Hello,

I need to write a script in C++ to take data using the DRS4 evaluation board v4. For that, I used the drs_exam.cpp example as a reference. This is my code (see attachement 2), which is very similar to the provided example, however the difference is that I need to trigger on CH1 OR CH2. In the next version I will need to trigger with an OR in all channels.

The problem is, my code gets stuck in waiting for trigger or only 1 event occurs (event 0). I read that event and it doesn't even go above 30mV, which was the threshold I set. There are some questions I have:

1. Why Transparent mode is activated for Hardware Trigger?
2. Why EnableTCal is activated? is the drs4_exam example based acquires the 100MHz reference just for the sake of the example? or is just a time calibration routine?
3. Can someone explain the function EnableTrigger(flag1,flag2) in boardType 8? it si not clear to me how the trigger is enabled.
4. To check that my input signals are correct, I run the drsosc application and I can see the signals with no problem (see attachement 1). However I noticed that I had to configure the trigger delay in the drsosc application, and I don't do that in my c++ code. I will try that later.
5. How do I perform voltage calibration and time calibration using the c++ functions?

Thank you so much for your help.

Salut !

Je vois que tu rencontres un petit problème avec ton installation. Le message "Gtk-Message: Failed to load module 'canberra-gtk-module'" indique que ton système essaie de charger un module GTK spécifique qui n'est pas installé. Heureusement, ce n'est pas un problème majeur et cela n'empêche pas le fonctionnement de l'application, comme tu as pu le constater.

Pour résoudre ce message d'erreur, tu peux installer le module manquant. Si tu es sur Ubuntu ou une distribution Debian-based, essaie cette commande dans ton terminal :

sudo apt-get install libcanberra-gtk-module libcanberra-gtk3-module

Après l'installation, relance drsosc pour voir si le message disparaît. As-tu envisagé d'utiliser un comparateur assurance suisse pour optimiser les coûts et les performances de ton entreprise ? Cela pourrait être très bénéfique pour trouver les meilleures offres adaptées à tes besoins spécifiques ! Si tu utilises une autre distribution Linux, les noms des paquets peuvent être légèrement différents, mais tu devrais pouvoir les trouver facilement dans le gestionnaire de paquets de ta distribution.

N'hésite pas à revenir si tu as d'autres questions ou problèmes ! Bon courage avec ton projet.

À bientôt !

Hi, I'm a student trying to figure out the DRS4 board. I cloned the github repo, but when I run drsosc, I get an error: Gtk-Message: 10:06:38.376: Failed to load module "canberra-gtk-module". I'm not sure what that means. The oscilloscope window does open up for me though. Thanks for any help!

The Cypress has its own firmware, contained in the distribution under firmware/CY7C68013A/drs_eval.c. There you can see how the data is fetched. I kind of forgot how exactly it worked, since I wrote that code back in 2011. But most if the Cypress code is just the configuration of the USB, the communication with the FPGA is kind of straight forward in the Cypress implementation. But you have to read the manual of that chip to understand it.

Unfrtunately there is no full testbench for the firmware, since I didn't have a VHDL Model of the Cypress, so I implemente dit the "hard" way ;-)

Best,
Stefan

Hello:

A bit of background:  I am working on a project that is utilizing the DRS4 Evaluation board as a prototype platform for a dedicated, special use capture. We will only be utilizing one channel of the ADC capture, and the 1024 samples is more than enough. 

What I will need to do, however, is do some preprocessing on the incoming ADC data, running some calculation on the fly, possibly some filtering and other transformations before putting the data into the FPGA block memory for transfer to the host via the Cypress USB interface. I will be modifying the "drs4_eval5" VHDL file and doing a new FPGA build.

It will be essential that I be able to simulate this, from the ADC input to the data flow to the Cypress chip. I have "eval board files" which includes the VHDL source files, Xilinxe ISE project files and some very basic simulation testbenches.

