VME-NIMIO32

VME-NIMIO32 - general purpose VME FPGA board

References

• [1] VME-NIMIO32 (REA 131) project page on edev.triumf.ca
• [2] Rev0 board schematics
• [3] Rev1 board schematics

General characteristics

Available hardware

• Altera cyclone 1 FPGA: EP1C6Q240C6N
• Serial flash for FPGA configuration: Altera EPCS16
• External SDRAM memory
• VME interface: VME-D[31..0] bidirectional, VME-A[19..0] input only, DTACK output, no BERR, no RETRY/RESP. VME-A[31..20] input only connected only to address decoder FPGA (Altera MAX-something CPLD). This permits all single-word transfer modes, 32-bit DMA (BLT32) and 2eVME DMA (only drives D-lines, but still faster than BLT32). 64-bit DMA (MBLT64) and 2eSST are impossible.
• 16 NIM outputs
• 16 NIM inputs
• 16 ECL/LVDS inputs compatible with LeCroy 4616 ECL/NIM/ECL converter. (Except: Rev0 boards have an incompatible ECL connector)
• 16 "red" and 16 "green" LEDs
• 1 "VME access" LED
• 1 RJ-45 high speed serial I/O interface

Firmware functions

Generic IO32 firmware can include a number of functions. Not all functions are available all at the same time due to resource limitations on the FPGA. Refer to VME Registers for detailed information.

• 20 MHz 32-bit timestamp clock register
• 16 bits of NIM output register (first 4 NIM outputs are multi-function)
• 16 bits of NIM and 16 bits of ECL/LVDS input register with latch function.
• 32 scalers 32 bit, up to 300 MHz counting rate
• 4 timestamp registers using the 20 MHz timestamp clock. Any of the 32 inputs can be routed into any of the 4 timestamp registers.
• experimental 4-channel TDC. 10 ns base clock with 0.3 ns interpolation ladder (1 ns RMS).

Firmware revisions

To find out the current firmware revision, read VME register 0, i.e. run "test_VMENIMIO32_gef.exe --addr 0xN00000 --read 0".

To write Cyclone 1 FPGA firmware into the flash memory, use a JTAG programmer or a VME programmer: "srunner_vme_gef.exe -program -64 ~/daq/VME-NIMIO32/VME-NIMIO32/VME-NIMIO32/VME-NIMIO32.pof 0xN00020", where "N" is the A24 VME base address.

To reboot the Cyclone 1 FPGA into the new firmware, run "test_VMENIMIO32_gef.exe --addr 0xN00000 --read 0 --write 1 2 --read 0 --sleep 1 --read 0", where "N" is the A24 VME base address. This requires firmware 0x01100810 or newer and the "fpga-reset" hardware modification.

• 0x01100810 - first revision of generic firmware

Manual

VME interface

Firmware 0x01100810 implements VME A24/D32 access only. A24 addresses 0x00N0xxxx are decoded, where "N" is the A24 base address set by rotary switch SW3 "ADDRESS 20-23". Rotary switches SW1 and SW2 should be set to "0".

VME accessible registers are listed in the table below. VME address offsets are register numbers multiplied by 4, i.e. CSR register 1 is at address 0x00N00004. Flash programmer register 8 is at 0x00N00020 (use this address with srunner_vme flash programmer).

Registers

Number	Name	Access	FwRev	Description
0	FwRev	RO		Firmware revision
1	CSR	RW		CSR Bits
2	NIM output	RW		NIM output control: bits 15..0: NIM outputs, 31..16: NIM output function control, see below
3	NIM input	R		bits 15..0: status of NIM inputs, bits 31..16: latched NIM inputs
		W		bits 15..0: reset latch for corresponding NIM inputs (0xFFFF resets latch for all 16 bits
4	example 1	RW		example 32-bit read-write register
5	example 2	RW	0x01100810	bits 15..0 control example scaledown, bits 31..16 control example delay, see NIM output function control
6	timestamp	R	0x01100810	on read, reads the timestamp clock and latches the 32 input scalers (causing scaler deadtime. FIXME!!!)
		W	0x01100810	on write, clears the 32 input scalers
7	LVDS input	RW		ECL/LVDS inputs, works same as register 3
8	Flash programmer	RW		controls the 0xABCD ASMI Flash programmer. For use with "srunner_vme".
9	TDC4	RW		experimental 4 channel TDC. on read, reads the TDC FIFO. on write, resets the TDC.
10	TSC control	RW	0x01100810	on write, resets the TSCs. Controls signal routing for the 4 TSC units: bits 0..4 select one of the 32 channels routed into TSC1, 5..10 for TSC2, and so forth.
11	unused
12, 13, 14, 15	TSC data	R	0x01100810	reads the TSC data fifo. Empty FIFO returns value 0.
16..31	NIM scalers	R		read the latched value of NIM input scalers
32..47	LVDS scalers	R		read the latched value of LVDS input scalers
47..64	unused

SOFTWARE

test_VMENIMIO32.exe

Command line switches:

• --addr 0x00N00000 - module A24 base address, N is the setting of rotary switch SW3 "ADDRESS 20-23"
• --read MMM - read register MMM, i.e. "--read 0" reads the firmware revision
• --write MMM VVV - write value VVV into register MMM, i.e. "--write 1 0" writes 0 to the CSR
• --readscalers - read the 32 input scalers, print scaler value, counting rate using the 20 MHz timestamp clock and counting rate using the computer clock.
• --pulsenim - pulse all NIM outputs
• --sleep SSS - sleep SSS seconds, i.e. "--sleep 1" sleeps for 1 second.

Board modifications

Rev0 modifications

• none

Rev1 modifications

• fpga-reset-mod

K.O.