Hi,

Is there a way that someone can help me and my student to enable RemoveSymmetricSpikes function in the drs_exam.cpp? We are not 100% sure how to call the function if you want to read out four waveforms.

Cheers,

Matthias

 Hi,

we are planning to use the DRS4 in our board for 1 GHz sampling and digitization.

I have seen in the data sheet that "For the PLL to work, an external loop filter is required. This filter ensures quick locking and stable operation at the desired sampling frequency".

What formula do you use to calculate the values of R, C1 and C2?

Can we use the same given value for different frequencies?

Thanks,

Mayak

Hi there,

Recently I bought a 5GSPS evaluation board with 2048 sampling points.
I want to read 4 inputs of the evaluation bord ar 5 GSPS or 2.5GSP and use an external trigger.
I've checked your website and download drs-5.0.5 which contains the source code in C. It seems that the file drs_exam.cpp can do what I am looking for.
So far I could make and compile the project in Linux Ubuntu, but I couldn't compile it in Windows 10.  I've used Cygwin64 to compile the project in windows 10.

I have the following questions:

1- Since I only need to compile the drs_exam.cpp file, could please help me with how can I compile it directly(without making the entire project). Or tell me which version of Wxwidget and libusb I have to install.

2- If you have any sample code that can read 4 inputs with an external trigger, please tell me where can I find it.

In the end, I want to write a wrapper on this C file(which returns digitized data) and run it from my python program. Thank you in advance.
Best regards,
Mehrpad

Thank you for the reply.

In the version that I have, I cannot find drs_exam_2048.cpp file. Could you please send me the link to download the software folder, which contain this file.

Best,

Mehrpad

Hi Stefan,

I have two problems regarding using the drs_exam file with external trigger:

1- I connected a 200Khz signal with 20ns rising edge, 50 ohm load, and 27% duty cycle as an external trigger. The output of the drs_exam file starts from 0 to 200ns. Since I use an external trigger, I think it should be starting from 0 to 5ns and then again starting from 0. Could you please tell me where the problem is?

2- How is it possible to change from 1024 to 2048 bins in the drs_exam example?

You can find my code in the attachment.

Best regards,
Mehrpad

Thanks for your reply.

1- I want to have a window size of 25.6ns instead of 200ns at 5GSPS. I have a 200khz high voltage pulser, which applies a pulse to my sample. I want to digitize the detector signal for each pulse (each pulse has a 25.6ns period). The pulser and digitizer use same 200khz trigger signal from each channel of the signal generator.

2- My DRS board has a 2048 combined stick on it. But the software distribution that I have doesn't contain the drs_exam_2048.cpp program. Could you please send the link that I can download this program? I can't find it under the link below.

link: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/clqo7ekr0ysbrip/AACoWJzrQAbf3WiBJHG89bGGa?dl=0

Best regards,

Mehrpad

Hi

I want to use DRS4 to digitize 16 channels of signals. The width of signal is about 20 ns, with frequency of 50Hz. The time differences between these 16 signals are not constant, arranging from 3us to 0. I am confused about this in some aspects.

1. Can I use SIMULTANEOUS WRITINT AND READING to realize this? I saw the VHDL program, and if I understand it correctly, it did not work at this state.
2. Or sampling at 1GSPS, using CASCADING OF CHANNELS, I can sample signal at most 4us or 8us, then digitizing all signals of one chip. Have you tested 4 or more channels cascading before?

Besides, any advice will be helpful!

Thank you.

Hi

I want to use DRS4 to digitize 16 channels of signals. The width of signal is about 20 ns, with frequency of 50Hz. The time differences between these 16 signals are not constant, arranging from 3us to 0. I am confused about this in some aspects.

1. Can I use SIMULTANEOUS WRITINT AND READING to realize this? I saw the VHDL program, and if I understand it correctly, it did not work at this state.
2. Or sampling at 1GSPS, using CASCADING OF CHANNELS, I can sample signal at most 4us or 8us, then digitizing all signals of one chip. Have you tested 4 or more channels cascading before?

