FAST ComTec MPA4 User Manual Download

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MPA4

8(4) Channel Multiparameter Data Acquisition System

User Manual



Grünwalder Weg 28a, D-82041 Oberhaching

Germany

Version 1.30 June 26, 2017

Summary of Contents for MPA4

Page 1: ...MPA4 8 4 Channel Multiparameter Data Acquisition System User Manual Copyright FAST ComTec GmbH Gr nwalder Weg 28a D 82041 Oberhaching Germany Version 1 30 June 26 2017...

Page 2: ...you may not sell or transfer this software You must get FAST ComTec s written permission for any exception to this license Backup Copy This software is protected by German Copyright Law and by Interna...

Page 3: ...ect I O Connectors 3 8 3 3 3 ADC GATE Inputs 3 9 3 3 4 48Bit Realtime Clock 3 9 4 Functional Description 4 1 4 1 Introduction 4 1 4 2 MPA Modes of Operation 4 1 4 2 1 SINGLE Mode 4 1 4 2 2 COINCIDENCE...

Page 4: ...haracteristics 8 1 8 1 1 MPA General 8 1 8 1 2 Time base 8 1 8 2 Specifications 8 1 8 2 1 Absolute Maximum Ratings 8 1 8 2 2 Recommended Operating Conditions 8 2 8 2 3 Signal Connectors 8 2 8 3 Diagra...

Page 5: ...3 2 Thermal picture of the metal case 3 2 Fig 3 3 Schematic of FEATURE I O connector 3 3 Fig 3 4 Connector assignment for the 100MHz counters 3 4 Fig 3 5 100MHz counters control logic 3 6 Fig 3 6 Sim...

Page 6: ...Fit 6 8 Fig 6 8 Log file Options for the Single Gaussian Peak Fit 6 9 Fig 6 9 Colors dialog box 6 10 Fig 6 10 Color Palette dialog box 6 10 Fig 6 11 Single View dialog box 6 11 Fig 6 12 Custom transfo...

Page 7: ...r 50 C The metal case of the MPA4 works as a passive cooler Please provide ample airflow around the device Do not cover the case Do not place it inside a closed cabinet etc Static electricity discharg...

Page 8: ...rts for higher data transfer rates also connect USB 2 The MPA4 system allows to simultaneously acquire single and coincidence ADC data e q energy spectra from upto 8 input channels A range of versatil...

Page 9: ...Also scaler multi spectra scaling multiscaling Time of Flight applications etc may be realized since a large variety of load reset capture readout options is available Livetime correction on all ADC...

Page 10: ...full FIFO 2 Gbyte 30Mb sec is about a minute The filling status of the FIFO is shown in the software There is also an indicator showing if any data is lost The fast FIFOs on each 100ps TOF input chan...

Page 11: ...ortcut on the desktop and selecting Manage from the drop down menu then Device Manager Another way is to select in the Start Menu Settings Control Panel then System Device Manager Fig 2 1 Device manag...

Page 12: ...er Please don t go deeper into the folder structure the processor type x86 x64 etc is found automatically After pressing OK the driver installation will proceed The device manager will then show a FAS...

Page 13: ...ram controls the MPA4T module but provides no graphics display capability by itself By using the MPANT program the user has complete control of the MPA4 along with the MPANT display capabilities To ru...

Page 14: ...will have a range of 1k channels corresponding to a 1k ADC conversion gain setting First step is to start the MPA4 software by double clicking the corresponding icon This will automatically start the...

Page 15: ...hange the ADC Settings Range to 1k 1024 ref Fig 2 8 and click OK The spectrum display of ADC1 in the MPANT window changes to a full scale range of 1024 channels Be sure you connected an external pulse...

Page 16: ...utton See that the Status changes to ON The Real time will begin to run also indicating that data acquisition is ON Depending on your input signals a histogram should start to be accumulated ref Fig 2...

