mesytec-mcpd - User space driver library for the Mesytec PSD+ system.

• Installation
• MCPD-8_v1 setup
  • Setup steps
• MCPD-8_v2 setup
  • DHCP
  • Manual ARP entry setup
• Using the libraries C++ interface
  • CMakeLists.txt
  • mcpd-example.cc
  • Non-CMake library usage
  • Library Usage
• Using the mcpd-cli command line tool
  • Minimal DAQ setup using one MCPD-8 with two MPSD-8+ modules
    • Initialization
    • Readout Process and DAQ controls
    • Listfile replay

Installation

The libraries source code is available on github: https://github.com/flueke/mesytec-mcpd

Building requires a recent version of cmake and a modern c++ compiler (c++14 support required).

The only (optional) external dependency is the ROOT framework. If ROOT is found (using $ROOTSYS) the mcpd-cli tool can create ROOT histograms from received readout data.

Build steps:

     git clone https://github.com/flueke/mesytec-mcpd
     mkdir mesytec-mcpd/build
     cd mesytec-mcpd/build
     cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release ..
     make install

The above commands will build and install both the mesytec-mcpd library and the mcpd-cli command line tool. You can add -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=$HOME/local/mesytec-mcpd to the cmake command line to change the installation path. Then use:

     export CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH=$HOME/local/mesytec-mcpd

so that cmake will be able to locate the installed library.

MCPD-8_v1 setup

Note MCPD-8_v1 modules are the older variant released before 2022. The Ethernet connector is located on the front panel of the module.

Each MCPD-8_v1 in a setup needs a unique IP-address and ID. The default IP-address is 192.168.168.121, the default ID is 0. These defaults can be restored by pressing the reset button on the CPU board inside the MCPD NIM case.

The steps below assume that your local network is 10.11.12.0/255.255.255.0 and your machines IP-address in the local network is 10.11.12.1.

Setup steps

1. Set your PCs network card to 192.168.168.1/255.255.255.0.

2. Connect MCPD-8 directly to your PCs network card.

3. Verify connectivity:

   • ping 192.168.168.121 should see a response from the MCPD-8.
   • mcpd-cli version should be able to connect and read the CPU and FPGA firmware versions.

4. Use mcpd-cli to set a new IP-address and ID for the MCPD-8:

        mcpd-cli setup 10.11.12.100 0

The command sets the address to 10.11.12.100 and the MCPD-ID to 0.

Note that you will not get a response from the MCPD as it immediately uses its new IP-address which is on a different subnet.

5. Repeat the above steps for any additional MCPD-8 modules you want to use (connect the modules one by one). Choose unique IP-addresses and IDs for each module, e.g.:

       mcpd-cli setup 10.11.12.101 1
       mcpd-cli setup 10.11.12.102 2

6. Change your network card back to your local network: 10.11.12.1/255.255.255.0.

   You should now be able to reach the MCPD using the address set in step 4:

        ping 10.11.12.100

7. After moving the MCPD from its default network to your local network the data destination IP address has to be set once more as the MCPD still has the previous data destination MAC-Address stored. Use the following to update the data destination MAC address:

        mcpd-cli --address=10.11.12.100 setup 10.11.12.100 0

This leaves the MCPD address and ID unchanged and sets the data destination address to the source computers address.

8. Repeat the above steps for any additional MCPD-8 modules using their respective IP-addresses and IDs.

Note: Alternatively instead of changing your networks IP-address to reach the modules you could instead add static ARP entries using the MAC address printed on a sticker on the CPU board inside the MCPD-8 NIM case.

The initial setup is done. You should be able to communicate with the MCPD-8 modules using their newly assigned IP-addresses. The changes made are permanently stored in the flash memory of each module. Defaults can be restored by pressing the reset button on the CPU board inside the MCPD NIM housing.

MCPD-8_v2 setup

Note MCPD-8_v2 modules are the newer variant released in 2022. The Ethernet connector is located on the back panel of the module.

The MCPD-8_v2 internals are very different from the older version: there is no flash to permanently store networking settings. Instead the DHCP protocol is used to automatically configure the IP-address and setup a hostname for the module. Alternatively, if DHCP is not available, a static ARP entry can be used to establish communication with the module.

