MCE firmware
From MCEWiki
Contents
Critical Notes
- In v5+ firmware, if you update firmware on any readout card, the card doesn't reply to any command unless the Clock Card is also reprogrammed.
- Always cleanly reset the MCE after a power-up or a reconfiguration! If not, MCE communication with the PC or Sync Box may not work. On MAS prompt, type: mce_reset_clean
- After an mce_reset, not all of the DAC outputs are set to zero. In addition, values written to RAM-based registers are not reset. A full reconfiguration is required for a proper reset. You may power-cycle the MCE remotely if the MCE is equipped with a PSA (UBC switching supply) by issuing mce_cmd -x rs psc cycle_pow 1 and then mce_reset_clean
Releases
All firmware can be downloaded here. Release notes for each firmware release can be found below:
- Clock Card (CC)
- Readout Card (RC)
- Bias Card (BC)
- Address Card (AC)
- Power-Supply Unit Controller (PSUC)
- Sync Box Firmware
Firmware Upgrade Methods
There are two ways to upgrade the MCE firmware:
- Remote firmware update over the MCE fibre interface
- Using Altera-supplied Hardware/Software and MCE Front-panel Connector
CVS Repository
- Ask the "MCE team at UBC" for a username/password to be able to access the repository
- Install a CVS client ( e.g. http://www.tortoisecvs.org/ )
- CVS server info is:
- server: e-mode.phas.ubc.ca
- repository folder:/home/cvsroot/mce
- module name: mce
- protocol: pserver
MCE Features and How-To Guides
- Data Acquisition
- Fast Data Acquisition -- i.e. up to the frame rate
- The STOP Command (CC v4.0.b, v4.0.c, v5.0.1+)
- How to Configure Which Readout Cards Report Data (CC v4.0.a+)
- How to Read a Column at the Frame Rate (CC v5.0.0 & RC v5.0.0+)
- Rectangle Mode Data (CC v5.0.0 & RC v5.0.1+)
- Readout Card
- Data Modes
- Filtered Data & the Digital 4-pole Butterworth Low-pass Filter
- Raw 50 MHz Data
- Flux Jumping
- FSFB Clamping Commands -- to prevent unlocked pixels from ramping (RC v5.0.a+)
- FSFB Servo Start Value
- Clock Card
- Remote Firmware Update (CC v5.0.7+)
- Internal Commands
- Arbitrary Waveform Generator -- for maximum length sequences and complex impedance measurements (CC v5.0.3+)
- Ramp Generator
- Temperature monitoring
- Upgrading From 4.x.x To 5.x.x Firmware -- using SCUBA-2 as an example
MCE Firmware Bugs/ Features Under Development has been moved to the Internal MCE Wiki Bug List.
Firmware Development Tools
- Quartus II Installation
- ModelSim SE Installation
- Firmware CVS Repository
- MCE RTL Testbenches
- JAM Player
- JRunner
- Convert sof to jic for EPCS64 Serial Configuration Device