Page 17: ...channels First open the Coincidence Definition window by a click on ADC Coincidences in the MPA4 Settings dialog Use the All buttons to move all ADCs to the Not active box and then move ADC1 and ADC2...

Page 18: ...to 50 00 s This is in accordance to a 100MHz Wilkinson type ADC 4k x 10ns 40 s 10 s overhead for safety like our model 7074 Quad ADC The DRDY timeout is the maximum time the system waits for converted...

Page 19: ...ra definition window Dualparameter and Calculated spectra by a click on the Spectra button In the Map and Calculated spectra window click on Add Multi button to add a new multiparameter spectrum The M...

Page 20: ...Type in a name for the spectrum e g ADC 1 x ADC 2 like in Fig 2 9 Click OK In the Dualparameter and Calculated spectra window the new map appears ref Fig 2 14 Close Dualparameter and Calculated spectr...

Page 21: ...e window the coincidence time are counted Actually in this case not coincident signals are also counted but in the map display they will show up on the base of x and y axis zero since the respective o...

Page 22: ...DEADTIME signal And last but not least time stamps must be inserted into the datastream to transfer the corresponding time and ADC data together This is done automatically if you have the RTC option...

Page 23: ...Installation Procedure ComTec GmbH 2 14 Fig 2 17 ADC Coincidence Definition for RTC Experiment Fig 2 18 Auxiliary Connectors for RTC Experiment...

Page 24: ...Installation Procedure ComTec GmbH 2 15 Fig 2 19 RTC Spectrum Definition Fig 2 20 Basic Time Spectra of a Single ADC...

Page 25: ...is simple just connect them at USB1 switch on the power and install the driver when you are prompted When starting the software you will be asked to edit the MPA4 INI file as more than one MPA4 module...

Page 26: ...4 system 4 ADC interfaces 1GB Fifo USB interface MPA NT Softw MPA4 8 Multiparameter 4 system 8 ADC interfaces 1GB Fifo USB interface MPA NT Softw MPA4 4ADC Option 4 additional ADC interfaces for 4 sys...

Page 27: ...ring or whatsoever tasks It can be easily setup to control external equipment like sample changers etc or to detect external status information And there is the optional 2 GB large FIFO that extends t...

Page 28: ...panel The GO line may be enabled disabled set and reset by the software The system wide open drain GO line enables any connected device to enable and to stop all participating measurement equipment si...

Page 29: ...feasible It might be used for external alert signals sample changer control status inputs outputs etc NOTE Please contact factory if changes to the resistors are needed Also on the FEATURE connector t...

Page 30: ...ing direction In this case the individual GATE inputs no longer work as GATE but as UP DOWN inputs Preset Each counter is presettable allowing to halt the experiment when a preset value is reached by...

Page 31: ...dually settable for each counter in the software LOAD input An external LOAD input allows to reset the counters to their individual start load value by an external signal Usage of the LOAD input is in...

Page 32: ...ernal reference is software selectable see section 5 1 1 See in 8 2 3 for the signal impedance and amplitude Optionally software selectable a 20 40 or 80 MHz input clock maybe used as well For highest...

Page 33: ...s TOF s etc But they provide the ability to be software configured for 32 48 or 64 bit interfaces by using neighbouring ports In that case the handshake DRDY DACC DEADTIME etc is processed on the lowe...

Page 34: ...fact is quite easy When DRDY is asserted by the external device the MPA4 registers the valid data and then asserts DACC unitl DRDY is removed Then DACC is also removed Always 4 ADC ports in a row 1 4...

Page 35: ...3 4 48Bit Realtime Clock A 48 bit Real Time Clock with a resolution of 6 4ns allows to investigate the timely development of ADC events It provides the ability to tag any SINGLE or COINCIDENCE event...

Page 36: ...vents that will be accumulated must occur inside the coincidence resolving time window Thus events that do not fall in this coincidence time window will be discarded and do not show up in the acquired...

