NSCL DAQ Software Documentation
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madc

Name

madc -- Acquire events from Mesytec MADC32 ADC.

Synopsis

madc create name ?options?

madc config name ?options?

madc cget name

DESCRIPTION

The madc command provides scripted support for the Mesytec 32 channel peak sensing adc module. For scaler support for this module's dead time counters, see the madcscaler command.

As with all VM-USB module support commands, madc is a command ensemble with subcommands that create and configure modules as well as cget which introspects a module configuration.

create creates an object with the specified name. Additional options are treated like configuration options. config configures an existing module, and cget returns a list of configuration name/value pairs that describe the configuration of the module.

It is important to note that the module configuration does not actually get loaded until the run is initialized. The order in which configuration parameter are supplied is therefore unimportant. Think of the configuration options as being accumulated and then applied as the run starts. Only modules that are in stack are configured.

OPTIONS

-base address

address must be the module base address as configured in its rotary switches. This base address is used to access the module's register and event memory.

Each module must be programmed and hardware configured with a different base address. The address used will be an A32 VME address.

-id vsn

vsn will be used as the module's identifier or virtual slot number. The vsn will be encoded into the event data that is returned by the module. This, in turn is normally used by event decoders to determine which parameters the channels of the module should be unpacked into.

Each module should be given a unique vsn.

-ipl irqlevel

If the module will be used to trigger an interrupt driven stack, the irqlevel parameter must be programmed to a valid non zero interrupt priority level (1 through 7). This must match the interrupt priority level used to trigger the stack.

The default value of 0 disables module interrupts.

-vector statusId

If the module will be used to trigger an interrupt driven stack, the statusId must be programmed to a non zero 8 bit status id, or vector (between 1 and 255

The value used must match the value of the -vector configuration parameter used to trigger the stack.

The default value for this parameter is 0

Note that the VMUSB uses a 16 bit status/ID cycle to read the interrupt vector from the module, while the actual status id is 8 bits wide. The VME standard is ambiguous about how the top bits of this 16 bit value are set. The MADC32 sets those top bits to 0xff. Therefore a -vector 0x80 produces a vector, as seen by the VMUSB of 0xff80.

-timestamp onoff

This option controls whether or not the module tags each event with a trigger number or with a timestamp (see also the -timingsource and -timingdivisor options).

The onoff is a boolean value. If true, the module tags events with a timestamp. If false, with a trigger number.

The default value for this parameter is false

-gatemode mode

The MADC32 has a pair of gate inputs. The inputs may be used either as separate gates, where each gate controlls 16 of the 32 channels, or as common where either input will gate all 32 channels.

The value mode should be either separate or common.

Note that if you use separate, you will get data from the modules as if there were two independent 16 channel adc modules with the same virtual slot number. You may get zero, one or two packets of data from this module for each VMUSB Stack trigger. One packet will contain any converting channels for channels 0-15, the other for channels 16-31.

The default value of this parameter is common

-gategenerator onoff

The module can either use the gates as provided or can insert a gate and delay generator between the gate inputs and the actual gates seen by the ADCs. Since in most cases, gate must be stretched and timed to match the ADC inputs, this feature can reduce the external electronics needed to properly gate the adc.

The onoff is a boolean that if true enables this gate generator, if false, disables it. See also the -holddelays and -holdwidths configuration parameters that control the gate and delay parameters for each of these resources.

By default, the value of this parameters is false.

Beginning with 11.2-006, a new set of values has been added, in addition to the valid booleans. The full list of values and behaviors is as follows:

on, true, yes, 1, enabled

If -gatemode is common, gate generator 0 only is enabled, otherwise, both gate generators are enabled. Note in this and the following discussions, gate generator 1 can only be enabled if -gatemode is separate. This is stated in the MADC32 manual.

off, false, no, 0, disabled

Neither gate generator is enabled, regardless of -gatemode

gdg0

Regardless of -gatemode, gate generator 0 is enabled. Gate generator 1 is not enabled.

gdg1

If -gatemode is separate, gate generator 1 is enabled. If -gatemode is common, an error is thrown when you try to start the run.

The error is thrown then because there's no other time that drivers can perform validations across more than one option.

-holddelays delayList

If the gate generators are enabled (see -gategenerator above), the delayList is a Tcl list consisting of the two delay parameters, one for each of the gate and delay generators. See the MADC32 manual for a description of the meaning of these values, which are just the values programmed into the module registers.

By default, the value of this parameter is a list of two 15 values.

-holdwidths widthList

If the gate generators are enabled (see -gategenerator above), the widthList is a Tcl l ilst consisting of the two gate and delay generator width parameters. See the MADC32 manual for a description of the meaning of these values, which are just the values programmed into the module registers.

