Testing the Level-1 Data Driver Card for the New Small Wheel of the ATLAS detector

Abstract

The Level-1 Data Driver Card (L1DDC) is designed to fulfill the needs of the New Small Wheel, which will be used in the upgraded ATLAS experiment detectors. L1DDC's function is to concentrate the data from multiple front-end boards and transmit them through a network interface, to the control room. The proper operation of the L1DDC is critical for the credibility of the ATLAS experiment, thus extensive testing of the prototype boards is required. To perform the debugging and testing of the L1DDC a number of additional boards and FPGAs with specially developed firmware are used. This paper describes the methodology followed for the testing of the L1DDC and presents the results of the experiments performed to determine data integrity for all data rates supported for the front-end cards, i.e., 80, 160 and 320 Mb/s.