First results of an evaluation of 100Gb/s Ethernet as a future HEP readout link

This work presents first results from a feasibility study to qualify commercial 100 Gb/s Ethernet as a readout link for future high-energy physics detectors. The motivation for this work is to examine the possibility of reading out future detector front-ends directly via commercial, high bandwidth, cost-optimized data centers, without the need of the intermediate custom-link/hardware layer used for this purpose thus far. In an attempt to determine how well 100 Gb/s Ethernet is adapted to the readout of such systems, this paper examines the protocol on aspects such as unidirectional operation and radiation hardness. Initial work towards a complete demonstrator system is also presented.