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ATS9462 User Manual

1. By ATS Linux for ATS9462 The ATS Linux for ATS9462 can be used for programming the ATS9462 under Linux operating system A binary driver is supplied that has been compiled for Fedora Core 5 Kernel 2 6 running on an i386 platform Sample program is supplied in C The API is identical to the Windows API ATS9462 User Manual 7 Optional Upgrades AlazarTech offers the following upgrades and accessories for use with your ATS9462 digitizer ATS9462 External Clock Upgrade ATS9462 Master Slave SyncBoard 2 position ATS9462 Master Slave SyncBoard 4 position ATS9462 Master Slave SyncBoard 8 position AlazarDSO Stream To Disk Module AlazarDSO Plug In Development Kit ATS9462 User Manual Chapter 2 Installation and Configuration This chapter describes how to unpack install and configure your ATS9462 ATS9462 User Manual 9 What You Need to Get Started To set up and use your ATS9462 you will need the following e One or more ATS9462 digitizers e ATS9462 Install Disk e For Master Slave operation only SyncBoard of appropriate width SyncBoard 2X for up to 2 digitizers 10 ATS9462 User Manual SyncBoard 4X for up to 4 digitizers SyncBoard 8X for up to 8 digitizers ATS9462 User Manual 11 Unpacking Your digitizer is shipped in an antistatic package to prevent electrostatic damage to the digitizer Electrostatic discharge can damage several
2. ATS9462 User Manual 16 Bit 180 MS s Waveform Digitizer for PCI Express Bus Written for Hardware Version 1 1 January 2008 Edition Part Number 9462 USR 1 Copyright 2007 2008 AlazarTech All rights reserved AlazarTech Contact Information AlazarTech Inc 3551 St Charles Unit 640 Kirkland Quebec Canada H9H 3C4 Telephone 514 633 0001 Fax 514 633 0021 E mail info alazartech com Web site www alazartech com To comment on the documentation for ATS9462 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 AlazarDSO Version Operating System ATS9462 User Manual Important Information Warranty The ATS9462 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 documentation AlazarTech Inc will at its option
3. Found New Hardware Wizard message Click Finish ATS9462 User Manual 19 Installing ATS9462 Driver In Windows XP Before proceeding make sure that you have sufficient administrative rights to install device drivers on your computer Typically you should be the Administrator for the computer you are installing device drivers on When you first plug in an ATS9462 digitizer into a computer the plug n play Windows XP operating system will detect the presence of a new PCI card and ask you to provide the device driver a Operating System will display the Welcome to the Found New Hardware Wizard Click on the radio button next to the text Install from a list or specific location Advanced Click Next Operating System will display the Please choose your search and installation options dialog box Click on the radio button next to the text Don t search will choose the driver to install Click Next Operating system will display the Hardware Type dialog box Select System devices Operating system will display the Select the device driver you want to install for this hardware dialog box Click on Have Disk Operating system will display the Install from Disk dialog box 20 ATS9462 User Manual Make sure the path points to D or wherever the ATS9462 INF file resides If you are using a floppy disk or a CD make sure the disk is inserted in the drive Click OK f Operating system will display the
4. 1 2 is Reference R AlazarDSO has been designed to be very intuitive and uses a user interface similar to most of today s digital oscilloscopes ATS9462 User Manual 5 ATS SDK API The ATS SDK API is used for programming the ATS9462 in C C or Visual BASIC 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 Note that only the Asynchronous API functions should be used when programming the ATS9462 Traditional API and AutoDMA API is not supported b External Dependencies EET Ek Sd 54 ClassView E FileView 4 oft fi j EIE cuits Debug Find in Files E EZEZ 1 of Ready geie A D Ge o gt Aca2Disk Microsoft GOSEZ 228M ATS VI LabVIEW VI ATS VI allows you to integrate the ATS9462 into your own LabVIEW program A high level VI is supplied that requires very few controls to get started Note that only the AsyncDMA vi virtual instrument vi should be used when programming the ATS9462 Traditional vis and AutoDMA vi s are not supported 6 ATS9462 User Manual T E ezeze
