ATS9360 User Manual
Contents
1. a Click Finish ATS9360 driver has now been updated ATS9360 User Manual 23 Chapter 3 Hardware Overview This chapter includes an overview of the ATS9360 explains the operation of each functional unit making up your ATS9360 and describes the signal connections Following is a high level block diagram of ATS9360 24 ATS9360 User Manual ONINOLINOW WALSAS SN Z NAD SSJYdXI Idd INV 8 8 8 JDVIYSLNI DOIA ONY GD INIHIVW IKZ Q NOLISINDDYV v HIATO Ud KIKO g OKO ZHW OL WV YDVIG X90719 O9E6SLV TOYLNOD O A Ay NAVLAS JYVMLIOS HOTS ULL YO YOlVYvdWOD X39941 TVNY31X3 D DAV ZHD 9 S viva gl ODAYALLIT MOT XOL uos OD OWL uos HD uos VHD uos 25 ATS9360 User Manual Input Connectors ATS9360 digitizers have five SMA connectors one for ECLK External Clock Input two for CH A and CH B analog input connections one for the TRIG IN External Trigger input and one for AUX I O Auxiliary Input or Output The following pictorial shows the various connectors available on the digitizer bracket Identification LED For future use Optional External Clock Channel A f t tt Channel B External Trigger TRIG IN f Auxiliary I O Default is TRIG OUT 26 ATS9360 User Manual Signal Connections You can use CH A and CH B to digitize data as well as to trigger an acquisition Use the TRIG I2. 3dB Input range DC accuracy Input protection Coupling TRIG OUT Output Connector Used Output Signal Synchronization 50 Q for 2 5 V range 2 KQ for TTL input DC 250 MHz 2 5 V or TTL Input software selectable 10 of full scale input 8V DC peak AC without external attenuation DC only AUX I O 5 Volt TTL Synchronized to a clock derived from the ADC sampling clock Divide by 4 clock dual chan nel mode or divide by 8 clock single channel mode Certification and Compliances CE Mark Compliance Materials Supplied One ATS9360 PCI Express Card One ATS9360 Install Disk on USB flash drive One ATS9360 User Manual All specifications are subject to change without notice ATS9360 User Manual 49 Appendix B Benchmarks This appendix lists the data throughput measured by our technicians on various computers and motherboards under different operating systems gt 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 Model Chipset Slot Throughput ASRock Intel X79 PCle x16 3 5 GB s Extreme 11 ASUS P9X79 Intel X79 PCle x16 3 5 GB s HP Z800 Intel Xeon PCle x16 3 4 GB s HP Compaq Intel i3 2100 PClex8 3 1 GB s 6200 Pro Operating System tested under Windows 7 64
3. Maximum frequency 10 MHz Clock Reference Minimum frequency 10 MHz Clock Reference Sampling Edge Sample Rates Available With 10 MHz Clock Reference Triggering System Mode Number of Trigger Engines Trigger Engine Combination Trigger Engine Source Hysteresis Trigger sensitivity Trigger level accuracy 200mV Sine wave or square wave minimum 1V max 50Q AC 1 8 GHz for Fast External Clock 10 1 MHz 300 MHz for Fast External Clock 9 9 MHz Rising 1 8 GS s Note that the accuracy and stability of these sampling frequencies is dependent on the accuracy and stability of the 10 MHz Clock Referece input supplied by the user Edge triggering with hysteresis 2 OR CH A CH B EXT Software or None independently software selectable for each of the two Trigger Engines 5 of full scale input typical 10 of full scale input range This implies that the trigger system may not trigger reliably if the input has an amplitude less than 10 of full scale input range selected 5 typical of full scale input range of the selected trigger source 48 ATS9360 User Manual Bandwidth Trigger Delay Trigger Timeout 250 MHz Software selectable from 0 to 9 999 999 sampling clock cycles Software selectable with a 10 us resolution Maximum settable value is 3 600 seconds Can also be disabled to wait indefinitely for a trigger event TRIG IN External Trigger Input Input impedance Bandwidth
4. bit 50 ATS9360 User Manual AlazarTech ALAZAR TECHNOLOGIES INC 6600 Trans Canada Highway Suite 310 Pointe Claire QC CANADA HOE ASO Tel 514 426 4899 Fax 514 426 2723 E mail info alazartech com Web www alazartech com
5. the ATS9360 Linux Driver rru 21 Updating ATS9360 Driver sr 22 CHAPTER 3 HARDWARE ONEENIENN suso 24 Input CONMECHOIS rra 26 Signal Connections pt erta tee irtetea 27 Analog alee 28 Amplifier Bypass Option Error Bookmark not defined Calibration su Acetate AE Eate ati 30 Master Slave Operation Error Bookmark not defined Optional External GIO rr 31 Streaming Using Data EIEO rr 34 APPENDIX A SPECIFICATIONS sn 44 APPENDIX B BENCHMARKS suren 50 vi ATS9360 User Manual Chapter 1 Introduction This chapter describes the ATS9360 and lists additional equipment ATS9360 User Manual 1 About Your ATS9360 Thank you for your purchase of an ATS9360 This PCI Express PCle Gen2 x8 based waveform digitizer has the following features Two 12 bit resolution analog input channels e Real time sampling rate of 1 8 GS s to 1 KS s with internal clock and 1 8 GS s to 300 MS s with external clock Uses on FPGA FIFO for data storage e Streaming of acquired data to PC host memory at 3 5 GB s exact rate is motherboard dependent e 800 MHz analog input bandwidth Half length PCI Express 8 lane card External trigger input channel with software selectable level and slope DC coupling and fixed 50Q input impedance for analog inputs Pre trigger and Post Trigger Capture with Multiple Record capability NIST traceable calibration Dual DMA engines for best latency protection ag
6. the ATS9360 is armed for acquisition It is important to note that triggering is disabled in this mode Continuous AutoDMA buffers do not include headers so it is not possible to get trigger time stamps A BUFFER_OVERFLOW flag is asserted only if the entire on board memory is used up The amount of data to be captured is controlled by counting the number of buffers acquired Acquisition is stopped by an AbortCapture command Continuous 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 for very long signal recording ATS9360 User Manual 41 Triggered Streaming AsyncDMA Triggered Streaming AutoDMA is virtually the same as Continuous mode except the data transfer across the bus is held off until a trigger event has been detected Triggered Streaming AutoDMA buffers do not include headers so it is not possible to get trigger time stamps A BUFFER_OVERFLOW flag is asserted only if the entire on board memory is used up As in Continuous mode the amount of data to be captured is controlled by counting the number of buffers acquired Acquisition is stopped by an AbortCapture command Triggered Streaming 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 for RF signal recording that has to be
