Spectrum MC.61 Series Hardware Manual

Fast 8 bit arbitrary waveform generator d/a converter board for compactpci bus

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MC.61xx

fast 8 bit arbitrary waveform generator

D/A converter board

for CompactPCI bus

Hardware Manual

Driver Manual

English version

May 24, 2018

SPECTRUM INSTRUMENTATION GMBH · AHRENSFELDER WEG 13-17 · 22927 GROSSHANSDORF · GERMANY

PHONE: +49 (0)4102-6956-0 · FAX: +49 (0)4102-6956-66 · E-MAIL: info@spec.de · INTERNET: www.spectrum-instrumentation.com

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Summary of Contents for Spectrum MC.61 Series

Page 1 D/A converter board for CompactPCI bus Hardware Manual Driver Manual English version May 24, 2018 SPECTRUM INSTRUMENTATION GMBH · AHRENSFELDER WEG 13-17 · 22927 GROSSHANSDORF · GERMANY PHONE: +49 (0)4102-6956-0 · FAX: +49 (0)4102-6956-66 · E-MAIL: info@spec.de · INTERNET: www.spectrum-instrumentation.com...
Page 2 (c) SPECTRUM INSTRUMENTATION GMBH AHRENSFELDER WEG 13-17, 22927 GROSSHANSDORF, GERMANY SBench, digitizerNETBOX and generatorNETBOX are registered trademarks of Spectrum Instrumentation GmbH. Microsoft, Visual C++, Visual Basic, Windows, Windows 98, Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 10 and Windows Server are trademarks/registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation.
Page 3: Table Of Contents
Different models of the MC.61xx series........................... 7 Additional options ................................8 Extra I/O (Option -XMF)..............................8 Starhub ..................................8 The Spectrum type plate ................................ 9 Hardware information................................. 10 Block diagram................................10 Clock and Filter ................................11 Dynamic Parameters ..............................11 Order Information ................................
Page 4 Programming the Board ....................34 Overview ..................................34 Register tables ................................... 34 Programming examples............................... 34 Error handling..................................34 Initialization..................................35 Starting the automatic initialization routine ........................35 PCI Register ................................. 35 Hardware version................................. 36 Date of production................................ 36 Serial number ................................36 Maximum possible sample rate ............................
Page 5 Multiple Replay ....................... 59 Output modes ..................................59 Standard Mode................................59 FIFO Mode .................................. 59 Trigger modes..................................59 Resulting start delays..............................60 Gated Replay ........................61 Output modes ..................................61 Standard Mode................................61 FIFO Mode .................................. 61 Trigger modes..................................61 General information and trigger delay ..........................
Page 6: Introduction
For any new information on the board as well as new available options or memory upgrades please contact our website www.spectrum-instrumentation.com. You will also find the current driver package with the latest bug fixes and new features on our site.
Page 7: Different Models Of The Mc.61Xx Series
The following overwiew shows the different available models of the MC.61xx series. They differ in the number mounted generation modules and the number of available channels. You can also see the model dependant allocation of the output connectors. • MC.6110 • MC.6111 (c) Spectrum GmbH...
Page 8: Additional Options
Additional options Introduction Additional options Extra I/O (Option -XMF) With this simple-to-use enhancement it is possible to control a wide range of external instruments or other equipment. Therefore you have 24 digital I/O and the 4 analog outputs available. The extra I/O option is useful if an external amplifier should be controlled, any kind of signal source must be programmed, an antenna must be adjusted, a status informa- tion from external machine has to be obtained or different test signals have to be rout- ed to the board.
Page 9: The Spectrum Type Plate
The Spectrum type plate The Spectrum type plate, which consists of the following components, can be found on all of our boards. The board type, consisting of the two letters describing the bus (in this case MC for the CompactPCI bus) and the model number.
Page 10: Hardware Information
Hardware information Introduction Hardware information Block diagram Technical Data Resolution 8 Bit Dimension 160 mm x 233 mm (Standard 6U) Integral linearity (DAC) ± 1.5 LSB typ. Width (Standard) 1 slot (6U) Differential linearity (DAC) ± 1.0 LSB typ. Width (with star hub option) 2 slots (6U) Output resistance <...