5. Operating System will display the Welcome to the Found New Hardware Wizard Click Next Operating system will display the Install Hardware Device Driver dialog box Select the radio button next to the text Display a list of the known drivers for this device so that I can choose a specific driver Click Next Operating system will display the Hardware Type dialog box Select System devices Operating system will display the Select a Device Driver dialog box Click on Have Disk Operating system will display the Install from Disk dialog box Make sure the path points to D or wherever the ATS9462 INF file resides If you are using a floppy disk or a CD make sure the disk is inserted in the appropriate drive ATS9462 User Manual f Select the ATS9462 INF file and click Open The operating system may display Install from Disk dialog box again If it does Click OK otherwise continue to the next step g Operating system will display the Select a Device Driver dialog box again Make sure the AlazarTech ATS9462 PCI Digitizer is selected Then click Next h Operating system will display the Update Driver Warning This warning is meant to tell you that Windows does not recognize the hardware Click Yes i Operating system will display the Start Device Driver Installation dialog box Click Next System will copy all necessary files to the appropriate folders j Operating system will display the Completing the
6. Select the device driver you want to install for this hardware dialog box again Make sure the AlazarTech ATS9462 PCI Digitizer is selected highlighted Click Next g Operating system will display the Update Driver Warning This warning is meant to tell you that Windows does not recognize the hardware Click Yes h System will copy all necessary files to the appropriate folders i Operating system will display the Completing the Found New Hardware Wizard message Click Finish ATS9462 User Manual 21 3 Install AlazarDSO software that allows you to setup the hardware acquire signals and view and archive them If you are installing from the CD shipped with the ATS9462 digitizer Insert the ATS9462 Install disk Use Windows Explorer to navigate to the AlazarDSO folder on the ATS9462 Install Disk Run Setup exe program Follow the instructions on the screen If you are installing AlazarDSO after having downloaded the installation file from AlazarTech web site Download AlazarDSO installation file from www alazartech com support downloads htm Unzip the file downloaded in the previous step Browse to the folder that contains the unzipped file Setup exe Run this executable file and follow the instructions on the screen 22 ATS9462 User Manual 4 Optionally install the ATS SDK software development kit or ATS VI LabVIEW VI which enables you to programmatically control the ATS9462 I
7. connector on the motherboard Make sure that your computer is powered off before you attempt to insert the ATS9462 digitizer in one of the free PCI Express slots For best noise performance leave as much room as possible between your ATS9462 and other hardware f 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 ATS9462 is not guaranteed to operate within the specifications listed elsewhere in this manual Some motherboards may have a 16 lane connector but only one of the lanes is connected to the motherboard chipset Motherboard manufacturers refer to this as Mechanically 16 lane electrically 1 lane ATS9462 is fully compatible with such motherboards but the data throughput across PCI Express bus will be limited by the number of lanes ATS9462 User Manual For Master Slave Installation If you are installing multiple ATS9462 digitizers that will be configured as a Master Slave system make sure that you insert all cards in adjacent slots The connector on the SyncBoard that is labeled as M Master must be inserted into the Master Slave connector of the left most digitizer if you are facing the BNC connectors of the ATS9462 digitizers ATS9462 User Manual 15 If you are installing fewer than the maximum number of digitizers supported by your SyncBoard the unused SyncBoard connector
8. in a Linux ESSren 24 Compiling the ATS9462 Linux Driver rss 25 Updating ATS9462 Driver rss 26 CHAPTER 3 HARDWARE OVERVIEW 0ccccsseeesessereeseeeeeenessneeeeees 28 Input Connectors aaa aaa 29 Signal Connections uu eed ee en ees 30 Analog Bilau 31 Pipelined ADC erare tire rreren 32 Multiple Record Acquisition rrura 32 Specifying Record Length rra 32 Specifying Pretrigger DSa 32 Specifying Record Count rra 32 Amplifier Bypass ODIO rss 33 ESUS 37 Master Slave Operation rrura 38 EIA ule 39 Optional External CIOCK rra 41 Fast External Clock AEE 42 Slow External CIOCK rss 42 10 MHZ Clock Reference rss 42 Streaming Using Data EIEO rss 43 The Effects of the Operating System rrura 43 Real Time Operating Systems rra 44 Dual Port Memory raa 45 Asynchronous DMA rss 46 APPENDIX A SPECIFICATIONS cccccsseeeeeseeeeseeeeeensseeeesesseneeeeseees 49 vi ATS9462 User Manual Chapter 1 Introduction This chapter describes the ATS9462 and lists additional equipment ATS9462 User Manual 1 About Your ATS9462 Thank you for your purchase of an ATS9462 This PCI Express PCle x4 based waveform digitizer has the following features Two 16 bit resolution analog input channels e Real time sampling rate of 180 MS s to 1 KS s e Streaming of acquired data to PC host memory at 720 MB s exact rate is motherboard dependent 65 MHz analog input bandwidth e DIP switch selectable Amplifier Bypass Mode for optimum signa
