CAENComm User & Reference Manual UM1934 Rev.6
UM1934_CAENComm_User_Manual_rev.6
User Manual:
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Page Count: 37
- Purpose of this User Manual
- Change Document Record
- Symbols, abbreviated terms and notation
- Reference Document
- Index
- List of Figures
- List of Tables
- 1 CAENComm Overview
- 2 Function classification
- 3 Function descriptions
- 4 Demo programs
CAEN
Tools for Discovery
n
Electronic Instrumentation
Rev. 0 -
A2818
Driver
CAENVMElib
Software
Hardware
CAEN COMM Library
Applications
Libraries
LabView
Tools
LabView
C+
+
VME
PCI
V2718
V17XX V1718
CPU
CAEN Catalog
Products
USB
Driver
VME
Module
C/C++
Tools
CAEN
Desktop
Waveform
Digitizers
CAEN
NIM
Waveform
Digitizers
A3818
Driver
A3818 A2818
CONET/CONET2 (Optical Link)
USB 2.0
CUSTOM
LIBRARY THAT
EXPORTS
CAENCOM
FUNCTIONS
CAEN
VME
Bridges
User VME
DAQ
CAEN COMM
user implemented
CAEN
PCI & PCIe
Controllers
CAEN VME
Waveform
Digitizers
PCIe
UM1934
CAENComm User & Reference Manual
Rev. 6 - 15 Genuary 2014
Purpose of this User Manual
This User’s Manual contains the full description of the CAENComm library rel. 1.2 (Windows/Linux).
Change Document Record
Date
Revision
Changes
Previous releases of the document are not available
13 July 2012
05
New graphical layout and added § 4
15 Genuary 2014
04
Removed “Preliminary”.
Modified CAEN_Comm_ConnectionType removing PCI/PCIE options
replaced with OpticalLink.
Added CAENComm_VMELIB_handle in CAENCOMM_INFO
Added message for developers in § System requirements &
installation setup
Symbols, abbreviated terms and notation
ADC
Analog to Digital Converter
DPP
Digital Pulse Processing
OS
Operating System
SBC
Single Board Computer
TDC
Time to Digital Converter
Reference Document
Application Note: AN2472 - CONET1 to CONET2 migration
GD2512: CAENUpgrader QuickStart Guide
UM1935: CAENDigitizer User Manual
CAEN S.p.A.
Via Vetraia, 11 55049 Viareggio (LU) - ITALY
Tel. +39.0584.388.398 Fax +39.0584.388.959
info@caen.it
www.caen.it
© CAEN SpA – 2014
Disclaimer
No part of this manual may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording, or
otherwise, without the prior written permission of CAEN SpA.
The information contained herein has been carefully checked and is believed to be accurate; however, no responsibility
is assumed for inaccuracies. CAEN SpA reserves the right to modify its products specifications without giving any
notice; for up to date information please visit www.caen.it.
CAEN
Electronic Instrumentation
UM1934 – CAENComm User & Reference Manual
3
Index
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.................................................................................................. 30
List of Figures
..................................................................................................................................................6
...............................................................................................................................................12
...............................................................................................................................................14
............................................................................................................29
CAEN
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...................................................................................................................................30
...................................................................................................................................................31
................................................................................................................................................................32
......................................................................................................................................................................33
................................................................................................................................................................33
..........................................................................................................................................................................34
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List of Tables
..............................................................................................................................................................5
.............................................................................................................................................................9
.................................................................................................................................................9
..............................................................................................................................................................9
.........................................................................................................................................................................9
.................................................................................29
...........................................................................................................................................32
CAEN
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UM1934 – CAENComm User & Reference Manual
5
1 CAENComm Overview
CAEN has developed a family of acquisition modules (ADC, TDC, etc.) with different standards and formats (VME, NIM
and Desktop). They all provide the possibility to be handled and readout by a host PC via several communication
channels. The purpose of the CAENComm library is to implement a common interface to the higher software layers,
masking the details of the physical channel and its protocol, thus making the libraries and applications that rely on the
CAENComm independent from the physical layer.
Moreover, the CAENComm is based in turn on CAENVMElib, a library developed specifically for USB-VME bridge (Mod
V1718) and PCI-VME (Mod V2718), which implements the basic functions for accessing the VME bus (besides other
specific functions for these bridge).
For this reason, it is necessary that the CAENVMELib is already installed on your PC before installing the CAENComm;
however, the CAENVMELib is completely transparent to the user..