Page 11: Clock And Filter
> 65.2 dB Dynamic parameters are measured at the given output level and 50 Ohm termination with a high resolution data acquisition card and are calculated from the spectrum. The sample rate that is selected is the maximum possible one. All available channels are activated for the tests. SNR and SFDR figures may differ depending on the quality of the used PC. SNR = Signal to...
Page 12 Option multiple cards: Needs SBench6-Pro. Handles multiple synchronized cards in one system. Volume Licenses Please ask Spectrum for details. : Just one of the options can be installed on a card at a time. : Third party product with warranty differing from our export conditions. No volume rebate possible.
Page 13: Hardware Installation
Hardware Installation System Requirements Hardware Installation System Requirements All Spectrum MC.xxxx instrumentation boards are compliant to the CompactPCI 6U standard and require in general one free slot. Depending on the installed options additional free slots can be necessary. Warnings ESD Precautions The boards of the MC.xxxx series contain electronic components that can be damaged by electrostatic discharge (ESD).
Page 14: Installing A Board With Digital Inputs/Outputs
Installing the board in the system Hardware Installation Installing a board with digital inputs/outputs The locks on the top and bottom side of both CompactPCI brackets need to be unlocked and opened before installing the board into a free slot of the system. Therefore you need to press the little buttons on the inside of the fasteners and move them outwards (see figure). Now slowly insert the card into the host system using the key ways until both locks snap in with a „click“.
Page 15: Installing Multiple Boards Synchronized By Starhub
Spectrum ships the boards together with the needed amount of synchronization ca- bles. All of them are matched to the same length, to achieve a zero clock delay between the boards.
Page 16: Installing Multiple Synchronized Boards
Hooking up the boards Before mounting several synchronized boards for a multi channel system into the chassis you have to hook up the boards with their syncronization cables first. Spectrum ships the boards together with the needed synchronization cable. All of the possible four boards must be wired with deliv- ered synchronization cable.
Page 17: Software Driver Installation
Most available drivers and also the Spectrum driver for your board can manage interrupt sharing. But there are also some drivers on the market that can only use one interrupt exclusively. If this equipment shares an interrupt with the Spectrum board, the system will hang up if the second driver is loaded (the time is depending on the operating system).
Page 18: Windows Xp 32/64 Bit
Software Driver Installation Windows XP 32/64 Bit Installation When installing the board in a Windows XP system the Spectrum board will be rec- ognized automatically on the next start-up. The system offers the direct installation of a driver for the board.
Page 19: Driver - Update
Driver - Update If a new driver version should be installed no Spectrum board is allowed to be in use by any software. So please stop and exit all software that could access the boards.
Page 20: Windows Vista/7 32/64 Bit
Microsoft homepage. This mechanism will fail at first for the „PCI Device“ device, because the Spectrum drivers are not available via Microsoft, so simply close the dialog. This message can be safely ignored.
Page 21: Version Control
The driver update under Windows Vista/7 is exact the same procedure as the initial instal- lation. Please follow the steps above, starting from the device manager, select the Spectrum card to be updated, right-click and select „Update Driver Software...“ and follow the steps above.
Page 22: Windows Nt / Windows 2000 32 Bit
• Restart the system Driver - Update If a new driver version should be installed no Spectrum board is allowed to be in use by any software. So please stop and exit all software that could access the boards. When updating a system please simply execute the setup file of the new driver version. Afterwards the system has to be rebooted. The driver configuration is not changed.
Page 23: Linux
First time load of the driver The linux driver is shipped as the loadable module spc.o. The driver includes all Spectrum PCI, PXI and CompactPCI boards. The boards are recognized automatically after driver loading.Load the driver with the insmod command: linux:~ # insmod spc.o...
Page 24: Installation Without Udev Support
First time load of the driver The linux driver is shipped as the loadable module spc.o. The driver includes all Spectrum PCI, PXI and CompactPCI boards. The boards are recognized automatically after driver loading.Load the driver with the insmod command: linux:~ # insmod spc.o...
