A data processing firmware for an upgrade of the Outer Tracker detector at the LHCb experiment

This thesis describes the data processing software for an Outer Tracker upgrade at the LHCb experiment. The 2018/19 intended upgrade for the LHCb detector will introduce new readout electronics on the front end of the detector as well as on the back end. The read out electronics on the back end of the detector will use a common board equipped with a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA). To ensure a correct data processing for each subdetector, the firmware used on the FPGA will contain subdetector specific data processing parts. The data processing part for the Outer Tracker includes receiving the data, sorting incoming data streams, merging hit pattern and drift times of three consecutive bunch crossings, clustering and formatting the data for an accurate output. In addition, a mezzanine card, called the SantaLuz board, is presented which can be used to extend existing FPGA boards with up to eight optical transceivers.