DHCP

MCPD-8_v2 will request an IPv4-Address and a hostname via DHCP after powerup. The requested hostname is based on the serial number of the module: mcpd-NNNN where NNNN is the serial number displayed near the Ethernet port of the MCPD-8.

After the DHCP phase the module should be reachable via its hostname using the mcpd-cli command line tool: mcpd-cli --address mcpd-0012 version attempts to connect to MCPD-8_v2 with serial 0012 and read out the firmware version.

The hostname/nslookup and ping tools can also be used to verify that DHCP is working and the module can be reached.

Manual ARP entry setup

In case DHCP with hostname assignment should not or cannot be used an alternative approach is to manually associate the MAC-address of the MCPD-8 with an IP-address.

The MAC address is shown near the Ethernet port of the MCPD-8. It has the form 04:85:46:d4:NN:NN where NNNN is the last part of the modules serial number.

With the MAC-address at hand an IPv4-address to MAC-address mapping in the operating systems ARP table can be created. This step is specific to the operating system and will require root/admin permissions. The below examples associate the IP-address 192.168.100.42 with the controllers MAC-address. You have to change the IP-address to match your local network setup, otherwise the operating system does not know how to reach the controller.

• Linux

  arp -s 192.168.100.42 04:85:46:d4:00:12

  To make the entry permanent (at least on debian and ubuntu systems) the file /etc/ethers can be used. Add a line like this to the file:

  04:85:46:d4:00:12 192.168.100.42

• Windows

  Open a cmd.exe prompt with Administrator permissions and use the following command to create the ARP entry:

  arp -s 192.168.100.42 04-85-46-d4-00-12

To verify connectivity the mcpd-cli tool can be used: mcpd-cli --address 192.168.100.42 version prints the firmware revision of the MCPD-8.

Using the libraries C++ interface

A minimal CMake example project can be found under extras/cmake-example. This can serve as the basis for custom code. The example should work as long as CMake is able to locate the installed mesytec-mcpd library. If using a non-standard installation path you have to tell CMake about it:

export CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH=$HOME/local/mesytec-mcpd

CMakeLists.txt

cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.12)
project(mesytec-mcpd-cmake-example)

find_package(mesytec-mcpd REQUIRED)

add_executable(mcpd-example mcpd-example.cc)
target_link_libraries(mcpd-example PRIVATE mesytec-mcpd::mesytec-mcpd)

mcpd-example.cc

The example program below connects to a MCPD and attempts to read out the CPU and FPGA version information.

#include <iostream>
#include <mesytec-mcpd/mesytec-mcpd.h>

using namespace mesytec::mcpd;
using std::cout;
using std::cerr;
using std::endl;

int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
    std::error_code ec = {};

    int mcpdCommandSocket = connect_udp_socket("192.168.168.121", McpdDefaultPort, &ec);

    if (ec)
    {
        cerr << "Error connecting to mcpd: " << ec.message() << std::endl;
        return 1;
    }

    unsigned mcpdId = 0u;

    McpdVersionInfo vi = {};

    ec = mcpd_get_version(mcpdCommandSocket, mcpdId, vi);

    if (ec)
    {
        cerr << "Error reading MCPD version info: " << ec.message() << std::endl;
        return 1;
    }

    cout << "MCPD version info: CPU=" << vi.cpu[0] << "." << vi.cpu[1]
        << ", FPGA=" << vi.fpga[0] << "." << vi.fpga[1] << endl;

    return 0;
}

Non-CMake library usage

Alternatively the classic approach of manually passing compiler and linker flags can be used:

g++ -I/usr/local/mesytec-mcpd/include -L/usr/local/mesytec-mcpd/lib -lmesytec-mcpd mytool.cpp -o mytool

Library Usage

The main header to include is <mesytec-mcpd/mesytec-mcpd.h>. This pulls in the other required headers. All objects live in the mesytec::mcpd namespace.

Constants and core data structures can be found in mcpd_core.h:

• CommandPacket is used for direct request/response communication.

• DataPacket carries DAQ readout data. Use get_event_count() to get the number of events contained in a DataPacket. Then call decode_event() to extract the specified DecodedEvent structure from the data packet.

Socket abstractions can be found in util/udp_sockets.h. To create a command socket for the MCPD use connect_udp_socket(). To create a listening socket for DAQ data use bind_udp_socket().

