Search arXiv⌕ Search
Home/Archive/arXiv

arXiv · 1806.08651

PCIe Hot Plug support standardization challenges in ATCA

Miguel Correia·Jorge Sousa·António P. Rodrigues·Paulo F. Carvalho·Bruno Santos·Álvaro Combo·Carlos M. B. A. Correia·Bruno Gonçalves
View original source ↗Read source document ↗Export metadata ↓

Abstract

Throughout the last decade, the Advanced Telecommunications Computing Architecture (ATCA) solidified its position as one of the main switched-based crate standards for advanced Physics instrumentation, offering not only highly performant characteristics in data throughput, channel density or power supply/dissipation capabilities, but also special features for high availability (HA), required for latest and upcoming large-scale endeavours, as is the case of ITER. Hot Swap is one of the main HA features in ATCA, allowing for Boards to be replaced in a crate (Shelf), without powering off the whole system. Platforms using the Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe) protocol on the Fabric Interface must be complemented, at the software level, with the PCIe Hot Plug native feature, currently not specified for the ATCA form-factor. From a customised Hot Plug support implementation for ATCA Node Boards, the paper presents an implementation extension for Hub Boards, allowing Hot Plug of PCIe switching devices, without causing bus enumeration problems. This paper further addresses the main issues concerning an eventual standardization of PCIe Hot Plug support in ATCA, such as the implementability of Hot Plug Elements and the generation and management of Hot Plug Events, aiming to stimulate the discussion within the PICMG community towards a long overdue standardized solution for Hot Plug in ATCA.

Explore related subjects

physics.ins-det

Keep this discovery

Explore connections, maps & timelines

BibTeXRIS

Miguel Correia, Jorge Sousa, António P. Rodrigues, Paulo F. Carvalho, Bruno Santos, Álvaro Combo, Carlos M. B. A. Correia, Bruno Gonçalves. 2018-06-22. PCIe Hot Plug support standardization challenges in ATCA. https://doi.org/10.1109/tns.2019.2937367

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related papers

arXiv2026

Proposing, never assigning: fair allocation of control-room shifts in experimental particle physics collaborations from ranked wishes under institutional quotas

Experimental particle physics collaborations staff their detectors around the clock with members drawn from dozens of institutions. The established practice is a credit system with self-sign-up: institutions owe a quota of credit, and people take the seats they want when booking opens. This paper describes a method in which seats are instead allocated from ranked wishes under institutional quotas, the result is issued as offers that each person accepts or declines, and an independent checker recomputes every rule before anything is published: the platform proposes, never assigns, and proves that it kept the rules. The credit and quota model is inherited from current practice. Around that core the paper adds a quota rule that keeps indivisible blocks fair to institutions whose share of a period is smaller than one block, and four rules that make fairness visible beyond the count: shares of owl, weekend and holiday blocks, seats shown in the laboratory's clock and the institution's own, reachable pools for institutions that cannot travel, and booking order by balance. On a synthetic collaboration of 48 institutions and 256 eligible members, the method allocates 70 to 72 of 72 seats per period in two rounds, with a mean rank satisfaction of 84 to 95% and no rule broken; after a year of running every institution of four members or more is within 13% of its cumulative share, and the smallest institutions, which one block overshoots by arithmetic, are brought within the same range by pooling in pairs. The method is stated completely enough to be reimplemented; a reference implementation exists and is available to collaborations under license. It applies as it stands to any scientific collaboration that staffs a facility in blocks of shifts under institutional quotas.

physics.ins-det↗
arXiv2026

Real-time Tunable Probability Distributions From Perimeter-Gated SPAD TRNGs

True random number generators (TRNGs) based on the dark noise of perimeter-gated single-photon avalanche diodes (pg-SPADs) naturally produce outputs that follow a tunable Bernoulli distribution. For applications requiring non-uniform random numbers, multiple such units can be coupled, or the inherent Poisson statistics of the accumulated dark events from a single pg-SPAD can be exploited. In this work, we present the principles for extending pg-SPAD-based TRNGs from the uniform to the non-uniform regime and investigate the impact of the perimeter-gate voltage on the underlying probability distributions. The proposed concepts were experimentally validated using a prototype 64 x 64 pg-SPAD chip, fabricated in a standard 0.35 $μ$m CMOS process. Collectively, we showed that common non-uniform distributions such as Poisson, exponential, and approximated Gaussian can be achieved and tuned in real-time using pg-SPAD TRNGs.

physics.ins-det↗
arXiv2026

TCAD + Allpi$\text{x}^2$ Simulation study of MALTA2, a Depleted Monolithic Active Pixel Sensor for future tracking

In this work, a hybrid simulation framework combining TCAD and Allpi$\text{x}^2$ is presented to investigate the sensor properties of MALTA2, a depleted monolithic active pixel sensor designed for future tracking. The study starts from 3D modeling and transient simulations in TCAD, with generic doping profiles and simple well structures. The resulting doping profiles and electric field are extracted and fed into Allpi$\text{x}^2$ for high-statistics Monte Carlo simulations in both DUT-only and full-telescope mode. Simulations reveal a strong dependence of sensor performance, specifically the detection efficiency and cluster size, on the doping concentration of the N-type blanket at the sensor surface. The doping concentration is then optimized by comparing simulations with measurement data. The active depth of the depleted region of the MALTA2 sensor is estimated in both simulations and measurements using a grazing angle method, in which the sensor is positioned at various inclinations relative to the beam, covering angles from 0 to 60 degrees. Excellent agreement on active depth is obtained with the optimal doping concentration, showing a deviation of 2\% from the measured value at a threshold of 450\,$\text{e}^-$. Consequently, the framework offers a generic toolkit for sensor studies without requiring proprietary information.

physics.ins-det↗