Photomultiplier Control Software for the Low-Energy - l
Contents
1. PmNr Id OnOff Voltage 0 0x06044000 0 999 98 1 0x06044000 1 999 98 2 0x06044000 0 999 98 pmtable dat file format This file stores information about the connected photomultipliers nr crate platine position 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 2 0 0 2 More information in Elv07 section 2 8 3 15 4 Appendix B Client Server communication 4 Appendix B Client Server communication Structure The communication between client and server follows this simple structure Port Number Number of Commands Command s 2 Bytes 1 Byte Specified by length times command length Commands The command can be any of these listed below Command Parameters Description 0 L Client connects to server use the L option to connect as logger 1 Client disconnects from server 11213 Sends command 1 sethv Command 2 switch Command 3 gethv Command The send command uses 1 as well Command TinyCAN command as described in 3 3 Shutdown the Server properly 4 Get all clients Similar to the Unix who command 5 L Tell Pm Configuration and assign a free port use L option to be assigned the logger port 9 Unknown command Please note that numbers are transferred as ASCII numbers meaning that for example the number 4 would be sent as ASCII code 0x34 16 4 Appendix B Client Server communic2. Check if the server is running Hit the connect button The connection should be established and the values should get refreshed automatically Set the voltages one by one or use the Main Voltage Box below the tabs to set all Voltages to the same value Hit the button The settings will be sent Wait until automatic refresh is done Now use either the All On button to switch all Photomultipliers on or flick the red switches individually to switch only single photomultipliers Use the Lock Menu to Lock the interface or press Ctrl L Save your settings via the File Menu Use the overview tab to check on all photomultipliers at once 10 1 Software 1 5 4 Menus File gt Open Open a settings psf file from disk File format in 3 on page 15 File gt Save Save a settings psf file to disk File gt Quit Juit the application Lock gt Lock Lock the user interface No Input can be made in this mode Lock gt Unlock Unlock the interface again Help gt About Display the about box 1 5 5 Controls There are several buttons at the interface bottom Connect Disconnect This is the most important button It opens and closes the connection to the server All on All off These buttons switch all photomultipliers on or off The button inserts all current values into the spinbox voltage edit boxes When the values have been set the button sends the new val
3. client to understand and save psf files e Enable the PmControl to shutdown the server New tab in the PmControl for UDP message output Fix Segmentation fault bug when closing PmControl Fix crash in PmControl when clicking Watch tab Notify PmControl of server shutdown Automated voltage setting based on energy histogram 13 References References Elv07 M Elvers Aufbau und Entwicklung eines Datenaufnahmesystems f r den Niederenergie Photonentagger NEPTUN Diploma Thesis Institute of Nuclear Physics Technische Universit t Darmstadt unpublished 2007 Dit03 P Ditchen Shell Skript Programmierung mitp 2003 Ker85 B Kernighan D Richie Programmieren in C Carl Hanser 1985 14 3 Appendix A Formats 3 Appendix A Formats TinyCAN command format The format for the TinyCAN module follows this general structure Command Length Data 4 Byte 1 Byte Specified by length The command is constructed from the position of the module it controls and the type of command Brakedown of the four bytes 1 2 3 4 Crate High Module Byte Low Module Byte Command byte Data starts at 06 starts at 04 starts at 04 00 OB Read switch status 0C Switch on off 00 FF Settings file format psf The Qt client saves the photomultiplier configuration in a settings file Usually the settings are saved with the current date as filename
4. Bastian Loher Photomultiplier Control Software for the Low Energy Photon Tagger NEPTUN User s Manual Mini Research Project Nuclear Physics Institute Technical University Darmstadt September 2007 Abstract This manual contains practical information on how to use the control software for the photomultipliers at the low energy photon tagger NEPTUN The software controls the photomultipliers voltage settings and provides diagnostic tools for easy supervision during beam time In parts the software is based on the work of Michael Elvers It is split into two major parts to provide convenient remote access to the photomultipliers The server part takes care of communication with the VME crate via a TinyCAN module while the client part offers either a console based or graphical user interface Client and Server communication is done via UDP protocol The graphical client is able to save the current voltage settings to disk and reload them on demand Contents Contents 1 Software o A A 1 2 PESE tucks o AA Ghat o A o At 2 LL IO CO tu o oe eed a A E 4 LADO rapid de e a i 123 Quirk Statt are A A gece e ES aT A 1 24 SODEIOBS ra A A A 125 RETAK EE A ES A NE al 13 1 tao EA ft aa aa a he a gs ba he A Gah e a ek o ems wes ak oon hohe ao tod want ce Gio est a ae Laa QuickStart ua pha G Wied wa Hoe SR oe BSG LSA COBROS ahs owe ee OM See Oe Be Se eH ae ee 13 5 Commands s ets ari man d a a Gh SE 13 6 Batchoernpts E