Page 25: Installing The Device
Now it is possible to access the board using this device. Driver info Information about the installed boards could be found in the /proc/spectrum file. All PCI, PXI and CompactPCI boards show the basic infor- mation found in the EEProm there. This is an example output generated by a MI.3020:...
Page 26: Software
Software Overview The Spectrum drivers offer you a common and fast API for using all of the board hardware features. This API is nearly the same on all operating systems. Based on this API one can write your own programs using any programming language that can access the driver API. This manual detailed describes the driver API allowing you to write your own programs.
Page 27: C/C++ Driver Interface
Defines all registers and commands which are used in the Spectrum driver for the different boards. The registers a board uses are described in the board spe- cific part of the documentation.
Page 28: Other Windows C/C++ Compilers
Include Drivers To use the Spectrum driver under LabWindows/CVI it is necessary to first load the functions from the driver dll. This is more or less similar to the above shown process with the only difference that LabWindows/CVI uses it’s own library handling functions instead of the windows standard functions.
Page 29 The function will return an error value in case of malfunction. This function is only available on generator or I/O boards. The function is not available on acquisition boards. (c) Spectrum GmbH...
Page 30: Delphi (Pascal) Programming Interface
Type definition All Spectrum driver functions are using pre-defined variable types to cover different operating systems and to use the same driver interface for all programming languages. Under Delphi it is necessary to define these types once. This is also shown in the examples delivered on CD.
Page 31: Examples
Visual Basic Programming Interface The Spectrum boards can be used together with Microsoft Visual Basic as well as with Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications. This allows per example the direct access of the hardware from within Microsoft Excel. The interface between the programming language and the driver is the same for both.
Page 32: Visual Basic Examples
Visual Basic Programming Interface Software Module definition: Public Declare Function SpcInitPCIBoards Lib "SpcStdNT.dll" Alias "_SpcInitPCIBoards@8" (ByRef Count As Integer, ByRef PCIVersion As Integer) As Integer Public Declare Function SpcInitBoard Lib "SpcStdNT.dll" Alias "_SpcInitBoard@8" (ByVal Nr As Integer, ByVal Typ As Integer) As Integer Public Declare Function SpcGetParam Lib "SpcStdNT.dll"...
Page 33 Use the SpcGetData8 function for boards with 8 bit resolution and use the SpcGetData16 function for boards with 12, 14 and 16 bit resolution. This function is only available on acquisition or i/o boards. The function is not available on generator boards. (c) Spectrum GmbH...
Page 34: Programming The Board
// Windows users must set hDrv to the according board number before. // Assuming that there is only one Spectrum board installed you’ll // have to set hDrv like this: hDrv = 0;...
Page 35: Initialization
0 (ERR_OK). In any other cases something has gone wrong. Please see appendix for explanations of the different error codes. If the process of initializing the boards was successful, the function returns the total number of Spectrum boards that have been found in your system.
Page 36: Hardware Version
Hardware version Since all of the MI, MC and MX boards from Spectrum are modular boards, they consist of one base board and one or two (only PCI and CompactPCI) piggy-back modules. This register SPC_PCIVERSION gives information about the revision of either the base board and the mod- ules.
Page 37: Installed Features And Options
Plese refer to the „Driver Installation“ chapter. Linux users can get the driver version by simply accessing the following register for the kernel driver. Register Value Direction Description SPC_GETKERNELVERSION 1210 Gives information about the kernel driver version. (c) Spectrum GmbH...
Page 38: Example Program For The Board Initialization
Powerdown and reset Every Spectrum board can be set to powerdown mode by software. In this mode the board is therefore consuming less power than in normal operation mode. The amount of saved power is board dependant. Please refer to the technical data section for details. The board can be set to normal mode again either by performing a reset as mentioned below or by starting the board as described in the according chapters later in this manual.
Page 39: Analog Outputs
