The TrainBuilder ATCA data acquisition board for the European-XFEL

The TrainBuilder is an Advanced Telecom ATCA data acquisition board being developed at the STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory to provide readout for the large 2D Mega-pixel detectors under construction for the European-XFEL in Hamburg. Each ATCA board can process ∼ 8 GBytes/sec of raw detector data. The TrainBuilder system merges up to 5,120 partial detector images per second using FPGAs with DDR2 data buffers and an analogue crosspoint switch architecture. The TrainBuilder links operate with 10 Gigabit Ethernet protocols implemented in FPGA logic. The first TrainBuilder demonstrator boards were manufactured in Q1/2012.