5. R AREA AE RE BR tdt dar 13 7 Remarks A Le Ba ee oh See a SO Sak Gave Uh i Se ap ik a hay Oe ob LA Pnloseer 4 2 u u Wa he Mion te Moe te A Ne y be TAG Introduction re a re VAT A a EA a eh oe Se 12 Quek Stait E AA AA A A A amp Hee Gad EALA Options us a E y EA 25 Remark cos prs tato wen rer en nee are con es o e sans O O IN Ble gl aA 1 5 1 Introduction A A Da NAO a and aye A e a es ee yo 159 QuickStart E SAA E AA a eee eo 194 Mens aa wa a a ee Ge at gS ie ek LoS a AA a ha Dee DORS 1 6 Error Messages and Troubleshooting 1 6 1 Server Messages ooa aa a 1 6 2 Client and logger Messages 2 22 2 nn nn 2 Future Development 3 Appendix A Formats 4 Appendix B Client Server communication 1 Software 1 Software 1 1 Introduction The software is split into four smaller applications PmServer takes part of crate client communication The PmClient module provides a console interface or works in batch mode PmLogger is a simple logging client and PmControl is the graphical user interface written in Qt version 4 1 2 PmServer 1 2 1 Introduction This is the main server application for controlling the NEPTUN Tagger photo multipliers It receives commands via UDP from its clients and dispatches them through the TinyCAN module to the crate It also recieves messages from the TinyCAN module and broadcasts them to the clients The server must be run ning if clients want to connect to it The reason why
6. ads the photomultiplier settings from the TinyCAN Module Returns voltage currents and threshold values send lt command gt Sends the command as is directly to the CAN Module sethv lt voltage gt lt pmnr gt Sets the voltage of photomultiplier pmnr to given voltage If no photomul tiplier is specified the voltage will be applied to all photomultipliers 1 Software switch lt onloff gt Switches the photomultipliers on or off If no argument is given switch defaults to off 1 3 6 Batch Scripts In the same directory as the client executable exist several batch files named pmx These scripts can be run directly from the command line and execute a server command according to their name For example pmgethv will connect to the server and get the current photomul tiplier settings This is equal to running pmclient typing the command gethv on the command line and quitting the client 1 3 7 Remarks The maximum number of clients that can connect to the same server is limited to 20 This should be enough for most applications All clients receive all output that originates from the TinyCAN module This way all clients will also receive error messages 1 4 PmLogger 1 4 1 Introduction This is the logger client application logging any activity at the NEPTUN Tagger photomultipliers When run it starts the logging process that connects via UDP protocol to the server The server should be running and its IP address an
7. allange 1 have learned alot during those few weeks I also thank Angelo Calci for initially mentioning my name in the Zilges group which got it all started Kay Lindenberg has always been there to give helpful answers to all questions I might have had regarding Linux the Network or anything else Thank you Also thanks to Linda Schnorrenberger for asking questions from somewhere on the left More thanks go out to the rest of the Zilges group which have been very nice and kind to me providing a very comfortable working environment Thanks 18
8. ation Example This example command requests that the photomultiplier number 5 should be set to a voltage of 500V Console command pmsethv 500 5 Server command 0xC3550132310604404103066666 Details Ox This is a HEX number C355 Port number 50005 01 One command only 32 Send a command 31 Sethv 0644041 ID for the first board 0x44 and sethv command 03 Length of command Data 06 Channel of Photomultiplier Channel 06 means position 5 66 High voltage byte 66 Low voltage byte Voltage value calculation The server can set the voltage value in a range from 0 to 1250V The TinyCAN module only understands values in the range from 0 to 65535 Thus the input value 500V in the above example must be mapped to a different output value via this simple formula 65536 U er 1 1250 3Correct implementation would require another number for the send command but it is not necessary for the server to function correctly It just can not distinguish between send commands and sethv commands 4 This command is useless at first glance but it can be used if unknown commands should be logged or exploited to test server connection without actually doing anything 17 4 Appendix B Client Server communication Acknowledgements I want to thank Michael Elvers for his exceptionally helpful ideas and remarks for his engagement to help me with this project and of course for giving me this ch
