ATLAS FTK: The Fast TracKer

The Fast TracKer (FTK) will perform global track reconstruction after each Level-1 trigger accept to enable for the software-based High Level Trigger (HLT) to have early access to tracking information. FTK is a dedicated system based on a mixture of advanced technologies. Modern, powerful Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) form an important part of the system architecture, and the large level of computing power required for pattern recognition is provided by incorporating standard-cell ASICs named Associative Memory (AM). FTK provides global track reconstruction in the full inner silicon detector in approximately 100 microseconds with resolution comparable to the offline algorithms. The track and vertex information is then used by the HLT algorithms, allowing highly improved trigger performance for important signatures such as b-jets. In this paper, the architecture and the hardware development status of FTK system is given, along with the development of simulation.