Hardware
FPGA & DAQ Hardware
Paper Title Page
MO4AO01 Xilinx Zync Ultrascale+ MPSoC Used as Embedded IOC for a Beam Position Monitor (BPM) System 210
 
  • G.M. Marinkovic, D. Anicic, R. Ditter, B. Keil, J. Purtschert, M. Roggli
    PSI, Villigen PSI, Switzerland
 
  At PSI we are combining the hardware, firmware, operating system, control system, embedded event system, operation and supervision in a Beam Position Monitor (BPM) system for 24/7 accelerator operation, using a Multi-Processing-System-on-Chip (MPSoC) of type Xilinx Zynq UltraScale+. We presently use MPSoCs for our latest generic BPM electronics platform called "DBPM3" in the Athos soft X-ray branch, as well as for new BPMs and general controls hardware and devices for SLS 2.0, a major upgrade of the Swiss Light Source. We are also in the process of upgrading our previous "MBU" (modular BPM Unit) platform for the SwissFEL linac and hard X-ray "Aramis"  from external VMEbus based IOCs to integrated add-on cards with MPSoC IOCs. On all these MPSoCs, we are integrating an EPICS IOC, event receiver, measurement and feedback data real-time processing on a single chip. In this contribution, we describe our experience with the tight integration and daily operation of the various firmware and software components and features on the MPSoC, using the BPM system also to discuss general aspects relevant for other systems and components discussed in other PSI contributions on this conference.  
DOI • reference for this paper ※ doi:10.18429/JACoW-ICALEPCS2023-MO4AO01  
About • Received ※ 06 October 2023 — Revised ※ 09 October 2023 — Accepted ※ 23 November 2023 — Issued ※ 11 December 2023
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MO4AO02 HydRA: A System-on-Chip to Run Software in Radiation-Exposed Areas 217
 
  • T. Gingold, G. Daniluk, J. Serrano, T. Włostowski
    CERN, Meyrin, Switzerland
  • M. Rizzi
    PSI, Villigen PSI, Switzerland
 
  In the context of the High-Luminosity LHC project at CERN, a platform has been developed to support groups needing to host electronics in radiation-exposed areas. This platform, called DI/OT, is based on a modular kit consisting of a System Board, Peripheral Boards and a radiation-tolerant power converter, all housed in a standard 3U crate. Groups customise their systems by designing Peripheral Boards and developing custom gateware and software for the System Board, featuring an IGLOO2 flash-based FPGA. It is compulsory for gateware designs to be radiation-tested in dedicated facilities before deployment. This process can be cumbersome and affects iteration time because access to radiation testing facilities is a scarce commodity. To make customisation more agile, we have developed a radiation-tolerant System-on-Chip (SoC), so that a single gateware design, extensively validated, can serve as a basis for different applications by just changing the software running in the processing unit of the SoC. HydRA (Hydra-like Resilient Architecture) features a triplicated RISC-V processor for safely running software in a radiation environment. This paper describes the overall context for the project, and then moves on to provide detailed explanations of all the design decisions for making HydRA radiation-tolerant, including the protection of programme and data memories. Test harnesses are also described, along with a summary of the test results so far. It concludes with ideas for further development and plans for deployment in the LHC.
https://ohwr.org/project/hydra/wikis/home
https://ohwr.org/project/diot/wikis/home
 
slides icon Slides MO4AO02 [11.131 MB]  
DOI • reference for this paper ※ doi:10.18429/JACoW-ICALEPCS2023-MO4AO02  
About • Received ※ 06 October 2023 — Accepted ※ 13 October 2023 — Issued ※ 27 October 2023  
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MO4AO03 The DESY Open Source FPGA Framework 222
 
  • Ł. Butkowski, A. Bellandi, M. Büchler, B. Dursun, Ç. Gümüş, N. Omidsajedi, K. Schulz
    DESY, Hamburg, Germany
 
