FEATURE-EXTRACTION IN FUTURE DETECTORS

As part of CERN's LAA detector development project, we have studied the possibilities of using modern fine-grain parallel computer structures for extracting high-level information (physics features) from fast detectors, in real time. Such information could subsequently be substituted for raw data and thus alleviate bandwidth problems, or could serve for "intelligent" triggering. The main objective is to show how fast today's digital devices, implemented as custom-made or commercial processors, can execute basic algorithms. The possibilities of integrating them efficiently in the data gflow of experiments, and the extrapolations to be made for technological evolution over the coming years will be critical parameters when judging realistic applications in the future. © 1990.