MCPD and MPSD related functions are contained in mcpd_functions.h. Most commands are implemented by a specific function, e.g mcpd_start_daq(). These functions take a MCPD command socket as their first argument and an MCPD ID value as their second argument. Possible other arguments are used to fill the outgoing request CommandPacket.

Internally the command functions call command_transaction() which handles protocol errors and retries.

Currently no dedicated readout functions are implemented. Instead create a socket listening on the data port and call receive_one_packet() repeatedly:

std::error_code ec = {};
DataPacket dataPacket = {};
size_t timeouts = 0;
int dataSock = bind_udp_socket(54321, &ec); // Socket bound to local port 54321 on all interfaces.

if (ec) return 1;

while (true)
{
   size_t bytesTransferred = 0u;

   ec = receive_one_packet(
       dataSock,
       reinterpret_cast<u8 *>(&dataPacket), sizeof(dataPacket),
       bytesTransferred, DefaultReadTimeout_ms);

   if (ec)
   {
       if (ec == std::errc::interrupted)
           break;

       if (ec != SocketErrorType::Timeout)
       {
           spdlog::error("readout: error reading from network: {} ({}, {})",
                         ec.message(), ec.value(), ec.category().name());
           return 1;
       }
       else
           ++timeouts;
   }

   if (bytesTransferred)
   {
      const auto eventCount = get_event_count(dataPacket);

      // Decode and print each incoming event
      for(size_t ei=0; ei<eventCount; ++ei)
      {
         auto event = decode_event(dataPacket, ei);
         spdlog::info("{}", to_string(event));
      }
   }
}

Also see the mcpd-cli source code under extras/mcpd-cli/mcpd-cli.cc.

Using the mcpd-cli command line tool

It is possible to setup and run a DAQ using only the mcpd-cli tool without having to write any custom code. The CLI tool allows to initialze MCPD-8 and connected MPSD-8+ modules, start a DAQ run and write the readout data to a listfile. If ROOT support is enabled histograms for amplitudes, positions and times can be automatically created and filled by the readout process.

mcpd-cli uses the following enviroment variables if defined:

• MCPD_ADDRESS is the ip-address/hostname of the MCPD to connect to (e.g. 192.168.168.121.
• MCPD_ID is the ID assigned in the setup step.

These values are used as the --address and --id parameters of mcpd-cli if not explicitly specified.

Minimal DAQ setup using one MCPD-8 with two MPSD-8+ modules

Initialization

# Set the runId for the next DAQ run
mcpd-cli --address=10.11.12.100 --id=0 runid 1

# Set thresholds for MPSDs on bus 0 and 1 to 0
mcpd-cli --address=10.11.12.100 --id=0 mpsd_set_threshold 0 0
mcpd-cli --address=10.11.12.100 --id=0 mpsd_set_threshold 1 0

# enable pulser, mpsd=0, channel=0, pos=2 (middle), amplitude=128, state=on
mcpd-cli --address=10.11.12.100 --id=0 mpsd_set_pulser 0 0 2 128 on

# enable pulser, mpsd=1, channel=0, pos=1 (right), amplitude=64, state=on
mcpd-cli --address=10.11.12.100 --id=0 mpsd_set_pulser 1 0 1 64 on

Readout Process and DAQ controls

In a second terminal start the readout process:

mcpd-cli --address=10.11.12.100 --id=0 readout --duration=60 --listfile=mcpd-run1.mcpdlst

This process will run for 60 seconds or until canceled via ctrl-c. If ROOT support is enabled you can use::

mcpd-cli --address=10.11.12.100 --id=0 readout --duration=60 --listfile=mcpd-run1.mcpdlst --root-histo-file=mcpd-run1-histos.root

to write out ROOT histograms.

In the first terminal tell the MCPD-8 to start the DAQ:

mcpd-cli --address=10.11.12.100 --id=0 daq start

Readout data should now arrive at the readout process. mcpd-cli readout does listen on the specified data port (default is 54321) but accepts packets from all sources. This means the readout process can handle data coming from multiple MCPD-8 modules as long as they have unique IDs set.

Listfile replay

To replay data from listfile use:

mcpd-cli replay --listfile=mcpd-run1.mcpdlst

The replay command can also generate root histograms:

mcpd-cli replay --listfile=mcpd-run1.mcpdlst --root-histo-file=mcpd-replay1-histos.root