AlazarTech ATS9373 User Manual

12-bit, 2 channel, 1 gs/s waveform digitizer for pci express gen 3 bus

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ATS9373 User Manual

12-Bit, 2 Channel, 1 GS/s

Waveform Digitizer for PCI Express Gen 3 Bus

Written for Hardware Version 1.5

July 2020 Edition

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Page 1 ATS9373 User Manual 12-Bit, 2 Channel, 1 GS/s Waveform Digitizer for PCI Express Gen 3 Bus Written for Hardware Version 1.5 July 2020 Edition...
Page 2 Canada H9R 4S2 Telephone: (514) 426-4899 Fax: (514) 426-2723 E-mail: sales@alazartech.com Web site: www.alazartech.com To comment on the documentation for ATS9373, send an e-mail to support@alazartech.com Information required when contacting AlazarTech for technical support: Owned by: Serial Number: Purchase Date: Purchased From:...
Page 3 The reader should consult AlazarTech if errors are suspected. In no event shall AlazarTech be liable for any damages arising out of or related to this document or the information contained in it. The latest user manual can be found on the AlazarTech web page at www.alazartech.com/support/downloads.htm.
Page 4 LIABLE FOR DAMAGES RESULTING FROM LOSS OF DATA, PROFITS, USE OF PRODUCTS, OR INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY THEREOF. This limitation of the liability of AlazarTech will apply regardless of the form of action, whether in contract or tort, including negligence. Any action against AlazarTech must be brought within one year after the cause of action accrues.
Page 5 Copyright © 2020 Alazar Technologies Inc. Warning Regarding Use of AlazarTech Products ALAZARTECH PRODUCTS ARE NOT DESIGNED WITH COMPONENTS AND TESTING FOR A LEVEL OF RELIABILITY SUITABLE FOR USE IN OR IN CONNECTION WITH SURGICAL IMPLANTS OR AS CRITICAL COMPONENTS IN ANY LIFE SUPPORT SYSTEMS WHOSE FAILURE TO PERFORM CAN REASONABLY BE EXPECTED TO CAUSE SIGNIFICANT INJURY TO A HUMAN.
Page 6: Compliance
Classification requirements are the same for the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and Innovation, Science and Economic Development (ISED) Canada. Changes or modifications not expressly approved by AlazarTech could void the user’s authority to operate the equipment under the FCC/ISED Rules. ATS9373 User Manual...
Page 7 To obtain the DoC for this product, click Declaration of Conformity at www.alazartech.com/support/documents.htm. This web page lists all DoCs by product family. Select the appropriate product to download or read the DoC. Certain exemptions may apply in the USA, see FCC Rules §15.103 Exempted devices, and §15.105(c).
Page 8 Directive 2015/863/EU (RoHS 3) of the European Parliament and of the Council of 31 March 2015 on the restriction of the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment. All manufacturing has been done using RoHS-compliant components and lead-free soldering. ATS9373 User Manual...
Page 9: Table Of Contents
What You Need to Get Started ................9 Unpacking ......................10 Installing the ATS9373 in Windows ............... 11 Installing the ATS9373 in a Linux System .............. 19 Updating ATS9373 Driver ..................23 Updating ATS9373 Firmware in Windows ............... 24 Updating ATS9373 Firmware in a Linux System ............31 CHAPTER 3 HARDWARE OVERVIEW ..............
Page 10: Change Log
Pg 16: Added notes about driver versions. Pg 18: Added ATS-GPU to optional installs. Pg 19: Complete rework of section Installing the ATS9373 in a Linux System, added physical installation and troubleshooting instructions. Pg 23: Added note about registering ATS9373 Pg 24: Added section Updating ATS9373 Firmware in Windows.
Page 11 Pg 70: Added section: Auxiliary I/O (AUX I/O). Pg 70: Updated Certification and Compliances. Pg 70: Updated Supported Linux Distributions. Pg 71: Added updated benchmark tables with newer models and added note about BIOS in Appendix B - Benchmarks. ATS9373 User Manual...
Page 13: About Your Ats9373
Copyright © 2020 Alazar Technologies Inc. About Your ATS9373 Thank you for your purchase of an ATS9373. This PCI Express (PCIe Gen 3 x8) based waveform digitizer has the following features: • Two 12-bit resolution analog input channels • Real-time sampling rate of 4 GS/s to 1 KS/s with internal clock and...
Page 14: Ats9373 Export Control Classification
ECCN 3A002.h. For sales where the ultimate country destination is Canada or U.S., no export permit is required unless the end-use of ATS9373, in part or in its entirety, is related to the development or deployment of weapons of mass destruction.
Page 15: Acquiring Data With Your Ats9373
