Testing of the Micromegas detector trigger electronics for the New Small Wheel Phase I upgrade of ATLAS detector

Abstract

In conjunction with the High Luminosity upgrade of the LHC, the ATLAS detector is also undergoing an upgrade to handle the significantly higher data rates. The muon end-cap system upgrade in ATLAS, lies with the replacement of the Small Wheel. The New Small Wheel is expected to combine high tracking precision with upgraded information for the Level-1 trigger. To accomplish this, small Thin Gap Chamber and Micro-Mesh Gaseous Structure detector technologies are being deployed. The Micro-Mesh Gaseous Structure detector technology is equipped with three types of electronic boards to produce signals from muons to send them to trigger and tracking processors. These boards are the Micromegas Front End with 8 VMM chips, the Level 1 Data Driver Card and the ART Data Driver Card. The Address in Real Time signals produced by VMMs in the front ends are propagated through the trigger electronics and sent to the detector’s Trigger Processor which provides segment of the Level 1 Accept trigger signal to ATLAS. In order to test the functionality and efficiency of the trigger electronics, various tests are being conducted at building 899. During the "Address in Real Time connectivity test", Address in Real Time pulses generated synchronously are sent through the trigger electronics and to the Trigger Processor. This test is performed to validate every New Small Wheel sector and is essential to identify front end electronics or fibers that must be tested, repaired or replaced. Finally, the trigger processor’s data acquisition, firmware and trigger logic are being tested with cosmics data. In this paper, the various tests and results from cosmics data are presented.