Controlling a FemtoDAQ Family Digitizer

Requires FemtoDAQ Software v6.0.0 or above

FemtoDAQController

The skutils.FemtoDAQController is a class for controlling and coordinating the FemtoDAQ line of SkuTek Instrumentation digitizers. The FemtoDAQ line at this point in time includes the FemtoDAQ Vireo and FemtoDAQ Kingfisher.

Connect to a Digitizer Hooked up via USB

use the skutils.FEMTODAQ_USB to grab the USB IP Address

Attention

Only 1 digitizer device can be connected via USB as a time

import skutils
digitizer = skutils.FemtoDAQController(skutils.FEMTODAQ_USB)

Connect to a Digitizer on the Network

Your digitizer will attempt to assign itself a hostname on your network composed of its product and serial number. e.g. vireo-000019. However, this may not be possible on some networks - particularly those in secure areas or within a Science DMZ. In these cases, the IP Address can be used instead. Consult with your network administrator for assistance getting the IP address.

IP_ADDRESS_OR_URL = "vireo-000019.local"
digitizer = skutils.FemtoDAQController(IP_ADDRESS_OR_URL)

Print out Device Information

FemtoDAQController.summary() will print out information about your device

print(digitizer.summary())

Vireo-000019 (http://vireo-000019.tek)
Product Revision    : VIREO100_REV_B
Number of Channels  : 2
Sampling Frequency  : 100.0 MHz
ADC Bitdepth        : 14 bits
Maximum Wave Length : 81.92us
Firmware Version    : 5.5.0-0
Software Version    : 5.4.0
Linux Image Version : 5.1.1

Changing Trigger Settings

“Trigger Active Window” is sometimes known as “Coincidence Window”

Configuration

TRIGGER_X_POSITION  = 32
TRIGGER_WINDOW      = 128
TRIGGER_SENSITIVITY = 100
TRIGGER_EDGE        = "rising"
TRIGGER_AVERAGING   = 4

digitizer.setTriggerActiveWindow(TRIGGER_WINDOW)
digitizer.setTriggerXPosition(TRIGGER_X_POSITION)

for channel in digitizer.channels:
    digitizer.setTriggerSensitivity(channel, TRIGGER_SENSITIVITY)
    digitizer.setTriggerEdge(channel, TRIGGER_EDGE)
    digitizer.setTriggerAveragingWindow(channel, TRIGGER_AVERAGING)

Readback

readback_trg_active_window = digitizer.getTriggerActiveWindow()
readback_trg_x_positon = digitizer.getTriggerXPosition()
for channel in digitizer.channels:
    readback_trg_sensitivity = digitizer.getTriggerSensitivity(channel)
    readback_trg_edge        = digitizer.getTriggerEdge(channel)
    readback_trg_avg_window  = digitizer.getTriggerAveragingWindow(channel)

Changing Pulse Height/DSP Filter Settings

Attention

Historical Naming

Pulse Height Window and Pulse Height Averaging Windows control windows and averaging for many other Digitial Signal Processing (DSP) quantities in FemtoDAQ Firmware. Including Rectangular and Triangular QDC filters.

Configuration

DSP_WINDOW             = 128
DSP_QUANTITY_AVERAGING = 4

digitizer.setPulseHeightWindow(DSP_WINDOW)
digitizer.setPulseHeightAveragingWindow(DSP_QUANTITY_AVERAGING)

Readback

readback_ph_window = digitizer.getPulseHeightWindow()
readback_ph_avg_window = digitizer.setPulseHeightAveragingWindow()

Configuring Automatic Baseline Restoration

check Baseline Restoration support on your unit with has_baseline_restoration

Configuration

digitizer.setEnableBaselineRestoration(True)
digitizer.setBaselineRestorationExclusion(200)

Readback

readback_blr_enabled = digitizer.getEnableBaselineRestoration()
readback_blr_exclusion = digitizer.getBaselineRestorationExclusion()

Configuring QuadQDC Integration Windows

check QuadQDC support on your unit with has_quadqdc_integration

Configuration

base_width = 128
fast_width = 16
slow_width = 32
tail_width = 64

digitizer.setQuadQDCWindows(base_width,fast_width,slow_width,tail_width)

Readback

readback_quad_qdc = digitizer.getQuadQDCWindows()

readback_base_width = readback_quad_qdc[0]
readback_fast_width = readback_quad_qdc[1]
readback_slow_width = readback_quad_qdc[2]
readback_tail_width = readback_quad_qdc[3]

Setting Bias (HV) Voltage Output

check Bias Voltage support on your unit with has_high_voltage_output

Configuration

digitizer.setBiasVoltage(30)

Readback

readback_bias_voltage = digitizer.getBiasVoltage()

Setting GlobalID / Module Number

The global ID is used for identifying digitizers when operating them in arrays. It is sometimes known as a “module_number”

Configuration

module_number = 99

digitizer.setGlobalId(module_number)

Readback

readback_module_number = digitizer.getGlobalId()

Setting Input Channel Analog Offsets

Quick Configuration

desired_channel = 0
analog_offset_percent = -50 # 50% of minimum voltage

digitizer.setAnalogOffsetPercent(desired_channel, analog_offset_percent)

High Precision Configuration

For high-precision applications such as non-linearity correction, we can achieve higher performance by writing a raw value directly to the voltage generator.