7. the EU or where compliance is not required as for electrically benign apparatus or cables To obtain the DoC for this product click Declaration of Conformity at http 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 Also available in sections of CFR 47 Te CE Mark Declaration of Conformity will contain important supplementary information and instructions for the user or installer Environmental Compliance Alazar Technologies Inc hereby certifies that this product is ROHS compliant as defined by Directive 2002 95 EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 January 2003 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 ATS9360 User Manual v Table of Contents Important Information ra ii Elaia iv Table of Contents atazei tha raten et den tek ga vi CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION sr 1 About USA KAKA 2 Acquiring Data with Your ATZSOOEN rra 4 Optional Upgrades rra 8 CHAPTER 2 INSTALLATION AND CONFIGURATION 9 What You Need to Get Started rra 10 HIOOSGK DO NE TEA E EEE eee E EEEa 11 Installing the ATS9360 rrura 12 Installing the ATS9360 in a Linux ESEGI rss 20 Compiling
8. 1 2 Install the Linux kernel header files Extract the driver sources using the command PlxLinux_ATS9360_5 6 15 tgz This will create a folder names PlIxLinux with the driver files inside Set the shell environment variable PLX_SDK_DIR to the root location where the PlxLinux directory was created For example if using bash and the PlxLinux directory is in your home directory then add the following line to the bashrc declare x PLX_SDK_DIR HOME PIxLinux To build the ATS9360 driver type cd PlxLinux linux driver make This will create the file ATS9360 ko the loadable driver file You can change build defines in PlxLinux linux makefiles Gcc def Copy the driver to usr local AlazarTech bin Load the driver by rebooting the computer or typing cd usr local AlazarT ech bin ATS9360 rc start You should be able to run the AlazarFrontPanel application or Acq2Disk sample in usr local AlazarTech samples If it is necessary to rebuild the library type cd PlxLinux linux api make This will create SharedLibrary libPlxApi so 0 0 Copy the file to usr local AlazarTech lib and then run Idconf ATS9360 User Manual 21 Updating ATS9360 Driver From time to time AlazarTech updates the device drivers for its products These updates may be required for product enhancements or for bug fixes This section of the manual takes you through the steps required to update the device driver for the ATS9360 PCI Expre
9. 2 279 5 2 el6 x86_64 These drivers are also 100 compatible with RHEL 6 3 Source code example programs are also provided which demonstrate how to acquire data programmatically using a C compiler If customers want to use ATS9360 in any Linux distribution other than the one listed above they must purchase a license for Linux driver source code and compile the driver on the target operating system A Non Disclosure Agreement must also be executed between the customer s organization and AlazarTech All such source code disclosures are made on an as is basis with limited support from the factory 4 ATS9360 User Manual Interactively Controlling your ATS9360 with AlazarDSO The AlazarDSO oscilloscope emulation software for Windows allows you to interactively control your ATS9360 as you would a desktop oscilloscope To launch the AlazarDSO select Start Programs AlazarTech AlazarDSO The following screen will be displayed If you connect the input to a signal generator and click on Start button you should see the signal on the screen File Edit View Configure Cursors Tools Help Automatic e Horizontal 500 ns SATE Vertical E Input Ch 1 Bl Math A 1 2 ls Reference R AlazarDSO has been designed to be very intuitive and uses a user interface similar to most of today s digital oscilloscopes ATS9360 User Manual 5 ATS SDK API The ATS SDK sold separately API is used for programming t
10. ATS9360 driver files in the operating system driver store B ATS9360 Device Installer A Installing drivers for your Alazar Tech ATS9360 PCI Express digitizer rae S Ee E Please wait while the drivers install This may take some time to complete i d The following final screen will confirm that the driver has been installed Congratulations You are finished installing your AlazarTech ATS9360 PCI Express digitizer board Enjoy using your Alazar Tech PCI Express digitizer board Driver Name Status V AlazarTech Inc ATS93 Device Updated Now your ATS9360 is fully installed and is ready to use ATS9360 User Manual 17 a 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 ATS9360 digitizer run the Autorun exe e Click on Install AlazarDSO e Follow the instructions on the screen If you are installing AlazarDSO after having downloaded the installation file from AlazarTech web site e Download AlazarDSO installation file from www alazartech com support downloads htm e Unzip the file downloaded in the previous step e Browse to the folder that contains the unzipped file AlazarDsoSetup 1 1 45 exe e Run this executable file and follow the instructions on the screen A If you try to run AlazarDsoSetup 1 1 45 exe with
