SICS Hardware Configuration

Hardware is configured into the SICS system by executing special hardware configuration commands from the server initialisation file. These commands are described here. Much SICS hardware is hooked up to the system via RS-232 interfaces. The SICS server communicates with such devices through a serial port server program running on the instrument computer. All such devices require on initialisation the following parameters:

• hostname The name of the instrument computer.
• port The port number where the serial port server program is listening for requests. It is usually 4000.
• channel The number of the RS-232 interface port on the terminal server.

Bus Access

SICS and its internals cover many common usage cases. However there are always situations where SICS has to be bypassed and commands to be sent to a controller directly. This can happen in order to satisfy a special request or as first step in the integration of a special piece of hardware into SICS. In order to do such things the following facilities are available:

Direct Access to RS232 Controllers or TCP/IP Controllers.

Both controllers listening on a TCP/IP port or RS-232 devices connected to a terminal server can be directly accessed through the RS232 commands. The first step in using this system is always to accounce the controller to SICS using the command:

MakeRS232Controller name terminalserver port

MakeRS232Controller hugo psts213 3004

Now various commands are available for interfacing with the RS232 controller. In the following description the SICS name of the controller is replaced by the symbol rs232name.

rs232name sendterminator

prints the current terminator used when sending data to the device as hexadecimal numbers.

rs232name sendterminator h1h2..hn

sets the current terminator used when sending data to the device to the characters described by the hexadecimal numbers h1 to hn. The numbers are in the format 0xval, where val is the hex number.

rs232name replyterminator

prints the current terminator expected to terminate a response from the device as a hexadecimal number.

rs232name replyterminator h1h2..hn

sets the current terminator expected to terminate a response from the device to the characters described by the hexadecimal numbers h1 to hn. The numbers are in the format 0xval, where val is the hex number.

rs232name timeout

prints the current timeout when waiting for a reponse from the device.

rs232name timeout val

sets the timeout for waiting for responses from the device. The value is in microseconds.

rs232name send data data data

sends the remainder of the line to the RS232 device and waits for a response terminated with the proper reply terminator specified. This commands waits at maximum timeout microseconds for a response. If a valid response is obtained it is printed, otherwise an error message occurs.

rs232name write data data data

writes the remainder of the line after write to the device without waiting for a response.

rs232 available

checks if data is pending to be read from the device.

rs232 read

reads data from the device.

Accessing Serial Ports (Old System)

In addition to the system describe above there is another system for accessing serial ports which uses the SerPortServer program. The use of the system is deprecated, new software should use the commands describe above. Nevertheless the older sytem is described here for reference.

Serial port access is implemented as an extension to the Tcl macro language. Essentially this is the same implementation as used in the program psish. This section describes how to use serial port access. Several steps have to be performed:

1. Install the serialport command into the SICS server. This requires two lines to be added to the server startup script:
   • SerialInit
   • TclPublish serialport UserRights
   Where UserRights stands for one of the possible SICS user rights. See documentation for TclPublish above.
2. Each separate serial port will be represented by a name in the SICS server after it has been initialized. This name is also a command. These port names live in the Tcl interpreter and must be made accessible with TclPublish. For example for a port named p1 include this line in the server startup script:
   • TclPublish p1 User
   Replace User with the correct access code you want for a serial port. It is recommended to restrict serial port access to SICS managers only.
3. After starting the SICS server the command serialport is now available.
4. Now a serial port can be initialized with a command like this:
   • serialport name1 SerPortServer.host port channel force
   • Example: serialport p1 localhost 4000 5
   Such a command creates the command name1 and links it with serial port channel channel on the instrument computer (localhost) running the SerPortServer program . Port is the port number on which the SerPortServer is listening for connections (usually 4000). The last flag force is optional. If something is there, the connection to that port is done on a separate socket of its own. This has to do with some feature of the software interface to the SerPortServer serial port server. This software interface tries to direct messages for multiple channels through one socket connection between the host and the Macintosh server. This is perfectly fine as long as none of the commands through this socket takes a long time to execute. However, if a RS-232 device takes a long time to respond, the whole socket is blocked. Fortunately, the serial port server runs a separate thread of execution for each different socket. By forcing a new socket it can be achieved that such a slow device is decoupled from the rest. Exactly this is achieved with the force flag.
5. Once the port has been initialised (for example p1) it is ready to operate. The port object allows to send data to the serial port and receive data from it. Furthermore some configuration is possible. The syntax is like this:

   portname -tmo number

   Sets the timeout for the serial port. This is the maximum amount of time the serial port server waits for data to arrive from the RS-232 device. Increase this if a lot of _BAD_TMO error messages creep up.

   portname -sendterm string

   Sets the terminator which will be automatically added to the string which is sent. Some RS-232 devices require special terminators in order to accept a command. The serial port implementation ensures that such a terminator is sent after each message. This command allows to configure this terminator. Please note, that the terminator string needs to be enclosed in quotes. An example:

   • p1 -sendterm "\r\n"

   This sets the terminator to carriage return - line feed.

   portname -replyterm string.