  Modern FPGA firmware development involves integrating various intellectual properties (IP), modules written in hardware description languages (HDL), high-level synthesis (HLS), and software/hardware CPUs with embedded Linux or bare-metal applications. This process may involve multiple tools from the same or different vendors, making it complex and challenging. Additionally, scientific institutions such as DESY require long-term maintenance and reproducibility for designs that may involve multiple developers, further complicating the process. To address these challenges, we have developed an open-source FPGA firmware framework (FWK) at DESY that streamlines development, facilitates collaboration, and reduces complexity. The FWK achieves this by providing an abstraction layer, a defined structure, and guidelines to create big FPGA designs with ease. FWK also generates documentation and address maps necessary for high-level software frameworks like ChimeraTK. This paper presents an overview and the idea of the FWK.  
DOI • reference for this paper ※ doi:10.18429/JACoW-ICALEPCS2023-MO4AO03  
About • Received ※ 05 October 2023 — Accepted ※ 13 October 2023 — Issued ※ 13 October 2023  
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MO4AO05 Development of a Timing and Data Link for EIC Common Hardware Platform 228
 
  • P. Bachek, T. Hayes, J. Mead, K. Mernick, G. Narayan, F. Severino
    BNL, Upton, New York, USA
 
  Funding: Contract Number DE-AC02-98CH10886 with the auspices of the US Department of Energy
Modern timing distribution systems benefit from high configurability and the bidirectional transfer of timing data. The Electron Ion Collider (EIC) Common Hardware Platform (CHP) will integrate the functions of the existing RHIC Real Time Data Link (RTDL), Event Link, and Beam Sync Link, along with the Low-Level RF (LLRF) system Update Link (UL), into a common high speed serial link. One EIC CHP carrier board sup-ports up to eight external 8 Gbps high speed links via SFP+ modules, as well as up to six 8 Gbps high speed links to each of two daughterboards. A daughterboard will be designed for the purpose of timing data link distribution for use with the CHP. This daughterboard will have two high speed digital crosspoint switches and a Xilinx Artix Ultrascale+ FPGA onboard with GTY transceivers. One of these will be dedicated for a high-speed control and data link directly between the onboard FPGA and the carrier FPGA. The remaining GTY transceivers will be routed through the crosspoint switches. The daughterboard will support sixteen external SFP+ ports for timing distribution infrastructure with some ports dedicated for transmit only link fanout. The timing data link will support bidirectional data transfer including sending data or events from a downstream device back upstream. This flexibility will be achieved by routing the SFP+ ports through the crosspoint switches which allows the timing link datapaths to be forwarded directly through the daughterboard to the carrier and into the FPGA on the daughterboard in many different configurations.
 
slides icon Slides MO4AO05 [1.236 MB]  
DOI • reference for this paper ※ doi:10.18429/JACoW-ICALEPCS2023-MO4AO05  
About • Received ※ 05 October 2023 — Revised ※ 07 October 2023 — Accepted ※ 23 November 2023 — Issued ※ 07 December 2023
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MO4AO06 Overview and Outlook of FPGA Based Hardware Solutions for Data Synchronization, Acquisition and Processing at the Euxfel 233
 
  • B.J. Fernandes, F. Babies, T. Freyermuth, P. Gessler, I.S. Soekmen, H. Sotoudi Namin
    EuXFEL, Schenefeld, Germany
 
  The European X-Ray Free Electron Laser facility (EuXFEL) provides ultra short coherent X-Ray flashes, spaced by 220 nanoseconds and with a duration of less than 100 femtoseconds, in bursts of up to 2700 pulses every 100ms to several instruments. The facility has been using standardized Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) based hardware platforms since the beginning of user operation in 2017. These are used for timing distribution, data processing from large 2D detectors, high speed digitizers for acquisition and processing of pulse signals, monitoring beam characteristics, and low latency communication protocol for pulse data vetoing and Machine Protection System (MPS). Our experience grows in tandem with user requests for more specific and challenging case studies, leading to tailor made hardware algorithms and setups. In some cases, these can be fulfilled with the integration of new hardware, where collaboration with companies for new and/or updated platforms is a key factor, or taking advantage of unused features in current setups. In this overview, we present the FPGA hardware based solutions used to fulfill EuXFEL’s requirements. We also present our efforts in integrating new solutions and possible development directions, including Machine Learning (ML) research, with the aim of bringing more accurate results and configurable setups to user experiments and facilitate communications with other platforms used in the facility, namely Programmable Logic Controllers (PLC).  
DOI • reference for this paper ※ doi:10.18429/JACoW-ICALEPCS2023-MO4AO06  
About • Received ※ 06 October 2023 — Accepted ※ 13 October 2023 — Issued ※ 23 October 2023  
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MO4AO07 Status of the MicroTCA Based Beam Instrumentation DAQ Systems at GSI and FAIR 239
THPDP015   use link to see paper's listing under its alternate paper code  
 