11. AlazarTech ATS9360 User Manual 12 Bit 1 8 GS s Waveform Digitizer for PCI Express Gen2 Bus Written for Hardware Version 1 2 April 2013 Edition Part Number 9360 USR 1 Copyright 2010 2013 AlazarTech All rights reserved AlazarTech Contact Information AlazarTech Inc 6600 Trans Canada Highway Suite 310 Pointe Claire QC Canada H9R 4S2 Telephone 514 426 4899 Fax 514 426 2723 E mail info alazartech com Web site www alazartech com To comment on the documentation for ATS9360 send e mail to support alazartech com Information required when contacting AlazarTech for technical support Owned by Serial Number Purchase Date Purchased From Software Driver Version SDK Version AlazarDSO Version Operating System ATS9360 User Manual Important Information Warranty The ATS9360 is warranted against defects in materials and workmanship for a period of one year from the date of shipment as evidenced by receipts or other documentation AlazarTech Inc will at its option repair or replace equipment that proves to be defective during the warranty period This warranty includes parts and labor The media on which you receive AlazarTech Inc software are warranted not to fail to execute programming instructions due to defects in materials and workmanship for a period of 90 days from date of shipment as evidenced by receipts or other documentati
12. Externally recalibrate the ATS9360 when this calibration interval has expired This requires three very simple steps 1 Verify whether or not ATS9360 is still within its specifications If itis then your calibration can be extended by another one year period 2 If not perform calibration i e make adjustments to the circuit until it is within specifications again 3 If any adjustments have been made verify if the ATS9360 is within specifications Recalibration must be performed at AlazarTech factory 30 ATS9360 User Manual Optional External Clock ATS9360 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 Another application that requires external clock is Optical Coherence Tomography OCT that sometimes requires analog sampling to take place relative to an MZI clock sometimes also known as k clock Driving high performance ADCs must be done carefully as any injection of phase jitter through ADC clocks will result in reduction in data conversion quality Aside from phase noise the clock signal for a pipelined ADC must also have a duty cycle close to 50 This maximizes the dynamic performance of the ADC See Fast External Clock section below for more details External clock input impedance is fixed at 50 Ohms External
13. GGERED DATA ACQUISITION USING DUAL PORT MEMORY TRIGGER n OT INPUT S pp py CAPTURE Sole de bee TRANSFER TO PC DMA 1 DMA 3 CPU USAGE Process Buffer 1 Process Buffer 2 NOTE 1 No Trigger Events Are Missed Guaranteed NOTE 2 Over 95 of CPU cycles are available for data processing Bottom line is that software does not have to wait until the end of data capture to read the acquired data 38 ATS9360 User Manual AutoDMA Just having a FIFO on its own does not solve the problem of PRF captures or streaming applications 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 ATS9360 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 software involvement ACQUIRE ACQUIRE ACQUIRE TRANSFER TRANSFER Of course software still has to set up the DMA when one of the buffers fills up but thanks to the dual DMA engine and fully asynchronous driver that uses overlapped IO these tasks can be paralleled ACQUIRE TRANSFER In other words when software is re arming DMA channel 0 DMA channel 1 is already transferring data to host memory Note that if data throughput is too high a DMA_OVERFLOW flag gets set and is available to the programmer Consumption of the captured d
14. IED AND SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIMS ANY WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE CUSTOMER S RIGHT TO RECOVER DAMAGES CAUSED BY FAULT OR NEGLIGENCE ON THE PART OF ALAZARTECH INC SHALL BE LIMITED TO THE AMOUNT THERETOFORE PAID BY THE CUSTOMER ALAZARTECH INC WILL NOT BE 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 Inc will apply regardless of the form of action whether in contract or tort including negligence Any action against AlazarTech Inc must be brought within one year after the cause of action accrues AlazarTech Inc shall not be liable for any delay in performance due to causes beyond its reasonable control The warranty provided herein does not cover damages defects malfunctions or service failures caused by owner s failure to follow the AlazarTech Inc installation operation or maintenance instructions owner s modification of the product owner s abuse misuse or negligent acts and power failure or surges fire flood accident actions of third parties or other events outside reasonable control Copyright Under the copyright laws this publication may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form electronic or mechanical including photocopying recording storing in an information retrieval system or translating in whole or in part wi
15. Memory System Memory Size Record Length Number of Records Pre trigger depth Post trigger depth Uses on FPGA FIFO Software selectable with 64 point resolution Record length must be a minimum of 256 points There is no upper limit on the maximum record length Software selectable from a minimum of 1 to a maximum of infinite number of records From 0 to 4096 Record Length Pre Trigger Depth 46 ATS9360 User Manual Timebase System Timebase options Internal Clock or External Clock Optional Internal Sample Rates 1 8 GS s 1 5 GS s 1 2 GS s 1 GS s 800 MS s 500 MS s 200 MS s 100 MS s 50 MS s 20 MS s 10 MS s 5 MS s 2 MS s 1 MS s 500 KS s 200 KS s 100 KS s 50 KS s 20 KS s 10 KS s 5 KS s 2 KS s 1 KS s Internal Clock accuracy 2 ppm Dynamic Parameters Typical values measured on the 200 mV range of CH A of a randomly selected ATS9360 Input signal was provided by a Marconi 2018A signal generator followed by a 9 pole 10 MHz band pass filter TTE Q36T 10M 1M 50 720BMF Input frequency was set at 9 9 MHz and output amplitude was 135 mV rms which was approximately 95 of the full scale input Input was averaged SNR 57 1 dB SINAD 56 6 dB Note that these dynamic parameters may vary from one unit to another with input frequency and with the full scale input range selected ATS9360 User Manual 47 Optional ECLK External Clock Input Signal Level Input impedance Input Coupling
