The S-LINK project is set up to reduce the different number of front-end links needed for the LHC experiments. The S-LINK concept will reduce costs and makes it possible for detector designers to postpone the decision for the type of physical link used.
The main idea of the S-LINK (which is the standard definition of the connector instead of defining a physical link) came from Robert McLaren. This idea was worked out with Owen Boyle (a link user) and Erik van der Bij (a hardware designer) and resulted in the specification and the implementation guide. Of course many discussions with possible link users and link implementers influenced the specification considerably. Even though the specification is stable now, it is still good to give input to the "S-LINK Team". This input will definitely be used to influence the functionality of possible future versions of the S-LINK specification.
To help link users and designers implementing S-LINKs, a whole infrastructure is set up. For example an implemention guide and test devices are available. Also solid technical support is available, which can vary from design reviews to ordering difficult to get components. For any questions, please contact one of the S-LINK Team members.
CERN - S-LINK
Erik van der Bij,
Stefan Haas - 30 July 2003