Currently, the CAENComm (and so the CAENDigitizer) supports the following communication channels:
PC → USB → Digitizer (either Desktop or NIM models)
PC → USB → V1718 → VME → Digitizers (VME models only)
PC → PCI (A2818) → CONET → Digitizers (all models)
PC → PCI (A2818) → CONET → V2718 → VME → Digitizers (VME models only)
PC → PCIe (A3818) → CONET → Digitizers (all models)
PC → PCIe (A3818) → CONET → V2718 → VME → Digitizers (VME models only)
CONET (Chainable Optical NETwork) indicates the CAEN proprietary protocol for communication on Optical Link. Refer
to [RD1] for useful information.
It is possible to develop a software for one CAEN VME card with a bus controller different from those proposed by
CAEN (such as a VME-SBC); in this case it is necessary to provide a “CAENComm equivalent” library by exporting only
the functions used by the software.
System requirements & installation setup
OS
OS version
CAEN Library required
Third-party software required
XP/Vista/7
CAENVMELib
n/a
kernel Rel. 2.4/2.6
with gnu C/C++
compiler
n/a
Tab. 1.1: Host PC requirements
LabVIEW 2009 (only for LabVIEW VIs)
LabVIEW™ is a Trademark of National Instruments Corp.
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6
The hardware and software layers are reported in the scheme below.
A2818
Driver
CAENVMElib
Software
Hardware
CAEN COMM Library
Applications
Libraries
LabView
Tools
LabView
C+
+
VME
PCI
V2718
V17XX V1718
CPU
CAEN Catalog
Products
USB
Driver
VME
Module
C/C++
Tools
CAEN
Desktop
Waveform
Digitizers
CAEN
NIM
Waveform
Digitizers
A3818
Driver
A3818 A2818
CONET/CONET2 (Optical Link)
USB 2.0
CUSTOM
LIBRARY THAT
EXPORTS
CAENCOM
FUNCTIONS
CAEN
VME
Bridges
User VME
DAQ
CAEN COMM
user implemented
CAEN
PCI & PCIe
Controllers
CAEN VME
Waveform
Digitizers
PCIe
Fig. 1.1: Hardware and Software layers
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UM1934 – CAENComm User & Reference Manual
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In order to install the CAENComm library:
Go to CAEN web site in the “Download” area of the CAENComm page.
Download the CAENComm installation package related to your OS.
Extract files to your host.
Click on the red link below the library package and download the CAEN required libraries
Install the required CAENVMELib.
For Windows users: run the CAENDigitizer setup executable file and follow the installer instructions.
For Linux users: follow the instructions in the README file.
Note: Exclusively for Windows OS, the installation of CAENComm also includes a demo program version in Java
(Comm/java/Demo) and LabVIEW (Comm/labview/Basic Example Demo) described in Chapter 4.
Users who developed their own software relying on a CAENComm library version less
than 1.2, if they want to upgrade to 1.2, they have to modify the
CAENComm_ConnectionType value accordingly to the new definition!
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2 Function classification
CAENComm functions are divided into 4 groups:
Device Initialization/Termination Functions
CAENComm_OpenDevice
CAENComm_CloseDevice
Data Transfer Functions
CAENComm_Write32
CAENComm_Write16
CAENComm_Read32
CAENComm_Read16
CAENComm_MultiRead32
CAENComm_MultiRead16
CAENComm_MultiWrite16
CAENComm_MultiWrite32
CAENComm_BLTRead
CAENComm_MBLTRead
Interrupt Handling Functions
CAENComm_IRQDisable
CAENComm_IRQEnable
CAENComm_IRQWait
CAENComm_IACKCycle
CAENComm_VMEIRQWait
Information recovery functions
CAENComm_Info
CAENComm_SWRelease
CAENComm_DecodeError
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CAENComm Data Types
CAENComm_ConnectionType
Code