16. N input for an external trigger only data on the TRIG channel cannot be digitized If External Clock Upgrade is installed on your ATS9360 use the ECLK input for clocking the ATS9360 in applications that require an external clock Consult the chapter Optional External Clock for details on various types of clocking schemes available AUX I O connector can be used as the following I O s Outputs e Trigger Output e Pacer Output e Digital Output Inputs e Trigger Enable Input e Digital Input e Clock Switchover Control ATS9360 User Manual 27 Analog Input The two analog input channels are referenced to common ground in bipolar mode These settings are fixed therefore neither the reference nor the polarity of input channels can be changed You cannot use CH A or CH B to make differential measurements or measure floating signals unless you subtract the digital waveforms in software For accurate measurements make sure the signal being measured is referenced to the same ground as your ATS9360 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 50Q input impedance or a 3 3V or 5V TTL input with 10kQ impedance 28 ATS9360 User Manual Monolithic 12 bit ADC ATS9360 uses a dual analog to digital converter with a maximum conversion rate of 1 8 GS s on each input If you use an external clock you must follow all the timin
17. RISK OF HARM TO PROPERTY OR PERSONS INCLUDING THE RISK OF BODILY INJURY AND DEATH SHOULD NOT BE RELIANT SOLELY UPON ONE FORM OF ELECTRONIC SYSTEM DUE TO THE RISK OF SYSTEM FAILURE TO AVOID DAMAGE INJURY OR DEATH THE USER OR APPLICATION DESIGNER MUST TAKE REASONABLY PRUDENT STEPS TO PROTECT AGAINST SYSTEM FAILURES INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO BACK UP OR SHUT DOWN MECHANISMS BECAUSE EACH END USER SYSTEM IS CUSTOMIZED AND DIFFERS FROM ALAZARTECH INC s TESTING PLATFORMS AND BECAUSE A USER OR APPLICATION DESIGNER MAY USE ALAZARTECH INC PRODUCTS IN COMBINATION WITH OTHER PRODUCTS IN A MANNER NOT EVALUATED OR CONTEMPLATED BY ALAZARTECH INC THE USER OR APPLICATION DESIGNER IS ULTIMATELY RESPONSIBLE FOR VERIFYING AND VALIDATING THE SUITABILITY OF ALAZARTECH INC PRODUCTS WHENEVER ALAZARTECH INC PRODUCTS ARE INCORPORATED IN A SYSTEM OR APPLICATION INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION THE APPROPRIATE DESIGN PROCESS AND SAFETY LEVEL OF SUCH SYSTEM OR APPLICATION ATS9360 User Manual iii Compliance FCC Canada Radio Frequency Interference Compliance Determining FCC Class The Federal Communications Commission FCC has rules to protect wireless communications from interference The FCC places digital electronics into two classes These classes are known as Class A for use in industrial commercial locations only or Class B for use in residential or commercial locations Depending on where it is operated this product could be subje
18. ainst Windows and Linux operating systems e Fully asynchronous software driver for fastest DMA with least CPU overhead 2 ATS9360 User Manual All ATS9360 digitizers follow industry standard Plug and Play specifications on all platforms and offer seamless integration with compliant systems Detailed specifications of the ATS9360 digitizers are listed in Appendix A Specifications ATS9360 User Manual 3 Acquiring Data with Your ATS9360 You can acquire data either programmatically by writing an application for your ATS9360 or interactively with the AlazarDSO software for Windows If you want to integrate the ATS9360 in your test and measurement or embedded OEM application you can program the digitizer using C C MATLAB or LabVIEW for Windows or C for Linux operating systems gt Windows operating systems supported are Windows 8 Windows 7 Windows Vista and Windows XP Both 32 bit and 64 bit operating systems gt Note that Windows 98SE and Windows 2000 are not supported For programming in C C or MATLAB you must purchase the ATS SDK software development kit that comes with sample programs and a reference manual describing the API For programming in LabVIEW you must purchase the ATS VI virtual instrument library that comes with a high level easy to use VI that makes integrating the ATS9360 into your own system very simple AlazarTech offers ATS9360 binary drivers for CentOS 6 3 x86_64 with kernel 2 6 3
19. at the images of the dialog boxes shown below were taken from a Windows 7 computer Computers running other versions of Windows may have slightly different dialog boxes ATS9360 User Manual When you first boot up the computer the plug n play Windows operating system will detect the presence of a new PCI express card and will attempt to install the device driver if found on the computer a Ifthe ATS9360 device driver is not found Windows will display the following dialog box Device driver software was not successfully installed PCI Data Acquisition and Signal Processing No driver found Controller What can I do if my device did not install properly Click Close ATS9360 User Manual 15 b 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 AlazarTech Pcl Tre EXPRESS Click Install ATS9360 Driver After clicking on Install ATS9360 Driver Windows will display the Welcome to the AlazarTech ATS9360 Device Driver Installer Welcome to the AlazarTech ATS9360 Device Driver Installer This wizard will walk you through updating the drivers for your ATS9360 PCI Express digitizer board To continue click Next Click Next ATS9360 User Manual d The following dialog box will be displayed showing the progress of installation of
