Cronologic XTDC4 Manuel utilisateur

Revision 1.57 as of 2018-01-02

Firmware 2 (build 834), Driver v1.2.0

cronologic GmbH & Co. KG

Jahnstrae 49

60318 Frankfurt am Main

Germany

cronologic

xTDC4

User Guide

Contents

1 Introduction 1

1.1 Features ......................................... 1

2 Hardware 3

2.1 Installing the Board .................................. 3

2.2 xTDC4 Inputs and Connectors ............................ 3

2.2.1 Connectors ................................... 3

2.3 xTDC4 Functionality .................................. 5

2.3.1 Grouping and Events ............................. 5

2.4 Performing a ﬁrmware update ............................. 5

2.5 Calibrating the Carry-Chain TDC .......................... 6

3 Driver Programming API 9

3.1 Constants ........................................ 9

3.2 Initialization ...................................... 9

3.2.1 Structure xtdc4 init parameters ........................ 9

3.3 Status Information ................................... 11

3.3.1 Functions for Information Retrieval ...................... 11

3.3.2 Structure xtdc4 static info ........................... 11

3.3.3 Structure xtdc4 param info .......................... 12

3.3.4 Structure xtdc4 fast info ............................ 13

3.4 Conﬁguration ...................................... 13

3.4.1 Structure xtdc4 conﬁguration ......................... 13

3.4.2 Structure xtdc4 trigger ............................ 15

3.4.3 Structure xtdc4 tiger block .......................... 15

3.4.4 Structure xtdc4 channel ............................ 16

3.5 Run Time Control ................................... 17

3.6 Readout ......................................... 17

3.6.1 Input Structure xtdc4 read in ......................... 17

3.6.2 Input Structure xtdc4 read out ........................ 18

3.7 Packet Format ..................................... 18

3.7.1 Output Structure crono packet ........................ 18

4 C Example 21

5 Technical Data 25

5.1 TDC Characteristics .................................. 25

5.2 Electrical Characteristics ............................... 25

5.2.1 Oscillator .................................... 25

5.2.2 Environmental Conditions for Operation ................... 25

5.2.3 Environmental Conditions for Storage .................... 25

5.2.4 Power Supply .................................. 26

5.2.5 Inputs ...................................... 26

Contents

5.3 Information Required by DIN EN 61010-1 ...................... 26

5.3.1 Manufacturer .................................. 26

5.3.2 Intended Use and System Integration .................... 26

5.3.3 Cooling ..................................... 27

5.3.4 Environmental Conditions ........................... 27

5.3.5 Inputs ...................................... 27

5.3.6 Recycling .................................... 27

1 Introduction

The xTDC4 is a common-start time-to-digital converter. The timestamps of leading or trailing

edges of digital pulses are recorded. The xTDC4 produces a stream of output packets, each

containing data from a single start event, i.e. the relative timestamps of all stop pulses that

occur within the user deﬁned range.

1.1 Features



4 channel common start TDC with 8 ps resolution



Standard Range: 218 µs (24 bit timestamp)



Extended Range: 13,975 µs



Bin size: approx. 13 ps



Double pulse resolution: 5 ns



Dead time between groups: none



Maximum start rate: 4 MHz



L0 FIFO: 15 words/channel



L1 FIFO: 512 words/channel



L2 FIFO: 10000 words



PCIe 1.1 x1 with 200 MB/s throughput

2 Hardware

2.1 Installing the Board

The xTDC4 board can be installed in any x1 (or higher amount of lanes) PCIe slot. Make sure

the PC is powered oﬀ and the main power connector is disconnected while installing the board.

2.2 xTDC4 Inputs and Connectors

2.2.1 Connectors

The inputs of the xTDC4 are located on the PCIe bracket. Figure 2.3 on page 4shows the

location of the start input S and the four stop inputs A to D. Lemo-00 connectors are used for

Stop A-D Start

Figure 2.1: Input connectors of the xTDC4 located on the PCIe bracket.

Lemo 00 connector

dc-offset[i]

DAC

Figure 2.2: Input circuit for each of the ﬁve input channels.

input connection. The inputs are AC-coupled and have an impedance of 50Ω - a schematic of

the input circuit is shown in Figure 2.2 on page 3. The digital trigger threshold can be adjusted

Pin Name

1, 2 GND

3, 4 external CLK in N, external CLK in P

5, 6 GND

7, 8 reserved/NC

9, 10 GND

11, 12 reserved/NC

13, 14 GND

15, 16 reserved/NC

17, 18 GND

19, 20 reserved/NC

21, 22 GND

23, 24 reserved/NC

25, 26 GND

27, 28 reserved/NC

29, 30 GND

31, 32 reserved/NC

33, 34 GND

Table 2.1: Pinout of connector C2.

in order to comply with a manifold of single ended signal standards enabling the acquisition of

positive or negative pulses.

Figure 2.3: Schematic view of a xTDC4 board showing inter-board connectors C1 and C2.

Furthermore, three board interconnection connectors can be found at the top edge of the

board, as displayed in Figure 2.3 on page 4. Connector C1 (labelled J25 on the board) is

reserved for future use. The pinout of connector C2 (labelled J12 on the board) is given in

Table 2.1 and the pinout of connector C3 (labelled as J6 on the board) is depicted in Table 2.2.

cronologic GmbH & Co. KG 4 xTDC4 User Guide

Pin Name

1 +3.3 V

2 - 9 reserved/NC

10 GND

Table 2.2: Pinout of connector C3.

2.3 xTDC4 Functionality

The xTDC4 is a “classic” common start time-to-digital converter. It records the time diﬀerence

between leading or trailing edges on the start input and the stop inputs. Each stop channel A-D

can be enabled individually. The accuracy of the acquired timestamps is approx. 8 ps. The

timestamps are recorded in integer multiples of a bin size of 13.02083 ps (76.8 GHz). The data

acquisition can be limited to rising or falling signal transitions. Transitions of the input signals

are called hits. To reliably detect hits the signal has to be stable for at least 500 ps before and

after the edge. Between multiple hits on a stop channel a deadtime of approx. 5 ns occurs.

Within this deadtime further hits on the stop channel are reported with a coarse timestamp

only. The maximum trigger rate on the start channel is 4 MHz.

2.3.1 Grouping and Events

In typical applications a start hit is followed by a manifold of hits on e.g. a detector. The

hits recorded are managed in groups (which are called in some applications “events”). Figure

2.4 shows a corresponding timing diagram. The user can deﬁne the range of a group, i.e. the

time window within which hits on the stop channels are recorded, in software. Hits occurring

outside of that time window are discarded. The maximum recording range for a group is 218 µs.

Diﬀerent ranges can be set for each of the 4 stop channels by setting corresponding channel.start

and channel.stop values in the channel conﬁguration. The values need to be set as multiples of

13.02083 ps. A value of 768 corresponds, for example to a time of 10 ns.

Start

channel[i].start

channel[i].stop

Figure 2.4: Acquired hits are merged to groups as explained in the text.

2.4 Performing a ﬁrmware update

After installing the xTDC4 device driver, a ﬁrmware update tool is available. By choosing

“FirmwareGUI.exe” a ﬁrmware update can be performed. After invoking the application a

cronologic GmbH & Co. KG 5 xTDC4 User Guide

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