9. one free x4 x8 or x16 PCI Express slot 256 MB RAM 20 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 CHA CHB TRIG IN AUX I O Environmental Operating temperature Storage temperature Relative humidity 1 0a or higher 2 5 Gbps 4 x4 x8 and x16 slots x1 x4 x8 and x16 slots 1 5 A typical for ATS9462 1 0 A typical for ATS9462 Single slot half length PCI card 4 2 inches x 7 5 inches 750 g SMA female connector BNC female connectors 0 to 55 C 20 to 70 C 5 to 95 non condensing ATS9462 User Manual 49 Acquisition System Resolution Bandwidth 3dB DC coupled 1MQ DC coupled 500 AC coupled 1MQ AC coupled 500 Bandwidth flatness Bandwidth Limit Number of channels Maximum Sample Rate Minimum Sample Rate Full Scale Input ranges 1 MQ 50 Q DC accuracy Input coupling Input impedance Input protection 1MQ GUO 16 bits DC 65 MHz DC 65 MHz 10 Hz 65 MHz 100KHz 65 MHz 1dB from DC to 10 MHz with DC coupling 1dB from 50Hz to 10 MHz with AC 1 MQ 1dB from 200 KHz to 10 MHz with AC 509 20 MEZ typical Software selectable for each input channel independently 2 simultaneously sampled 180 MS s single shot internal clock 180 MS s single shot external clock
10. throughput The important thing to note is that if AlazarAsyncRead API function is used CPU usage is almost 0 even when 720 MB s DMA is going on 46 ATS9462 User Manual 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 NPT AutoDMA buffers do not include headers so it is not possible to get trigger time stamps A BUFFER_OVERFLOW flag is asserted if the Data FIFO overflows Continuous AsyncDMA Continuous AutoDMA is also known as the data streaming mode In this mode data starts streaming across the PCI bus as soon as the ATS9462 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 if the Data FIFO overflows 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 sustained rates up to 720 MB s without causing an overflow This is the recommended mode for very long signal recording Triggered Streaming AsyncDMA Triggered Streaming AutoDMA is virtually th
11. to Master Slave and vice versa 40 ATS9462 User Manual Optional External Clock ATS9462 PCI 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 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 clock input coupling can be set to AC or DC under software control There are three types of External Clock supported by ATS9462 e Fast External Clock e Slow External Clock e 10 MHz Clock Reference The following paragraphs describe the three types of External Clock input and outline the restrictions on each of them ATS9462 User Manual 41 Fast External Clock This setting must be used when the external clock frequency is in the range of 1 MHz to 125 MHz The frequency can change from one cycle to the next as long as it stays within this range It is highly recommended that the external clock signal have a duty cycle of 50 5 If the External Clock supplied is
12. 1 KS s single shot internal clock 1 MS s single shot Fast External Clock 200mV 400mV 800mV 2V 4V GON and 16V software selectable 200mV 400mV 800mV 2V and 4V software selectable 2 of full scale in all input ranges AC or DC software selectable 509 or 1MQ 1 in parallel with 30 pF 10pF software selectable 28V DC peak AC for CH A CH B and EXT only without external attenuation 5V DC peak AC for CH A CH B and EXT only without external attenuation Amplifier Bypass Mode DIP Switch Selectable Input Range Input Coupling Input Impedance Input Bandwidth 3dB Yes independently for each channel Approximately 550 mV rms DC irrespective of input coupling setting for the channel 50 Q irrespective of input impedance setting for the channel 85 MHz 50 ATS9462 User Manual Acquisition Memory System On FPGA FIFO Size 8 kilobytes Record Length Software selectable with 16 point resolution Record length must be a minimum of 128 points There is no upper limit on the maximum record length It is limited by host PC memory or disk size Number of Records Software selectable from a minimum of 1 to a maximum of infinite number of records Pre trigger depth Fixed at zero Post trigger depth Always equal to Record Length Timebase System Timebase options Internal Clock or External Clock Optional Internal Sample Rates 180 MS s 160 MS s 125 MS s 100 MS s 50 MS s
13. 20 MS s 10 MS s 5 MS s 2 MS s 1 MS s 500 KS s 200 KS s 100KS s 50 KS s 20KS s 10KS s 5 KS s 2 KS s 1 KS s Internal Clock accuracy 25 ppm Dynamic Parameters Typical values measured using a randomly selected ATS9462 with Amplifier Bypass Mode Input was provided by a HP8656A signal generator followed by a 9 pole 1 MHz band pass filter TTE Q36T 1M 100K 50 720B Input frequency was set at 1 MHz and output amplitude was 520 mV rms which is approximately 95 of the 550 mVrms full scale input in Amplifier Bypass Mode SNR 72 9 dB SINAD 72 3 dB THD 83 2 dB SFDR 82 7 dB Note that these measurements were made using raw data no signal averaging was used to artificially improve the results Further note that these dynamic parameters may vary from one unit to another with input frequency and with the full scale input range selected ATS9462 User Manual 51 Optional ECLK External Clock Input Signal Level Input impedance Input Coupling Maximum frequency Fast External Clock Slow External Clock 10 MHz Clock Reference Minimum frequency Fast External Clock Slow External Clock 10 MHz Clock Reference Decimation factor 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 LVTTL levels or 200 mV sine wave 50Q AC or DC