Value
Description
CAENComm_USB
0
Connected through USB
CAENComm_OpticalLink
1
Connected by optical link
Tab. 2.1: Connection Type table
CAENComm_ErrorCode
Error code
Value
Description
CAENComm_Success
0
Operation completed successfully
CAENComm_VMEBusError
-1
VME bus error during the cycle
CAENComm_CommError
-2
Communication error
CAENComm_GenericError
-3
Unspecified error
CAENComm_InvalidParam
-4
Invalid parameter
CAENComm_InvalidLinkType
-5
Invalid Link Type
CAENComm_InvalidHandler
-6
Invalid device handler
CAENComm_CommTimeout
-7
Communication Timeout
CAENComm_DeviceNotFound
-8
Unable to Open the requested Device
CAENComm_MaxDevicesError
-9
Maximum number of devices exceeded
CAENComm_DeviceAlreadyOpen
-10
The device is already opened
CAENComm_NotSupported
-11
Not supported function
CAENComm_UnusedBridge
-12
There aren't boards controlled by that Bridge
CAENComm_Terminated
-13
Communication terminated by the Device
Tab. 2.2: CAENComm error codes table
CAENCOMM_INFO
Code
Value
Description
CAENComm_PCI_Board_SN
0
s/n of the PCI/PCIe board
CAENComm_PCI_Board_FwRel
1
Firmware Release of the PCI/PCIe board
CAENComm_VME_Bridge_SN
2
s/n of the VME bridge
CAENComm_VME_Bridge_FwRel1
3
Firmware Release for the VME bridge
CAENComm_VME_Bridge_FwRel2
4
Firmware Release for the optical chipset inside the VME
bridge (V2718 only)
CAENComm_VMELIB_handle
5
Tab. 2.3: CAENComm info table
IRQ Levels
Error code
Value
Description
IRQ1
0x01
Interrupt level 1
IRQ2
0x02
Interrupt level 2
IRQ3
0x04
Interrupt level 3
IRQ4
0x08
Interrupt level 4
IRQ5
0x10
Interrupt level 5
IRQ6
0x20
Interrupt level 6
IRQ7
0x40
Interrupt level 7
Tab. 2.4: IRQ levels table
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3 Function descriptions
Initialization/termination functions
These functions allow to open and close the connection with a remote board.
To open one board is necessary to describe the 'logical' path from the PC to the device to access (one of the path
indicated in the introduction). This path is specified by the input parameters of the OpenDevice function. Once the
device is opened, the function returns a handle that becomes the unique identifier of that device; any access operation
to the device (except for VME cards IRQ management) will take place according to its handle, thus making transparent
the physical channel.
CAENComm_OpenDevice
Description
This function allows to open the device
Synopsis
CAENComm_ErrorCode CAENComm_OpenDevice(
CAENComm_ConnectionType LinkType,
int LinkNum,
int ConetNode,
uint32_t VMEBaseAddress,
int *handle
);
Arguments
Name
Description
LinkType
Indicates the link used by the device:
0: CAENComm_USB
1: CAENComm_OpticalLink
LinkNum
When using OpticalLink, it is the optical link number to be used.
When using USB, it is the USB device number to be used.
ConetNode
For OpticalLink, it identifies which device in the daisy-chain is addressed.
For USB, it must be 0.
VMEBaseAddress
The VME base address of the board in case you want to access a VME device, 0 otherwise.
*handle
Pointer to the handler returned by the open function, to be used for accessing the device
Return Values
0: Success; Negative numbers are error codes (see Tab. 2.2).
LabVIEW Representation
CAENComm_OpenDevice.vi
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CAENComm_CloseDevice
Description
This function allows to close the device
Synopsis
CAENComm_ErrorCode CAENComm_CloseDevice(
int handle
);
Arguments
Name
Description
handle
The handler to use for accessing the device
Return Values
0: Success; Negative numbers are error codes (see Tab. 2.2).
