Commissioning of the ATLAS Pixel Detector and performance with first data

The ATLAS Pixel Detector is the innermost detector of the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. It consists of silicon sensors equipped with approximately 80 M electronic channels and will allow to detect particle tracks and secondary vertices with very high precision. Prior to the first LHC beams, a full characterization of the detector was performed. Calibrations of optical connections, verification of the analog performance and special DAQ runs for noise studies were performed. Combined operation with other subdetectors in ATLAS allowed to qualify the detector with physics data from cosmic muons. The talk will show all aspects of detector operation, including the monitoring and safety system, the DAQ system and calibration procedures. The summary of the commissioning progress made in the last months to prepare the detector for a successful data taking at LHC as well as analysis of physics runs with cosmic rays and first LHC collision data will be presented