20. ata is of course under the control of user created software and it is this that will determine the maximum PRF instead of the bus throughput The important thing to note is that if asynchronous DMA is used CPU usage is no more than 5 even if a 3 5 GB s DMA is going on ATS9360 User Manual 39 No Pre Trigger NPT AsyncDMA Many ultrasonic scanning and medical imaging applications do not need any pre trigger data only post trigger data is sufficient NPT AutoDMA is designed specifically for these applications By only storing post trigger data the memory bandwidth is optimized and the entire on board memory acts like a very deep FIFO Note that a DMA is not started until RecordsPerBuffer number of records triggers have been acquired NPT AutoDMA buffers do not include headers so it is not possible to get trigger time stamps More importantly a BUFFER_OVERFLOW flag is asserted only if the entire on board memory is used up This provides a very substantial improvement over Traditional AUtoDMA 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 40 ATS9360 User Manual Continuous AsyncDMA Continuous AutoDMA is also known as the data streaming mode In this mode data starts streaming across the PCle bus as soon as
21. clock input is always AC coupled There are two types of External Clock supported by ATS9360 e Fast External Clock e 10 MHz Clock Reference The following paragraphs describe the two types of External Clock input and outline the restrictions on each of them ATS9360 User Manual 31 Fast External Clock This setting must be used when the external clock frequency is in the range of 1 8 GHz down to Lower Clock Limit If you purchased ATS9360 Standard External Clock Upgrade Lower Clock Limit is 300 MHz If you purchased ATS9360 Screened External Clock Upgrade Lower Clock Limit is 75 MHz It is highly recommended that the Fast External Clock signal have a duty cycle of 50 5 However duty cycle specification can be substantially relaxed at lower frequencies If the External Clock supplied is lower than the Lower Clock Limit measurement quality may be compromised Measurement errors may include gain errors signal discontinuities and general signal distortion External Clock must be a at least 200mV sine wave or square wave signal Maximum amplitude for external clock is GIN The receiver circuit for Fast External Clock is a high speed ECL receiver that translates the input signal into a PECL Positive ECL clock signal that features very fast rise times Since Fast External Clock is always ac coupled and self biased there is no need for the user to set the external clock level Dummy Clock Switchover is anoth
22. ct to restrictions in the FCC rules In Canada the Department of communications DOC of Industry Canada regulates wireless interference in much the same way Digital electronics emit weak signals during normal operation that can affect radio television or other wireless products By examining the product you purchased you can determine the FCC Class and therefore which of the two FCC DOC Warnings apply in the following sections Some products may not be labeled at all for FCC if so the reader should then assume these are Class A devices FCC Class A products only display a simple warning statement of one paragraph in length regarding interference and undesired operation Most of our products are FCC Class A The FCC rules have restrictions regarding the locations where FCC Class A products can be operated FCC Class B products display either a FCC ID code starting with the letters EXN or the FCC Class B compliance mark Consult the FCC web site http Awww fcc gov for more information FCC DOC Warnings This equipment generates and uses radio frequency energy and if not installed and used in strict accordance with the instructions in this manual and the CE Mark Declaration of Conformity may cause interference to radio and television reception Classification requirements are the same for the Federal Communications Commission FCC and the Canadian Department of Communications DOC Changes or modifications not expressly appr
23. ed to Get Started To set up and use your ATS9360 you will need the following e One or more ATS9360 digitizers e ATS9360 Installation Software on USB Disk 10 ATS9360 User Manual Unpacking Your digitizer is shipped in an antistatic clamshell package to prevent electrostatic damage to the digitizer Electrostatic discharge can damage several components on the digitizer To avoid such damage in handling the digitizer take the following precautions e Ground yourself via a grounding strap e Touch the antistatic package to a metal part of your computer chassis before removing the digitizer from the package e 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 e Never touch the exposed pins of the connectors ATS9360 User Manual 11 Installing the ATS9360 There are four main steps involved in installation 1 Physically install the digitizer s in your computer Install ATS9360 software driver Install AlazarDSO software that allows you to setup the hardware acquire signals and view and archive them Optionally install the ATS SDK software development kit or ATS VI LabVIEW VI which enables you to programmatically control the ATS9360 The following paragraphs will guide you through this process in a step by step
24. er useful feature for OCT applications that use Fast External Clock In these applications the user supplied clock is not of constant frequency and may even be out of specification at certain times The unique Dummy Clock Switchover capability of ATS9360 allows the sampling clock to be switched to a nominal 250 MHz clock while the user supplied clock is out of specification User can control the switchover time by supplying an appropriate pulse to AUX I O connector 32 ATS9360 User Manual 10 MHz Clock Reference ATS9360 allows the user to synchronize the sampling clock to an external 10 MHz reference signal This is useful in many RF applications Reference clock frequency must be 10 MHz 0 25 MHz Amplitude can be a 200mV sine or square wave In 10 MHz PLL external clock mode the ATS9360 can generate any sample clock frequency between 300 MHz and 1800 MHz that is a multiple of 1 MHz ATS9360 User Manual 33 Streaming Data Across the Bus One of the most unique features of the ATS9360 is its on board dual port FIFO and the associated Dual DMA engine This combined by the advanced fully asynchronous software driver allows data transfer to host PC memory without any appreciable in process software involvement These features are particularly useful for applications that require a Continuous gapless data capture Also known as Data Streaming to PC host memory or hard disk or b Data capture