Besides, any advice will be helpful!

Thank you.

Hi, I have a DRS4 v5 evaluation board and I have a novice question about the oscilliscop application. When I connect it to a photo-detector (silicon photo-multiplier to be exact), the signal appears only on one half of the screen, and I cannot change it to be full screen, and pulse to be centered. I tried changing delay time and played around with the settings of the applicaton but no success. I'd apprecite if someone help me on this, probably very simple, problem.

> I was just building version 3.1.0 and ran into some problems in DOScreen.cpp.  Basically the conversions from
> char* to wxString were generating "ambiguous overload" errors (in gcc 4.4.3, wx-2.8)
> 
> The simple fix is given in  the following diff output.

Today, I ran into the same problem and was happy to find your fix. I've incorporated it into a unified diff file,
that can easily be applied with the patch program by saving it into a file ('drsosc-3.1.0-wxfix.patch', say), and
in the drs-3.1.0 directory running:

patch -1 < drsosc-3.1.0-wxfix.patch

This is the file:

--- src/DOScreen.cpp.orig	2011-12-09 15:49:48.682201902 +0100
+++ src/DOScreen.cpp		2011-12-09 15:51:45.666000111 +0100
@@ -234,7 +234,7 @@ void DOScreen::DrawWaveform(wxDC& dc, wx
 
    // display optional debug messages
    if (*m_frame->GetOsci()->GetDebugMsg()) {
-      wxst = m_frame->GetOsci()->GetDebugMsg();
+      wxst = wxString(m_frame->GetOsci()->GetDebugMsg(),wxConvUTF8);
       dc.SetPen(wxPen(*wxLIGHT_GREY, 1, wxSOLID));
       dc.SetBrush(*wxGREEN);
       dc.SetTextForeground(*wxBLACK);
@@ -243,7 +243,7 @@ void DOScreen::DrawWaveform(wxDC& dc, wx
       dc.DrawText(wxst, m_x1+4, m_y1+2);
    }
    if (m_debugMsg[0]) {
-      wxst = m_debugMsg;
+      wxst = wxString(m_debugMsg,wxConvUTF8);
       dc.SetPen(wxPen(*wxLIGHT_GREY, 1, wxSOLID));
       dc.SetBrush(*wxGREEN);
       dc.SetTextForeground(*wxBLACK);
@@ -474,9 +474,9 @@ void DOScreen::DrawWaveform(wxDC& dc, wx
    if (m_osci->GetNumberOfBoards() && m_osci->IsIdle()) {
       dc.SetTextForeground(*wxGREEN);
       if (m_osci->GetTriggerMode() == TM_AUTO)
-         wxst = "AUTO";
+         wxst = wxString("AUTO",wxConvUTF8);
       else
-         wxst = "TRIG?";
+         wxst = wxString("TRIG?",wxConvUTF8);
       dc.GetTextExtent(wxst, &w, &h);
       dc.DrawText(wxst, m_x2 - w - 2, m_y1 + 1);
    }

When running drsosc on a raspberry pi, it seems the exit doesn't seem to work at all.  This is true for the "exit" button on the window, or the file menu exit, or the "x" on the window.  I end up having to kill drsosc manually from the command line.  This wouldn't be such a bad thing except that it doesn't seem to store any settings when killed in this way.  I'm wondering if anyone else sees the same thing, or if there is a fix out there, before I go and delve into why.

Hello,

what is the abbreviation of DRS?

Thanks and kind Regards,

Moritz

Hello, Stefan. Have you implemented pulse counting yet?

Best, Osip.

 Will it be done in the foreseeable future?

 Does it give the ability to measure triggering rate? I'm talking again about possibility of use DRS4 as pulse counter for PMT's. If yes, do I need new v5 board or it is possible to use v4 board?

I'm not sure if I understand you correctly. The trigger rate could be up to 200 MHz, and it's possible to measure it  with 10 Hz resolution. Is it right?

Does it possible to measure independent trigger rate for each channel?

