Contact

Dr. Roland Beyer

Beam line scientist, radiation protection officer FWK
Nuclear Physics
roland.beyer@hzdr.de
Phone: +49 351 260 3281

Data Acquisition Manual: How to run Neutron Time of Flight Measurements at nELBE

- Inelastic Scattering Experiment to measure Photon Production Cross Sections -

(previous version up to Oct. 2016)

DAQ preparations:

To run neutron inelastic scattering measurement you first have to do some preparations:

1. Switch on the electronics:  
  switch on
NIM crates 1 and 2 in rack 1
VME and NIM crate in rack 2
NIM crate 2 and Acc.Ref.Signal in rack 3
(see here)
2. Switch on the detectors:  
  login to FWK21 (HV control PC) rdesktop -g 1240x900 -a 16 -k de fwk21
user name: ntofdaq
password: **********
  switch on the detectors you want to use (cf. cabeling scheme) start "isegCANHVControl" via desktop shortcut
  use Ortec 660 voltage supplies in NIM crate 2 of rack 3 to switch on HPGe detectors (see here)
3. Start MBS (2x):
 
  login to RIO4-1 for LaBr3 DAQ and to RIO4-2 for HPGe DAQ
telnet rio4-1 telnet rio4-2

user name: ntofdaq
password: ***********

  go to working directory
cd mbsrun/nng_labr/ cd mbsrun/nng_hpge/
  start MBS prompter mbs
  initialise MBS @start
4. Set MBS initialisation parameters:  
  login to FWKDAQ1 (in another terminal window) ssh -X ntofdaq@fwkdaq1
password: ***********
  go to working directory
cd mbsrun/nng_labr cd mbsrun/nng_hpge
  open setup.ini for text editing
if you want to do some special settings
xemacs setup.ini &
  or open setup_short.ini for text editing
if you want to change only the important special settings
xemacs setup_short.ini &
5. Start scaler output program (2x):  
  login to RIO4-1 for LaBr3 DAQ and to RIO4-2 for HPGe DAQ
telnet rio4-1 telnet rio4-2

user name: ntofdaq
password: ***********

  start shm2file (if doesn't work do a "sta acq"-"stop acq" in MBS first) ./shm2file
6. Open MBS monitoring windows (2x):  
  login to FWKDAQ1 (in another terminal window) ssh -X ntofdaq@fwkdaq1
password: ***********
  go to working directory
cd mbsrun/nng_labr cd mbsrun/nng_hpge
  open mbsprint.l and mbs_scaler.l for monitoring
(each in its own terminal window)
tail -f mbsprint.l
tail -f mbs_scaler.l
7. Start RFIO server and client:  
  login to ZIRKONIA ssh -X ntofdaq@zirkonia
password: ***********
  go to directory rawDispRFIO output cd rawDispRFIO
  start RFIO dispatcher rawDispRFIO
  In MBS:
connect to RFIO Server (2x)

connect rfio zirkonia -disk
8. Start monitor DAQ and monitoring windwos for ELBE Operators:  
  see Monitor DAQ manual  
     

Running the DAQ:

Now the measurement can be started. This has to be done in the MBS prompter (prm):

  in MBS
2. open list mode file open file size=900 -auto -rfio
if it is the first file enter:
open file /net/gpfs/data/fwkk/ntofdaq/lmd/filename_.lmd first=1 size=900 -auto -rfio
 
  • note down name of first file
3. start acquisition sta acq
 
  • note down start time given in mbsprint.l
4. wait 2h ...
5. stop acquisition stop acq
 
  • note down stop time and live and dead time given at the end of mbsprint.l
6. close list mode file close file
 
  • note down name of last file

If any problem occurs:

Problem Solution
  • if monitor DAQ frozen
  • stop acq
  • sta acq
  • if this doesn't work, restart shm2file:
    • ctrl + c
    • ./shm2file
  • if this doesn't work try "DAQ is frozen"
  • the RIO freezes or shuts down
  • goto measurement hut 250 and switch of VME crate of rack 2 (see here)
  • wait shortly and switch them on again
  • perform points 3., 5. and 7.
  • MBS message:
    "<ERROR>: number of events in TDC and ADC doesn't match ..."
  • can be ignored
  • LEA message:
    "<ERROR>: Value out of bounds of TRGTIME ..."
  • can be ignored
  • DAQ is frozen
1. leave MBS CTRL+C
2. reset RIO resl (2x)
3. restart MBS mbs
4. restart measurement perform last steps of 3. and 7.
  • any other problem related to data acquisition, electronics or detectors
  • call Roland Beyer
  • any other problem related to Pb loop operation
  • call Arnd Junghans or Mike Görler