25. from rapidly occurring triggers also known as Pulse Repeat Frequency Captures or PRF Captures In order to understand these sophisticated features let us first review some of the issues involved in transferring data under Windows or Linux operating systems 34 ATS9360 User Manual The Effects of the Operating System Windows and Linux are not real time operating systems i e the operating system cannot guarantee a deterministic response time to an event such as an interrupt or a software generated event This means that if software has to play any appreciable part in data transfer then the data throughput cannot be guaranteed as the operating system will have the last say as to when the data collection application will get the CPU cycles to execute the necessary commands Note that the above is true even if the digitizer claims to use Direct Memory Access DMA to do the actual transfer but uses software commands to re arm the digitizer It is the re arm command that will determine the overall data throughput For example it is very common for PCI digitizers that boast very fast throughput to slow down considerably when capturing pulsed radar or ultrasonic signals at Pulse Repeat Frequency PRF of 1 KHz or so even though each capture is only 2048 bytes a paltry 2 MB s throughput In other words digitizers that specify raw data throughput of 100 MB s can hardly handle 2MB s effective throughput due to operating system re
26. g specifications on the external clock as described in Appendix A Specifications Multiple Record Acquisition The ATS9360 allows the capture of multiple records into the on board memory This allows you to capture rapidly occurring triggers in OCT ultrasound or radar applications Note that ATS9360 allows you to acquire pre trigger data even when acquiring using only the on FPGA FIFO Specifying Record Length Record Length is specified in number of sample points It must be a minimum of 256 points and can be specified with a 64 sample resolution Specifying Pretrigger Depth You can acquire pre trigger data up to 2048 points in dual channel and 4096 in single channel Minimum value for pre trigger amount is 0 Specifying Record Count User can specify the number of records that must be captured into host PC memory The minimum value must be 1 There is no upper limit on how many records you can capture in one acquisition ATS9360 User Manual 29 Calibration Calibration is the process of minimizing measurement errors by making small circuit adjustments All ATS9360 digitizers come factory calibrated to the levels indicated in Appendix A Specifications Note that AlazarTech calibration is fully NIST traceable However your digitizer needs to be periodically recalibrated in order to maintain its specified accuracy This calibration due date is listed on the CALIBRATION sticker affixed to your ATS9360 digitizer
27. he ATS9360 in C C and MATLAB It provides the exact same API that is used for writing AlazarDSO software To help you get started ATS SDK comes with examples you can use or modify 6 ATS9360 User Manual ATS VI LabVIEW VI ATS VI sold separately allows you to integrate the ATS9360 into your own LabVIEW program A high level VI is supplied that requires very few controls to get started ATS Linux for ATS9360 The ATS Linux for ATS9360 sold separately can be used for programming the ATS9360 under Linux operating system A source code driver is supplied that has been compiled for CentOS 6 3 x86_64 with kernel 2 6 32 279 5 2 el6 x86_64 running on an i386 platform Sample programs are supplied in C The API is identical to the Windows API Note that you will need to sign a Non Disclosure Agreement with AlazarTech in order for the source code of the drivers to be shared with you ATS9360 User Manual 7 Optional Upgrades AlazarTech offers the following upgrades and accessories for use with your ATS9360 digitizer e ATS9360 Standard External Clock Upgrade 300MHZz to 1 8 GHz e ATS9360 Screened External Clock Upgrade 75MHz to 1 8GHz e AlazarDSO Stream To Disk Module e AlazarDSO Plug In Development Kit ATS9360 User Manual Chapter 2 Installation and Configuration This chapter describes how to unpack install and configure your ATS9360 ATS9360 User Manual 9 What You Ne
28. in the zip file the installation will fail ATS9360 User Manual 4 Optionally install the ATS SDK software development kit or ATS VI LabVIEW VI which enables you to programmatically control the ATS9360 Insert the ATS SDK or ATS VI CD Software installation will start automatically If for any reason installation does not start automatically run the ATS SDK Setup 6 1 0 exe or ATS VI Setup 6 1 0 exe for the respective programs Follow the instructions on the screen Note that you must have already installed the ATS9360 drivers for any of the sample programs included with the ATS SDK or ATS VI to work properly ATS9360 User Manual 19 Installing the ATS9360 in a Linux System ATS9360 is fully compatible with the popular Linux operating system AlazarTech supplies binary drivers that have been tested under CentOS 6 3 x86_ 64 with kernel 2 6 32 279 5 2 e16 x86_64 which is binary compatible with RHEL 6 3 To install Linux drivers in a CentOS 6 3 system follow the instructions listed below 1 Copy the supplied RPM file to the target machine 2 Double click on the RPM icon This will install the driver as well as associated example programs 3 Reboot the PC Note that if you do not reboot the PC the driver will not be loaded 20 ATS9360 User Manual Compiling the ATS9360 Linux Driver If you need to compile the ATS9360 driver for a version of Linux other than CentOS 6 3 follow these steps