Channel Selection One key setting that influences all other possible settings is the channel enable register. An unique feature of the Spectrum boards is the possibility to program the number of channels you want to use. All on-board memory can then be used by these activated channels.
Page 40: Setting Up The Outputs
Setting up the outputs Analog Outputs Setting up the outputs Output Amplifiers This arbitrary waveform generator board uses separate output am- plifiers for each channel. This gives you the possibility to separate- ly set up the channel outputs to best suit your application The output amplifiers can easily be set by the corresponding am- plitude registers.
Page 41: Maximum Output Range
SpcSetParam (hDrv, SPC_OFFS2, -500); Output Filters Every output of your Spectrum D/A board is equipped with a bypass path and three fixed filters that can be used for signal smoothing. The filters are located in the signal chain between the output amplifi- cation section and the DAC, as shown in the right figure.
Page 42: Standard Generation Modes
Singleshot mode The singleshot mode is the most simple output mode for the Spectrum boards. It simply replays the programmed data once after detecting the trigger event. The amount of memory to be replayed can be programmed by software. Any trigger source can be used to start the output.
Page 43 The values depend on the number of activated channels and on the type of board being used. The minimum stepsizes for setting up the mem- size and the postcounter are shown in the table below. Minimum and stepsize of memsize and posttrigger in samples n.a. n.a. (c) Spectrum GmbH...
Page 44: Starting Without Interrupt (Classic Mode)
Programming Standard generation modes Starting without interrupt (classic mode) Command register Register Value Direction Description SPC_COMMAND read/write Command register of the board. SPC_START Starts the board with the current register settings. SPC_STOP Stops the board manually. In this mode the board is started by writing the SPC_START value to the command register. All settings like for example the size of memory and postcounter, the number of activated channels and the trigger settings must have been programmed before.
Page 45: Data Organization
An example on how to get a second task that can do some monitoring on the running task and eventually send the SPC_STOP command can be found on the Spectrum driver CD that has been shipped with your board. The latest examples can also be down loaded via our website at www.spectrum-instrumentation.com.
Page 46: Sample Format
Programming Standard generation modes Standard mode Writing data to the memory is really easy, if a replay mode is used, that stores non multiplexed data in the dedicated memory channels. The next example shows, how to write the data before replaying two channels without multiplexing to both memory channels. for (i = 0;...
Page 47: Fifo Mode
100-110 MBytes per second. The maximum FIFO speed one can achieve heavily depends on the PC system and the operating system and varies from system to system. The maximum sample rate one can run in continuous FIFO mode depends on the number of activated channels: (c) Spectrum GmbH...
Page 48: Programming
Programming FIFO Mode Theoretical maximum sample rate PCI Bus Throughput 1 Channel 100 MS/s [1 Channel] x [1 Byte per sample] * 100 MS/s = 100 MB/s 2 Channels 50 MS/s [2 Channels] x [1 Byte per sample] * 50 MS/s = 100 MB/s 4 Channels 25 MS/s [4 Channels] x [1 Byte per sample] * 25 MS/s = 100 MB/s...
Page 49: Buffer Processing
2 x [Samples in Buffer] We at Spectrum achieved best results when programming the buffer length to a number of samples that can hold approximately 100 ms of data. However if going to the limit of the PCI bus with the FIFO mode or when having buffer overruns it can be useful to have larger FIFO buffers to buffer more data in it.
Page 50: Fifo Mode
Example FIFO generation mode FIFO Mode If one knows before starting FIFO mode how long this should run it is possible to program the number of buffers that the driver should process. After transferring this number of buffer the driver will automatically stop. If FIFO mode should run endless a zero must be programmed to this register.
Page 51: Data Organization
FIFOBuffer[i + 3] = Data[3][i/4]; Sample format The sample format in FIFO mode does not differ from the one of the standard (non FIFO) mode. Please refer to the relating passage concerning the sample format in the standard acquisition chapter. (c) Spectrum GmbH...
Page 52: Clock Generation
Overview The Spectrum boards offer a wide variety of different clock modes to match all the customers needs. All the clock modes are described in detail with programming examples below. This chapter simply gives you an overview which clock mode to select: Standard internal sample rate PLL with internal 40 MHz reference.
Page 53: Using Plain Quartz Without Pll
