ATLAS Upgrades PROJECT COORDINATION
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Glasgow
Department Name: UNLISTED
Abstract
Abstracts are not currently available in GtR for all funded research. This is normally because the abstract was not required at the time of proposal submission, but may be because it included sensitive information such as personal details.
People |
ORCID iD |
Steve McMahon (Principal Investigator) |
Publications
Affolder A
(2016)
Charge collection studies in irradiated HV-CMOS particle detectors
in Journal of Instrumentation
Allport P
(2014)
Development of planar pixel modules for the ATLAS high luminosity LHC tracker upgrade
in Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment
Allport P
(2017)
Recent results and experience with the Birmingham MC40 irradiation facility
in Journal of Instrumentation
Barber T
(2013)
Upgrading the ATLAS silicon tracking for the HL-LHC
in Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment
Bates R
(2017)
High speed electrical transmission line design and characterization
in Journal of Instrumentation
Bates R
(2013)
Planar pixel detector module development for the HL-LHC ATLAS pixel system
in Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment
Bates R
(2017)
Thin hybrid pixel assembly with backside compensation layer on ROIC
in Journal of Instrumentation
Bates R
(2017)
Thin hybrid pixel assembly fabrication development with backside compensation layer
in Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment
Collaboration T
(2014)
A neural network clustering algorithm for the ATLAS silicon pixel detector
in Journal of Instrumentation
Díez S
(2014)
A double-sided, shield-less stave prototype for the ATLAS Upgrade strip tracker for the High Luminosity LHC
in Journal of Instrumentation
Description | The ATLAS Upgrade project is developing upgrades to the current ATLAS experiment to allow it to take full advantage of the increased luminosity that will be available when the Large Hadron Collider at CERN is upgraded. The improvements to ATLAS will allow it to measure the properties of the proton-proton collisions and measure the properties of the Higgs boson and search for signatures of new physics processes such as supersymmetry or extra dimensions. The UK contribution to the upgrade builds on the UK expertise that built elements of the current ATLAS experiment. The UK made key contributions though construction of the silicon strip tracking system, the level 1 calorimeter trigger, the high level trigger and computing & software. This work is ongoing with the target of upgrading elements ATLAS in 2020 and upgrading further elements in 2025 in line with the LHC upgrade schedule. The silicon tracking system essentially takes a very high resolution photograph of the products of the collisions of two protons at the Large Hadron Collider. Using this information, scientists can understand the underlying physics and the interactions between fundamental particles. The upgrade project is developing advanced silicon sensors and their associated readout electronics, and mechanical and electrical aspects of the system. The L1 calorimeter trigger takes information from the calorimeter and using FPGAs makes a rapid decision within around 2 microseconds as to whether the information from the calorimeter is consistent with an interesting physics object: electron, photon or jet or is noise. If it is an interesting physics object, the experiment is "triggered" and the data and the readout chain is validated. If the trigger fails to make the correct decision then either good data is lost or bad data is collected. The upgrade of the L1 calorimeter trigger must make similar decisions but in a much more complex environment. This requires more data from the calorimeter and more complex algorithms to be used to make decisions. This requires handling high data rates with mulitlayer PCBs capable of routing data at 10Gbps and upgrading FPGAs. The L1 Track trigger uses the information from the tracker to rapidly reconstruct tracks using associative memories. This information can then combined with the L1 calorimeter trigger to make rapid decisions about whether to readout an event or to reject it. This is a new development within ATLAS as previously that tracker information was not used in the L1 trigger system. It provides an additional factor of 5 when rejecting fake events. The High Level Trigger is similar to the L1 calorimeter trigger. The decisions are taken in a computing farm within a few milliseconds. The high level trigger must be able to cope with an increased input rate of between a factor of 4-10 but not significantly increase the output of the data onto disk for analysis. In addition to having to improve the algorithms, they must be developed using computing architectures and software paradigms. The computing and software of ATLAS must adapt as the detector configuration changes e.g. addition of new elements or changing of elements, and must also take advantage of new computing and software architectures and commercial platforms. This requires upgrading the reconstruction software to produce the physics objects on which the final analysis is based as well as introducing new architectures such as multi-threading. |