29. lated delays in issuing re arm commands ATS9360 User Manual 35 Real Time Operating Systems Some vendors claim that switching to a real time operating system RTOS can solve the problems involved in PRF data capture Before switching to an expensive RTOS such as VxWorks QNX or PharLap ETS ask the vendor of the operating system the supplier of your PC system and manufacturer of the digitizer board if they are all guaranteed to be 100 compatible and interoperable with each other with deterministic interrupt latencies and if you will get your money back if the system does not work at your PRF rates with your software Here is an excerpt from a FAQ section of one such supplier of RTOS Question How do system configuration and CPU selection impact the interrupt latency Answer Hardware platforms and the configuration of the associated drivers that use the hardware do impact response times Some of the common issues include Video cards some of the higher end cards lock out or busy wait the bus for extended periods of time to improve their performance DMA devices devices which burst DMA for lengthy period Power management which cycles off the CPU during IDLE CPU periods Memory speeds processor speeds etc A PCI or PCI Express digitizer being used in a PRF or streaming application is by definition doing burst DMA for lengthy period and is a type of product that can negatively impact response time
30. manner ATS9360 User Manual 1 Physically install the digitizer in your computer Identify an unused PCI Express slot on your motherboard As per PCI Express specification the 8 lane ATS9360 card is compatible with any 8 lane or 16 lane connector on the motherboard Make sure that your computer is powered off before you attempt to insert the ATS9360 digitizer in one of the free PCI Express slots For best noise immunity leave as much room as possible between your ATS9360 and other hardware Always screw the digitizer bracket to the chassis in order to create a stable and robust connection to chassis ground In the absence of such a connection ATS9360 is not guaranteed to operate within the specifications listed elsewhere in this manual Some motherboards may have an 8 or 16 lane connector but only one or four of the lanes is connected to the motherboard chipset Motherboard manufacturers refer to this as Mechanically 16 lane electrically 1 lane ATS9360 is fully compatible with such motherboards but the data throughput across PCI Express bus will be limited by the ATS9360 User Manual 13 Install ATS9360 software driver The following instructions guide you through the process of installing the ATS9360 in a computer running Windows 8 7 Vista or Windows XP operating systems Other operating systems such as Windows NT Windows 2000 Windows 95 and Windows 98SE and Linux are not covered here Note th
31. on AlazarTech Inc will at its option repair or replace software media that do not execute programming instructions if AlazarTech Inc receives notice of such defects during the warranty period AlazarTech Inc does not warrant that the operation of the software shall be uninterrupted or error free A Return Material Authorization RMA number must be obtained from the factory and clearly marked on the outside of the package before any equipment will be accepted for warranty work AlazarTech Inc will pay the shipping costs of returning to the owner parts that are covered by warranty AlazarTech Inc believes that the information in this document is accurate The document has been carefully reviewed for technical accuracy In the event that technical or typographical errors exist AlazarTech Inc reserves the right to make changes to subsequent editions of this document without prior notice to holders of this edition AlazarTech Inc may also make improvements and or changes in the products and or programs described in this document at any time The reader should consult AlazarTech Inc if errors are suspected In no event shall AlazarTech Inc 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 Inc web page at www alazartech com support downloads htm EXCEPT AS SPECIFIED HEREIN ALAZARTECH INC MAKES NO WARRANTIES EXPRESS OR IMPL
32. oved by AlazarTech Inc could void the user s authority to operate the equipment under the FCC Rules Class A Federal Communications Commission This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a Class A digital device pursuant to part 15 of the FCC Rules These limits are designed to provide reasonable protection against harmful interference when the equipment is operated in a commercial environment This equipment generates uses and can radiate radio frequency energy and if not installed and used in accordance with the instruction manual may cause harmful interference to radio communications Operation of this equipment in a residential area is likely to cause harmful interference in which case the user will be required to correct the interference at his own expense Canadian Department of Communications This Class A digital apparatus meets all requirements of the Canadian Interference Causing Equipment Regulations Cet appareil num rique de la classe A respecte toutes les exigences du R glement sur le mat riel brouilleur du Canada iv ATS9360 User Manual Compliance to EU Directives Readers in the European Union EU must refer to the Manufacturer s Declaration of Conformity DoC for information pertaining to the CE Mark compliance scheme The Manufacturer includes a DoC for most every hardware product except for those bought for OEMs if also available from an original manufacturer that also markets in