Page 37: ...may also include the real time of the coincidence window being opened And the values of the 100MHz counter 1 3 and 4 at that time may be included And also the TOF sweep counter value which is importan...

Page 38: ...s provided that is able to store a high number of data NOTE Since September 2015 a new Firmware v 14 can be downloaded from www fastcomtec com that uses 3 decoding machines parallel and increases the...

Page 39: ...y graphic displays The view of the server window depends on the number of active input channels here all 8 ADC channels are active 5 1 Server functions To start the software just double click a shortc...

Page 40: ...be prompted by a Messagebox to connect the external 10 MHz signal to the BNC connector labeled 10 MHz at the back side If you later exit and restart the software let it connected But after power down...

Page 41: ...appended to the filename that is automatically incremented with each saving The format of the data can be ASCII extension for separated spectra ASC binary DAT CSV CSV If Separate Header is not checked...

Page 42: ...d in units of 100 kB per sec To Use Modified Settings enable the corresponding checkbox otherwise the original settings are used To start Replay press then Start in the Action menu or the correspondin...

Page 43: ...Hz 100 MHz The level can be logical inverted by checking the invert checkbox A List file can be written by checking the corresponding checkbox Write Listfile The data format can be ASCII or binary dep...

Page 44: ...ring more events than specified in the corresponding edit field The events are counted only if they are within the ROI6 limits i e the lower limit and the upper limit Another possibility is to acquire...

Page 45: ...Start of coincidence window is enabled or not You can then define Dependent coincidence groups by inserting selected ADCs from the Coinc with any list into one of the four available groups ADCs in one...

Page 46: ...utput and choose any of the signals from the drop down list Available output signals are coinc_time active while a coincidence resolving time window is open coinc_runs active while a coincidence resol...

Page 47: ...dialog The Scaler Settings button opens the respective dialog to define the use of the 8 100 MHz Scaler Counters This is an option see chapter 3 2 3 A utility program mpa4scal exe is started automatic...

Page 48: ...4 as an external trigger for starting the system DESY control line If the corresponding checkbox is marked a start command for the respective system will not immediately start the system After the st...

Page 49: ...g a single system is formed The modules A B and C are combined System 1 can be started stopped erased and continued with the respective commands in the Action 1 menu It is also possible for example to...

Page 50: ...xternal Control software the specified COM port will be used for accepting commands see Control language If Echo command is marked the input line will be echoed after the newline character was sent Ec...

Page 51: ...spectra or you can left the Name edit field untouched to choose an automatically generated name like a_1 x a_2 If Conditions are defined one can be selected as a necessary Condition for incrementing a...

Page 52: ...time spectra or you can left the Name edit field untouched to choose an automatically generated name like RTC x a_1 The checkbox Time Differences enables using an absolute time for each event while r...

Page 53: ...rs read out from both sides and the Division formula Div Range left right can be used to divide two spectra The Range and Name can be defined in the edit fields or default values will be taken Any suc...

Page 54: ...the first ADC For the first ADC you can just enable Use Calibration in the calibration dialog and use the standard parameters p0 0 p1 1 In the next ADC enter two calibration points for the first poin...

Page 55: ...s possible to define a Condition as an event inside or outside of an ROI in any parameter spectra i e a calculated parameter or a copy of a primary spectra There are two drop down list boxes for the P...

Page 56: ...e OR will be symbolized in the automatically generated name by a plus sign the AND by an asterisk Fig 5 24 shows an acquisition with calculated spectra using the built in test pulser of the MPA4T The...

Page 57: ...r parameters Especially interesting is selecting S3xS4 if for these scalers the Up Down counting option is enabled S3xS4 means actually that the x parameter is calculated as S3 S4 Sx range S3 and S4 c...

Page 58: ...5 2 Spectra data files with extension asc contain in each line one decimal number in ASCII containing the corresponding count value in the histogram Binary data files with extension dat are written w...

