeting, 16-17 May 2004 DAQ for the TPC Sector Test at T10
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TPC Collaboration meeting, 16-17 May 2004 DAQ for the TPC Sector Test at T10
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 Monitoring Modes:
 On-line: sampling raw data from memory buffers
 Off-line: sampling raw data from recorded files
 Four Monitoring Tools:
 eventDump: DATE low-level program  hex dump
 MOOD (Monitor Of On-line Data):
- Toolkit for monitoring with interfaces for detector code
- DATE Monitoring library to access raw data; ROOT environment
- Visualization of beam position of Si Telescope developed by
Ozgur Cobanoglu and Peter Christiansen; TPC data in progress
 Roland Bramm’s Monitor:
- re-used monitoring program for analyzing data from Hall 167
- DATE Monitoring library to access raw data; ROOT environment
- Visualization of TPC data
 HLT Monitor:
TPC Collaboration meeting, 16-17 May 2004 DAQ for the TPC Sector Test at T10
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Beam position (raw data) of the Si Telescope
Beam position (cluster finder) of the Si Telescope
TPC Collaboration meeting, 16-17 May 2004 DAQ for the TPC Sector Test at T10
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Roland’s Monitor: max. ADC of each channel attached to the 25 FECs connected to RCU 1
TPC Collaboration meeting, 16-17 May 2004 DAQ for the TPC Sector Test at T10
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 DDL Hardware
 All connectors/cables/cards must be properly labeled
 Choosing the right components (optical transceiver!)
 End-to-end testing of each DDL link is necessary
 DDL Software
 Modifications of the FeC2 tool needed to increase the downloading speed (erroneous wait of acknowledge)
 Additional FeC2 statements requested (e.g. WAIT)
 Fixing low-level commands (prorc_receive, siu_reset)
 DATE
 Configuration is complex
 Getting familiar with data format (DATE header structure)
 DATE and FeC2 cannot run simultaneously on one LDC
 A powerful and uniform Monitoring Tool is essential
TPC Collaboration meeting, 16-17 May 2004 DAQ for the TPC Sector Test at T10
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D-RORC with DIU
RCU with SIU
DDL
TPC Collaboration meeting, 16-17 May 2004
 FeC2 is a tool distributed with the DDL software of
DATE to transmit commands and data blocks via the
DDL to front-end cards (e.g. RCU, CarlosRX, Crocus).
 FeC2 interprets a script of instructions:
# FeC2 script to configure a single channel write_block 0x0 block2kB.hex %x write_command 0x10F write_block 0x0 block1kB.hex %x write_command 0x100 write_command 0x10F
 Configure one RCU with 25 FECs (3200 channels):
 6400 data blocks (1kB and 2kB)
 9600 commands
 Download speed for data blocks:
 Current: Time [µs] = 0.2 · size [bytes] + 51
 Improved: Time [µs] = 0.01 · size [bytes] + 94
DAQ for the TPC Sector Test at T10
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SIU
Altera Apex EP20K60E
(max. 162k system gates)
TPC Collaboration meeting, 16-17 May 2004
Measurements on current SIU based on Altera ApexE
 Cross section using protons (100 and 180 MeV):
 Registers: σ r
= 1.33E-9 ± 0.15E-9 cm 2
 Memory cells: σ m
= 1.46E-9 ± 0.11E-9 cm 2
 Cross section using neutrons (14 MeV):
 Registers: σ r
= 6.75E-11 ± 1.51E-11 cm 2
 Memory cells: σ m
= 1.30E-10 ± 0.18E-10 cm 2
 The SEU can introduce error during the transmission, but the error rate is negligible ( < bit error rate).
 The SEU can cause configuration loss, which will provoke ~1 error/hour at the level of the DAQ system!
DAQ for the TPC Sector Test at T10
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 Investigate new technology: Actel ProASIC+
 based on Flash technology which is more tolerant against radiation; capacity fits for the SIU (e.g. device
APA150 has max. 150k system gates); concerns about speed
 Same technology (SRAM) but with error detection and recovery:
 Xilinx Virtex II: complete configuration read-back; partial reconfiguration during operation; triple module redundancy
 Altera Cyclon and Stratix: built-in circuitry that monitors the configuration memory cells and detects errors
 Next steps:
 Combined test of the new devices in Uppsala (end of May 2004)
 Choice of FPGA and final design of SIU board (Q3 2004 – Q2 2005)
TPC Collaboration meeting, 16-17 May 2004 DAQ for the TPC Sector Test at T10
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 High participation of the ALICE DAQ team:
 Material: PCs, DDL links, D-RORCs, cables, etc.
 Manpower: meetings, hardware/software installation, customizations, testing, support
 Several new DAQ components:
 Hardware: integrated D-RORC, several 30 m DDL links
 Software: two DDL links in one LDC, first integration with HLT,
FeC2 under real conditions, on-line monitoring with MOOD
 Plan of work:
 Data taking with test beam
 Integration with HLT
 Maintenance of DDLs, DAQ machines, DATE
 Moving back to Hall 167 ?
http://test-alicetpc.webtest.cern.ch/test-alicetpc/
TPC Collaboration meeting, 16-17 May 2004 DAQ for the TPC Sector Test at T10
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