Exploitation Route | The results of the research are published in peer reviewed journals and presented at international conferences. Sensor systems could be exploited in security and health, as well as other areas of research e.g. synchrotron science |
Sectors | Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software) Education Electronics Energy Healthcare Security and Diplomacy |
Description | House of Commons Select Committee on Science and Technology |
Geographic Reach | National |
Policy Influence Type | Contribution to a national consultation/review |
Impact | Improved appreciation of value of research in pure sciences for longer term economic gains |
Description | IFCA Seminar |
Geographic Reach | Multiple continents/international |
Policy Influence Type | Participation in a guidance/advisory committee |
Impact | Presentation to Particle Physics Laboratory Leaders and key Funding Agencies |
URL | http://indico.ihep.ac.cn/event/3867/ |
Description | ATLAS Upgrade 2018 Phase-II Construction |
Amount | £1,064,303 (GBP) |
Funding ID | ST/R002576/1 |
Organisation | Science and Technologies Facilities Council (STFC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 03/2018 |
End | 03/2024 |
Description | ATLAS Upgrade R&D 2016 |
Amount | £466,714 (GBP) |
Funding ID | ST/P002374/1 |
Organisation | Science and Technologies Facilities Council (STFC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 03/2016 |
End | 03/2019 |
Description | Horizon 2020 |
Amount | € 10,000,000 (EUR) |
Funding ID | GA no. 654168 |
Organisation | European Commission |
Sector | Public |
Country | European Union (EU) |
Start | 04/2015 |
End | 05/2019 |
Description | Infrastructure Funding (PAR) |
Amount | £161,000 (GBP) |
Organisation | Queen Mary University of London |
Sector | Academic/University |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 07/2016 |
End | 07/2017 |
Description | Proton Radiotherapy Verification and Dosimetry Applications |
Amount | £1,650,000 (GBP) |
Funding ID | 098285. |
Organisation | Wellcome Trust |
Department | Wellcome Trust Translation Award |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 07/2012 |
End | 07/2017 |
Description | Standard Proposal |
Amount | £3,800,000 (GBP) |
Funding ID | EP/R023220/1 |
Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 08/2018 |
End | 03/2022 |
Description | ATLAS |
Organisation | European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) |
Department | CERN LHC ATLAS |
Country | Switzerland |
Sector | Public |
PI Contribution | Tracking R&D and construction, software, distributed computing systems, detector operations, trigger performance and design, Standard Model, B-physics, Onium, Higgs, Top and SUSY studies; ran UK software and computing |
Collaborator Contribution | Detector operations, computing operations, software, shared physics tools |
Impact | currently O(200) papers in press (Feb 2013) |
Description | ATLAS Collaboration |
Organisation | European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) |
Department | CERN LHC ATLAS |
Country | Switzerland |
Sector | Public |
PI Contribution | Construction, maintenance and operation of SCT tracking system, Level 1 Calorimeter Trigger, High Level Trigger and Computing & Software. Analysis of physics data. |
Collaborator Contribution | Construction, maintenance and operation of ATLAS experiment. Analysis of physics data. |
Impact | 812 peer reviewed journals articles (as of January 2019) on results of analysis of ATLAS data, including the discovery of the Higgs boson. Capability and skills development: Around 40PhD students per year many of whom move into industry, commerce and the public sector after graduating. ATLAS PhD students typically acquire very high levels of expertise in areas such as detector development, electronics, software design and big data analytics, and these skills, together with the experience of working in a large international collaboration, make our students highly sought-after by employers in the wider economy as well as within academia. STFC Centres for Doctoral Training (CDTs) in Data Intensive Science (DIS), in which ATLAS-UK physicists have been playing a leading role over the past two years. Our training of students and PDRAs, through these Centres, directly supports the first two pillars of the government's Industrial Strategy, as