Page 59: ...0 49 h c3 8 byte 16 Bit 48 63 Tag 0 15 44 1759 2 s 0 49 h 3 8 byte 1 Bit 63 5 Bit 58 62 Tag 0 4 54 500 4h 20 85 d If ADCs are enabled only 8 byte data length or multiples of 8 byte for coincidence da...

Page 60: ...iples of 8 bytes The data structure is documented as a comment in each list file an example for single ADC data in a listfile is shown here time_patch 5b datalength 8 bytes bit0 2 0 1ms timer event 7...

Page 61: ...e optional available MPANT EXTERNAL CONTROL software It is necessary to have a TCP IP Winsock installed and that the remote shell daemon program MPA4NET is running See the readme file on the installat...

Page 62: ...rt with rising edge bit 14 15 0 falling 1 rising 2 both 3 both CFT dac1 2664 hex dac1 value STOP1 bit 14 15 0 falling 1 rising 2 both 3 both CFT dac2 2664 hex dac2 value STOP2 dac3 2664 dac4 2664 dac5...

Page 63: ...end of coinc time Bit 7 Bit6 Clear RTC Timer 0 not used 1 AUX1 2 AUX2 3 REJ stamp 0 timer sweepcnt scaler stamp in coincidence data set bit 0 TIM_0 lowest 16 bit of timer bit 1 TIM_1 bits 16 31 high w...

Page 64: ...in hex Low Word 256 time_after_peak time_to_peak High Word Max Width evpreset 10000 ROI preset value roimin 1 Lower ROI limit roimax 8192 Higher ROI limit caluse 0 bit 0 1 Use calibration higher bits...

Page 65: ...is suspended until any acquisition stops due to a preset halt Stops acquisition of system 1 if one is running cont Continues acquisition of system 1 If a time preset is already reached the time preset...

Page 66: ...nds section delay 4000 Waits specified time 4000 msec 4 sec pulse 100 Outputs a pulse of 100 ms duration at dig 3 waitpin 4000 Waits 4000 ms for going the level at dig 5 going low After a timeout a Me...

Page 67: ...t allows to specify which spectrum should be evaluated independently of which child window is activated in MPANT MC_1 means CHN1 STOP1 autocal Makes a single peak Gaussian fit for all ROIs in the acti...

Page 68: ...tion capabilities of the MPA4 program 5 3 1 Open Conversation application MPA4 topic MPA4 Any application that wants to be a client of a DDE server must open the conversation first by specifying an ap...

Page 69: ...get the numbers All other parameters concerning the setup can be obtained by the client application by reading and evaluating the configuration file RANGE The RANGE item can be used to obtain the tota...

Page 70: ...Conversation After finishing the DDE communication with the server program it must be closed The following figure shows the Panel of the described VI for LabVIEW Fig 5 30 Getting the data with LabVIEW...

Page 71: ...Conversation with GRAMS 386 The following file GRAMS889 CIF can be used to get the MPA4 data into GRAMS 386 via DDE using the Collect menu MPA4 DDE Test Query MPA4 MPA4 DATA save end spc 1 second Fig...

Page 72: ...4 define ST_SWEEPS 5 define ST_STARTS 6 typedef struct unsigned long started aquisition status unsigned long maxval maxval double cnt 7 status runtime in msec ofls total sum roi sum roi rate sweeps st...

Page 73: ...active 0xF 3 Dualparameter MAP x xoffs xsh x y yoffs ysh bit4 1 x zoomed MAP bit5 1 y zoomed MAP 5 SUM x y xsh 6 DIFF x y range xsh 7 ANY for compare 8 COPY x HIWORD active condition no 0 no conditio...

Page 74: ...igger System bit 8 GOWATCH bit 9 GO High at Start bit 10 GO Low at Stop bit 11 Clear at triggered start bit 12 Only triggered start long digval digval 0 255 value for samplechanger long dac0 DAC0 valu...

