This module creates and configures chains of MxDC32 modules. At the moment the MADC-32, MTDC-32, and MQDC-32 all are supported. If these modules are, in turn, run in multi-event mode, a specialized SpecTcl will be needed to unpack the data. It is possible, however to use single event mode with CBLT readout and use 'normal' SpecTcl unpacking.
The create creates a new MxDC32 chain. name will be used to refer to this chain during configuration. At any time the cget returns the configuration of the chain as a list of parameter-name parameter-value pairs.
The config configures an MxDC32 chain. A set of option name option value argument pairs should follow the chain name on the commandline. OPTIONS below describes the options and their legal values.
This section describes the configuration options supported by the cmadcchain command.
-cbltaddress base-addressDefines the base address to which the CBLT reads will be directed. When the modules in the chain are initialized, this address will be programmed as the CBLT base address. Note that only the top 8 bits of this value are used.
-mcastaddress base-addressDefines the base address for the chain's multicast address. The multicast address is used to perform synchronous initialization and time-stamp clears. This address will be programmed as the MCAST base address for all modules in the chain. Only the top 8 bits of the base-address have any meaning.
-maxwordspermodule longword-coun
Defines the maximum words that can be read from each module.
This should be a number between
1 and 1024.
This value should usually be larger than the
-irqthreshold option programmed into the
MxDC32 modules in the chain. For each block read, the
module will return no more data than the complete event that
causes the number of longwords read from the module to exceed
this value.
-modules module-name-listDefines the list of MxDC32 modules that make up the chain. The value for this option should be a well formulated Tcl list containing names of madc modules. There is a restriction on the order of these names. The first name in the list must be the leftmost module in the crate and the last name must be the right most module in the chain.
For practical purposes, to limit confusion, I generally enumerate the modules from left (low slot number) to right (higher slot number).
The following daqconfig.tcl script will operate on an MADC-32 and an MQDC-32 placed in adjacent slots of a VME crate. The MADC-32 has base address set to 0x0d000000 and the MQDC-32 has its base address set to 0x40000000 both via jumper switches. The two devices are configured to read out using an interrupt trigger. The MADC-32 is leftmost in the crate and thus is the first module to be read out. Both will respond to the chain block transfer address 0xaa000000 and multicast address 0xbb000000.
Example 1. Sample usage
# create and configure the MADC-32 object
madc create adc -base 0x0d000000 -id 1
madc config adc -ipl 1 -vector 0
# create and configure the MQDC-32 object
mqdc create qdc -base 0x40000000 -id 2
mqdc config qdc -ipl 1 -vector 0
# Create the chain
madcchain create chain
madcchain config chain -cbltaddress 0xaa000000
madcchain config chain -mcastaddress 0xbb000000
madcchain config chain -maxwordspermodule 1
# order matters here. The adc is read first and the qdc last.
madcchain config chain -modules [list adc qdc]
# create a stack that executes via an interrupt
stack create event
stack config event -modules [list chain] -trigger interrupt -ipl 1 -vector 0