ATS9373 or interactively with the AlazarDSO software for Windows or with AlazarFrontPanel for Linux. Note that AlazarFrontPanel has a limited feature set. If you want to integrate the ATS9373 in your test and measurement or embedded OEM application, you can program the digitizer using C/C++, Python, MATLAB...
Page 16 Interactively Controlling your ATS9373 The AlazarDSO oscilloscope emulation software for Windows allows you to interactively control your ATS9373 as you would a desktop oscilloscope. Under Linux, the AlazarFrontPanel application is available. Note that Alazar Front Panel has a limited feature set.
Page 17 AlazarTech designed ATS-GPU so this software bottleneck is eliminated and data can be moved from AlazarTech digitizers to GPUs and from GPUs to user buffers at full PCIe bus speeds. Once the data is available in GPU memory, many types of digital signal processing (DSP) can be done on this data at near-hardware speeds.
Page 18: Optional Upgrades
• ATS9373: External Clock Upgrade (300 MHz to 2 GHz) • ATS9373: Screened External Clock Upgrade (100 MHz to 2 GHz) • ATS9373: Wideband Input Upgrade (up to 1.7 GHz bandwidth in DES mode and 1.9 GHz in non-DES mode).
Page 19: Chapter 2 Installation And Configuration
Copyright © 2020 Alazar Technologies Inc. Chapter 2 Installation and Configuration This chapter describes how to unpack, install, and configure your ATS9373. ATS9373 User Manual...
Page 20: What You Need To Get Started
Copyright © 2020 Alazar Technologies Inc. What You Need to Get Started To set up and use your ATS9373, you will need the following: • One or more ATS9373 digitizers • ATS9373 Installation Software on USB Disk (or downloaded software from www.alazartech.com/support/downloads.htm)
Page 21: Unpacking
• Remove the digitizer from the package and inspect the digitizer for loose components or any other sign of damage. Notify AlazarTech if the digitizer appears damaged in any way. Do not install a damaged digitizer into your computer.
Page 22: Installing The Ats9373 In Windows
The ATS-SDK software development kit, which enables you to programmatically control the ATS9373 b. The ATS-GPU library, which enables you to perform real-time processing of data from the ATS9373 on a CUDA-compatible GPU The following paragraphs will guide you through this process in a step-by-step manner.
Page 23 Make sure that your computer is powered off before you attempt to insert the ATS9373 digitizer in one of the free PCI Express slots. For best noise performance, leave as much room as possible between your ATS9373 and other hardware.
Page 24 PCIe card and will attempt to install the device driver if found on the computer. a) If the ATS9373 device driver is not found, Windows will display the following dialog box. Click Close.
Page 25 Insert the installation disk that is supplied on a USB flash drive. If it does not auto-run, manually run the Autorun.exe program on the USB flash drive. The following splash screen will be displayed. Click Install Driver. c) The Select Driver window will appear. Select ATS9373 and click OK. ATS9373 User Manual...
Page 26 Copyright © 2020 Alazar Technologies Inc. d) The User Account Control pop-up window will show up asking for installation permissions. Click YES to continue installation. e) Windows will install the ATSApi library. ATS9373 User Manual...
Page 27 ‘Windows Security’ screen. Press install, after optionally checking ‘Always trust software from Alazar Technologies Inc.’ Note 1: If you have Windows 10 v.1607 or later, you cannot install AlazarTech driver versions older than 6.0.0. This is normal behavior. This limitation is due to Microsoft’s driver code signing policy change, which now requires a SHA-2 code signing certificate.
Page 28 Copyright © 2020 Alazar Technologies Inc. h) The ATS9373 Device Installer box will display the installation progress of the driver files. Congratulations! The following final screen will confirm that the driver has been successfully installed. ATS9373 User Manual...
Page 29 3. Install AlazarDSO software that allows you to setup the hardware, acquire signals and view and archive them If you are installing from the USB flash drive shipped with the ATS9373 digitizer, run the Autorun.exe: • Click on Install AlazarDSO •...
Page 30: Installing The Ats9373 In A Linux System
Make sure that your computer is powered off before you attempt to insert the ATS9373 digitizer in one of the free PCI Express slots. For best noise performance, leave as much room as possible between your ATS9373 and other hardware.
Page 31 7.1.2 built for the “x86_64” architecture on CentOS is contained in the “drivers-ats9373-dkms-7.1.2.x86_64.rpm” file. Note: Beginning with driver version 7.1.2, AlazarTech Linux drivers use DKMS to not be dependent on the exact kernel version that the host machine is running.
