The Associative Memory Serial Link Processor of the ALTAS Fast TracKer Processing System

The upgraded trigger system of the ATLAS experiment at LHC will improve the capability of the detectors to select the events with the greatest scientific potential. The FastTracker (FTK) is one of the ATLAS trigger upgrade that is presently under commissioning. FTK is a hardware system that feeds the High Level Trigger with charged particle tracks reconstructed from hits in silicon detectors at the rate of 105 events per second. Once a track candidate is found, the track reconstruction proceeds by matching low resolution hits to predefined patterns. Selected hits matching the predefined pattern are used in a second processing step for a more precise track fitting algorithm. The main processing element of FTK is the Associative Memory (AM) system that is used to perform pattern matching with high degree of parallelism. Its implementation is called the AM Board Serial Link Processor (AMBSLP) and it is a very efficient pattern matching machine that handles massively parallel data. The AMB SLP consists of two types of boards: the Little Associative Memory Board (LAMB), a mezzanine where the AM chips are mounted, and the Associative Memory Board (AMB), a 9U VME motherboard that hosts four LAMB daughter-boards. We report on the complex FPGA design that has been implemented to operate the high degree of parallelism of the board. We also report on the commissioning status of the AMBSLP and on the performance of the Processor during the first data taking.