Software Standard CMS FEC software for the control

Software • Standard CMS FEC software for the control part • We have been advised to look for a shortcut in order to give triggers to the VFAT via the FEC – We got some “private” software, it has to be checked – If it will not work, a big effort will be needed to go the “standard” way with TTC system • Good hope for help on FPGA programming (2 new students from Bari) • Man power on high-level software still a problem.

Control loop via FEC • Juha made big progress • CMS tracker FEC software with added functionality to read/write registers of VFAT • Tested on an emulator board capable of reproducing the behaviour of the I 2 C and registers part of the VFAT • Tested on a PCI electrical FEC • Not tested yet on the VME FEC. – Theory says it should be no problem but it has to be verified in practice

Trigger to VFAT via FEC • Need a new process on the emulator FPGA to separate the fast trigger signals in the control loop of the FEC – Firmware work • I got some private software to generate triggers directly in the FEC, however I do not know if it works or not. • Availability of an optical loop in the next days would be helpful

Readout • Tested Fed-Kit readout with CMS-provided example program • Successfully tried to generate data with one Fed. Kit and receive it with a second one • Hooked up a VFAT emulator board to opto-rx, then tried to read data via Fed-Kit – Partially works, but opto-rx seems to go in an indefinite loop and sends data without stopping – Not clear for the moment what’s the problem – Looking into firmware to understand

Conclusions • Control loop part seems working, has to be tested on VME FEC • Trigger generation needs firmware work + checking the available “private” FEC software • Readout part not yet mastered. • All the ingredients should be merged in a single software package, no idea in this moment how to proceed in this direction • We learned that not only high-level software but also mastering firmware is necessary.