   The serial port server expects the RS-232 device to send a terminator when it is done with sending answers. It even supports multiple lines to be sent as a reply. This expected reply terminator is set with this command. The string may may be four characters long. An example: 1\r\n sets the expected terminator to one of \r\n. One of them is expected. Thus the first character is the count of terminators to expect, followed by the characters possible as terminators. This string must usually be quoted.

   portname blablalakjdl

   When none of the options -tmo, -replyterm, -sendterm, is found everything after portname is sent to the RS-232 device. The reply from the RS-232 device is printed.

GPIB Controller Access

GPIB is yet another bus system. Up to 30 devices can share the bus and transfer data on it. SICS likest to speak to GPIB devices through the National Instrument ENET-100 TCP/IP bridge. In order for this to work the National Instruments driver software must have been installed on the computer running SICS. SICS has to be compiled with the define HAVENI defined and the proper paths to the header file and library configured. Then an GPIB controller can be installed into SICS with the command:

MakeGPIB name drivertype

sim

Simulation

ni

National instruments driver, see above.

gpib attach controller-no gpib-address gpib-secondary timeout eos eot

This attaches the GPIB controller to a certain device at a certain address for later communication. The return value is an integer handle which will be used later on a s a handle devID when referring to the connection. The parameters are:

controller-no

The number of the GPIB controller on the computer. There may be more then one GPIB controllerinstalled on a given system. Usually this is 0.

gpib-address

The GPIB address of the device on the bus.

gpib-secondary

GPIB devices may have a seconadry address. This can be specified with this parameter. Usually this is 0.

timeout

The time to wait for answers on the GPIB bus. 13 is 10 seconds and ussually a good value.

eot

A parameter determining the termination mode on this connection. Consult NI documentation for this or leave at 0.

eoi

A terminator. Set to 1 or understand NI documentation for this parameter.

gpib detach devID

Breaks the connection described through devID. devID is the return value from attach.

gpib clear devID

Tries to clear the GPIB buffers for the conenction described through devID. Usually in vain.

gpib send devID bal bla bla

sends data to the device at devID.

gpib sendwithterm devID string terminator

Sends string to the device at devID. The terminator character identified through the integer terminator is automatically appended. Use this to send things which require a terminator. Terminators included in strings sent by send get messed up through Tcl!

gpib read devID

Reads data from the device at devID and returns it as a string.

gpib readtillterm devID terminator

Read from teh device devID unti the terminator character described through the interger terminator is read. Then return the data read as a string.

Controllers

For the same reason as stated above, it is necessary to represent controllers within SICS. Controllers implement more then only device access but also maintain common state or implement special behaviour.

ECB Controllers

ECB controllers are at the heart of the Risoe data aquisition system. These are essentially Z80 processors wired to the GPIB bus. Functions can be invoked in this processor by sending a function code followed by the contents of 4 8 bit registers. As a result the contents of the registers after the function call are returned. A ECB can be made knwon to SICS through the initialisation command:

MakeECB name gpib-controller gbib-controller-number gpib-address

name

The name used as a token for this controller later on.

gpib-controller

the name of the GPIB interface to use. See above.

gbib-controller-no

The number of the GPIB board in the system

gpib-address

The GPIB address of the ECB on the GPIB bus.

ecb1 func funcode d e bc

Invoke ECB function funcode with the registers d e b c.Returns the contents of the registers d e b c. Function codes and register contents are documented, if at all, in the ECB documentation. In fact, as ECB documentation is not available, the only documentation on ECB is the source code of tascom.

ecb1 clear

Tries, usually in vain, to clear the communications interface to the ECB.

ecb1 toint char

A helper function which converts the character char to an integer. Tcl does not seem to be able to do that.

Siematic SPS Controllers

Siematic SPS controllers are used at SinQ for handling all the things which fit nowhere else. Such as operating air cushions on some instruments, reading variables from ADC's, reading status of shutters or other parts of the instrument and the like. Those SPS units have an RS-232 connector and understand a simple ASCII command protocoll. The Siematic SPS and its command protocoll are special to PSI and this section is probably of no interest to SICS managers outside. The SPS basiaclly support three operations:

• Push a button (Set a Digital I/O Bit).
• Read a status of instrument status packed into a bit (Read Digital I/O) .
• Read an ADC.