Page 32 To install packages for ATS9373 on your Linux system, follow these steps: 1. Once you have connected one or several ATS9373 in your computer, power it on.
Page 33 Copyright © 2020 Alazar Technologies Inc. Installation Troubleshooting If you are experiencing difficulties using AlazarTech digitizers on your Linux system, please ensure that the following packages are all installed: • alazar-front-panel • libats • driver package for your board (with the corresponding kernel version)
Page 34: Updating Ats9373 Driver
The exact name on disk of a given package file depends on the computer architecture for which it is built, the Linux distribution used, and the actual software version. For example, the driver for ATS9373 version 7.1.2 built for the “x86_64” architecture on CentOS is contained in the “drivers ats9373 dkms 7.1.2.x86_64.rpm”...
Page 35: Updating Ats9373 Firmware In Windows
Copyright © 2020 Alazar Technologies Inc. Updating ATS9373 Firmware in Windows Linux users: skip to Updating ATS9373 Firmware in a Linux System • Go to the AlazarTech website and choose your board from the PRODUCTS drop-down menu • Down on the product’s page, from the Software section: 1.
Page 38 Copyright © 2020 Alazar Technologies Inc. • Select your Components and click NEXT. AlazarTech Firmware Updater 3.0+ comes in two forms: a graphical user interface (GUI), which is recommended for most users, and a command line interface (CLI) that is more appropriate for OEMs and advanced users.
Page 39 Copyright © 2020 Alazar Technologies Inc. • Click FINISH to complete the installation. Once the firmware updater is installed, you can start it from the AlazarTech Firmware Updater start menu item, or by pressing the start button and typing Firmware Updater.
Page 40 Copyright © 2020 Alazar Technologies Inc. • When you start AlazarTech Firmware Updater, you will see the following: In Update file, click on the ellipsis to choose the corresponding firmware (.pof file) you previously downloaded. • Select the board(s) that you wish to update. If you have only one board installed in the computer, you can leave the Boards to update section unmodified.
Page 41 Run AlazarDSO software Press F4 key. It will display the Board Properties page. One of the lines is FPGA version. Make sure the version number displayed corresponds to the version of the FPGA you downloaded (.exe file name). ATS9373 User Manual...
Page 42: Updating Ats9373 Firmware In A Linux System
Copyright © 2020 Alazar Technologies Inc. Updating ATS9373 Firmware in a Linux System Note: The following instructions have been created using CentOS. Users with other linux distributions may have different on-screen instructions to follow, as well as a different interface.
Page 43 Copyright © 2020 Alazar Technologies Inc. 2. Click on ATS9373 Firmware to download the firmware file • Unarchive both files. Make sure that the Linux Driver is installed on this computer. Also make sure that all other applications using this driver or the ATSApi Library are closed (E.g.: AlazarFrontPanel).
Page 45 Alazar Firmware Updater start menu item, or by pressing the start button and typing Firmware Updater. • When you start AlazarTech Firmware Updater, you will see the following: • In Update file, click on the ellipsis to choose the corresponding firmware (.pof file) you previously downloaded.
Page 46 • Once all the parameters are set properly, click UPDATE to start the FPGA update. A window will appear to indicate the progress of this process. Warning: Some versions of ATS9373 require advanced settings to be • FAQ 1040 configured for the update to succeed. See for more information.
Page 48 Next, click Help and then select About from the drop-down menu that follows. This will display an About AlazarFrontPanel pop-up. One of the lines is FPGA version. Make sure the version number displayed corresponds to the version of the FPGA you downloaded (.exe file name). ATS9373 User Manual...
Page 49: Chapter 3 Hardware Overview
Copyright © 2020 Alazar Technologies Inc. Chapter 3 Hardware Overview This chapter includes an overview of the ATS9373, explains the operation of each functional unit making up your ATS9373, and describes the signal connections. Following is a high-level block diagram of ATS9373.
Page 51: Physical Overview
• AUX I/O: An auxiliary input/output connector It also has a bracket LED that can be software controlled, and is used for identification. ATS9373 has two memory SO-DIMM connectors on the front of the PCB. Lastly, ATS9373 has various Status LEDs on the edge of the PCB that can be used for debugging.
