Sure it would be possible to code it, but it's not just a few lines. Besides Osci.cpp you have to massage DOScreen.cpp, Measurement.cpp and probably more since they all rely on the array size of the waveform. So if I would do it it would take me probably a couple of days including the debugging, which I don't have right now. Furthermore, as I said you have to combine all eight channels properly. For two channels, it's already pretty complicated (see lines 3537+ in DRS.cpp). I had to make myself a visual scheme in order to understand it correctly, which I attached. For eight channels, the write shift register (WSR) can have values 0-7, depending in which channel you got a trigger. Then you have to sort it out again to get one linear array with the proper order of the fragments. So you see, it's not just changing a few lines of code. In principle it's possible, but it's lots of work.

Best regards,

Stefan

 Stefan, thanks for your help so far. If I go with your plan A of just modifying drs_exam.cpp, is there a quick way to get it to save the data from the wave, like how osci.cpp spits out an xml file? (Ignoring the cascading aspect for now)

Thanks again :)

/Jill

Well, you have to learn C programming, I won't do it for you. drs_exam.cpp contains already code to write to the ASCII file data.txt, so you just can use that or modify it to your needs.

/Stefan

 Ha! So then the answer is no, there isn't a ready made function/method to pull out the timing and voltage,  like how it was done in osci.cpp. That's all I wanted to know. (Not whether you would write it for me! Only trying to save time!) Thanks!

/Jill

You misunderstood. The answer is yes. drs_exam.cpp contains already code to write to an ASCII file. If you actually look into the file, you see:

   f = fopen("data.txt", "w");
   ...
   b->GetTime(0, b->GetTriggerCell(0), time_array);
   ...
   b->GetWave(0, 0, wave_array[0]);
   ...
   fprintf(f, "%5.2f %6.2f\n", time_array[i], wave_array[0][i]);

which actually pulls out the timing and voltage and writes it to the file.

Hi, 

I'm trying to do the same thing (get 1 channel with 8192 bins), but I'm having some trouble with it. When I call SetChannelConfig(0, 8, 1) as suggeted, I get output that looks like noise on all readouts. Could you please explain what is supposed to happen in this case? 

I will happily write the code to combine the channels correctly (and debug it) if I can understand what needs to be done. 

(I should mention that my primary concern is a MATLAB interface which I have already written and don't mind sharing when it's complete). 

Yoni Sher

First you need a board which is modified in hardware to support channel cascading. Basically there are internal resistors which connect each input connector to two channels. You have to specify this when you order the board. Then you can use the new drs_exam_2048.cpp file contains in the git repository which correctly configures and reads out the board in two-channel cascading mode. Putting all 8 channels together is not supported by the evaluation boards.

Stefan

Hi, 

The board is modified (and checks out with the DRSScope program). Could you please point me to the drs_exam_2048.cpp file? I can't seem to fine the most up-to-date git repository....

Thanks, 

Yoni

https://bitbucket.org/ritt/drs4eb

Hi,

I would like to save the waveform in a binary format. When I click Save then change format from xml to dat in the menu. I still get xml format but with dat extension.

what I am missing?

Thank you,

Dmitry.

Version 4.0.1 has a problem there. Please use 4.0.0. If you can compile the program yourself, just change this line:

--- DOFrame.cpp (revision 20656)
+++ DOFrame.cpp (revision 20655)
@@ -517,7 +517,7 @@
       if (!filename.empty()) {
          m_btSave->SetLabel(_T("Close"));
          m_btSave->SetToolTip(_T("Stop saving waveforms"));
-         if (filename.Find(_T(".")) != wxNOT_FOUND) {
+         if (filename.Find(_T(".xml")) != wxNOT_FOUND) {
             m_WFfd = 0;
             m_WFFile = mxml_open_file(filename.char_str());
             if (m_WFFile)

 Thanks that fixed it!

Dmitry

 Hi,

Does anyone has a program that converts a binary file from drsosc  output to a ROOT tree format?

Thank you,

Dmitry.

Dear Stefan

after having some problems with writing binary files with more than 4 drs boards (in multiboard-mode) I might 
have found the solution.
In the file src/Osci.cpp at line 838 is: 
unsigned char buffer[100000];

If I understand the binary format right, this works only with up to four boards. With the maximum number of 
boards in your specification (16 boards) and all channels switched on on all boards this array needs to have 
about 400000 entries (for the first event, where the time information is written too).

Could you please cross-check that?

Thank you very much!
Cheers,
Roman

> Dear Stefan
> 
> after having some problems with writing binary files with more than 4 drs boards (in multiboard-mode) I might 
> have found the solution.
> In the file src/Osci.cpp at line 838 is: 
> unsigned char buffer[100000];
> 
> If I understand the binary format right, this works only with up to four boards. With the maximum number of 
> boards in your specification (16 boards) and all channels switched on on all boards this array needs to have 
> about 400000 entries (for the first event, where the time information is written too).
> 
> Could you please cross-check that?
> 
> Thank you very much!
> Cheers,
> Roman

This problem has been fixed in software version 5.0.3

/Stefan

Dear Stefan

I have a problem considering binary data files.
Usually binary files start with TIME... (the time calibration header). But I observed the following reproducible problem.
1. Start to save a binary file (e.g. 001.dat) with 1000000 events. 
2. Hit the close button before this limit has reached. (so far the binary files seems to be ok) 
3. Start to save again a file with the SAME filename (and agree to replace the already existing it)
If I do it like this, the file has no time information anymore and starts directly with EHDR.

could it be that the m_evSerial counter is not reset in this specific situation?

Cheers,
Roman

> Dear Stefan
> 
> I have a problem considering binary data files.
> Usually binary files start with TIME... (the time calibration header). But I observed the following reproducible problem.
> 1. Start to save a binary file (e.g. 001.dat) with 1000000 events. 
> 2. Hit the close button before this limit has reached. (so far the binary files seems to be ok) 
> 3. Start to save again a file with the SAME filename (and agree to replace the already existing it)
> If I do it like this, the file has no time information anymore and starts directly with EHDR.
> 
> could it be that the m_evSerial counter is not reset in this specific situation?
> 
> Cheers,
> Roman

This problem has also been fixed in version 5.0.3

/Stefan

Hello! My name is Dmitry. I am from SiPM Lab is NRNU MEPhI (Russia, Moscow). We bought DRS4 evaluation board V5 with firmware 21305. We use 5.0.4 build 21911 2015-11-23 software version (and before that we used 5.0.3 build 21508, 2014-10-15) with Windows 7 32bit.

We observe some strange behaviour. When we save waveforms (in xml or binary data) we see that some of them have the baseline shifted of about -5 mV.

The first picture (pic1) is 1000 waveforms which were glued in one. It is clearly see that baseline quite often has the shift.

The same effect can be seen without saving (writting): rarely when we use normal or auto trigger mode (pic3), and always in single trigger mode (pic2).

The images are attached.

Do you have any idea how it can be fixed?

Thanks, Dmitry.

The baseline shift comes from some instable power supply inside the evaluation board which cannot be controlled to the mV level. In a real measurement, you usually get an additional baseline shift due to some environmental electromagnetic interferences, such as a 50 Hz signal. People fix this shifting baseline by always aquiring a small portion (10-20 samples) of the baseline before any signal from a particle detector. The signal is then corrected event-by-event by subtracting the baseline from each waveform. By doing that, you fix not only the 50 Hz noise, but also the shifting baseline you mention.

Stefan

drs4b is now officially on these distributions:

https://repology.org/project/drs4eb/versions

enjoy