LabVIEW Representation
CAENComm_CloseDevice.vi
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Initialization/termination examples
Example N° 1
Fig. 3.1: Block diagram of example N° 1
The host PC houses two CAEN A2818; the VME crate houses the following boards:
a) Bridge CAEN V2718 physically connected via optical links to the PCI card A2818 N° 0
b) Two Digitizers CAEN (model V1724 with VME base address 0x32100000 and model V1740 with VME base
address 0x40000000)
c) Two Digitizers CAEN (model V1724 and V1731 model) connected in a daisy chain between them and to the PCI
card A2818 N° 1
The open for the 4 cards to access are:
Open the V1724 (VME BASE ADDRESS 0x32100000) accessed via VMEbus through the V2718:
CAENComm_OpenDevice(
Physical link CAENComm_OpticalLink,
PCI board n. 0,
Device in chain 0,
VME Base address 0x32100000,
&handleV1724_0
);
Open the V1740 (VME BASE ADDRESS 0x40000000) accessed via VMEbus through the V2718:
CAENComm_OpenDevice(
Physical link CAENComm_OpticalLink,
PCI board n. 0,
Device in chain 0,
VME Base address 0x40000000,
&handleV1740
);
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Open the V1724 (first in daisy chain) directly accessed via Optical Link:
CAENComm_OpenDevice(
Physical link CAENComm_OpticalLink,
PCI board n. 1,
Device in chain 0,
not used 0,
&handleV1724_1
);
Open the V1731 (second in daisy chain) directly accessed via Optical Link:
CAENComm_OpenDevice(
Physical link CAENComm_OpticalLink,
PCI board n. 1,
Device in chain 1,
not used 0,
&handleV1731
);
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Example N° 2
Fig. 3.2: Block diagram of example N° 2
Host PC houses two USB ports and a A3818 card; it is connected to three crates, respectively VME, NIM and Sy2791,
housing the following boards:
a) VME Crate
- Bridge CAEN V1718 physically connected to the PC via USB cable
- Digitizer model V1724 with VME base address 0x12340000
b) NIM Crate
- Multi Channel Analyzer model N957 physically connected to the PC via USB cable
c) Crate SY2791
- Model A2792 Acquisition module physically connected via optical links to the PCI Express A3818
The open for the 3 cards to access are:
Open the V1724 accessed from VMEbus through V1718:
CAENComm_OpenDevice(
Physical link CAENComm_USB,
USB link n. 0,
not used 0,
VME Baseaddress 0x12340000,
&handleV1724
);
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Open the N957 connected via USB cable:
CAENComm_OpenDevice(
Physical link CAENComm_USB,
USB link n. 1,
not used 0,
not used 0,
&handleN957
);
Open the SY2792 connected via Optical Link
CAENComm_OpenDevice(
Physical link CAENComm_OpticalLink,
PCIE link n. 0,
Device in chain 0,
not used 0,
&handleSY2792
);
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Data transfer functions
CAENComm_Write32
Description
This function allows to write a 32 bit register of the device
Synopsis
CAENComm_ErrorCode CAENComm_Write32(
int handle,
uint32_t Address,
uint32_t Data
);
Arguments
Name
Description
handle
Device handler
Address
Register address offset
Data
New register content to write into the device
Return Values
0: Success; Negative numbers are error codes (see Tab. 2.2).
LabVIEW Representation
CAENComm_Write32.vi
CAENComm_Write16
Description
This function allows to write a 16 bit register of the device.
Synopsis
CAENComm_ErrorCode CAENComm_Write16(
int handle,
uint32_t Address,
uint16_t Data
);
Arguments
Name
Description
handle
Device handler
Address
Register address offset
Data
New register content to write into the device
Return Values
0: Success; Negative numbers are error codes (see Tab. 2.2).
LabVIEW Representation
CAENComm_Write16.vi
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CAENComm_Read32
Description
This function allows to read 32 bit register of the device.
Synopsis
CAENComm_ErrorCode CAENComm_Read32(
int handle,
uint32_t Address,
uint32_t *Data
);
Arguments
Name
Description
handle
Device handler
Address
Register address offset
Data
The data read from the device
Return Values
0: Success; Negative numbers are error codes (see Tab. 2.2).
LabVIEW Representation
CAENComm_Read32.vi
CAENComm_Read16
Description
This function allows to read 16 bit register of the device
Synopsis
CAENComm_ErrorCode CAENComm_Read16(
int handle,
uint32_t Address,
uint16_t *Data
);
Arguments
Name
Description
handle
Device handler
Address
Register address offset
Data
The data read from the device
Return Values
0: Success; Negative numbers are error codes (see Tab. 2.2).
LabVIEW Representation
CAENComm_Read32.vi
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Multi read/write functions
MultiRead and MultiWrite Functions have been developed to optimize the time in the individual accesses. In fact, both
the USB in the Conet (Optical Link) foresee the exchange of request and response packets for the execution of a single
read or write cycle. Because of the latency due to physical channel and protocol, the overhead of the protocol (package
management) is very heavy when compared to the amount of data transferred (a 16 or 32 bit word), thus making
communication ineffective. This overhead is particularly onerous in the case of the USB protocol which foresees a
scheduling of the communication frames that are repeated at fixed intervals of 1ms (USB 1.1) or 125µs (USB 2.0). The
purpose of MultiRead and MultiWrite is to place the requests in a single packet transmission from the PC to the device
and then receive back the responses in a single package, thereby reducing the impact of latency on the single access.
NOTE: MultiRead and MultiWrite foresee an implementation at physical channel level. If a VME CAEN controller is not
used, these libraries must be exported through a loop at software level running a series of individual accesses.