9. ber to avoid this warning Warning pmnr xx already defined omitting line The number is already defined in the file To avoid ambiguities this line will be omitted Delete the line to avoid the warning Warning position xx is invalid omitting line The position is invalid Only positions in the range 0 to 7 are valid Change the setting to avoid this message 12 2 Future Development Unable to initialize can errorcode xx The can module could not be initialized Unplug the USB cable and recon nect it This should solve the problem Unable to open can devicenumber xx errorcode xx The can device can not be opened Try reconnecting it If this does not help restart the computer This message can also occur when the server is already started Server already running This message occurs when the server is already running or has not been quit properly Use the pmks command or the Ctrl C key sequence to quit the server properly Using Ctr1 C can be unsafe so be careful If the message still occurs delete the lock file located in tmp pmserver_lock This should solve the problem 1 6 2 Client and logger Messages Bind failed This message occurs when either the server is having troubles or when the client tries to use the same port as another one Quit your current client and try again If this fails restart the server and try again 2 Future Development Some ideas for future development of the software e Enable the console
10. d listen port should be known Upon start the logger will read the server configuration and output all messages the server sends to its logger port The logger port is defined as the Maximum port in the server port range Check server output for details 1 4 2 Syntax Use this command to directly start the logger logger a address p port there is no starting script 2The asynchronous nature of the communication requires this measure 1 Software 1 4 3 Quick Start 1 The default port number is 50000 and the default IP is 127 0 0 1 which is the local loopback address Make sure you know your server IP and port Usually the logger is running on the same machine as the server but this is not necessary 2 Make sure the server is running To do this either you know that the server is running or ssh to the server machine and ps e grep server to see if a server process is active 3 Type the command logger to start logging Use the p option to specify a port number For example type logger p 3666 4 If the logger does not start read the error message carefully and check the section Errors 1 6 2 1 4 4 Options The command logger starts the program It has two options a Specify a custom IP address that the logger will use for connecting to the server Default is 127 0 0 1 the local loopback address p Specifies the UDP port number that the logger will connect to The port should be a free system port in the ra
11. nge from 1024 to 65535 The server s response will come through the next higher port The default port number is 50000 so in this case the response comes through 50001 1 4 5 Remarks You can start the logger and write the logging output directly to a logfile using this command logger gt gt logfile 2 gt gt 1 This way the logger output is appended to the file Dit03 1 5 PmControl 1 5 1 Introduction PmControl is the graphical user interface for controlling the photomultipliers Note that this program must be started from the command line The graphi cal user interface provides almost all functionality that the command line tools 1 Software client and pm have The Photomultipliers properties like Voltage Currents and Threshold value can be checked The photomultipliers can be switched on and off and their voltage can be changed either one by one or simultaneously The interface can be locked to avoid accidental user input All settings can be saved to settings psf files and can also be restored from those files Use the Quick Start info below to get started with the program or use the really small built in help not recommended 1 5 2 Syntax On the command line type pmcontrol 1 5 3 Quick Start 1 2 10 Open up the program window pmcontrol Go to the options tab and check that the settings are correct If not then change the settings according to your server settings
12. server or the photomultipliers If the b option was set then only one batch command will be executed and the client will close automatically afterwards 1 Software 1 3 2 Syntax Use this command to directly start the client client a address p port b command values or call the script this way pmclient 1 3 3 Quick Start 1 Make sure that the files remoteport and remoteip exist in the same di rectory as the client executable If this is not the case create simple text files and name them In the first line of the respective files enter the UDP port the server uses or the IP number of the machine the server is running on The default port number is 50000 and the default IP is 127 0 0 1 which is the local loopback address 2 Make sure the server is running To do this either you know that the server is running or ssh to the server machine and ps e grep server to see if a server process is active 3 Type the command pmclient to call the starting script The client will now try to start and connect to the server If the client starts successfully then you should be presented with a command line Here you can enter any of the commands described below 1 3 5 4 If the client does not start read the error message carefully and check the section Errors 1 6 2 1 3 4 Options The command client starts the client It has several options a Specify a custom IP address that the client will use for connecting