Using plain quartz without PLL In some cases it is useful for the application not to have the on-board PLL activated. Although the PLL used on the Spectrum boards is a low- jitter version it still produces more clock jitter than a plain quartz oscillator. For these cases the Spectrum boards have the opportunity to switch off the PLL by software and use a simple clock divider.
Page 54: External Clocking
External clocking Clock generation Termination of the clock input If the external connector is used as an input, either for feeding in an external reference clock or for external clocking you can enable a 50 Ohm termination on the board. If the termination is disabled, the impedance is high. Please make sure that your source is capable of driving that current and that it still fulfills the clock input specification as given in the technical data section.
Page 55: External Clock With Divider
The extra clock divider can be used to divide an external fed in clock by a fixed value. The external clock must be > 1 MS/s. This divided clock is used as a sample clock for the board. Register Value Direction Description SPC_CLOCKDIV 20040 read/write Extra clock divider for external samplerate. Allowed values are listed below Available divider values 1000 2000 (c) Spectrum GmbH...
Page 56: Trigger Modes And Appendant Registers
General Description Concerning the trigger modes of the Spectrum MI, MC and MX D/A boards, you can choose between three external TTL trigger modes and one internal software trigger. This chapter is about to explain the different trigger modes and setting up the board’s registers for the desired mode.
Page 57: Edge Triggers
Register Value Direction Description SPC_TRIGGERMODE 40000 Sets the triggermode for the board. TM_TTLNEG 20010 Sets the trigger mode for external TTL trigger to detect negative edges. (c) Spectrum GmbH...
Page 58 External TTL trigger Trigger modes and appendant registers Positive and negative TTL trigger This mode is for detecting the rising and falling edges of an ex- ternal TTL signal. The board will trigger on the first rising or falling edge that is detected after starting the board. The next trigger- event will then be detected, if the actual recording/replay has fin- ished and the board is armed and waiting for a trigger again.
Page 59: Multiple Replay
The delay is fixed for a certain board setup. All possible de- lays in samples between the trigger event and the first re- played sample are listed in the table below. The patterntrigger modes of digital I/O boards cannot be used with multiple replay. (c) Spectrum GmbH...
Page 60: Resulting Start Delays
Trigger modes Multiple Replay Resulting start delays Sample rate Output Mode Activated channels external TTL trigger ext. TTL trigger with activated synchronization < 5 MHz Standard or FIFO 8 samples 10 samples > 5 MHz Standard or FIFO 24 samples 26 samples <...
Page 61: Gated Replay
It is fix for a certain board setup. All possible start delays in samples between the trigger event and the first replayed sample are listed in the table below. (c) Spectrum GmbH...
Page 62: Alignement Samples Per Channel
Trigger modes Gated Replay Due to the structure of the on-board memory there is an- other delay at the end of the gate interval. Internally a gate-end signal can only be recognized at an eight samples alignment. So depending on what time your external gate signal will leave the programmed gate condition it might hap- pen that at maximum seven more samples are replayed, before the board pauses (see figure).
Page 63: Allowed Trigger Modes
4096); // Set the total memsize of generation to 4096 samples SpcSetParam (hDrv, SPC_TRIGGERMODE, TM_TTLPOS); // Sets the gate condition to external TTL mode, so that // data is replayed, if the signal is at HIGH level (c) Spectrum GmbH...
Page 64: Option Extra I/O
Digital I/Os Option Extra I/O Option Extra I/O Digital I/Os With this simple-to-use enhancement it is possible to control a wide range of external instruments or other equipment. Therefore you have several digital I/Os and the 4 analog outputs available. All extra I/O lines are completely independent from the board’s function, data di- rection or sample rate and directly controlled by software (asynchronous I/Os).
Page 65: Programming Example
SpcSetParam (hDrv, SPC_XIO_ANALOGOUT1, 0 mV = 0.0 V SpcSetParam (hDrv, SPC_XIO_ANALOGOUT2, +3500); 3500 mV = 3.5 V SpcSetParam (hDrv, SPC_XIO_ANALOGOUT3, +10000); // 10000 mV = 10.0 V SpcSetParam (hDrv, SPC_XIO_WRITEDACS, 1); // Write data simultaneously to DAC (c) Spectrum GmbH...
Page 66: Synchronization (Option)
With the option starhub up to 16 Spectrum boards can be synchronized. All boards are connected with a seperate synchronization cable from their sync-connectors to the starhub module, which is a piggy-back module on one Spectrum board (for details please refer to the chapter about installing the hardware).