CAENComm_MultiRead32
Description
The function performs a sequence of single 32bit Read operation
Synopsis
CAENComm_ErrorCode CAENComm_MultiRead32(
int handle,
uint32_t *Address,
int nCycles,
uint32_t *data,
CAENComm_ErrorCode *ErrorCode
);
Arguments
Name
Description
handle
Device handler
Address
Degister address offsets
nCycle
The number of Read to perform
data
The data read from the device
ErrorCode
The error codes relative to each cycle
Return Values
0: Success; Negative numbers are error codes (see Tab. 2.2).
LabView Representation
CAENComm_MultiRead32.vi
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CAENComm_MultiRead16
Description
The function performs a sequence of single 16 bit Read operation.
Synopsis
CAENComm_ErrorCode CAENComm_MultiRead16(
int handle,
uint32_t *Address,
int nCycles,
uint16_t *data,
CAENComm_ErrorCode *ErrorCode
);
Arguments
Name
Description
handle
Device handler
Address
Degister address offsets
nCycle
The number of Read to perform
data
The data read from the device
ErrorCode
The error codes relative to each cycle
Return Values
0: Success; Negative numbers are error codes (see Tab. 2.2).
LabView Representation
CAENComm_MultiRead16.vi
CAENComm_MultiWrite32
Description
The function performs a sequence of single 32 bit Write operation.
Synopsis
CAENComm_ErrorCode CAENComm_MultiWrite32(
int handle,
uint32_t *Address,
int nCycles,
uint32_t *data,
CAENComm_ErrorCode *ErrorCode
);
Arguments
Name
Description
handle
Device handler
Address
Degister address offsets
nCycle
The number of Write to perform
data
The data to write to the device
ErrorCode
The error codes relative to each cycle
Return Values
0: Success; Negative numbers are error codes (see Tab. 2.2).
LabView Representation
CAENComm_MultiWrite32.vi
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CAENComm_MultiWrite16
Description
The function performs a sequence of single 16 bit Write operation.
Synopsis
CAENComm_ErrorCode CAENComm_MultiWrite16(
int handle,
uint32_t *Address,
int nCycles,
uint16_t *data,
CAENComm_ErrorCode *ErrorCode
);
Arguments
Name
Description
handle
Device handler
Address
Degister address offsets
nCycle
The number of Write to perform
data
The data to write to the device
ErrorCode
The error codes relative to each cycle
Return Values
0: Success; Negative numbers are error codes (see Tab. 2.2).
LabView Representation
CAENComm_MultiWrite16.vi
CAENComm_BLTRead
Description
This function allows to read a block of data from the device using a BLT (32 bit) cycle.
Synopsis
CAENComm_ErrorCode CAENComm_BLTRead(
int handle,
uint32_t Address,
uint32_t *Buff,
int BltSize,
int *nw
);
Arguments
Name
Description
handle
Device handler
Address
Data space starting address
BltSize
Size of the Block Read Cycle (in bytes)
buff
Pointer to the read data buffer
nw
Number of longwords (32 bit) actually read from the device
Return Values
0: Success; Negative numbers are error codes (see Tab. 2.2).
LabView Representation
CAENComm_BLTRead.vi
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CAENComm_MBLTRead
Description
This function allows to read a block of data from the device using an MBLT (64 bit) cycle.
Synopsis
CAENComm_ErrorCode CAENComm_MBLTRead (
int handle,
uint32_t Address,
uint32_t *Buff,
int BltSize,
int *nw
);
Arguments
Name
Description
handle
Device handler
Address
Data space starting address
BltSize
Size of the Block Read Cycle (in bytes)
buff
Pointer to the read data buffer
nw
Number of longwords (32 bit) actually read from the device
Return Values
0: Success; Negative numbers are error codes (see Tab. 2.2).
LabView Representation
CAENComm_MBLTRead.vi
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Interrupt Handling Functions
CAENComm_IRQDisable
Description
This function disables the IRQ lines.
Synopsis
CAENComm_ErrorCode CAENComm_IRQDisable(
int handle
);
Arguments
Name
Description
handle
Device handler
Return Values
0: Success; Negative numbers are error codes (see Tab. 2.2).
LabView Representation
CAENComm_IRQDisable.vi
CAENComm_IRQEnable
Description
This function enables the IRQ lines.
Synopsis
CAENComm_ErrorCode CAENComm_IRQEnable(
int handle
);
Arguments
Name
Description
handle
Device handler
Return Values
0: Success; Negative numbers are error codes (see Tab. 2.2).
