The ATLAS liquid Argon calorimeters read-out system

The calorimetry of the ATLAS experiment takes advantage of different detectors based on the liquid Argon (LAr) technology. Signals from the LAr calorimeters are processed by various stages before being delivered to the Data Acquisition system. The calorimeter cell signals are received by the front-end boards, which digitize a predetermined number of samples of the bipolar waveform and sends them to the Read-Out Driver (ROD) boards. The ROD board receives triggered data from 1028 calorimeter cells, and determines the precise energy and timing of the signals by processing the discrete samplings of the pulse. In addition, it formats the digital stream for the following elements of the DAQ chain, and performs monitoring. The architecture and functionality of the ATLAS LAr ROD board are discussed, along with the final design of the Processing Unit boards housing the Digital Signal Processors (DSP). (9 refs).