Page 75: ...TTING FAR Setting int nDisplay Get extended Settings stored in the DLL VOID APIENTRY StoreStatusData ACQSTATUS FAR Status int nDisplay Store the Status into the DLL int APIENTRY GetStatusData ACQSTATU...

Page 76: ...to an array VOID APIENTRY StoreMCSSetting BOARDSETTING Defmc int ndev Store BOARDSETTING Definition into DLL int APIENTRY GetMCSSetting BOARDSETTING Defmc int ndev Get BOARDSETTING Definition from DL...

Page 77: ...Cmd 28 AddData 29 LVGetRoi 30 LVGetCnt 31 LVGetOneCnt 32 LVGetStr 33 SubData 34 Smooth 35 StoreExtSettingData 36 GetExtSettingData 37 StoreMCSSetting 38 GetMCSSetting 39 StoreDatSetting 40 GetDatSetti...

Page 78: ...in the display option dialog It is possible to drag a rectangle and zoom into this rectangle Rectangular ROI s can be set and the ROISum and Net ROISum is displayed The Net Sum is calculated the same...

Page 79: ...tion creates then a new spectrum for compare whereas the Add functions adds the data to the spectrum selected by the active window For saving a selected spectrum into a seperate file click on the resp...

Page 80: ...Close All menu item all Display windows are closed Print The Print menu item opens the print dialog It allows to arrange several pictures on a page into zones The number of zones in vertical and hori...

Page 81: ...tem or clicking the corresponding icon all opened and displayed MPANT Display windows are arranged over the full MPANT client area trying to allocate the same size for each window Cascade The Cascade...

Page 82: ...e using the Menu Region Shape or the corresponding toolbar icon Define the ROI using the right mouse button the TAB and the END key please read the help in the status bar and save the ROI using the to...

Page 83: ...on at the center move the mouse and press the END key to finish Annular Sets the Region shape to annular To enter an annular Region using the mouse click the right button at the center and first circl...

Page 84: ...T spectrum display the total and net sum of the selected ROI is displayed ROI names are implemented The name can be entered in the ROI editing dialog Press Modify to insert a new name from the edit fi...

Page 85: ...can be changed and a New Fit can be performed they even can be fixed to the entered value by marking the respective checkbox The Position and FWHM are displayed in channels and also in calibrated uni...

Page 86: ...I s a Single Gaussian Peak Fit is performed and the results are dumped into the log file Auto Calib Makes a Gauss fit for all ROI s in the active Display for which a peak value was entered and perform...

Page 87: ...palette setup may be saved or a new one can be loaded To change on of the colors select Palette colors and click on one of the colors In the Color Palette dialog box the RGB values can be edited or fo...

Page 88: ...sible to display all three possible values in different colors that can be chosen in the colors dialog For the Mean Pixel a Threshold value can be entered channel contents below this value then aren t...

Page 89: ...olor inside ROI s to make it better visible Vector Contour paints colored contour lines To calculate the lines takes a lot of time and causes the mouse pointer changing to an hourglass But it gives ve...

Page 90: ...n be chosen between 15 and 89 degrees The Height specifies the percentage of the z axis length respective to the whole drawing it can be entered between 0 and 99 With hidden it can be specified whethe...

Page 91: ...ss can be chosen The style of the axis labeling depends on enabled ticks at the bottom respective left side If no ticks are enabled there only the lowest and highest values are displayed at the axis o...

Page 92: ...roll bar thumb one can quickly change the visible region scale otherwise the scale will be changed automatically The Minimum auto scale mode helps to display weak structures on a large background Lin...

Page 93: ...ent and allows to select by two radio buttons between the calibration of x and y axis For a selected parameter there is only one calibration If any ADC is already calibrated in a single spectrum and i...

Page 94: ...MPANT Software ComTec GmbH 6 17 Hardware The Hardware settings dialog box allows to make all the respective settings ref chapter 5 1 4 Fig 6 18 Comments dialog box Fig 6 19 Settings dialog box...