LabView Representation
CAENComm_IRQEnable.vi
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CAENComm_IRQWait
Description
The function waits the IRQ lines specified by Mask until one of them raise or timeout expires.
Note: This function can be used ONLY on board NOT controlled by CAEN VME Bridges.
Synopsis
CAENComm_ErrorCode CAENComm_IRQWait(
int handle,
uint32_t Timeout
);
Arguments
Name
Description
handle
Device handler
Timeout
Timeout in milliseconds
Return Values
0: Success; Negative numbers are error codes (see Tab. 2.2).
LabView Representation
CAENComm_IRQWait.vi
CAENComm_IACKCycle
Description
The function performs an interrupt acknowledge cycle.
Synopsis
CAENComm_ErrorCode CAENComm_IACKCycle(
int handle,
IRQLevels Level,
int *BoardID
);
Arguments
Name
Description
handle
Device handler
Level
The IRQ level to acknowledge
BoardID
The ID of the Board that raised the interrupt
Return Values
0: Success; Negative numbers are error codes (see Tab. 2.2).
LabView Representation
CAENComm_IACKCycle.vi
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CAENComm_VMEIRQWait
Description
The function waits the IRQ until one of them raises or timeout expires.
Synopsis
CAENComm_ErrorCode CAENComm_VMEIRQWait(
CAENComm_ConnectionType LinkType,
int LinkNum,
int ConetNode,
uint8_t IRQMask
uint32_t Timeout,
int *VMEHandle
);
Arguments
Name
Description
LinkNum
When using Optical Link , it is the optical link number to be used
When using USB, it is the USB device number to be used
LinkType
LinkType: The link used by the device
0: CAENComm_USB
1: CAENComm_OpticalLink
ConetNode
The CAEN VME Bridge number in the link
IRQMask
A bit-mask indicating the IRQ lines
Timeout
Timeout in milliseconds
VMEHandle
The CAEN Bridge handle to use in VMEIRQCheck and VMEIACKCycle
Return Values
0: Success; Negative numbers are error codes (see Tab. 2.2).
LabView Representation
CAENComm_VMEIRQWait.vi
CAENComm_VMEIRQCheck
Description
The function returns a bit mask indicating the active IRQ lines.
Synopsis
CAENComm_ErrorCode CAENComm_VMEIRQCheck(
int VMEhandle,
uint8_t *Mask
);
Arguments
Name
Description
VMEhandle
CAEN Brigde handle
Mask
A bit-mask indicating the IRQ lines
Return Values
0: Success; Negative numbers are error codes (see Tab. 2.2).
LabView Representation
CAENComm_VMEIRQCheck.vi
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CAENComm_VMEIACKCycle16
Description
The function performs a 16 bit interrupt acknowledge cycle
Synopsis
CAENComm_ErrorCode CAENComm_VMEIACKCycle16(
int VMEhandle,
IRQLevels Level,
int *BoardID
);
Arguments
Name
Description
VMEhandle
CAEN Brigde handle
Level
The IRQ level to acknowledge (see IRQLevels enum)
BoardID
The Id of the Board that read the interrupt
Return Values
0: Success; Negative numbers are error codes (see Tab. 2.2).
LabView Representation
CAENComm_VMEIACKCycle16.vi
CAENComm_VMEIACKCycle32
Description
The function performs a 32 bit interrupt acknowledge cycle
Synopsis
CAENComm_ErrorCode CAENComm_VMEIACKCycle16(
int VMEhandle,
IRQLevels Level,
int *BoardID
);
Arguments
Name
Description
VMEhandle
CAEN Brigde handle
Level
The IRQ level to acknowledge (see IRQLevels enum)
BoardID
The Id of the Board that read the interrupt
Return Values
0: Success; Negative numbers are error codes (see Tab. 2.2).
LabView Representation
CAENComm_VMEIACKCycle32.vi
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Details and Examples
The interrupts management foresees two cases:
1. The device you want to broadcast the request is directly connected to the PC
2. The device you want to broadcast the request is accessed via bridge (only with VME)
If a device is directly connected to the optical link or USB the IRQ wait is managed by the funtion:
CAENComm_IRQWait(
int handle,
uint32_t Timeout
);
The function wait the IRQ until one of them raise or timeout expires.
If a device is accessed via VMEbus through the CAEN Bridge the IRQ wait is managed by the function:
CAENComm_VMEIRQWait(
int LinkType,
int LinkNum,
int ConetNode,
uint32_t Timeout,
int *VMEHandle
);
The function waits either until the bridge that manages the VME boards (specified by the function parameters) raises
an IRQ or the timeout to expire.
