In the past two years we have made contributions to ATLAS in the areas of data acquisition and software development.
The data acquisition work was done in collaboration with Robert Maclaren of CERN ECP division. It involved defining read-out links (the S-LINK) and buffers. These specifications have been widely adopted by ATLAS for the read-out of event fragments.
The RD41 project (MOOSE) reported on ``Object Oriented Software Development for LHC Experiments'' (CERN/LHCC/97-42). The two principal recommendations were that OO software design and coding be used for the LHC experiments, and that a properly designed ``software process'' should be adopted for the specification, design, implementation and maintenance of software. The ATLAS offline group is now designing the first version of the required software, which has to provide a uniform system for simulation, reconstruction and analysis. Edinburgh is working in a small subgroup of about six active members which is responsible for the overall structure and control of the system.
Our future activities at the LHC depend crucially on the interests of the new lecturer whose appointment is not yet finalized. It is likely that we would wish to continue to be involved in software development, and that we would develop an effort in some aspect of triggering or data acquisition. We regard these as the major technical challenges for the LHC experiments.
The second RA appointment is intended to build up our effort at the LHC. They would be expected to work with the new lecturer on the development of a suitable level of participation, which would eventually include additional RA and graduate student effort (following the completion of the NA48 experiment in 2000). The most likely areas of activity, as indicated above, are trigger, data acquisition and software development. Relevant experience in one or more of these areas is very desirable.