By default the value of this parameter is a list of two 20 values.

-inputrange rangeSelector

Programs the input range for the module. The rangeSelector must 4v, 8v, or 10v. Where the selector represents the input range in volts.

The default value of this parameter is 4v.

-ecltermination onoff

This parameter when true enables the ECL input termination. If disabled (Tcl false), the termination is off. If you are bussing the ECL inputs, only the final module in the bus should have terminatinon enabled, all other modules, should have termination turned off.

The default for this parameter is true

-ecltiming onoff

This parameter, when true enables the gate1 ECL input to to be a clock source for the timestamp if true. If false, The ECL G1 input is an ECL gate1.

By default this is false.

-nimtiming onoff

If true, enables the NIM Gate1 input to be a clock source for the timestamp. If not, the NIM Gate1 input is an adc gate.

By default, -nimtiming is false.

-timingsource sourceName

Specifies the source of the clock for timestamps. If external, whichever of the NIM or ECL GATE1 inputs are enabled is the clock source. If vme the VME 16Mhz backplane clock is the clock.

By default -timingsource is vme.

-timingdivisor log2

Specifies a scale-down value for the timestamp clock. At the time I'm typing this, this value is log base 2 of the scale down, that is the final scale down is 1 << log2. By the time we get installed, I am supposed to have some firwmare that will allow this to be a 16 bit direct scaledown (e.g. the scaledown would be between 1 and 65535).

The default for this is 15.

-thresholds valueList

Supplies the per channel thresholds for the adc. Channels which convert below their threshold are suppressed from the data stream reducing both data volume and dead-time. The valueList is a 32 element Tcl list of the integer thresholds.

Note that at the time I'm typing this, channel thresholds have not yet been implemented in the firmware. The firmware I bring with me at installation time will hopefully implement this feature.

By default this is a 32 element list containing all 0.

-nimbusy busyselecst

This option selects which signal is presented at the NIM busy output connector. Note that this can interact with the mxdcrcbus driver. See more below.

Legal values for this parameter are:

busy

The default. The output reflects the module busy. Busy is asserted when the module is converting as a result of a gate or when the module's buffer is full.

For single event mode, full means that the event most recently converted has not yet been read out. For multi event mode, this means that there is not sufficient buffer space for a maximally sized next event.

gate0

The Gate0 signal. Note that if the internal gate and delay generator is in use, this will reflect the output of that gate generator. This allows you to see if the delay and width parameters of the gate generator is properly set.

gate1

The Gate1 signal. Again if the gate generator is enabled, you can use this to monitor the gate signal after it has been modified by the gate and delay generator.

cbus

The Busy output is used as a CBus master. See the IMPORTANT NOTE below.

NoteIMPORTANT NOTE:
 

If this module is being used as the master for the CBus in a mxdcrcbus slow control module, this must be set to cbus. Otherwise once the first run starts, you will no longer be able to perform control operations over Cbus connected moduls

-multievent boolean

Allows the module to be used in multi-event mode. This is normally done in conjunction with the madcchain configuration command. It also usually requires a custom SpecTcl version to handle the data from this device.

the default value for this parameter is false which runs the module in single event mode.

This is false by default.

-irqthreshold integer

Sets the interrupt threshold. When a number of complete events have put at least this number of longwords in the fifo, if interupts are enabled, the module will interrupt.

This is 0 by default.

-resolution 2k|4k|4khires|8k|8khires

Sets the resolution of the module. This has an impact on the conversion time.

This defaults to 8k

EXAMPLES

Example 1. Sample use of madc command


set madcTimeDivisor 14

madc create adc -base 0x40000000 -id 5 -ipl 0             (1)
madc config adc -gatemode common -gategenerator disabled
madc config adc -inputrange 8v
madc config adc -timestamp on -timingsource vme -timingdivisor $madcTimeDivisor  (2)

for {set i 0} {$i < 32} {incr i} {
    lappend thresholds 0                                 (3)
}
madc config adc -thresholds $thresholds                  (4)
(1)
This command creates an object to manage an MADC 32 whose base address is 0x40000000. The module will be referred to by the symbolic name: adc
(2)
This line illustrates substitution of a Tcl variable for a parameter value. Tcl variable substition is textual, so you can also use varibles to hold option names, though that may be a bit odd.
(3)
This highlights the fact that the configuration file is really a configuration program. The loop creates a varaiable named thresholds that contains a list of 32 zeroes. This list will be used to program the adc thresholds. Normally these values will neither be zero nor uniform from channel to channel. It may be best to read them from some external file.
(4)
This command uses the thresholds variable and programs the channel thresholds of the ADC.
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