13. to the server Default is 127 0 0 1 the local loopback address b Specify the command that the client should execute directly on startup In this mode the client will terminate after receiving a response The response will go to standard output Check the list below 1 3 5 to learn the various commands p Specifies the UDP port number that the client will connect to The port should be a free system port in the range from 1024 to 65535 The server s response 1 Software will come through the next higher port The default port number is 50000 so in this case the response comes through 50001 values Values are only necessary if using batch mode These values will be used in conjunction with the supplied batch command Check the list below for the correct syntax 1 3 5 Commands Client Control rm lt portNumber gt Unregisters a dead client with the portNumber given quit q Unregisters the current client and quits the console Server Control config Reads the photomultiplier configuration from the server and prints it out The server checks if the pmtables dat file has changed and updates its data beforehand killserver ks Remotely quit the server The connection to the TinyCAN module will be closed properly and the lockfile will be deleted All clients must then be terminated manually using the quit command who Prints all the connected clients as stored in the server memory Photomultiplier Control gethv Re
14. ues to the server Refresh Refreshes all values The on off state is updated as well Set Press this button to assign the value in the Main Voltage Box to all photo multipliers This is useful for setting a common level before finetuning the individual voltages 11 1 Software Each photomultiplier has individual controls On Off Switches this photomultiplier on and off instantaneously Grabs the current voltage and fills the edit box while sends the value in the edit box to the server Progress bars The progress bars display from left to right the currently set voltage in V the photomultiplier threshold and the positive and negative currents 1 6 Error Messages and Troubleshooting This section covers most of the error messages the applications can produce and shows how to handle them 1 6 1 Server Messages Unable to open pmtable dat The file pmtable dat could not be found Either the file does not exist or the server application has no permission to read it Refer to 3 for details on the file structure This error may also occur during runtime The best solution in this case is to restart the server and all clients This error has not yet been resolved Warning no other cratenumber than 0 supported omitting line Only one crate is supported so far Warning pmnr xx is invalid omitting line The photomultiplier number in this line is not valid The valid range is 0 to 127 Chose a valid num
15. we have a server in the middle and do not send any commands directly to the module is the fact that the module cannot handle large amounts of commands in quick succession The server s main purpose is to moderate the TinyCAN input and output and also provide some environmental amenities for the client user 1 2 2 Syntax Use this command to directly start the server server p port or call the script this way pmserver 1 2 3 Quick Start 1 Make sure that the file remoteport exists in the same directory as the server executable If this is not the case create a simple text file and name it remoteport In the first line enter the UDP port the server should use The default port number is 50000 The Qt framework provides easy to use and platform independent classes for programmers 1 Software 2 Type the command pmserver to call the starting script The server will now try to start If the server starts successfully then proceed to the client Quick Start in section 1 3 on page 5 3 If the server does not start read the error message carefully and check the section Errors 1 6 1 1 2 4 Options The command server starts the server It has only one option p Specifies the UDP port number that the server will listen to The port should be a free system port in the range from 1024 to 65535 The clients must then connect to that port for the handshake process to take place The server s response will come through the ne
16. xt higher port The client should listen there During handshake the client will receive its own port number out of the server port range Check server output for further communication Example Default port number is 50000 so in this case the response comes through 50001 The first connecting client will then be assigned the first free port number in the port range which is 50005 1 2 5 Remarks It is useful to also start the logger client after starting the server This will log all output to a file Check the PmLogger section 1 4 page 8 for details The server can only be started once If one instance of the server is already running any attempt to start another one will result in an error message Quitting the server can in some cases leave the voltage turned on Please make sure to always use the pmks command to quit the server You can verify a proper server shutdown by checking that the LEDs 5V green and 24V yellow are switched off These LEDs can be found on the photomultiplier crate front panel 1 3 PmClient 1 3 1 Introduction This is the main client application for controlling the NEPTUN Tagger photo multipliers When run it starts the client that connects via UDP protocol to the server The server should be running and its IP address and listen port should be known Upon start the client will read the server configuration and provide the user with a console based interface The user may then enter commands to control the
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