sPHENIX discussion of physics

[Martin Purschke <purschke AT bnl.gov>]

Dave, Gunther,

just a quick comment on the DAQ/Trigger. The text

> We would reuse the infrastructure currently in place in the PHENIX counting 
> house, consisting
> of ....
> a high throughput networking switch and several racks of computers.

This seems to suggest that simply keeping the switch and computers alive
for 5 years is a viable option. The fantastically expensive maintenance
contract for the switch will lapse in July. So no more software updates,
no repairs (we do have some spares but those are decommissioned from the
RCF and of unknown state), and there has been a steady parade of
failures in this card or that. A failure of the single governor card
will spell the end of the operations. Bottom line, this is not realistic.

Ditto for the computers - while I believe that we could get our hands on
hand-me-downs, also believing that they will have the right bus to hold
a jSEB-II card is tempting faith. So far we have 11 so-capable machines
in hand that might survive for 5 years if we don't really strain them,
except that we said that those will be the backbone of our R&D efforts.

All ATPs and all old-style SEBs that hold the original jSEB cards will
be junk.

I would just remove the sentence and perhaps mention a much cheaper
switch --

We would reuse some of the infrastructure currently in place in the
PHENIX counting house, such as the data collection modules (DCMIIs), and
a number of 2nd-generation subevent buffers (SEBs).

Some amount of new equipment would be needed, such as a 10GBit-capable
network switch, new computers, new level-1 and global trigger boards.
The network switch is expected to be a commodity item by the time we
commission sPHENIX, and the "Assembly and Trigger" processors (ATPs),
being generic computers, could potentially be recycled.

- snip -

Hope it helps...

        Martin





On 6/2/16 11:42, David Morrison wrote:
> Dear collaborators
> 
> Please find “Draft 1” of the response to the ALD's charge here:
> 
> https://www.dropbox.com/s/q7q9916h3fm9gsa/draft_v1.pdf?dl=0
> 
> and a diff with respect to yesterday’s version:
> 
> https://www.dropbox.com/s/psxoyxapav5x6sq/draft_v0_v1_diff.pdf?dl=0
> 
> This incorporates a number of comments, suggestions and text that we’ve 
> received in response to Draft 0.  There is still more to do – for instance, 
> there are still a number of “FIXME”s in the text – and there is still an 
> opportunity for suggestions for other improvements.
> 
> Regards,
> Dave and Gunther
> 
> David Morrison        Brookhaven National Laboratory  phone: 631-344-5840
>                               Physics Department, Bldg 510 C  email: 
> dave AT bnl.gov
>                               Upton, NY 11973-5000
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
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-- 
Martin L. Purschke, Ph.D.        ;   purschke AT bnl.gov
                                 ;   http://www.phenix.bnl.gov/~purschke
                                 ;
Brookhaven National Laboratory   ;   phone: +1-631-344-5244
Physics Department Bldg 510 C    ;   fax:   +1-631-344-3253
Upton, NY 11973-5000             ;   skype: mpurschke
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