MCE firmware

Critical Notes

• Quartus 8.0 .pof Generation Bug

• 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.

> 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.

> rs psc cycle_pow 1
> mce_reset_clean

• MCE firmware-load bug: 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.

MCE Firmware Releases

• Compatible Versions (CC,RC,BC,AC) . (Lists of versions of firmware to use together.)
• MCE Programming File Conversions. (Converting between sof, pof, jic, and jam files.)
• MCE Firmware Downloads

Revision information on firmware for each card:

• Clock Card (CC)
• Readout Card (RC) Rev. A/B (Stratix I)
• Readout Card (RC) Rev. C/D (Stratix III)
• Bias Card (BC)
• Address Card (AC)
• Power-Supply Unit Controller (PSUC) Rev. 1
• Power-Supply Unit Controller (PSUC) Rev. 2
• Sync Box Firmware

MCE Features and How-To Guides

• MCE Commands

• Data Acquisition
  • Fast Data Acquisition (i.e. at the Frame Rate)
  • The STOP Command
  • How to Configure Which Readout Cards Report Data (5.x.x+)
  • How to Read a Column at the Frame Rate (5.x.x+)
  • Rectangle Mode Data (5.x.x+)

• Readout Card
  • Data Modes
  • Filtered Data & the Digital 4-pole Butterworth Low-pass Filter
  • Raw 50 MHz Data
  • Flux Jumping
  • FSFB Clamping Commands (i.e. To Prevent Unlocked Pixels from Ramping, 5.x.x+)

• Address Card
  • Fast SQ2 Feedback and TES Biasing with an Address Card

• Clock Card
  • Remote Firmware Update
  • Internal Commands
    • Arbitrary Waveform Generator (i.e. Maximum Length Sequences for Complex Impedance Measurements, 5.0.9+)
    • Ramp Generator
    • Temperature monitoring

MCE Firmware Bugs/ Features Under Development

• This section has been moved to the Internal MCE Wiki Bug List.

Hardware Peripherals

• Using Ethernet Blaster
• USB Blaster
• Sync Box

Software Tools

• JAM Player
• JRunner
• CVS links

CVS Firmware Repository

Quartus II Installation

ModelSim SE Installation (from scratch)

• SVN links (We decided (sadly) NOT to migrate from CVS to SVN, if we ever do here is some information:)

SVN Manual

Accessing the SVN Repository

SVN Commit Guidelines

SVN Basic Operations

Tagging

Merging

Branching

Resurrecting Deleted Items

MCE Scripting

• MAS Cheat Sheet
• Using Python to Automate MAS
• MCE: Helper programs