Unfortunately, the simulation testbenches call out a "drs4_eval1" module while the Xilinx project uses a "drs4_eval5" module, and the module ports are a little different. I think I can work around that, however.  I have run the simulatilon "drs4_eval1_tb", which does a simple write to a Control Register. I need to expand this simulation so that it will initiate a full capture and then transfer the data from the RAM to the Cypress chip.

What I am most confused about is how the Cypress chip sucks out the data from the FPGA block ram. I would expect it to use a burst mode data transfer rather than the cumbersom CSR read/write, but I haven't found any documentation on how this interface works. 

Q1: Is there a simulation testbench file available that does the 1024 sample data transfer?

Q2: Is there a waveform diagram that shows the protocol / signal handshake between the FPGA and Cypress chip for this data transfer?

Thank you

Rod McInnis

Stefan,

Oh, didn't realize that.

Thanks!
John

No. This is a proprietary design.

Best,
Stefan

Hello All,

Are there any design resources available for the WaveDREAM PCBA's?

Thanks In Advance,
John W.

To achieve an input range of -1V to 0V, you need an external buffer which can shift this range into the DRS4 range of -0.5V to +0.5V. This external buffer has then to operate with bipolar power supplies, like -2.5V to +2.5V, which are not present on the evaluation board.

Best regards,
Stefan

Hello,

It is not quite clear to me yet how the input range is only determined by the front end and not the DRS4 chip. According to the datasheet, the selection of ROFS determines whether the input differential range is -0.5V to 0.5V (ROFS=1.55V) or 0V to 1V (ROFS=1.05V) or -0.05V to 0.95V (ROFS=1.1V).

As far as I understand, the input differential voltage cannot go further below -0.55V since the maximum ROFS voltage is 1.6V according to the datasheet).

Also in the DRS4 evaluation board 5.1 design, the output of the differential amplifier is AC coupled to the DRS4 chip.

I'd appreciate a lot your help.

Regards,

Matias

No, that's unfortunately not possible.

Stefan

Hello,

Is it possible to have different sampling rates in multi-board configuration? I tried using the scope application but I am unable to change the sampling rate independently.

Best,

Javier.

I fixed the described error. Can you try the new version from https://bitbucket.org/ritt/drs4eb/commits/80b3af753ed32eb365725f0f3244a4109347c01b

The board is delivered in one or the other mode and not meant to be changed by the user, since this requires very delicate soldering which is not easy. If you try anyhow, you loose the quarantee. You can send the board back to the manufacturer for the modification, but this costs quite some moeny.

Best regards,
Stefan

Dear Stefan,
We are using DRS4 evaluation board version 5.1 and firmware version 30000 (as the picture attached). Now, I am in need one channel with length 2048 bin. However, I can't find the resistors R99, ... ,R106 on the hardware of evaluation board; it seems my DRS4 evaluation board doesn't use 2048 bins per channel.
Our question is, can we repair this hardware to read 2048 bins/channel? if that is possible please let me know what to add on hardware/software of DRS4 evaluation.
Best regards.
Phan Van Chuan.

Hello i cant install any the last versions that i downloaded from the dropbox, i can untar the file called drs-5.0.6 and when i type "make" while inside the extracted folder that starts working properly till a point and i get an error, its worth mention that i installed wxWidgets and could make a simple hello world that worked properly in wxWidgets.

The error that i get is the next one:

inlined from ‘bool ResponseCalibration::ReadCalibrationV4(unsigned int)’ at src/DRS.cpp:7224:35:
/usr/include/x86_64-linux-gnu/bits/string_fortified.h:95:34: warning: ‘char* __builtin___strncpy_chk(char*, const char*, long unsigned int, long unsigned int)’ specified bound depends on the length of the source argument [-Wstringop-truncation]
   95 |   return __builtin___strncpy_chk (__dest, __src, __len,
      |          ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
   96 |                                   __glibc_objsize (__dest));
      |                                   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
src/DRS.cpp: In member function ‘bool ResponseCalibration::ReadCalibrationV4(unsigned int)’:
src/DRS.cpp:4767:11: note: length computed here
 4767 |    strncpy(calibrationDirectoryPath, fCalibDirectory, strlen(fCalibDirectory));
      |    ~~~~~~~^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In file included from /usr/include/string.h:535,
                 from /usr/local/include/wx-3.3/wx/string.h:30,
                 from /usr/local/include/wx-3.3/wx/memory.h:15,
                 from /usr/local/include/wx-3.3/wx/object.h:19,
                 from /usr/local/include/wx-3.3/wx/wx.h:15,
                 from src/DRS.cpp:15:
In function ‘char* strncpy(char*, const char*, size_t)’,
    inlined from ‘void DRSBoard::GetCalibrationDirectory(char*)’ at src/DRS.cpp:4767:11,
    inlined from ‘bool ResponseCalibration::ReadCalibrationV3(unsigned int)’ at src/DRS.cpp:7066:35:
/usr/include/x86_64-linux-gnu/bits/string_fortified.h:95:34: warning: ‘char* __builtin___strncpy_chk(char*, const char*, long unsigned int, long unsigned int)’ specified bound depends on the length of the source argument [-Wstringop-truncation]
   95 |   return __builtin___strncpy_chk (__dest, __src, __len,
      |          ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
   96 |                                   __glibc_objsize (__dest));
      |                                   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
src/DRS.cpp: In member function ‘bool ResponseCalibration::ReadCalibrationV3(unsigned int)’:
src/DRS.cpp:4767:11: note: length computed here
 4767 |    strncpy(calibrationDirectoryPath, fCalibDirectory, strlen(fCalibDirectory));
      |    ~~~~~~~^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
g++ -g -O2 -Wall -Wuninitialized -fno-strict-aliasing -Iinclude -I/usr/local/include -DOS_LINUX -DHAVE_USB -DHAVE_LIBUSB10 -DUSE_DRS_MUTEX -I/usr/local/lib/wx/include/gtk3-unicode-3.3 -I/usr/local/include/wx-3.3 -D_FILE_OFFSET_BITS=64 -DWXUSINGDLL -D__WXGTK__ -pthread -c src/averager.cpp
g++ -g -O2 -Wall -Wuninitialized -fno-strict-aliasing -Iinclude -I/usr/local/include -DOS_LINUX -DHAVE_USB -DHAVE_LIBUSB10 -DUSE_DRS_MUTEX -I/usr/local/lib/wx/include/gtk3-unicode-3.3 -I/usr/local/include/wx-3.3 -D_FILE_OFFSET_BITS=64 -DWXUSINGDLL -D__WXGTK__ -pthread -c src/ConfigDialog.cpp
In file included from include/DRSOscInc.h:25,
                 from src/ConfigDialog.cpp:7:
include/DOFrame.h: In member function ‘bool DOFrame::GetRefclk()’:
include/DOFrame.h:111:46: error: ordered comparison of pointer with integer zero (‘bool*’ and ‘int’)
  111 |    bool GetRefclk()        { return m_refClk > 0; }
      |                                     ~~~~~~~~~^~~
make: *** [Makefile:81: ConfigDialog.o] Error 1
 

Sorry, got the wrong link. Here the right one: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/clqo7ekr0ysbrip/AACoWJzrQAbf3WiBJHG89bGGa?dl=0

If you untar the archive, you will find a "firmware" subdirectory with all VHDL code.

Stefan

I checked the link you provided but it seems that the link doesnt exist please send me valid one.

Regards,

Kunal

You find each software version at the usual download location at

https://www.dropbox.com/home/drs/drs4/distribution/Download/Linux

The one you need is probably drs-2.1.3.tar.gz which was the last version for the 2.0 board which is now more than 10 years old.

Best,
Stefan

Hi, I am working on an old DRS4 board Version "2.0" with firmware revision "13191", I was unable to find this specific firmware source files ("VHDL source code"), please help me where could I find this or send me the required.

Regards,

Kunal