1. Software Standard CMS FEC software for the control part We have been advised to look for a shortcut in order to give triggers to the VFAT via the FEC –We got some “private” software, it has to be checked –If it will not work, a big effort will be needed to go the “standard” way with TTC system Good hope for help on FPGA programming (2 new students from Bari) Man power on high-level software still a problem.

2. Control loop via FEC Juha made big progress CMS tracker FEC software with added functionality to read/write registers of VFAT Tested on an emulator board capable of reproducing the behaviour of the I2C and registers part of the VFAT Tested on a PCI electrical FEC Not tested yet on the VME FEC. –Theory says it should be no problem but it has to be verified in practice

3. Trigger to VFAT via FEC Need a new process on the emulator FPGA to separate the fast trigger signals in the control loop of the FEC –Firmware work I got some private software to generate triggers directly in the FEC, however I do not know if it works or not. Availability of an optical loop in the next days would be helpful

4. Readout Tested Fed-Kit readout with CMS-provided example program Successfully tried to generate data with one Fed-Kit and receive it with a second one Hooked up a VFAT emulator board to opto-rx, then tried to read data via Fed-Kit –Partially works, but opto-rx seems to go in an indefinite loop and sends data without stopping –Not clear for the moment what’s the problem –Looking into firmware to understand

5. Conclusions Control loop part seems working, has to be tested on VME FEC Trigger generation needs firmware work + checking the available “private” FEC software Readout part not yet mastered. All the ingredients should be merged in a single software package, no idea in this moment how to proceed in this direction We learned that not only high-level software but also mastering firmware is necessary.