Page 67: The Setup Order For The Different Synchronization Options
Please refer to the related chapter for the standard mode in this manual. If none of your synchronized boards is used for generation purposes you can ignore this step. (c) Spectrum GmbH...
Page 68 The setup order for the different synchronization options Synchronization (Option) Example for data writing SpcSetData (hDrv[0], 0, 0, 1024, pData[0]); SpcSetData (hDrv[1], 0, 0, 1024, pData[1]); SpcSetData (hDrv[2], 0, 0, 1024, pData[2]); (4) Define the board(s) for trigger master At least one board must be set as the trigger master to get synchronization running. Every one of the synchronized boards can be programmed for beeing the trigger master device.
Page 69 This is necessary because the function does not return until the board has stopped again. If not using different threads this will result in a program deadlock. Example of starting trigger slave boards. Board number 2 is trigger master. SpcSetParam (hDrv[0], SPC_COMMAND, SPC_START); SpcSetParam (hDrv[1], SPC_COMMAND, SPC_START); (c) Spectrum GmbH...
Page 70 The setup order for the different synchronization options Synchronization (Option) (10) Start all of the trigger master boards After having armed the synchronized boards, you must start all of the boards, that are defined as trigger masters. Register Value Direction Description SPC_COMMAND Command register of the board...
Page 71: Setup Synchronization For Use With Fifo Mode And Equally Clocked Boards
Settings the remaining boards to clock slaves. Board number 0 is clock master in the example SpcSetParam (hDrv[1], SPC_COMMAND, SPC_SYNCSLAVEFIFO); // Setting all the other boards to SpcSetParam (hDrv[2], SPC_COMMAND, SPC_SYNCSLAVEFIFO); // clock slave is a must ! (c) Spectrum GmbH...
Page 72 The setup order for the different synchronization options Synchronization (Option) (9) Start all of the trigger slave boards After having armed the synchronized boards, you must start all of the boards, that are defined as trigger slaves first. This is done with the FIFOSTART command.
Page 73: Additions For Synchronizing Different Boards
General information Spectrum boards with different speed grades, different number of channels or even just different clock settings for the same types of boards can be synchronized as well. To get the boards working together synchronously some extra setups have to be done, which are described in the following passages.
Page 74: Additions For Equal Boards With Different Sample Rates
The setup order for the different synchronization options Synchronization (Option) Setting up the clock divider The clock divider can easily be set by the following register. Please keep in mind that the divider must be set for every synchronized board to have synchronization working correctly.
Page 75: Resulting Delays Using Different Boards Or Speeds
Start delay in samples for FIFO synchronization only. The resulting delay between the clock master board and the single clock ResultingDelay ClockMasterDelay ClockSlaveDelay – slave boards can be easily calculated with the formular mentioned on the right. (c) Spectrum GmbH...
Page 76: Option Output Amplifier
Option Output Amplifier As an additional option for all arbitrary waveform generators from Spectrum, a special amplifier card with 1, 2 or 4 parallel amplifier chan- nels and a large signal bandwidth of 30 MHz is available. The ±3 V signal of the generator card is amplified by a fixed value of 3.33 to a maximum of ±10 V.
Page 77: Avoiding Ground Problems
If for any reasons you appear to have problems like oscillation on of the outputs, please try to plug the "ground connect" jumper first (see placement drawing for the jumpers position). (c) Spectrum GmbH...
Page 78: Appendix
The PCI bus has the wrong version. SPECTRUM PCI boards require PCI revision 2.1 or higher. ERR_PCINOBOARDS 202h No SPECTRUM PCI boards found. If you have a PCI board in your system please check whether it is cor- rectly plug into the slot connector and whether you have the latest driver version. ERR_PCICHECKSUM 203h The checksum of the board information has failed.
Page 79: Pin Assignment Of The Multipin Connector
20 pole IDC socket connector so you can easily make connections to your type of equipment or DUT (device under test). The pin assignment is given in the table in the according chapter of the appendix. (c) Spectrum GmbH...
Page 80: Idc Footprints
Pin assignment of the multipin cable IDC footprints The 20 pole IDC connectors have the following footprints. For easy usage in your PCB the cable footprint as well as the PCB top footprint are shown here. Please note that the PCB footprint is given as top view. The following table shows the relation between the card connector pin and the IDC pin:t IDC footprint pin Card connector pin...

This manual is also suitable for:

Mc.6110 Mc.6111