caen812configfile

Name

caen812configfile -- Format of configuration files for CAENV 812 software.

Synopsis

Variables:

  • Name

  • ModuleBase

  • Crate

  • Thresholds(i)

  • WidthLow

  • WidthHigh

  • DeadTimeLow

  • DeadTimeHIgh

  • Majority

  • mask_arr(i)

DESCRIPTION

This manpage describes the format of the configuration files used by packaged CAEN V812 contant fraction discriminator control software. The purpose of a configuration file is to describe how to connect to and identify a module and optionally, to provide a set of values to load into the module.

CFD configuration files are Tcl scripts. Refer to the Tcl man pages for more information about the syntax of Tcl scripts, or get a book like: Practical Programming in Tcl and Tk by K.B. Welch, K. Jones and J. Hobbs. The Tcl configuration files set a bunch of variables. Each variable controls some aspect of the configuration. See the sections below for information about each type of variable.

CONFIGURATION AND IDENTIFICATION VARIABLES

These variables describe the device in such a way that the software can connect to it and control it. These variables also provide an identification of the module.

Name

This variable is required. It contains a human readable name for the module that is by the software to identify the module.

ModuleBase

This variable is required. It contains the base address of the module

Crate

This variable is optional. If provided it supplies the number of the VME crate that the module is plugged into. If not supplied, this defaults to 0 which is sufficient for most single VME crate systems.

DEVICE SETTINGS VARIABLES

Device settings allow a configuration file to specify the settings of the device. All of these variables are optional. If a variable is not present, the default is to not modify the corresponding device control parameter.

Thresholds(i)

The Tresholds variable is an array with indices in the range 0 through 15 inclusive. Each element of the array corresponds to the threshold of a channel of the discriminator. Element 0 for channel 0 and so on. Threshold values must be in the range -1 through -255 inclusive. These represent the threshold in mV.

WidthLow

Specifies the width value of the low bank of channels (channels 0-7). The width value is an arbitrary number in the range 0..255 inclusive and is not linearly related to a physical width. See the CAEN V812 manual for more information about this.

WidthHigh

Specifies the width value of the high bank of channels (channels 8-15).

DeadTimeLow

Specifies the deadtime value of the low bank of channels. The deadtime is an arbitrary value between 0 and 255 inclusive and is not linearly related to a physical deadtime.

DeadTimeHigh

Specifies the deadtime value of the high bank of channels.

Majority

Specifies the majority logic threshold.

mask_arr(i)

Specifies the enables mask. This array has element indices that run from 0..through 15 inclu- sive. Each element of the array is non-zero to enable the corresponding channel and zero to disable it.

EXAMPLE

Example 1. Sample configuration file


              # CFD configuration file written Fri Dec 05 12:23:05 EST 2003
              set Name "NSCL_CFD"
              set ModuleBase 0xc20000
              set Crate      0
              set Thresholds(0) -20
              set Thresholds(1) -20
              set Thresholds(2) -20
              set Thresholds(3) -20
              set Thresholds(4) -20
              set Thresholds(5) -255
              set Thresholds(6) -255
              set Thresholds(7) -255
              set Thresholds(8) -20
              set Thresholds(9) -20
              set Thresholds(10) -20
              set Thresholds(11) -20
              set Thresholds(12) -255
              set Thresholds(13) -255
              set Thresholds(14) -255
              set Thresholds(15) -255
              set WidthLow  128
              set WidthHigh 158
              set DeadTimeLow  200
              set DeadTimeHigh 200
              set Majority  2
              set mask_arr(0) 1
              set mask_arr(1) 1
              set mask_arr(2) 1
              set mask_arr(3) 1
              set mask_arr(4) 1
              set mask_arr(5) 1
              set mask_arr(6) 1
              set mask_arr(7) 1
              set mask_arr(8) 1
              set mask_arr(9) 1
              set mask_arr(10) 1
              set mask_arr(11) 1
              set mask_arr(12) 1
              set mask_arr(13) 1
              set mask_arr(14) 1
              set mask_arr(15) 1
        

SEE ALSO

caenv812control(1tcl), loadcfd(1tcl)