The nELBE (n,tot) automatic absorber changer - FPGA 2

The absorber changing in neutron transmission measurements is realized by means of a FPGA logic based on the CAEN V1495 General Purpose Board. We developed a firmware for the "User FPGA" of this module that contains all logic functions needed for a proper operation.

The module processes 5 input signals and releases 7 output signals. The meaning of these signals is shown below. All parameters needed by the logical functions can be modified via VME write access to the corresponding register. The register Address Map is also shown below.

The logic schema is shown in the picture below. The input signals are output signals of the absorber control box that is connected to the lead loop control electronics. The status of these inputs is permanently converted into the 5 lowest bits of the absorber status register.
5 output channels that are connected to the inputs of the absorber control box are used to change the absorber position. By setting bit 0 of the control register to 1 the content of the five lowest bits of the absorber set register is converted to logical signals. Depending on which one of these five bits was set to 1, the corresponding absorber position will be reached.

Two clocks are derived from the internal 40 MHz clock of the FPGA board: a 25 kHz clock and a 1 Hz one. The 25 kHz clock (i.e. 40 micro second period) is used if the continuous storage mode of the TDC is active to monitor the 12 bit TDC clock overflow. The 1 Hz clock is used to time the next absorber change. A trigger signal is generated, when a given number of seconds (defined by the absorber time register) past by.

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Inputs:

Port : Channel

Signal

Used for

A
(ECL or LVDS)

0 not used  
... ...  
31 not used  

B
(ECL or LVDS)

0 not used  
... ...  
31 not used  

D
(NIM)

0 Absorber 1
read absorber position
1 Absorber 2 read absorber position
2 Absorber 3
 read absorber position
3 Absorber 4  read absorber position
4 Absorber 5
 read absorber position
5 not used  
6 not used  
7 not used  



Outputs:

Port : Channel

Signal

Used for

E

(NIM)

0 Absorber 1
set absorber position
1 Absorber 2 set absorber position
2 Absorber 3 set absorber position
3 Absorber 4 set absorber position
4 Absorber 5 set absorber position
5 not used  
6 not used  
7 usec clock TDC in 14
F

(ECL)

0 abs_time_reached T4
1 usec_clock Scaler input 20
2 not used  
...    
7 not used  
8 sec_clock_long  
9 LCLK  
10 mod_enable  
11 count_enable  
12 usec_clock_long  
13 not used  
... ...  
31 not used  
G

(NIM)

0 abs_stat_global  
1 abs_set_global  



Address-Map of User Firmware

(all standard registers with address above BASE + 0x7ffc are still available):

Address

BASE +

Register / Content

Data Access

Default Value

Bit range

comment

0x1018 A Mask D32 R/W 0xFFFFFFFF 31 ... 0 enables channels A:31..00 bit = 0: channel disabled
bit = 1: channel enabled
0x101C B Mask D32 R/W 0xFFFFFFFF 31 ... 0 enables channels B:31..00
0x1020 C Mask D32 R/W 0xFFFFFFFF 31 ... 0 enables channels C:31..00
0x1024 D Mask D32 R/W 0xFFFFFFFF 31 ... 0 enables channels D:31..00
0x1028 E Mask D32 R/W 0xFFFFFFFF 31 ... 0 enables channels E:31..00
0x102C F Mask D32 R/W 0xFFFFFFFF 31 ... 0 enables channels F:31..00
0x1030 ID Mezzanine D D32 R   2 ... 0 Port D bit 2..0: type of mezzanine board:
b000: A395A
b001: A395B
b010: A395C
b011: A395D
0x1034 ID Mezzanine E D32 R   2 ... 0 Port E
0x1038 ID Mezzanine F D32 R   2 ... 0 Port F
0x1100 User FPGA firmware revision D32 R   15 ... 0
bit 15..12: setup ID (0 = inel., 1 = transm.)
bit 11..8: major revision no.
bit 7..0: minor revision no.
0x1104 Scratch register D32 R/W 0xDEADBEEF 31 ... 0  
0x1108 LED control D32 R/W 0 8, 1, 0
bit 8: 0 = FPGA controled, 1 = user controled
bit 1: 0 = off, 1 = green
bit 0: 0 = off, 1 = red
0x110C GEO address D32 R/W 0 4 ... 0  
0x1200 absorber change time     0 31 ... 0 in units of seconds
0x1204 absober control register D32 R/W 0 1, 0
bit 1: 0 = disable and reset change time counter
  1 = start change time counter
bit 0: 1 = copy absorber set register to output ports
0x1208 absorber status D32 R 0 8 ... 0
bit 8: 1 = absorber change time reched
bit 7..0: current absorber position
0x120C absorber set D32 R/W 0 7 ... 0  

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Contact

Dr. Roland Beyer

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


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(1) https://www.hzdr.de/db/Cms?pOid=39608