Charge to the TDC Review committee
==================================
The Michigan group designed and built a 96 channel VME based
TDC that CDF uses for the COT and the muon systems. The
present system works very well. However, we have a purchase
order for 200 more TDCs that was written at a time when the
operations group was quite concerned that the so called "small
via" problem could get substantially worse. In fact the system
has worked very reliably. Since then, we have also been
informed by CDF note 5824 Meyer, Patrick and Chlebana that
the TDCs cannot achieve the 1 kHz readout specification for
Run2b.  Further information can be found in the COT occupancy
note CDF 5889 of Martinez, which states that the COT occupancy
is higher than predicted by about  a factor of two.

The collaboration is very concerned with the lack of sufficient
spare TDCs for the COT and shortage of TDCs in the muon system.
The collaboration has been awaiting delivery of 200 TDCs since
July 2001.

Al, Jeff, Mike and Nigel

Charge:

1) Review the plan for delivery of the 200 TDCs. In particular,
determine the delivery schedule for the first batch of TDCs
such that a "crate test" can be performed at B0.  Also,
determine the schedule for the delivery of the remaining order.

2) Review the manpower available to perform production testing
at Michigan and the full-crate test at Fermilab.

3) Review the performance of the present system and evaluate
the stability and reliability of the hardware for long term
operations.

4) Review the data associated with the statement that the TDCs
are too slow for Run2b.

5) Evaluate all the options for making the TDCs readout faster,
such as faster DSP code, split backplanes etc.

6) Evaluate the scope of building a new TDC.

7) Make a recommendation on the number of spare TDCs needed for
COT and muon operations, as well as the number of extra TDCs
needed for run2b such as recabling options and EM calorimeter
timing.

8) Make a prioritized list of how best to speed up the TDC readout including
the new TDC option.

Members of the TDC review committee
===================================
Jay Dittmann
Bill Foster
Tony Liss
Aseet Mukherjee
Kevin Pitts (chair)
Evelyn Thomson
Rick Van Berg