Contact

Dr. Roland Beyer

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

Dr. Ronald Schwengner

Staff scientist
Nuclear Physics
r.schwengnerAthzdr.de
Phone: +49 351 260 3332

Data Acquisition Manual: How to run Nuclear Resonance Fluorescence Measurements at γELBE

- NRF DAQ -

DAQ preparations:

To run the NRF DAQ you have to do some preparations:

     
1. Start MBS:  
  login to RIO3-3: ssh rio3-3
user name: nrfdaq
password: ***********
  go to working directory cd mbsrun/nrfexp/NRF
  start MBS prompter mbs
  initialise MBS @start
     
2. Start OPC interface program:
 
  login to RIO3-3 (in another terminal window) ssh rio3-3
user name: nrfdaq
password: ***********
  go to working directory cd mbsrun/nrfexp/NRF
  start "shared memory to file" task ./shm2file
     
  login to fwkdaq1 (in another terminal window) ssh nrfdaq@fwkdaq1
password: ***********
  go to working directory cd mbsrun/nrfexp/NRF/OPCUA2file
  start "file to OPC server" task ./OPCUA2file
     
3. Start rawDispRFIO server and client:  
  login to Zirkonia (in another terminal window) ssh -X nrfdaq@zirkonia
password: ***********
  go to data directory cd /data2/nrfdaq/XXX
  start rawDispRFIO server rawDispRFIO
  In MBS:  
  connect to RFIO server connect rfio zirkonia -disk
     
4. Start LEA:  
  login to ZIRKONIA ssh -X nrfdaq@zirkonia
password: ***********
  go to working directory cd lea/nrfexp/XXX
  set system variables source lealogin
  start LEA lea -pro pas -men
  choose right settings Source: MBS samples
Input file/node: rio3-3
     
5. Start MC2:
 
  login to FWK198 fwk198
  start MC2  
     

Running the DAQ:

Note: "XXX" denotes the current experiment (e.g. "115In") and "00xx" the current run number.

in LEA   in MBS  
clear histograms Histograms -> Clear -> Clear*    
start analysis click Analyze events    
    open list mode file open file size=900 -auto -rfio
if it is the first file enter:
open file /data2/nrfdaq/XXX/filename_.lmd first=1 size=900 -auto -rfio
    start acquisition  sta acq
    wait 3 hours
...
    stop acquisition  stop acq
    close list mode file  close file
dump histograms Histograms -> Dump/Restore -> Dump
small window opens:
Hist: *
Press ENTER
File pref: XXX_00xx
(current number)
Press ENTER
Dump
Quit
(press "Quit" button, do not klick on X)
   
save database Data base -> Save new
/home/nrfdaq/lea/nrfdaq/XXX/XXX_00xx.bas
   

in MC2    
in Windows Explorer

Create a new directory XXX-00xx
(Right click -> "Neuer Ordner" in Z:\XXX\)
 
in MC2 windows Change directory name to XXX-00xx
Change file name to XXX-00xx
Press "Apply" button
Reset spectra (Column "R" in the detector list)
Start acquisition (green arrow in the top command line)
 
wait 3 hours ...  
in MC2 windows Stop acquisition (red square in the top command line)
 
     

If any problem occurs:

Problem Solution
  • rawDispRFIO server cannot be started
    • message "Address already in use"
  • start rawDispRFIO at another port
    • use command "rawDispRFIO 1320" (or different port number) to start server
    • and "connect rfio zirkonia:1320 -disk" to connect to server
  • opening of new lmd file fails
  • check if enough disk space is left on zirkonia
    • "df -h" should show some GByte for /hdd1
    • if not: move some files to network drives (e.g. /net/cns/projects/astro/nuclei/XXX)
  • or enable write access to lmd directoy for all
    (because rawDispRFIO server was started by different user)
    • cd /data2/nrfdaq
    • chmod a+w XXX
  • logbook table got completely filled
  • LEA histogram dump window doesn't pop up
  • use command history (upper left part of "LEA Anylysis Control" window
    • click on last "dump histogram ..." command
    • change file name in "LEA>" prompt and press ENTER
  • DAQ crashes or frozen
  • stop acq
  • @stop
  • exit (if it does n't work: CTRL + C)
  • resl (2x)
  • mbs
  • @start
  • if there is a message saying something about zombies (repeat maybe several times):
    • stop task -zombie
    • @stop
    • exit
    • resl (2x)
    • mbs
    • @start
  • sta acq
  • RIO disconnects
    • message "connection closed by foreign host" in MBS terminal window
  • reconnect to RIO (Setup step 1.) without "@start"
    • if mbs is still running, no MBS messages will appear (i.e. connection to RIO was lost)
      • stop measurement regularly ("stop acq" and "close file")
      • run procedure for error "DAQ crashes" (see above)
    • if mbs is not running, usual MBS messages will appear (i.e. RIO rebooted)
      • @start
      • sta acq
  • restart scaler readout program (Setup step 2.)
  • reconnect to rawDispRFIO server (Setup step 3., last point)
  • RIO freezes or shuts down
  • switch of VME crate
    • by going to electronics container
  • wait shortly and switch iton again
  • perform restart (see "RIO disconnects")
  • any other problem related to data acquisition, electronics or detectors
  • call Ronald Schwengner or Roland Beyer