33. s appendix lists the specifications of the ATS9360 These specifications are typical at 25 C unless otherwise stated The operating temperature range is 0 to 50 C System Requirements Personal computer with at least one free x8 or x16 PCI Express slot must be Gen 2 or Gen 3 slot to achieve full data throughput 4 GB RAM 100 MB of free hard disk space PCI Express revision Transceiver speed Number of lanes Compatibility mechanical Compatibility electrical Power Requirements 12V 3 3V Physical Size Weight IO Connectors ECLK CH A CH B TRIG IN AUX I O Environmental Operating temperature Storage temperature Relative humidity 2 0a or higher 5 Gbps 8 x8 and x16 slots x1 x4 x8 and x16 slots 1 3 A typical 2 9 A typical Single slot half length PCI card 4 2 inches x 6 5 inches 250 g SMA female connectors 0 to 55 C 20 to 70 C 5 to 95 non condensing ATS9360 User Manual 45 Acquisition System Resolution Bandwidth 3dB DC coupled 50Q Number of channels Maximum Sample Rate Minimum Sample Rate Full Scale Input ranges 50 Q DC accuracy Input coupling Input impedance Input protection 509 12 bits DC 800 MHz 2 simultaneously sampled 1 8 GS s single shot 1 KS s single shot for internal clocking 400mV 2 of full scale in all input ranges DC BOO 1 4V DC peak AC for CH A CH B and EXT only without external attenuation Acquisition
34. s of the RTOS 36 ATS9360 User Manual As such the claim that an RTOS can remove all timing uncertainties in PRF application is suspect to say the least Furthermore you may not be able to get software drivers for the selected RTOS for all the hardware components you need for your system In summary moving to a real time operating system will not guarantee data throughput but will surely increase the overall system cost increase the cost of software development and maintenance and limit the number of suppliers for other hardware components Dual Port Memory The basic throughput problem faced by digitizers is that almost all of them use single port memory i e if you are reading data from the acquisition memory you cannot capture into it and vice versa This requires a software handshake which is heavily dependent on the operating system response time TRIGGERED DATA ACQUISITION USING SINGLE PORT MEMORY TRIGGER Co EEE OEE TRIGGER MISSED INPUT S p p CAPTURE TRANSFER TO PC DMA T DMA 2 CPU USAGE NOTE 1 Some Trigger events may be missed while data is being off loaded from on board memory NOTE 2 Virtually all CPU cycles are used up in managing data acquisition Very little left for for data processing ATS9360 User Manual 37 ATS9360 solves this problem by providing a FIFO and an advanced dual DMA engine that can stream data to PC host memory at up to 3 5 GB s exact rate is motherboard dependent TRI
35. ss waveform digitizer In other words this section shows you how to install a newer version of the driver when you already have a previous version of the driver installed on your machine 1 Download the latest driver from AlazarTech s web site www alazartech com support downloads htm 2 A Unzip the downloaded file to a local folder 3 Run the resulting installation file exe extension For example the installation file for driver version 5 8 0 is called ATS9360_Driver_V5 8 0 exe The following welcome screen will be displayed Welcome to the AlazarTech ATS9360 Device Driver Installer This wizard will walk you through updating the drivers for your ATS9360 PC Express digitizer board To continue click Next Click Next 22 ATS9360 User Manual 4 The following dialog box will be displayed showing the progress of installation of ATS9360 driver files B ATS9360 Device Installer a Installing drivers for your AlazarTech ATS9360 PCI Express digitizer ey SS Be D Please wait while the drivers install This may take some time to complete 5 The following final screen will confirm that the driver has been installed Congratulations You are finished installing your AlazarTech ATS9360 PCI Express digitizer board Enjoy using your Alazar Tech PCI Express digitizer board Driver Name Status V AlazarTech Inc ATS93 Device Updated
36. started at a specific time e g based on a GPS pulse 42 ATS9360 User Manual Stream To Disk Any one of the AutoDMA modes can be combined with a fast disk drive to create a very efficient and low cost data streaming system AlazarDSO Stream To Disk module sold separately allows out of the box disk streaming No programming is required Note however that the speed with which data can be stored to memory will be limited by the lower of 1 ATS9360 Bus Throughput 3 5 GB s 2 PCI Express throughput supported by the motherboard 3 Sustained Throughput of the disk drive system AlazarDSO includes a Disk Throughput Benchmarking tool using which you can quickly and easily see how fast your disk drives are Accessed by clicking on Tools Benchmark Bus File Edit View Configure Cursors Tools Help AutoSetup Calibration Benchmark Hard Disk Coprocessor gt Bus Acquire To File Stream To Disk Files are saved as ATB format binary files and can automatically be converted to text files or MATLAB compatible files For more information on complete disk streaming systems please contact the factory or your local distributor ATS9360 User Manual 43 CAPACITY WRITE SPEED RAM Disk Few 10 s GB gt 5 0 GB s PCle SSD Upto 800 GB 14GB s RAID SSD 2TB 2 8 GBS RAID HDD SAS 40 TB 23 GBs 44 ATS9360 User Manual Appendix A Specifications Thi
37. thout the prior written consent of AlazarTech Inc Trademarks AlazarTech Inc AlazarTech alazartech com ATS ATS9360 AlazarDSO are trademarks of AlazarTech Inc Product and company names mentioned herein are trademarks or trade names of their respective companies ii ATS9360 User Manual Warning Regarding Use of AlazarTech Products 1 ALAZARTECH INC 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 2 IN ANY APPLICATION INCLUDING THE ABOVE RELIABILITY OF OPERATION OF THE SOFTWARE PRODUCTS CAN BE IMPAIRED BY ADVERSE FACTORS INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO FLUCTUATIONS IN ELECTRICAL POWER SUPPLY COMPUTER HARDWARE MALFUNCTIONS COMPUTER OPERATING SYSTEM SOFTWARE FITNESS FITNESS OF COMPILERS AND DEVELOPMENT SOFTWARE USED TO DEVELOP AN APPLICATION INSTALLATION ERRORS SOFTWARE AND HARDWARE COMPATIBILITY PROBLEMS MALFUNCTIONS OR FAILURES OF ELECTRONIC MONITORING OR CONTROL DEVICES TRANSIENT FAILURES OF ELECTRONIC SYSTEMS HARDWARE AND OR SOFTWARE UNANTICIPATED USES OR MISUSES OR ERRORS ON THE PART OF THE USER OR APPLICATIONS DESIGNER ADVERSE FACTORS SUCH AS THESE ARE HEREAFTER COLLECTIVELY TERMED SYSTEM FAILURES ANY APPLICATION WHERE A SYSTEM FAILURE WOULD CREATE A
Download Pdf Manuals
Related Search