well as one of the Eight Great Technologies identified by the government, by helping to prepare the UK workforce for opportunities in the rapidly growing data science driven market sectors. The bespoke training programmes offered by these CDTs has been designed with input from industry partners and these partners are actively involved in the delivery of training. Public engagement: The hugely-positive publicity surrounding the LHC and particularly the discovery of the Higgs boson by ATLAS and CMS in 2012 have demonstrated the general public's great interest in this area. The importance of experiments with the scale and vision of ATLAS in inspiring a scientifically and technologically literate culture seems indisputable. Dissemination is a routine activity for ATLAS-UK physicists. Examples include frequent talks to students at schools across the UK and at events such as the Cheltenham Science Festival, interviews for local, national and international media, social media posts, podcasts, and exhibits at events, such as the Royal Society Summer Exhibition. ATLAS-UK Physicists have been playing a leading role in many Particle Physics Masterclasses organized annually across the UK, including the largest one at RAL with over 700 students per year. A key activity in these Masterclasses is the search for the Higgs boson in ATLAS data, which uses a simplified version of the ATLAS Event Display software developed by ATLAS-UK physicists, and which is used globally. Several episodes of Horizon (BBC2) have focused on ATLAS and featured ATLAS-UK physicists. The resources employed in the outreach activities include the time and enthusiasm of all those involved in the project, be they students, PDRAs, engineers or academics. In addition, we have close relations with the CERN press office and have worked well with STFC staff on this too. There have been many recent visits to CERN by MPs, MSPs and Government Ministers. |
Description | ATLAS ITK |
Organisation | European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) |
Department | CERN LHC ATLAS |
Country | Switzerland |
Sector | Public |
PI Contribution | Chair of the Institute Board with 100 international members |
Collaborator Contribution | International programme on Tracker Upgrade with 100 institutes from 22 countries working towards the 120MCHF (equipment costs only does not include salaries) main upgrade programme of ATLAS for the HL-LHC |
Impact | Particle Physics |
Start Year | 2017 |
Description | ATLAS Upgrade |
Organisation | European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) |
Department | CERN LHC ATLAS |
Country | Switzerland |
Sector | Public |
PI Contribution | 2011-2015 ATLAS Upgrade Coordinator 2011-2015 Member ATLAS Executive Board |
Collaborator Contribution | ATLAS consists of 3000 physicists from 177 institutes in 35 countries |
Impact | CERN-LHCC-2011-012, CERN-LHCC-2012-022, CERN-LHCC-2013-006, CERN-LHCC-2013-007, CERN-LHCC-2013-017, CERN-LHCC-2013-018, CERN-LHCC-2015-009, ECFA-15-289 and ECFA-13-284. |
Start Year | 2011 |
Description | ATLAS Upgrade collaboration |
Organisation | European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) |
Department | ATLAS Collaboration |
Country | Switzerland |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | The UK participates in the following upgrade projects: Tracker, L1 calorimeter trigger, L1 track trigger, High Level Trigger and Computing & Software Within the the tracker the UK has made significant contributions to the development of radiation hard sensors, readout electronics, module assembly and construction of local and global mechanical supports. UK physicists hold a number of international leadership roles within the Tracker Upgrade Collaboration, including the project leader. Within the L1 calorimeter trigger, the UK is responsible for the design, construction and commissioning of the eFEX and ROD boards. The UK is one of the main proponents of the L1 Track Trigger programme and is providing studies of the impact on the physics, designing the data flow and implementing within the strip readout. The UK provides expertise and leadership in a number of areas within the High Level Trigger, covering muon and electron signatures and global and tracking software. Within Computing & Software the UK provides expertise in developing the simulation and tracking software for high multiplicity environments and taking advantages of new computing architectures. |
Collaborator Contribution | The international ATLAS Upgrade programme consists of contributions from about 174 institutions (the UK is 15 of the 174). Our partners bring funding that makes the large undertaking of upgrading the ATLAS experiment possible. Our partners provide complementary expertise to the UK and take responsibility for other areas of the project. |
