P. Amaral

The ATLAS level-1 central trigger system

The central part of the ATLAS level-1 trigger system consists of the central trigger processor (CTP), the local trigger processors (LTPs), the timing, trigger and control (TTC) system, and the read-out driver busy (ROD/spl I.bar/BUSY) modules. The CTP combines information from calorimeter and muon trigger processors, as well as from other sources and makes the final level-1 accept decision (L1A) on the basis of lists of selection criteria, implemented as a trigger menu. Timing and trigger signals are fanned out to about 40 LTPs which inject them into the sub-detector TTC partitions. The LTPs also support stand-alone running and can generate all necessary signals from memory. The TTC partitions fan out the timing and trigger signals to the sub-detector front-end electronics. The ROD-BUSY modules receive busy signals from the front-end electronics and send them to the CTP (via an LTP) to throttle the generation of L1As. An overview of the ATLAS level-1 central trigger system will be presented, with emphasis on the design and tests of the CTP modules.

The ATLAS Level-1 central trigger processor

ATLAS is a multi-purpose particle physics detector at CERNs Large Hadron Collider where two pulsed beams of protons are brought to collision at very high energy. There are collisions every 25 ns, corresponding to a rate of 40 MHz. A three-level trigger system reduces this rate to about 200 Hz while keeping bunch crossings which potentially contain interesting processes. The Level-1 trigger, implemented in electronics and firmware, makes an initial selection in under 2.5 mus with an output rate of less than 100 kHz. A key element of this is the central trigger processor (CTP) which combines trigger information from the calorimeter and muon trigger processors to make the final Level-1 accept decision in under 100 ns on the basis of lists of selection criteria, implemented as a trigger menu. Timing and trigger signals are fanned out to all sub-detectors, while busy signals from all sub-detector read-out systems are collected and fed into the CTP in order to throttle the generation of Level-1 triggers

The ATLAS local trigger processor (LTP)

The local trigger processor (LTP) receives timing and trigger signals from the central trigger processor (CTP) and injects them into the timing, trigger and control (TTC) system of a sub-detector front-end TTC partition. The LTP allows stand-alone running by using local timing and trigger signals or by generating them from memory. In addition, several LTPs of the same sub-detector can be daisy-chained. The LTP can thus be regarded as a switching element for timing and trigger signals with input from the CTP or the daisy-chain, from local input, or from the internal data generator, and with output to the daisy-chain, to the TTC partition, or to local output. Finally, in combined mode several LTPs can be connected together using their local outputs and local inputs to allow stand-alone running of combinations of different sub-detectors.

The ATLAS level-1 central trigger processor core module (CTP/spl I.bar/CORE)

ATLAS is a detector at CERNs Large Hadron Collider where bunches of protons in counter-rotating beams will cross every 25 ns producing, on average, about 25 collisions for a total interaction rate of 1 GHz. A three-level trigger system selects bunch crossings potentially containing interesting processes. The Level-1 trigger, implemented in electronics and firmware, makes an initial selection in under 2.5 mus with an output rate of less than 100 kHz. A key element of this is the core module of the Central Trigger Processor which combines trigger information from the calorimeter and muon trigger processors to make the final Level-1 accept decision in under 75 ns. The event-selection algorithm used by the core module is based on lists of selection criteria, i.e., trigger menus, and is implemented in fully programmable look-up tables and content-addressable memories. In addition to the event selection, the core module generates dead-time in order to limit the frequency of Level-1 accepts to a rate that the sub-detector front-end electronics can support. The core module further provides trigger-summary information to the Level-2 trigger and to the data acquisition system. The design of the core module is presented, and results from recent laboratory tests and from tests with the calorimeter and muon trigger processors connected to detectors in a particle beam are shown