Engineering Overview of the ATLAS Inner Detector

The paper describes the engineering approach to the overall design of the ATLAS Inner Detector. The ATLAS Inner Detector currently being installed at the European Centre for Nuclear Research (CERN) is a very challenging project due to the complexity of its architecture and the very demanding requirements. Consisting of 7 sub-assemblies to be operated independently and with minimal maintenance in the innermost area of the huge ATLAS detector, the overall engineering has played a key role in the development of the Inner detector project. The engineering strategy and technical solutions implemented to fulfill the stringent requirements, minimizing the complexity of the integration and installation and allowing for an effective overall environmental control are described.