A SPS unit can be configured into the SICS server with the command:
MakeSPS name macintosh port channel
The parameters are: the name of the SPS in SICS, the serial port server computer, the port where the serial port server is listening and the channel number of the SPS unit at the serial port server computer. An example:
MakeSPS sps1 lnsp25.psi.ch 4000 6
configures a SPS unit at lnsp25.psi.ch at channel 5. The serial port server is listening at port number 4000. The SPS unit will be accessible as sps1 in SICS.

After configuartion the following four commands are understood by name, shown with sps1 as example:

sps1 push byte bit

Corresponds to pushing the button mapped to the bit bit in the byte byte.

sps1 adc num

Reads the value in the ADC num. num can be between 0 to 7 for a maximum of eight ADC's. Please note, that the values read are raw values which usually must be converted in some way to physically meaningful values.

sps1 status bit

Reads the status of the bit bit. bit can be in the range 0 - 128.

sps1 stat2 byte bit

Reads the status bit bit in status byte byte. Is equivalent to status, but adds some syntatctic sugar.

General Controller Object and Choppers

Chopper systems are handled via a generic controller object. This basicly consists of two components: One object represents the actual controller. This basic object allows to query parameters only. Then there is for each parameter which can be controlled from SICS in this controller an adapter object. These adapter object are virtual motors which can be driven with the normal run or drive commands. Currently two drivers for this scheme exists: one for a simulated device, the other for the Dornier Chopper Controller at FOCUS. The first step when initializing this system is the installation of the general controller object into SICS. This is done with the commands:

MakeChopper name sim
MakeChopper name docho mac port channel

A drivable parameter at this controller is installed with a command similar to this:

ChopperAdapter vname cname pname lower upper

After this, the parameter can be modified by a command like:

drive vname newvalue

Motors

The following commands are available to install motors into the system:

Motor name SIM lowlim uplim err speed

This command creates a simulated motor with the lower limits lowlim, the upper limit uplim, an ratio of randomly generated errors err and a driving speed of speed. Use this for testing and instrument simulation. If err is less then 0, the motor will not create failures and thus can be used in a instrument simulation server.

Motor name EL734 host port chan no

This command creates a stepper motor named name which is controlled through a El734 motor controller. The parameters host, port, chan have the meanings defined above. no is the number of the motor in the EL734 motor controller.

Motor name EL734DC host port chan no

This command creates an analog motor named name which is controlled through a El734DC motor controller. The parameters host, port, chan have the meanings defined above. no is the number of the motor in the EL734DC motor controller.

Motor name el734hp rs232controllername motornum

Creates a motor object name using the newer motor drivers which access the motor controller directly, without the serial port server. rs232controllername is the name of a connection to the motor controll which has been set up with MakeRS232, above. Motornum is the number of the motor in the controller.

MakePIMotor name c804 pararray

Creates a motor name connected to a C804 motor controller from the manufacturer Physik Instrumente. Pararray is a Tcl array holding the initialization information. The follwoing elements are required in this array:

Computer, port, channel

The standard connection parameters.

upperlimit, lowerlimit

The limits for this motor.

motor

The number of the motor in the motor controller.

Motor name pipiezo pararray

Creates a piezo electric positioning device. Again the controller is a Physik Instrumente controller. pararray has the same meaning as for the C804 controller given above.

Motor name ecb ecbcontroller ecb-number lowerlimit upperlimit

This creates a motor which is controlled through the Risoe ECB electronic. The parameters:

ecbcontroller

The ECB controller to which this motor is connected to. See below for more on ECB controllers.

ecb-number

Number of the motor in the ECB system.

lowerlimit

The lower hardware limit for this motors operation

upperlimit

The upper hardware limit for this motors operation

In contrast to normal motors, the ECB motors have quite a number of hardware parameters which must be configured. The general syntax to configure them is: motorname parametername value. The following parameters are available:

encoder

0 if there is no encoder for this motor, 1-3 for the encoder used for this motor.

control

The control bit flag. This falg determines if the motor sets a control bit in the ECB controller. This control bit can be used to drive air cushions and the like. If required set to 1, else leave at 0.

delay

Delay time to wait after setting a control bit.

range

The speed range for the motor: 0 for slow, 1 for fast

multi

The ECB controller supports up to 24 motors. In some instances this is not enough. Then one ECB channel can be multiplexed into several motors. This flag (),1) determines if this is the case.

multchan

The multiplexer channel for a multiplexed motor.

port

The ECB port a multiplexed motor is using.

acceleration

The speed with which the motor accelerates to its final speed.

rotation_dir

Rotation direction of the motor.

startspeed

Starting speed of the motor.

maxspeed

The maximum speed for this motor.

auto

Speed in automatic mode

manuell

Speed used when driving the motor through the manual control box.

offset

When using an encoder: the offset between the motor zero and the encoder zero.

dtolerance

hardware tolerance of the motor.

step2dig

conversion factor from encoder steps to physical values.

step2deg

Conversion factor from motor pseudo encoder steps to physical values.

backlash

In order to correct for backlash, Risoe motors always approach a target position from the same direction. In order to do this the motor has to overshoot and drive back when driving in the wrong direction. The parameter backlash determines how much to overshoot.

