This document contains information about programming and operating the AORTA Software-programmable data-Transmitter module (formerly known as AORTA Speed Tester), after this referred to as AST.
The AST is a VME-module containing a programmable data-generator, generating serial output on an optical fiber from data stored in an on-board FIFO; the output of data is controlled by software, external signals, on-board counters or the presence of certain data words in the datastream; the amount of data sent is not limited to the size of the FIFO because it is possible to let the FIFO data contents circulate; data is sent along an optical link at a rate of 200 Mbit/s.
The AST in combination with the AORTA-R provides a way to simulate the generation of realistic detector front-end eventdata (with markers to mark e.g. the begin and/or the end of an event) at a rate of approximately 20 MByte/s per AST.