Page 53: Status Leds
Copyright © 2020 Alazar Technologies Inc. Status LEDs ATS9373 has 9 Status LEDs. Descriptions are provided below in the order in which they appear, from left to right: Figure 3 - ATS9373 Status LEDs • PS3: This LED being red means that there is an issue with one or more on-board power supplies.
Page 54 More details are available in the Power Monitor plug-in of AlazarDSO (for Windows) and Alazar Front Panel (for Linux). Refer to Figure 4 – Flowchart for Power Monitor Status LEDs for steps to follow if this LED is red. ATS9373 User Manual...
Page 55 Note: for Power Monitor error outputs, the Status LED remains on even after the issue is resolved. To turn off the Status LED, you must press the “Clear Int.” button in the AlazarDSO Power Monitor plug-in or restart the computer. ATS9373 User Manual...
Page 56: Signal Connections
Use the TRIG IN input for an external trigger only; data on the TRIG channel cannot be digitized. If External Clock Upgrade is installed on your ATS9373, use the ECLK input for clocking the ATS9373 in applications that require an external clock. Signal levels...
Page 57: Analog Input
For accurate measurements, make sure the signal being measured is referenced to the same ground as your ATS9373 by attaching the cable’s ground shield to the signal ground. The External Trigger input (labeled TRIG IN) has a ±2.5 V analog Input range with 50 Ω...
Page 58 You can acquire pre-trigger data up to 4088 samples in dual channel and 8176 in single channel. Minimum value for pre-trigger amount is 0. Note that pre-trigger data acquisition only applies to ATS9373 boards with FPGA version 26.2 or later. Boards with previous FPGA versions will be strictly no pre- trigger (NPT).
Page 59: Calibration
Copyright © 2020 Alazar Technologies Inc. Calibration Calibration is the process of minimizing measurement errors by making small circuit adjustments. All ATS9373 digitizers come factory calibrated to the levels indicated in Appendix Specifications. Note that AlazarTech calibration is fully NIST- or CNRC- traceable.
Page 60: Models Of Ats9373: A3 And D6
ATS9373 is available in two models: ATS9373-A3 (Order number ATS9373-001) features a large Stratix V FPGA 5SGXMA3K3F40C3N, whereas ATS9373-D6 (Order number ATS9373-002) features an even larger and more DSP-rich FPGA 5SGSMD6K3F40C3N. From the user’s point of view, the difference impacts the on-FPGA FFT processing capabilities.
Page 61: Optional External Clock
Copyright © 2020 Alazar Technologies Inc. Optional External Clock ATS9373 PCI Express Digitizer optionally allows you to supply the ADC clock. This option is extremely important in many RF applications in which phase measurements must be made between the inputs themselves or between the inputs and an external event.
Page 62 Appendix A - Specifications, must be respected. In 10 MHz PLL external clock mode, the ATS9373 can generate any sample clock frequency between 300 MHz and 2 GHz that is a multiple of 1 MHz in non-DES mode. In DES mode, it can generate any sample clock frequency between 500 MHz and 2 GHz that is a multiple of 1 MHz.
Page 63: Oct Ignore Bad Clock
Note: You must have ATS-SDK version 7.1.3 or later as well as ATS9373 Firmware version 26.04 or later, and driver version 5.10.6 or later in order to use OCT Ignore Bad Clock. ATS9373 User Manual...
Page 64: Optional Wideband Input
Copyright © 2020 Alazar Technologies Inc. Optional Wideband Input ATS9373 PCI Digitizer’s optional Wideband Input option provides up to 1.9 GHz analog input on two channels (non-DES mode) or up to 1.7 GHz on one channel (DES mode). Input impedance is fixed at 50 Ω.
Page 65: Optional Extended Warranty
However, customers might want to extend this warranty to further protect their product(s). A one year extended warranty can be requested for both the ATS9373-A3 (order number ATS9373-061) and the ATS9373-D6 (order number ATS9373-062). Extended warranties must be purchased before expiration of the standard warranty (or before expiration of a previously purchased extended warranty).
Page 66: Chapter 4 Specific Features
Copyright © 2020 Alazar Technologies Inc. Chapter 4 Specific Features This section contains information about features specific to AlazarTech digitizers and ATS9373 in particular. ATS9373 User Manual...
Page 67: Streaming Data Across The Bus
Copyright © 2020 Alazar Technologies Inc. Streaming Data Across the Bus One of the most unique features of the ATS9373 is its on-board, dual-port acquisition memory that can act as a very deep Data FIFO and the associated Dual-DMA engine.