Impact | ~600 scientific papers and reports from 2010-present. The project brings together experts in many disciplines: Physics, mechanical engineering, electronic engineering, computing & software |
Description | ELIGHT |
Organisation | European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) |
Department | CERN - Other |
Country | Switzerland |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Proton Therapy within PRaVDA and STFC Network+ |
Collaborator Contribution | See link below |
Impact | Hadron radiotherapy and novel detector developments. |
Start Year | 2015 |
Description | GridPP |
Organisation | European Grid Infrastructure (EGI) |
Country | Netherlands |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
PI Contribution | Middleware, hardware, operations; ATLAS Member of the PMB, formerly Applications Co-ordinator, Deputy Chair of Users Board. Provide Deployment Team member. |
Collaborator Contribution | Middleware, operations, co-ordination |
Impact | some papers, enabled many physics papers. |
Description | GridPP |
Organisation | Queen Mary University of London |
Department | GRIDPP3 |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Middleware, hardware, operations; ATLAS Member of the PMB, formerly Applications Co-ordinator, Deputy Chair of Users Board. Provide Deployment Team member. |
Collaborator Contribution | Middleware, operations, co-ordination |
Impact | some papers, enabled many physics papers. |
Description | Proton Radiotherapy Verification and Dosimetry Applications Consortium |
Organisation | University of Lincoln |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | I designed the sensors with UK industry (Micron Semiconductor Ltd). Defined final layout using silicon strips only. PDRA (T. Price) built MC simulation of the PRaVDA tracker and range telescope. Construction of half strip sensor modules completed under my supervision at Birmingham. Full system assembled at Birmingham and tested at Birmingham MC40 cyclotron. |
Collaborator Contribution | Mechanics, electronics, overall administration of full Wellcome Trust grant. |
Impact | G Poludniowski, N M Allinson, and P M Evans (2015), A review of proton radiography and tomography with application to proton therapy, British J. Radiology, 88,1053, doi;10.1259/bjr.20150134 Poludniowski, G. and Allinson, N. M. and Evans, P. M. (2014) Proton computed tomography reconstruction using a backprojection-then-filtering approach. Physics in Medicine and Biology, 59 (11). p. 2569. doi:10.1088/0031-9155/59/24/7905 Poludniowski, Gavin and Allinson, Nigel and Anaxagoras, Thalis and Esposito, Michela and Green, Stuart and Manolopoulos, Spyros and Nieto-Camero, Jamie and Parker, David and Evans, Philip and Price, Tony (2014) Proton-counting radiography for proton therapy: a proof of principle using CMOS APS technology. Physics in Medicine and Biology, 59 (11). pp. 2569-2598. ISSN 1361-6560 doi: 10.1088/0031-9155/59/11/2569 T. Price, M. Esposito, G. Poludniowski, J. Taylor, C. Waltham, D.J. Parker, S. Green, S. Manolopoulos, N.M. Allinson, T. Anaxagoras, P. Evans and J. Nieto-Camero (2015), Expected proton signal sizes in the PRaVDA Range Telescope for proton Computed Tomography, JINST 10 P05013, doi. 10.1088/1748-0221/10/05/P05013 J.T. Taylor, P.P. Allport, G.L. Casse, N.A. Smith, I. Tsurin, N.M. Allinson, M. Esposito, A. Kacperek, J. Nieto-Camero, T. Price and C. Waltham (2015), Proton tracking for medical imaging and dosimetry, JINST 10 C02015, doi. 10.1088/1748-0221/10/02/C02015 G Poludniowski, N M Allinson and P M Evans (2014), Proton computed tomography reconstruction using a backprojection-then-filtering approach, Phys. Med. Biol. 59 7905, doi. 10.1088/0031-9155/59/24/7905 M. Esposito, T. Anaxagoras, P.M. Evans, S. Green, S. Manolopoulos, J. Nieto-Camero, D.J. Parker, G. Poludniowski, T. Price, C. Waltham and N.M. Allinson (2015), CMOS Active Pixel Sensors as energy-range detectors for proton Computed Tomography, JINST 10 C06001, doi.10.1088/1748- 0221/10/06/C06001 Price, M. Esposito, G. Poludniowski, J. Taylor, C. Waltham, D.J. Parker, S. Green, S. Manolopoulos, N.M. Allinson, T. Anaxagoras (2015), Expected proton signal sizes in the PRaVDA Range Telescope for proton Computed Tomography, Journal of Instrumentation Journal,10 doi:10.1088/1748-0221/10/05/P05013 J.T. Taylor, P.P. Allport, G.L. Casse, N.A. Smith, I. Tsurin, N.M. Allinson, M. Esposito, A. Kacperek, J. Nieto-Camero, T. Price and C. Waltham (2015), Proton tracking for medical imaging and dosimetry, Journal of Instrumentation Journal,10 doi: 10.1088/1748-0221/10/02/C02015 M. Esposito, T. Anaxagoras, P.M. Evans, S. Green, S. Manolopoulos, J. Nieto-Camero, D.J. Parker, G. Poludniowski, T. Price, C. Waltham and N.M. Allinson (2015), CMOS Active Pixel Sensors as energy-range detectors for proton Computed Tomography, Journal of Instrumentation Journal,10 doi: 10.1088/1748-0221/10/06/C06001 |