14. 9462 User Manual 35 To set Amplifier Bypass Option for a channel change the DIP Switch setting of the Near and Far switches for that particular channel to be as shown below ON To re insert the input amplifier in the signal path i e to remove Amplifier Bypass Option change the DIP Switch setting of the Near and Far switches for that particular channel to be the same as the factory set default ON NOTE THAT ANY SETTINGS OTHER THAN THE ONES SHOWN ABOVE ARE ILLEGAL AND MAY CAUSE DAMAGE TO THE ATS9462 ANALOG CIRCUITRY 36 ATS9462 User Manual Calibration Calibration is the process of minimizing measurement errors by making small circuit adjustments All ATS9462 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 ATS9462 digitizer Externally recalibrate the ATS9462 when this calibration interval has expired This requires three very simple steps 1 Verify whether or not ATS9462 is still within its specifications If it is 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 v
15. TS9462 User Manual 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 times of the RTOS 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 This transfer and re arm time limits the maximum achievable PRF Note that the operating system overheads are part of this delay ATS9462 solves this problem by providing an on FPGA dual port FIFO and an advanced dual DMA engine that can stream data to PC host memory at up to 720 MB s exact rate is motherboard dependent Bottom line is that software does not have to wait u
16. TY 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 without the prior written consent of Alazar
17. Tech Inc Trademarks AlazarTech Inc AlazarTech alazartech com ATS ATS9462 AlazarDSO are trademarks of AlazarTech Inc Product and company names mentioned herein are trademarks or trade names of their respective companies ii ATS9462 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 RISK OF HARM TO PROPERTY OR PERSONS INCL
18. UDING 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 ATS9462 User Manual ili 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 subject to restrictions in the FCC rules In C
19. anada 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 www 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 approved by AlazarTech Inc could void the us
20. are present choose the first one in the list 5 This will open up the AlazarTech ATS9462 PCI Digitizer Properties page 6 Click on the Driver tab 7 Click on Update Driver button near the bottom right corner of the page 8 This will cause the Upgrade Device Driver Wizard to be started 26 ATS9462 User Manual 9 To complete the installation follow the instructions provided in the section labeled a Installing ATS9462 Driver in Windows 2000 Or b Installing ATS9462 Driver in Windows XP ATS9462 User Manual 27 Chapter 3 Hardware Overview This chapter includes an overview of the ATS9462 explains the operation of each functional unit making up your ATS9462 and describes the signal connections Following is a high level block diagram of ATS9462 CHA Analog Front End CHB Analog Front End FPGA contains FIFO that allows data streaming EXT Trig Analog Trigger Front End Comparators FPGA also contains the entire PCI Express Bus EXT Clock Interface Input Protection P C I PCI Bus B Interface U ASIC S 28 ATS9462 User Manual Input Connectors ATS9462 digitizers have one SMA connector for ECLK External Clock Input two standard BNC female connectors for CH A and CH B analog input connections one standard BNC female connector for the TRIG IN External Trigger input and one standard BNC female connector for AUX I O Auxiliary Input or Output The following pictorial show
21. components on the digitizer To avoid such damage in handling the digitizer take the following precautions Ground yourself via a grounding strap or by holding a grounded object Touch the antistatic package to a metal part of your computer chassis before removing the digitizer from the package 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 Never touch the exposed pins of the connectors ATS9462 User Manual Installing the ATS9462 There are four main steps involved in installation 1 Physically install the digitizer s and SyncBoard if any in your computer 2 Install ATS9462 software driver when prompted by the operating system 3 Install AlazarDSO software that allows you to setup the hardware acquire signals and view and archive them 4 Optionally install the ATS SDK software development kit or ATS VI LabVIEW VI or ATS Linux Linux drivers which enable you to programmatically control the ATS9462 The following paragraphs will guide you through this process in a step by step manner ATS9462 User Manual 13 1 Physically install the digitizer in your computer Identify an unused PCI Express slot on your motherboard As per PCI Express specification the 4 lane ATS9462 card is compatible with any 4 lane 8 lane or 16 lane