Page 95: ...ef chapter 5 1 3 System The System Definition dialog box allows to make all the respective settings See chapter 5 1 9 Spectra The Spectra dialog box allows editing the list of calculated and dual para...

Page 96: ...ordinate is shown The slice position can be changed using the scroll bar in the Slice dialog or by entering the value in the edit field and pressing the button which is labeled Set after creation of t...

Page 97: ...ouse button with the cursor positioned on an icon the user can perform a corresponding MPANT Menu command very quick It is also possible to include icons for free programmable function keys F1 F12 int...

Page 98: ...off A corresponding check mark shows if it is active or not The Status bar usually shows if an acquisition is active When the left mouse button is pressed while the mouse cursor is within a toolbar i...

Page 99: ...a measurement If more than one systems are formed also more actions menus are available otherwise they are grayed Start The Start toolbar button erases the data and starts a new measurement Halt The...

Page 100: ...ample programs for Visual Basic LabVIEW and C that is available as an option Furthermore LINUX software is available as an option containing a driver library and console test program A Windows softwar...

Page 101: ...ange 0 03 ppm vs Supply voltage change 5 5 0 10 9 vs Short term 1 0 10 10 s Ageing 2 0 10 9 day 2 0 10 7 1 st year Jitter 2 psrms Phase noise 10 Hz 105 dBc Hz 100 Hz 130 dBc Hz 1 kHz 140 dBc Hz Warm u...

Page 102: ...4 V typ 1 6 V into 50 Output LOW voltage IOutLOW 48mA max 0 45 V Recommended current VOUT LOW 180 mA VOUT HIGH 90 mA Rise time ref Fig 8 1 1 ns Fall time 1 ns Reference clock I O Connector BNC Input...

Page 103: ...0 8 V Gate setup time Gate to DRDY 211 ns Gate hold time Gate after end of DRDY 0 ns Digital I O 0 7 Location ref FEATURE multi I O port connector R PULL default 1 0 k R I O default 22 Input HIGH volt...

Page 104: ...IOutLOW 8 0mA max 0 4 V Counters 1 8 Connector 15 pin high density female D SUB Count frequency max 100 MHz Location of Carry outputs ADC GATE connector Input Impedance 50 0 25 W Input pulse width hi...

Page 105: ...8 5 8 3 Diagrams 8 3 1 SYNC_2 Output Fig 8 1 SYNC_2 output signals rise time fall time14 14 These pictures are taken with a 2 GS s 500 MHz digital scope Fig 8 2 SYNC_2 10 MHz clock output signal Fig...

Page 106: ...ch other the response time varies by about 53 ns The maximum time may also vary depending on the number of ADC data to be recorded simultaneously ref Fig 8 5 Fig 8 5 ADC port handshake with 2 simultan...

Page 107: ...he accumulated graphs one can see that data acquisition still works without loss or disruption 8 3 3 ADC GATE setup and hold time In the following the Individual GATE was used in COINC mode which mean...

Page 108: ...ong as no losses of events occurred observed in the MPANT software Fig 8 8 ADC GATE hold time The ADC GATE signal must be held valid until DRDY is removed Here the GATE delay was reduced i e shifted l...

Page 109: ...nge 11 14 VDC Supply power typ TBD 8 5 Metal Case Case material aluminum Size 260 mm x 48 mm x 265 mm Weight TBD 8 6 Accessories Included USB 2 0 A B cable 3 m 2x Power supply 100 240 VAC 12 VDC Power...

Page 110: ...r cable is an adapter from the 37 Pin D SUB connector to 18 seperated cables with BNC or Lemo connectors see Fig 3 4 It can also be used on a MCS6A or MPA4T for tag bits There is a 10 kOhm resistor be...

Page 111: ...perly plugged in 3 check that the external power supply works check it s output voltage No LED s of the input channels will light up a few seconds after power is applied Please remove the power until...

Page 112: ...Appendix Personal Notes ComTec GmbH Appendix 8 12 8 8 Personal Notes...

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