Use analog_offset_raw_min and analog_offset_raw_max to view your available range of selections.

desired_channel = 0
analog_offset_raw = digitizer.analog_offset_raw_max # 50% of minimum voltage

digitizer.setAnalogOffsetRaw(desired_channel, analog_offset_raw)

Readback

Attention

This value cannot be read back

Setting Input Channel Digital Offsets

Use adc_max_val and adc_min_val to see the range of possible digital offset values for your FemtoDAQ unit.

Configuration

desired_channel = 1
digitizer.setDigitalOffset(desired_channel, 400)

Readback

readback_dig_offset = digitizer.getDigitalOffset(desired_channel)

Inverting Input Channel ADC Signals

True inverts input values (i.e. -1 * raw_value).

Configuration

desired_channel = 0
digitizer.setInvertADCSignal(desired_channel, True)

Readback

readback_inverted = digitizer.getInvertADCSignal(desired_channel)

Configuring in-firmware histogramming

Attention

Firmware Histogramming ignores coincidence conditions. A trigger on any channel updates histogram quantities on all channels

Configuration

In-Firmware Histogramming can be performed for different DSP quantities that are calculated in firmware. See setHistogramQuantity() or or your devices user manual for more information about possible histogram quantities.

Note

Underflow and Overflow

There are generally fewer histogram bins than possible values for your quantity As a result you may need to scale your histograms using setHistogramScaling. Scaling will consolidate multiple values into a single histogram bin to expand the possible range of histogrammed values.

Quantity values below the valid range will be placed in bin0.
Quantity values above the valid range will be placed in the final bin.
See the valid range of quantity values with getHistogramValueRange()

desired_quantity = "pulse_height"
scale = True
for channel in digitizer.channels:
    digitizer.setHistogramQuantity(channel, desired_quantity)
    digitizer.setHistogramScaling(channel, True)

    valid_quantity_range = digitizer.getHistogramValueRange(channel)

Zero Histograms

for channel in digitizer.channels:
    digitizer.zeroHistogram(channel)

Readout

Unlike waveform events, firmware histograms can be read out at before,after, or during data collection.

all_hists = digitizer.getHistogramData('all')

for channel in channels:
    channel_hist = all_hists[:,channel]

Configuring Coincidence

Two types of coincidence are available in FemtoDAQ digitizers.

Multiplicity

Multiplicity coincidence will capture events which have at least a specified number of channels that triggered

multiplicity = 3
digitizer.configureCoincidence("multiplicity", multiplicity=multiplicity)

Hit Pattern

Hit Pattern Coincidence requires certain channels to either trigger or not trigger in a specified pattern.

hit_pattern = {"channel_0_trigger_hit_pattern" : "COINCIDENCE",
                 "channel_1_trigger_hit_pattern" : "ANTICOINCIDENCE"}

digitizer.configureCoincidence("hit_pattern", hit_pattern=hit_pattern)

Readback of Coincidence Mode

digitizer.getCoincidenceSettings()

{
'coincidence_mode': 'multiplicity',
'trigger_multiplicity': 2,
'trigger_hit_pattern': {
   'channel_0_trigger_hit_pattern': 'COINCIDENCE',
   'channel_1_trigger_hit_pattern': 'ANTICOINCIDENCE'
  }
}

Configuring Data Recording

See file_formats for information about the possible file formats specified with the file_recording_format parameter

Note

See configureRecording() for full documentation

Configuration

digitizer.configureRecording(
                            channels_to_record=[0,1],
                            number_of_samples_to_capture=256,
                            file_recording_name_prefix="my_experiment_run"
                            file_recording_format='eventcsv'
                            )

Starting/Stopping Data Collection

NUMBER_OF_EVENTS_TO_RECORD = 100_000

# Start data collection
digitizer.start(NUMBER_OF_EVENTS_TO_RECORD)
# Wait until data collection is done or 5 minutes have passed
digitizer.waitUntil(timeout_time=300)
# stop data collection - this will do nothing if collection has already completed
digitizer.stop()

Forcing a Trigger

This is useful if you want to perform calibrations after specific software events. Such as Setting Input Channel Analog Offsets

digitizer.forceTrigger()

Downloading Recorded Data

See loaders for information about reading in this data once downloaded

Save to the current working directory

digitizer.downloadLastRunDataFiles()

OR saving to a specific directory

digitizer.downloadLastRunDataFiles(save_to="/path/to/download/location")

all_data_files_on_digitizer = digitizer.getListOfDataFiles()
# download all files that matches a certain pattern
for fname in all_data_files_on_digitizer:
    if "my_experiment_run_name" in fname:
        digitizer.downloadFile(fname)

Resetting Timestamps

digitizer.zeroTimestamp()

Saving/Loading Data Collection Settings

This saves the current FPGA and software configuration to a file on your FemtoDAQ unit directly.

digitizer.saveCurrentConfig('my_experiment_config')

This configuration can then be loaded again with loadandApplyExistingConfig(). This is useful to ensure that you can replicate your experiment if someone else has changed settings on the device.

digitizer.loadandApplyExistingConfig('other_experiment_config')

A basic default configuration comes with your unit. The settings will likely be suboptimal for your experiment, but can be used to effectively “reset” the device to a common reference.

digitizer.loadDefaultConfig()

Reserving your digitizer from others

Note

Even if you don’t explicitly reserve the unit, most settings cannot be changed if data collection is ongoing unless another user uses the force keyword.

digitizer.saveCurrentConfig('my_experiment_config')

This configuration can then be loaded again with loadandApplyExistingConfig(). This is useful to ensure that you can replicate your experiment if someone else has changed settings on the device.