As this function returns an VMEHandle, in order to acknowledge which board raised the IRQ, it is necessary to use the
function CAENComm_VMEIRQCheck.
EXAMPLES (for a setup like the picture shown in Fig. 3.1):
1) In order to handle the IRQ of boards V1740 (BA 0x40000000) and V1724 (BA 0x32100000).
IRQ manage for boards in Fig. 3.1:
CAENComm_VMEIRQWait(
Physical link CAENComm_OpticalLink,
PCI board n. 0,
Device in chain 0,
IRQmask 0xff,
Timeout 5000,
Handle of bridge that raises the IRQ &VMEHandle
);
Then CAENComm_VMEIRQCheck and / or CAENComm_VMEIACKCycle32 can be used to acknowledge the activated IRQ
Level.
2) In order to handle the IRQ of boards connected to the A2818#1:
CAENComm_IRQWait(
handleV1724_1,
Timeout 5000
);
And
CAENComm_IRQWait(
handleV1731,
Timeout 5000
);
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Utility Functions
CAENComm_Info
Description
The function returns information about serial number or firmware release of the device.
Synopsis
CAENComm_ErrorCode CAENComm_Info(
int handle,
CAENCOMM_INFO info,
char *data
);
Arguments
Name
Description
handle
Device handler
info
The interested info (see CAENCOMM_INFO)
data
An array (user defined to 30 byte) with the requested info
Return Values
0: Success; Negative numbers are error codes (see Tab. 2.2).
LabView Representation
CAENComm_Info.vi
CAENComm_SWRelease
Description
The function returns the Software Release of the library.
Synopsis
CAENComm_ErrorCode CAENComm_SWRelease(
char *SwRel
);
Arguments
Name
Description
SwRel
The Software Release of the library
Return Values
0: Success; Negative numbers are error codes (see Tab. 2.2).
LabView Representation
CAENComm_SWRelease.vi
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CAENComm_DecodeError
Description
This function decodes the error code.
Synopsis
CAENComm_ErrorCode CAENComm_DecodeError(
int ErrCode,
char *ErrMsg
);
Arguments
Name
Description
ErrCode
The error code
ErrMsg
A string with the error message
Return Values
0: Success; Negative numbers are error codes (see Tab. 2.2).
LabView Representation
CAENComm_DecodeError.vi
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4 Demo programs
Once installed the CAENComm tool, two demo programs are available for a first approach to the library, provided both
as graphical user interfaces ready to use and as source files and projects for the user development:
Java demo (Comm/java/Demo)
LabVIEW demo (Comm/labview/Basic Example Demo)
Fig. 4.1: Folder path of the two CAENComm demo programs.
The following table shows the system and software requirements needed by the demos.
OS
OS version
CAEN Library required
Third-party software required
XP/Vista/7
(32 and 64-bit)
CAENVMELib
Java(1) Runtime Environment 6
or later. You can download
from http://www.java.com
LabVIEW 2009(2)
Tab. 4.1: System and software requirements for CAENComm demo programs
(1) Java™ is a registered trademark of Oracle, Inc.
(2) LabVIEW™ is a Trademark of National Instruments Corp.
The CAENComm demos can be used with all the CAEN digitizer series running both the standard and the DPP firmware.
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Getting started with CAENComm demos
Fig. 4.2: CAENComm Java and LabVIEW demos
This paragraph describes how to use the functions of the CAENComm library implemented in the demos. The Java
version is taken as reference; the LabVIEW version is exactly the same.
All the following steps have been executed on a CAEN desktop digitizer DT5724 running the DPP-PHA firmware with
the Optical Link (CONET2) as communication channel (through the A3818 PCIe CAEN Controller).
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Demo structure
Fig. 4.3: CAENComm demo structure
Control and Info buttons: connection/disconnection handling, target FW
revision information, log window clearing.
Write/Read section: target registers read and write mode management
MBLT section: target board Multi BLock Transfer read mode function
Log window: run time log of the actions being performed
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Launch the demo
For the Java version: launch the CAENCommDemo.jar file in the CAEN/ Comm/java/Demo path.
For the LabVIEW version: launch the Basic Example Demo.vi file in the CAEN/ Comm/labview/Basic Example Demo
path.
Fig. 4.2 shows the GUI and VI being opened.
Control and Info buttons
The Connect function is based on CAENComm_OpenDevice:
Click on the CONNECT button and select the proper connection parameters in the connection window.