Page 68 This requires a software handshake which is heavily dependent on the operating system response time. ATS9373 solves this problem by providing a FIFO and an advanced dual-DMA engine that can stream data to PC host memory at up to 6.8 GB/s (exact rate is motherboard dependent).
Page 69 Software still has to get involved in re-arming the hardware after every capture and again for reading the data from on-board acquisition memory. ATS9373’s proprietary AutoDMA circuitry allows the acquisition system to be re- armed by a hardware command and data transfer to be initiated by the hardware itself, thus removing virtually all “in-process”...
Page 70 NPT AutoDMA can easily acquire data to PC host memory at the maximum sustained transfer rate of the motherboard without causing an overflow. This is the recommended mode of operation for most ultrasonic scanning, OCT and medical imaging applications. ATS9373 User Manual...
Page 71 Continuous AutoDMA is also known as the data streaming mode. In this mode, data starts streaming across the PCI bus as soon as the ATS9373 is armed for acquisition. It is important to note that triggering is disabled in this mode.
Page 72 RAM of the computer. This module is accessed by clicking on Tools >> Stream To Memory… ATS9373 User Manual...
Page 73: Data Packing
Copyright © 2020 Alazar Technologies Inc. Data Packing By default, ATS9373 stores 12-bit data acquired by its on-board A/D converters as a 16-bit integer. Users can also choose to pack the data as 12-bit integers or even 8-bit integers. Being able to reduce the total amount of data being transferred can be very useful in data recording applications.
Page 74: Triggering
External Trigger input. While most oscilloscopes offer only one trigger engine, ATS9373 offers two trigger engines (called Engines J and K). The user can specify the number of records to capture in an acquisition, the length of each record and the amount of pre-trigger data.
Page 75: On-Fpga Fft
FPGA-based FFT operation during algorithm development. Figure 10 - On-FPGA FFT Block Diagram The standard ATS9373-A3 can perform 250,000 4096 point FFTs per second, whereas ATS9373-D6 can do as many as 1,000,000 FFTs per second, i.e. gapless FFT. ATS9373 User Manual...
Page 76: Appendix A - Specifications
Copyright © 2020 Alazar Technologies Inc. Appendix A - Specifications This appendix lists the specifications of the ATS9373. These specifications are typical at 25 °C unless otherwise stated. The operating temperature range is 0 to 55 °C. Minimum Requirements Windows 10, Windows 8.x, Windows 7 SP1 with security...
Page 77 ±2% of full scale in all input ranges Input coupling Input impedance 50 Ω ± 1% Input protection 50 Ω ±4 V (DC + peak AC for CH A, CH B and EXT only without external attenuation) ATS9373 User Manual...
Page 78 ±2 ppm Dynamic Parameters Typical values measured on 400 mV range of CH A of a randomly selected ATS9373. Input signal was provided by an SRS SG384 signal generator, followed by a 9-pole, 100 MHz band-pass filter (TTE Q36T-100M-10M-50-720BMF). Input frequency was set at 99.9 MHz and output amplitude was approximately 95% of the full scale input.
Page 79 10.1 MHz for 10 MHz Reference Input Minimum frequency 9.9 MHz for 10 MHz Reference Input Sampling Clock Freq. Any multiple of 1 MHz between: 300 MHz and 2 GHz in non-DES mode 500 MHz and 2 GHz in DES mode ATS9373 User Manual...
Page 80 ±8 V (DC + peak AC without external attenuation) TTL input impedance 6.6 kΩ ±10% TTL min. pulse width 32 ADC sampling clocks TTL min. pulse amplitude 2 V TTL input protection -0.7 V to +5.5 V ATS9373 User Manual...
Page 81 Supported Linux Distributions AlazarTech offers ATS9373 DKMS drivers for the following Linux distributions: CentOS, Debian, and Ubuntu. AlazarTech DKMS drivers may work for other Linux distributions but they have not been tested and technical support may be limited. Users can download the DKMS driver for their specific distribution by choosing from the available drivers here: ftp://release@ftp.alazartech.com/outgoing/linux...
Page 82: Appendix B - Benchmarks
Given the constantly changing nature of computers, these benchmarks are provided as a reference only and AlazarTech assumes no liability in case the computer you purchase behaves differently than what was observed in AlazarTech’s laboratory.
Page 84 ALAZAR TECHNOLOGIES INC. 6600 Trans-Canada Highway Suite 310 Pointe-Claire, QC CANADA H9R 4S2 Tel: (514) 426-4899 Fax: (514) 426-2723 E-mail: sales@alazartech.com Web: www.alazartech.com...

AlazarTech ATS9373 User Manual

Chapter 1 Introduction

Chapter 2 Installation and Configuration

Chapter 3 Hardware Overview

Chapter 4 Specific Features

Appendix A - Specifications

Appendix B - Benchmarks

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