22. conds Can also be disabled to wait indefinitely for a trigger event EXT External Trigger Input Input impedance 1 MQ in parallel with 30pF 10pF Bandwidth 3dB DC coupled DC 25 MHz AC coupled 10 Hz 25 MHz Input range 5V or 1V software selectable DC accuracy 10 of full scale input Input protection 28V DC peak AC without external attenuation Coupling AC or DC software selectable Auxiliary I O AUX I O Signal Direction Input or Output software selectable Output by default Output Types Trigger Output Busy Output Software controlled Digital Output Input Types Trigger Enable Software readable Digital Input Output Amplitude 5 Volt TTL Synchronization Synchronized to rising edge of sampling clock Input Amplitude 5 Volt TTL or 3 3 Volt TTL Certification and Compliances CE Mark Compliance Materials Supplied One ATS9462 Digitizer One ATS9462 Install Disk One ATS9462 User Manual All specifications are subject to change without notice ATS9462 User Manual 53 54 ATS9462 User Manual ALAZAR TECHNOLOGIES INC 3551 St Charles Unit 640 Kirkland QC CANADA H9H 3C4 Tel 514 633 0001 Fax 514 633 0021 E mail info alazartech com Web www alazartech com www pci digitizers com
23. e same as Continuous mode except the data transfer across the bus is held off until a trigger event has been detected ATS9462 User Manual 47 Triggered Streaming AutoDMA buffers do not include headers so it is not possible to get trigger time stamps A BUFFER_OVERFLOW flag is asserted if the Data FIFO overflows 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 sustained rates up to 720 MB s without causing an overflow This is the recommended mode for RF signal recording that has to be started at a specific time e g based on a GPS pulse 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 Files are saved as ATB format binary files For more information on complete disk streaming systems please contact the factory or your local distributor 48 ATS9462 User Manual Appendix A Specifications This appendix lists the specifications of the ATS9462 These specifications are typical at 25 C unless otherwise stated The operating temperature range is 0 to 50 C System Requirements Pentium based computer with at least
24. er 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 ATS9462 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 the EU or where compliance is not requi
25. erify if the ATS9462 is within specifications Verification and Calibration procedures are available to all registered users of ATS9462 upon request ATS9462 User Manual 37 Master Slave Operation You can use two or more ATS9462 digitizers in one system to increase the number of channels for your application by synchronizing digitizers using the appropriate SyncBoard The main trick in using multiple ATS9462 boards as Master Slave is to find a motherboard with the required number of slots Currently up to 16 channel 8 board systems are supported for ATS9462 For higher channel counts contact the factory for special system configuration Unlike other products on the market ATS9462 does not suffer from clock jitter between master and slave digitizers The unique design of the ATS9462 clock circuit provides a buffered copy of the Master digitizer s clock to itself and all the slave digitizers thereby maintaining a very low skew between Master and Slave digitizer clocks Note that an ATS9462 Master Slave system is capable of triggering from any one of its input channels This is valuable in multi channel detector applications that cannot predict the input channel that is going to receive the first pulse With fully synchronous A D conversion arming and triggering an ATS9462 based Master Slave system is an ideal multi channel transient analyzer 38 ATS9462 User Manual Restrictions To ensure proper master slave
26. g which you can setup and acquire data from the ATS9462 Note that AlazarDSO has been compiled using GTK 2 4 libraries If you intend to use an operating system other than Fedora Core 5 make sure that the GTK 2 4 libraries have been installed on your machine 24 ATS9462 User Manual Compiling the ATS9462 Linux Driver These instructions will be provided in a future version of the ATS9462 User Manual ATS9462 User Manual 25 Updating ATS9462 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 ATS9462 PCI Express 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 Run Device Manager To do so a Run Control Panel by opening Start Settings Control Panel b Open System Properties dialog box by selecting or double clicking on the System menu c Click on Hardware tab in the dialog box d Click on Device Manager button 2 Device Manager lists all hardware devices in your computer AlazarTech PCI digitizers are listed within System Devices Expand the System Devices list 4 Double click on the AlazarTech ATS9462 PCI Express Digitizer device If more than one such devices
