110
4 Verification and Testing
Fig. 4.6 Picture of the run-control part of the SAMPA communicator graphical user interface used
for testing the SAMPA
Three ADCs running at 10 MHz can only produce 300 Mbps of continuous data,
so the bandwidth is therefore not a limitation for testing the first prototype. On the
second prototype with 32 channels, this problem is overcome by a form of gating. The
user configures the DAQ to forward only a limited amount of consecutive packets.
By keeping this number below about 65 000 packets, the system buffers will not
overflow, and the system can be tested in continuous mode.
4.2.2 Data Acquisition and Analysis
The acquisition and control programs are run from a Linux or Windows computer
and interfaces with the FPGA board through UART and Ethernet. Splitting of the
programs into two separate entities is done for ease of design.
4.2.2.1 SAMPA Communicator
The SAMPA Communicator is a graphical user environment, written in C#, to handle
control and configuration of the DAQ and the SAMPA. A picture of the interface
is shown in Fig. 4.6. It is designed for ease of use by non-technical users, to aid in
setting up and running tests on the SAMPA without the need to know details of the
operation of the DAQ system. Furthermore, the program simplifies register access
and provides among other things data flow handling, online status information and
4 Verification and Testing
Fig. 4.6 Picture of the run-control part of the SAMPA communicator graphical user interface used
for testing the SAMPA
Three ADCs running at 10 MHz can only produce 300 Mbps of continuous data,
so the bandwidth is therefore not a limitation for testing the first prototype. On the
second prototype with 32 channels, this problem is overcome by a form of gating. The
user configures the DAQ to forward only a limited amount of consecutive packets.
By keeping this number below about 65 000 packets, the system buffers will not
overflow, and the system can be tested in continuous mode.
4.2.2 Data Acquisition and Analysis
The acquisition and control programs are run from a Linux or Windows computer
and interfaces with the FPGA board through UART and Ethernet. Splitting of the
programs into two separate entities is done for ease of design.
4.2.2.1 SAMPA Communicator
The SAMPA Communicator is a graphical user environment, written in C#, to handle
control and configuration of the DAQ and the SAMPA. A picture of the interface
is shown in Fig. 4.6. It is designed for ease of use by non-technical users, to aid in
setting up and running tests on the SAMPA without the need to know details of the
operation of the DAQ system. Furthermore, the program simplifies register access
and provides among other things data flow handling, online status information and