ATLAS FTK: The Fast Tracker

The Fast TracKer (FTK) will perform global track reconstruction after each Level-1 trigger accept to enable the software-based High Level Trigger to have early access to tracking information. FTK is a dedicated processor based on a mixture of advanced technologies. Modern, powerful Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) form an important part of the system architecture, and the large level of computing power required for pattern recognition is provided by incorporating standard-cell ASICs named Associative Memory (AM). FTK provides global track reconstruction in the full inner silicon detector in approximately 100 microseconds with resolution comparable to the offline algorithms. It allows a fast and precise detection of the primary and secondary vertex information. The track and vertex information is then used by the High Level Trigger algorithms, allowing highly improved trigger performance for the important signatures such as b-jets. In this paper, the architecture and the hardware development status of FTK system will be given and the development of simulation will be following.