27. l integrity Half length PCI Express 4 lane card Analog trigger channel with software selectable level and slope Software selectable AC DC coupling and 1MQ 50Q input impedance Software selectable bandwidth limit switch independent for each channel Pre trigger and Post Trigger Capture with Multiple Record capability e NIST traceable calibration e Dual DMA engines for best latency protection against Windows and Linux operating systems Fully asynchronous software driver for fastest DMA with least CPU overhead 2 ATS9462 User Manual All ATS9462 digitizers follow industry standard Plug and Play specifications on all platforms and offer seamless integration with compliant systems If your application requires more than two channels for data acquisition you can synchronize multiple digitizers on all platforms using a Master Slave SyncBoard 460 Detailed specifications of the ATS9462 digitizers are listed in Appendix A Specifications ATS9462 User Manual 3 Acquiring Data with Your ATS9462 You can acquire data either programmatically by writing an application for your ATS9462 or interactively with the AlazarDSO software If you want to integrate the ATS9462 in your test and measurement or embedded OEM application you can program the digitizer using C C Visual BASIC or LabVIEW for Win32 Windows 2000 and Windows XP operating systems or C for Linux operating systems Note that Windows 98SE is no
28. lower than 1 MHz measurement quality will be compromised Measurement errors may include gain errors signal discontinuities and general signal distortion If you want to clock slower than the lower limit of Fast External Clock you must use the Slow External Clock range Slow External Clock This setting must be used when the external clock frequency is slower than the lower limit of Fast External Clock In this range the input clock is tracked by the 125 MHz internal clock and a sample is taken on every rising or falling clock edge As such there will be a timing error of 0 to 8 nanoseconds For low bandwidth signals this error can be considered to be negligible Note that if you use Slow External Clock and your clock frequency is higher than 10 MHz you may see significant signal distortion 10 MHz Clock Reference ATS9462 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 5 MHz It should be noted that the user can set the sampling frequency from 150 MHz to 180 MHz with 1 MHz resolution 42 ATS9462 User Manual Streaming Using Data FIFO One of the most unique features of the ATS9462 is its on FPGA Data 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 sof
29. mm IE un 2 I Bum 4 E da BE y mO be Zo na ei ede pere DIE 238 pega ATS9462 User Manual 33 The concept behind Amplifier Bypass Option is very simple as shown below NEAR FAR SWITCH SWITCH VARIABLE GAIN INPUT AMPLIFIER INCLUDES ATTENUATORS There are two DIP switches per channel the one closest to the input BNC connectors is called the Near Switch and the one closest to the ADC IC is called the Far Switch Each DIP switch in turn has two individual switches called Switch 1 and Switch 2 Under normal operating conditions Switch 1 is always OFF disconnected and Switch 2 is always ON connected Thus the input signal travels through the input amplifier and attenuator circuitry before being digitized by the ADC IC To select Amplifier Bypass Mode the switch settings must be changed such that Switch 1 is always ON connected and Switch 2 is always OFF disconnected This would bypass all input amplifier circuitry and inject the signal directly into the driving amplifier of the ADC It is very important that the user set both the Near Switch and Far Switch with the same settings Failure to do so can cause measurement errors 34 ATS9462 User Manual The default setting of all four of the DIP switches is shown below The black square represents the plastic tab for the switch Note that the actual tab may not be black It may in fact be white ATS
30. nsert the ATS SDK or ATS VI CD Software installation will start automatically If for any reason installation does not start automatically run the SETUP EXE program Follow the instructions on the screen Note that you must have already installed the ATS9462 drivers for any of the sample programs included with the ATS SDK or ATS VI to work properly ATS9462 User Manual 23 Installing the ATS9462 in a Linux System Following the upcoming release of Linux drivers ATS9462 will be fully compatible with the popular Linux operating system AlazarTech supplies binary Linux drivers that have been compiled for Fedora Core 5 kernel 2 6 Customers who require drivers for another version of Linux must contact the factory to obtain source code for the drivers requires a Non Disclosure Agreement AlazarTech will not provide software support for compiling drivers for other versions of Linux i e customers will be fully responsible for compiling drivers for their own Linux operating system To install Linux drivers in a Fedora Core 5 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 applications 3 Reboot the PC Note that if you do not reboot the PC the driver will not be loaded The RPM file will also install an application called AlazarDSO This is a Graphical User Interface GUI usin