Start Year | 2013 |
Description | WLCG |
Organisation | European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) |
Department | Worldwide LHC Computing Grid (WLCG) |
Country | Switzerland |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Hardware, middleware, operations; Collaboration Board Member and Chair |
Collaborator Contribution | Hardware, middleware, operations, co-ordination |
Impact | All LHC and Tevatron papers |
Description | A Reconfigurable Monolithic Active Pixel Sensor in Radiation-hard Technology for Outer Tracking and Digital Electromagnetic Calorimetry |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | 2018 IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium and Medical Imaging Conference, Sydney, Australia, 10th-17th November 2018 |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
URL | https://www.eventclass.org/contxt_ieee2018/online-program/session?s=N-36#e130 |
Description | Advanced Technologies for Detectors (International Committee for Future Accelerators) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | By invitation only: International Committee for Future Accelerators, Beijing 2014. Meeting of leading experts, lab directors and policy makers in particle physics. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
Description | Detector R&D for Particle Physics (International Conference on High Energy Physics ICHEP, Valencia) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Plenary talk at the main HEP conference (International Conference on High Energy Physics ICHEP) |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
URL | http://ichep2014.es/ |
Description | First tests of a reconfigurable depleted MAPS sensor for Digital Electromagnetic Calorimetry |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | 15th Vienna Conference on Instrumentation, Vienna, Austria, Feb 18th-22nd 2019 |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
URL | https://vci2019.hephy.at/programme/ |
Description | From Hadron Colldiers to Hadron Therapy Seminar RHUL |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | HEP Group Seminar |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
Description | From Higgs to Healthcare (Oxford University Seminar) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | Seminar Oxford Physics Department |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
Description | LHC Detector Upgrades 10th Annual Meeting of the Helmholtz Alliance "Physics at the Terascale", Hamburg 2016 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Presentation at DESY |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
Description | Neston School Visit to CERN |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Schools |
Results and Impact | School visit to CERN and meeting with Birmingham undergraduates |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
Description | School Talk Sedbergh |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Schools |
Results and Impact | Presentation on Higgs discovery at Sedbergh School |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
Description | School Talk to West Kirby Grammar School for girls |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Schools |
Results and Impact | Presentation of state of the art on particle physics |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
Description | Talk to Dumfries Astronomical Society |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Presentation to Dumfries Astronomical Society on connections between particle physics and astronomy including cosmic rays, dark matter, neutrino astronomy. Lively question and discussion afterwards., |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
Description | Talk to Moffat Astronomical Society |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Presentation to Dumfries Astronomical Society on connections between particle physics and astronomy including cosmic rays, dark matter, neutrino astronomy. Lively question and discussion afterwards. Setting up work placement in particle physics group in Glasgow for school pupil who attended talk. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
Description | Talk to Weatherhead High School |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Schools |
Results and Impact | Talk on particle physics to Weatherhead High School |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
Description | WOMAD 2016 Physics Pavilion |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Curated the first phsycis pavilion at the WOMAD festival 2016 in Wiltshire. Totoal attendence over 40,000, through the tent 4000 |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |