The ALICE DAQ: current status and future challenges Original Research Article

The ALICE data acquisition system has been designed to support an aggregate event-building bandwidth of up to 2.5 GByte/s and a storage capability of up to 1.25 GByte/s to mass storage. A general framework called the ALICE Data Acquisition Test Environment (DATE) system has been developed as a basis for prototyping the components of the DAQ. DATE supports a wide spectrum of configurations from simple systems to more complex systems with multiple detectors and multiple event builders. Prototypes of several key components of the ALICE DAQ have been developed and integrated with the DATE system such as the ALICE Detector Data Link, the online data monitoring from ROOT and the interface to the mass storage systems. Combined tests of several of these components are being pursued during the ALICE Data Challenges. The architecture of the ALICE DAQ system will be presented together with the current status of the different prototypes. The recent addition of a Transition Radiation Detector (TRD) to ALICE has required a revision of the requirements and the architecture of the DAQ. This will allow for a higher level of data selection. These new opportunities and implementation challenges will also be presented.