System Simulation Tools for Data Acquisition in High Energy Physics Experiments

This paper reports the methods and tools set up in order to deal efficiently with the design of a very large and complex digital electronic system. We describe the methods set up for the purpose of granting interactivity to the design of the electronics: this interactivity allows straightforward evaluation of different scenarios as well as evaluation of different what-if choices; it finally allows interactive fine tuning of the parameters of the chosen structure. The preliminary results obtained in the early stage of this project are very promising, because they result in a friendly, interactive and fast system for debugging different design choices, allowing easy comparison and also obtaining reliable figures on the performance of the overall system, measured along large time intervals as needed and subject to operating conditions which statistically would reproduce real life conditions.