Fig. 4.4: Connection funtcion
Read in the Log window the result of the connection: “Connected” if succeded; an error message in case of failure
(refer to CAENComm_ErrorCode).
Here below several connection cases and the relative settings are shown as reference.
Connection chain
Type
Link
Slave
Address
PC –> USB –> Desktop digitizer
USB
0
0
0
PC –> USB –> V1718 –> VME –> VME digitizer
USB
0
0
21110000*
PC –> PCI –> A2818 –> CONET –> NIM digitizer
Optical Link
0
0
0
PC –> PCI –> A2818 –> CONET –> VME digitizer
Optical Link
0
0
33210000*
PC –> PCI –> A2818 –> CONET –> VME digitizer **
Optical Link
0
1
0
PC -> PCIe -> A3818 -> CONET -> Desktop/NIM digitizer
Optical Link
0
0
0
PC –> USB –> Desktop digitizer***
USB
1
0
0
Tab. 4.2: Examples of connection settings
* For the correct VME base address to be used, please refer to the Digitizer’s User Manual.
** The VME Digitizer is intended to be part of a Daisy chain (see the examples at the end of [RD2])
*** It is supposed that at least two USB ports are used by the PC to communicate with as many digitizers (see the examples at the end
of [RD3]).
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The Get Info function implements a single read access to the ROC FPGA register of the target board, basing on
CAENComm_Read32:
Click on the GET INFO button to read the ROC FPGA firmware release in the Log window.
Fig. 4.5: Get Info function
The Disconnect function is based on CAENComm_CloseDevice:
Click on the DISCONNECT button to get disconnected from the target (disconnection is confirmed by the
“Disconnected” message in the Log window)
Fig. 4.6: Disconnect function
The Clear Log is a software utility and doesn’t base on any CAENComm function:
Click on the CLEAR LOG button to clear the Log window.
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Read/Write target board registers
The Read function is based on CAENComm_Read16 and CAENComm_Read32, allowing a 16-bit and 32-bit
single read of the target board registers.
In order to read the content of a register:
Type the register address (the low 16 bits of the 32-bit address) in the ADDRESS field (in Fig. 4.7 the 108C address is
the AMC FPGA firmware release register).
Select the read access size (32 or 16 bit) in the SIZE field.
Click on the READ button.
Read the value of the register in the VALUE field.
Fig. 4.7: Read function
Refer to the digitizer User Manual to decode the register information.
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The Write function is based on CAENComm_Write16 and CAENComm_Write32, allowing a 16-bit and 32-bit
single write of the target board registers.
In order to write a register:
Type the register address (the low 16 bits of the 32-bit address) in the ADDRESS field (in Fig. 4.8 the 8100 address is
the Acquisition Control register and the written value enable the acquisition run; refer the the digitizer User Manual for
details).
Type the value (hexadecimal) to write in the VALUE field.
Select the write access size (32 or 16 bit) in the SIZE field.
Click on the WRITE button (a further read of the same register can be performed to check the correct writing).
Fig. 4.8: Write function
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Perform a MBLT Read
The MBLT Read function is based on CAENComm_MBLTRead, which allows to read a block of data from the targert
board using an MBLT (64 bit) cycle.
Here follows a simple example of how to perform a MBLT read:
Use the Write function to enable the acquisition run (i.e. write ‘4’ at the adress 8100).
Use the Write function to send a software trigger to the target board (i.e. write any value at the address 8108).
Type the data space starting address in the ADDRESS field (default value is “0”).
Read data in the Log window.
For details about the data format, please refer to the digitizer User Manual (if running the standard firmware) or to the
DPP firmware User Manual (if running the DPP firmware).
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CAEN SpA is acknowledged as the only company in the world providing a complete range of High/Low Voltage Power
Supply systems and Front-End/Data Acquisition modules which meet IEEE Standards for Nuclear and Particle Physics.
Extensive Research and Development capabilities have allowed CAEN SpA to play an important, long term role in this field.
Our activities have always been at the forefront of technology, thanks to years of intensive collaborations with the most
important Research Centres of the world. Our products appeal to a wide range of customers including engineers, scientists
and technical professionals who all trust them to help achieve their goals faster and more effectively.
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Guide GD1934 - CAENComm User & Reference Manual rev. 5 - 13 July 2012
00118-10-DGT11-MUTX
Copyright © CAEN SpA. All rights reserved. Information in this publication supersedes all earlier versions. Specifications subject to change without notice.
