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Introduction to AIDA FMC Mini-TLU

The TLU provides different parts of a Particle Physics Beam-Test system with the information they need to synchronize data taken with different detectors. The detectors are also refered to as Devices Under Test (DUT).

## Functions of TLU

- Trigger.

  The TLU can combine signals from detectors in the beam-line ( often scintillation detectors ) to produce a trigger that is sent to the different DUT. Each DUT can indicate to the TLU that it is busy and unable to take any further data.

- Particle Timestamping

  The arrival time of every pulse from the beam-detectors is recorded.

- Clock and Synchronization Signals.

  The TLU produces clock and synchronization signals that allow the internal counters of different DUT to be sychronized.

N.B. Not all the functions of the TLU may be used in a given beam-test system. For example, it is common to only use the Trigger/Busy function of the TLU.

## Firmare Structure

The firmware is almost exclusively written in VHDL. The top level entitity is [top_extphy](top_extphy_struct)

The HDL-Designer package by Mentor graphics has been used to develop some of the code, mainly the top-level structure. However, is is not necessary to use HDL-Designer to build the firmware. In fact the VHDL files produced by HDL-Designer can also be edited "by hand" without using the tool.

A block diagram, generated by HDL-Designer, is here

## Building Firmware

Instructions on building the firmware are found here.