Hello, 

I made a modified version drs_exam_multi.cpp, but ran into an issue when running.  When I ran it, it only found the two boards with lower serial numbers (2781 and 2879) and complained that the others (2880 and 2881) were not v4. Would there be a simple workaround for this type of thing? Also, would I be able to use the .dat format to keep the file sizes down. 

If not, I am curious if there is a way I can at least set a default configuration for the drsosc program. It seems the drsosc.cfg is written when drsosc starts? Does it load the configuration from somewhere else? It would be very helpful to keep the same settings between runs, in particular the trigger delays, levels, trigger mode, and voltage offsets. Maybe I can even do this with just a few of the CLI commands? I know this is for experts only, but I think I would just need a few commands (setTrig, setTrigMode,  setTrigDelay, that sort of thing) if they do exist. I would check the help now, but I'm running, and I'm pretty sure I saw some for trigger settings. 

Anyhow, any help is appreciated in creating a more repeatable and automated data acquisition. Thanks!

Hi -

I am setting up a new DRS4 rev5 but using drivers and software we were recently using with a Rev4 (with a recent release of the drs4 code, from mid-2014). 

I am writing since I see peculiar behavior of the calibrated times when I read them back from the Rev 5.  I get events where the first time returns 0 (which was always the case on my Rev 4), but the following time is negative -- this seems to be wrong since the times should always increase.

Is it a problem with my running the time calibration or a problem with the board itself?  For the record, the integral nonlinearity displayed during time calibration "looks" very different when running with the same (recent) drsosc on the two boards.  The rev5 has apparently a much larger amplitude.

- peter

Helo
I'm building an application for reading waveforms from the DRS4 board to PC. However, I am having problems reading calibration data from EEPROM on DRS4 board. The calibration data is read through the function reference:
void DRSBoard :: ReadCalibration (void)
...
      ReadEEPROM (1, buf, 1024 * 32);
      for (i = 0; i <8; i ++)
         for (j = 0; j <1024; j ++) {
            fCellOffset [i] [j] = buf [(i * 1024 + j) * 2];
            fCellGain [i] [j] = buf [(i * 1024 + j) * 2 + 1] / 65535.0*0.4+0.7;
         }
      
      ReadEEPROM (2, buf, 1024 * 32);
      for (i = 0; i <8; i ++)
         for (j = 0; j <1024; j ++)
            fCellOffset2 [i] [j] = buf [(i * 1024 + j) * 2];
...
The Calibrate Waveform is performed by:
int DRSBoard::CalibrateWaveform(unsigned int chipIndex, unsigned char channel, unsigned short *adcWaveform, short *waveform, bool responseCalib, int triggerCell, bool adjustToClock, float threshold, bool offsetCalib)
.....
         for (j = 0; j < n_bins; j++) {
            value = adcWaveform[j] - fCellOffset[channel+chipIndex*9][(j*skip + triggerCell) % kNumberOfBins];
            value = value / fCellGain[channel+chipIndex*9][(j*skip + triggerCell) % kNumberOfBins];
            if (offsetCalib && channel != 8)
               value = value - fCellOffset2[channel+chipIndex*9][j*skip] + 32768;
...
. Because the calibration data reads incorrectly, the Calibrate Waveform does not do it.
Can read calibration data from EEPROM by any command via Oscilloscope application or DRS Command Line Interface application?
Thank you for your help!!!!

Dear Stefan,

I am using an DRS4 board to test the signal from an scintillator detector; It has connected well to the computer on DRS Oscilloscope (Figure 1). Now, I am having a problem of developing from the code of the drs_exam program, because the DRS4 board has not connected to the computer when translation the drs_exam program (Figure 2). Before running the drs_exam program, I copied the libusb-1.0.lib file to the computer's "C: \ Program Files \ Microsoft SDKs \ Windows \ v7.0A \ Lib" folder. Can you show me how to solve this problem?

Figure 1.

Figure 2.

Thank you very much!

Best Regards,

Chuan