The CBM first-level event selector input interface

The CBM First-level Event Selector (FLES) is the central event selection system of the upcoming CBM experiment at FAIR. Designed as a high-performance computing cluster, its task is an online analysis of the physics data at a total data rate exceeding 1 TByte/s. To allow efficient event selection, the FLES has to combine the data from all given input links to self-contained, overlapping processing intervals and distribute them to compute nodes. This task can be performed efficiently by partitioning the detector data streams into specialized containers. The FLES Interface Board (FLIB), implemented as a custom FPGA board, receives these containers via optical links, prepares them for subsequent interval building, and transfers the data via DMA to the PC's memory. A prototype of the FLIB has been implemented. The inclusion of features foreseen for other parts of the CBM read-out chain allows the evaluation of the interval building concept. Performance studies demonstrated high read-out bandwidth with low overhead. In addition, the FLIB has been used successfully as a readout device in test-beams and lab setups. An overview of the FLES Interface Board as well as results from latest studies is presented.