ECB motors have another quirck: 8 motors in a rack share a power supply! This has the consequence that only one of the 8 motors can run at any given time. In SICS this is directed through the anticollider module described elsewhere.

Counting Devices

MakeCounter name SIM failrate

This command creates a simulated single counter accessible as object name. Failrate is the per centage of invocations at which the counter will generate a random failure for testing error treatment code. If failrate is less then 0, there are no failures. This can be used in a instrument simulation server.

MakeCounter name mcstas

Creates a counter which interoperates with a McStas simulation. Please note, that the McStas module mccontrol must have been initialized before this initialization can work.

MakeCounter name EL737 host port chan

This command creates a single counter name, using an EL737 driver. The counter is at host host, listening at port port and sits at serial port chan.

MakeCounter name EL737hp terminalserver port

Creates a counter object name which uses the faster driver which connects directly to the terminal server without the serial port server program. Terminalserver is the name of the instruments terminal server. Port is the port number at which the terminal server publishes the port at which the EL737 controller is connected. Usually this 3000 + port number.

MakeCounter name ecb ecb-controller

Installs a counetr on top of the Risoe ECB hardware. The only parameter is the name of the ECB controller to use.

MakeHMControl name counter hm1 hm2 hm3

At some instruments (for instance TRICS) multiple counters or histogram memories are controlled by a master counter which watches over presets and the like. This command installs a virtual counter which does exactly that. The parameters are:

name

The name of the virtual counter in SICS

counter The name of the master counter

hm1, hm2, hm3

Up to three slave counting devices.

Histogram Memory

Due to the large amount of parameters, histogram memories are configured differently. A histogram memory object is created using a special creation command. This command is described below. Then a lot of options need to be configured. The commands used for setting these options and their meanings are defined in the user documentation because histogram memories may be reconfigured at runtime. The sequence of configuartion options is ended with the command hmname init. This last command actually initialises the HM. Histogram memory objects can be created using the command:

MakeHM name type

The parameter name specifies the name under which the HM will be avialable in the system. type specifies which type of driver to use. Currently these drivers are supported:

SIM

for a simulated HM

SINQHM

for the SINQ histogram memory

tdc

for the Risoe histogram memory.

mcstas

for the integration with the McStas simulation.

MakeHM banana SINQHM         
banana configure HistMode Normal
banana configure OverFlowMode    Ceil
banana configure Rank     1
banana configure dim0   400
banana configure BinWidth 4
banana preset 100.
banana CountMode Timer
banana configure HMComputer psds04.psi.ch
banana configure HMPort 2400
banana configure Counter counter
banana init

Velocity Selectors

A velocity selector is configured in a three step process. First a Tcl array is filled with the necessary configuration options for the actual velocity selector driver. In a second step the velocity selector is created with a special command. In a third step the forbidden regions for the velocity selector are defined. Currently two drivers for velocity selctors are known: a SIM driver for a simulated velocity selector and a DORNIER driver for a Dornier velocity selector hooked to a SINQ serial port setup. The last one needs a parameter array containing the fields Host, Port, Channel and Timeout. Host, Port and Channel have the meanings as defined at the very top of this section. Timeout is the maximum time to wait for responses from the velocity selector. A large value is required as the dornier velocity selector is very slow. The second step is performed through the following commands:

VelocitySelector name tilt-motor SIM

This command installs a simulated velocity selector with the name name into the system. tilt-motor is used for driving the tilt angle of the selector. tilt-motor must exist before this command can be executed successfully.

VelocitySelector name tilt-motor DORNIER arrayname

This command installs a dornier velocity selector into the system. name and tilt-motor have the same meanings as described above. arrayname is the Tcl-array with the driver configuration parameters.

set dornen(Host) lnsp25.psi.ch
set dornen(Port) 4000
set dornen(Channel) 6
set dornen(Timeout) 5000
VelocitySelector nvs tilt DORNIER dornen
nvs add -20 28800
nvs add 3800 4500
nvs add 5900 6700
nvs add 8100 9600