31. ntil the end of data capture to read the acquired data ATS9462 User Manual 45 Asynchronous DMA Just having dual ported memory or 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 ATS9462 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 At the fastest transfer rates users must use large buffers say 8 Megabytes to ensure that the DMA channel 1 does not finish before the DMA channel 0 is re armed and vice versa Note that if data throughput is too high a DMA_OVERFLOW flag gets set and is available to the programmer Consumption of the captured data is of course under the control of user created software and it is this that will determine the maximum PRF instead of the bus
32. operation of your ATS9462 digitizers you must observe the following restrictions e AI Master Slave digitizers must be installed in adjacent slots i e there should be no gap between the digitizers that are to be configured as a Master Slave system Good Installation Bad Installation e You must connect the appropriate SyncBoard to all of the ATS9462 digitizers in your system Note that all SyncBoards are polarized so you cannot make a mistake in inserting them e If you are using fewer than the maximum number of digitizers allowed by the SyncBoard make sure that the connector labeled M Master on the SyncBoard is connected to one of the ATS9462 digitizers Any over hang of the SyncBoard should be beyond the last slave board in your system ATS9462 User Manual 39 The presence of a SyncBoard is detected by the ATS9462 driver when the ATSApi DLL is loaded This DLL gets loaded when you run any application program written for ATS9462 Examples of such application programs are AlazarDSO one of the sample programs supplied with ATS SDK or ATS VI or any custom software written using ATS SDK or ATS VI If you run AlazarDSO or your own software that loads the ATSApi DLL after having installed a SyncBoard the ATS9462 driver will automatically recognize that the digitizers are now configured as Master Slave As such there is no need to have your hardware upgraded or modified in any way to go from a set of independent boards
33. rd Acquisition The ATS9462 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 pre trigger data cannot be acquired using ATS9462 Specifying Record Length Record Length is specified in number of sample points It must be a minimum of 128 points and can be specified with a 16 sample resolution Specifying Pretrigger Depth ATS9462 cannot acquire pre trigger data Specifying Record Count User can specify the number of records that must be captured into host PC memory The minimum value must be 1 Since the data is streamed to PC memory there is no upper limit on how many records you can capture in one acquisition 32 ATS9462 User Manual Amplifier Bypass Option ATS9462 includes the capability to bypass the input amplifier in order to maximize dynamic performance ATS9462 allows the user to set and reset the Amplifier Bypass Option using on board DIP switches The user can bypass the amplifier on any one or both channels of ATS9462 The following picture of the secondary side of ATS9462 board shows the location of four DIP switches used for this purpose 2 DIP switches per channel www pol digitizers com a SE G mv LE es EEA fd I ESO gn 7 a peda ZO Bk y KIT EZI Jar e Ser SEE R94 ee E mau BKK km gi JRE IE E
34. red 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 The 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 ATS9462 User Manual v Table of Contents CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION rss 1 About Your ATS9462 gramaren errea 2 Acquiring Data with Your ATZERA rrura 4 Interactively Controlling your ATS9462 with AlazarDSO rrua 5 ATS SDK API ritan aurkaratu torea rraz to 6 HES BINA SAKANA 6 ATS Linux for ATS9462 rrura 7 Optional Upgrades a es ra Aire 8 CHAPTER 2 INSTALLATION AND CONFIGURATION ssseeeeees 9 What You Need to Get Garie 10 WM PACKING BAA 12 Installing Muza SENA 13 Installing the ATS9462
35. 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 IMPLIED AND SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIMS ANY WARRAN
36. s must be on the right hand side of the digitizers if you are facing the BNC connectors of the ATS9462 digitizers Once you have completed this step you should power the computer on ATS9462 User Manual 2 Install ATS9462 software driver when prompted The following instructions guide you through the process of installing the ATS9462 in a computer running Windows XP Windows 2000 or Windows 98SE operating systems Other operating systems such as Windows NT are not covered here Installation of Multiple ATS9462 Digitizers If you are installing multiple ATS9462 digitizers the operating system will detect one card at a time and you will have to go through the driver installation setup as many times as you have cards If you are installing multiple ATS9462 digitizers under Windows 98SE you will be prompted to reboot the computer after each installation You should only reboot the computer after having installed the last ATS9462 digitizer ATS9462 User Manual 17 Installing ATS9462 Driver in Windows 2000 Before proceeding make sure that you have sufficient administrative rights to install device drivers on your computer Typically you should be the Administrator for the computer you are installing device drivers on When you first plug in an ATS9462 digitizer into a computer the plug n play Windows 2000 operating system will detect the presence of a new PCI card and ask you to provide the device driver a
37. s the various connectors available on the digitizer bracket Identification LED For future use ECLK O zd Optional External Clock cua dE lt Channel A 1 CHB Channel B TRIGIN g External Trigger KA TRIGIN aux E d Auxiliary I O Default is TRIG OUT l jelazartach com lt ATS9462 User Manual 29 Signal Connections You can use CH A and CH B to digitize data as well as to trigger an acquisition Use the EXT input for an external analog trigger only data on the TRIG channel cannot be digitized If External Clock Upgrade is installed on your ATS9462 use the ECLK input for clocking the ATS9462 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 for outputting TRIG OUT signal a 5 V TTL signal synchronous with the on board trigger signal and the sampling clock e Note that the Trigger Output connector can also be configured as a Trigger Enable Input through a software command Contact factory for details 30 ATS9462 User Manual 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
38. 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 related delays in issuing re arm commands 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 44 A
39. software selectable 125 MHz with 50 5 duty cycle 10 MHz with minimum positive or negative pulse width of 10 ns 10 5 MHz 1 MHz with 50 5 duty cycle DC 9 5 MHz Software selectable from 1 to 100 000 Fixed to 1 for Slow External Clock Rising or Falling software selectable 150 MS s 151 MS s 152 MS s 153 MS s 154 MS s 155 MS s 156 MS s 157 MS s 158 MS s 159 MS s 160 MS s 161 MS s 162 MS s 163 MS s 164 MS s 165 MS s 166 MS s 167 MS s 168 MS s 169 MS s 170 MS s 171 MS s 172 MS s 173 MS s 174 MS s 175 MS s 176 MS s 177 MS s 178 MS s 179 MS s 180 MS 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 fixed hysteresis 2 OR AND XOR software selectable 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 10 typical of full scale input range of the selected trigger source 52 ATS9462 User Manual Bandwidth 65 MHz Trigger Delay Software selectable from 0 to 9 999 999 sampling clock cycles Trigger Timeout Software selectable with a 10 us resolution Maximum settable value is 3 600 se
40. subtract the digital waveforms in software For accurate measurements make sure the signal being measured is referenced to the same ground as your ATS9462 by attaching the probe s ground clip to the signal ground The EXTernal Trigger input labeled TRIG IN has a programmable input range of 5 V or 1 V The CH A CH B and EXT inputs have a software programmable coupling selection between AC and DC Use AC coupling when your AC signal contains a large DC component Without AC coupling it is difficult to view details of the AC component with a large DC offset and a small AC component such as switching noise on a DC supply If you enable AC coupling you remove the large DC offset for the input amplifier and amplify only the AC component This technique makes effective use of dynamic range to digitize the signal of interest The low frequency corner in an AC coupled circuit is the frequency below which signals are attenuated by at least 3 dB The low frequency corner is approximately 10 Hz with 1 MQ input impedance and 100 KHz with 50Q input impedance ATS9462 User Manual 31 Pipelined ADC Each of the two ADCs on the ATS9462 is a pipelined flash converter with a maximum conversion rate of 180 MS s If you use an external clock you must provide a free running clock to ensure reliable operation You also must follow all the timing specifications on the external clock as described in Appendix A Specifications Multiple Reco
41. t supported For programming in C C or Visual BASIC 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 ATS9462 into your own system very simple With the upcoming release of Linux drivers for ATS9462 it will also be possible to program your ATS9462 under Linux operating system You will need to purchase the ATS Linux software development kit that comes with binary files for the driver Fedora Core 5 kernel 2 6 and C source code for a sample program Also supplied is the AlazarDSO graphical user interface for the ATS9462 Windows XP x64 drivers will also be available by the end of Q1 2008 4 ATS9462 User Manual Interactively Controlling your ATS9462 with AlazarDSO The AlazarDSO Soft Front Panel allows you to interactively control your ATS9462 as you would a desktop oscilloscope To launch the Scope Soft Front Panel 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 E Sim660 8M Oscilloscope AlazarDSO v0 0 69 File Edit View Configure Cursors Tools Help Vertical EI InputCh 1 Disable 500 mV EOI JL Bis Math A
42. tware 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 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 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 ATS9462 User Manual 43 Frequency PRF of 1 KHz or

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