  • T. Hoffmann, H. Bräuning, R.N. Geißler, T. Milosic
    GSI, Darmstadt, Germany
 
  While the first FAIR accelerator buildings are soon to be completed, MicroTCA-based data acquisition sys-tems for FAIR beam instrumentation are ready for use. By using commercial off-the-shelf components as well as open hardware with in-house expertise in FPGA programming, there are now DAQ solutions for almost all major detector systems in MicroTCA in operation at the existing GSI accelerators. Applications span a wide range of detector systems and hardware, often taking advantage of the high channel density and data trans-mission bandwidth available with MicroTCA. All DAQ systems are synchronised and triggered using a com-prehensive White Rabbit based timing system. This allows correlation of the data from the distributed acquisition systems on a nanosecond scale. In this paper, we present some examples of our DAQ implemented in MicroTCA covering the range of beam current, tune, position and profile measurements. While the latter uses GigE cameras in combination with scintillating screens, the other applications are based on ADCs with different sampling frequencies between 125 MSa/s up to 2.5 GSa/s or latching scalers with up to 10 MHz latching frequency.  
slides icon Slides MO4AO07 [3.497 MB]  
poster icon Poster MO4AO07 [3.790 MB]  
DOI • reference for this paper ※ doi:10.18429/JACoW-ICALEPCS2023-MO4AO07  
About • Received ※ 29 September 2023 — Revised ※ 07 October 2023 — Accepted ※ 14 November 2023 — Issued ※ 07 December 2023
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THMBCMO26 FRIB Beam Power Ramp Process Checker at Chopper Monitor 1256
 
  • Z. Li, E. Bernal, J. Hartford, M. Ikegami
    FRIB, East Lansing, Michigan, USA
 
  Funding: Work supporting the U.S. Dept. of Energy Office of Science under Cooperative Agreement DE-SC0023633
Chopper in the low energy beam line is a key ele-ment to control beam power in FRIB. As appropriate functioning of chopper is critical for machine protec-tion for FRIB, an FPGA-based chopper monitoring system was developed to monitor the beam gated pulse at logic level, deflection high voltage level, and in-duced charge/discharge current levels, and shut off beam promptly at detection of a deviation outside tolerance. Once FRIB beam power reaches a certain level, a cold start beam ramp mode in which the pulse repetition frequency and pulse width are linearly ramped up becomes required to mitigate heat shock to the target at beam restart. Chopper also needs to gen-erate a notch in every machine cycle of 10 ms that is used for beam diagnostics. To overcome the challeng-es of monitoring such a ramping process and meeting the response time requirement of shutting off beam, two types of process checkers, namely, monitoring at the pulse level and monitoring at the machine cycle level, have been implemented. A pulse look ahead algorithm to calculate the expected range of frequency dips and rises was developed, and a simplified mathe-matical model suitable for multiple ramp stages was built to calculate expected time parameters of accumu-lated pulse on time within a given machine cycle. Both will be discussed in detail in this paper, followed by simulation results with FPGA test bench and actual instrument test results with the beam ramp process.
 
slides icon Slides THMBCMO26 [0.389 MB]  
poster icon Poster THMBCMO26 [3.028 MB]  
DOI • reference for this paper ※ doi:10.18429/JACoW-ICALEPCS2023-THMBCMO26  
About • Received ※ 04 October 2023 — Revised ※ 10 October 2023 — Accepted ※ 13 October 2023 — Issued ※ 24 October 2023
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THPDP056 Consolidation of the Power Trigger Controllers of the LHC Beam Dumping System 1439
 
  • L. Strobino, N. Magnin, N. Voumard
    European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), Geneva, Switzerland
 
  The Power Trigger Controller (PTC) of the LHC Beam Dumping System (LBDS) is in charge of the control and supervision of the Power Trigger Units (PTU), which are used to trigger the conduction of the 50 High-Voltage Pulsed Generators (HVPG) of the LBDS kicker magnets. This card is integrated in an Industrial Control System (ICS) and has the double role of controlling the PTU operating mode and monitoring its status, and of supervising the LBDS triggering and re-triggering systems. As part of the LBDS consolidation during the LHC Long Shutdown 2 (LS2), a new PTC card was designed, based on a System-on-Chip (SoC) implemented in an FPGA. The FPGA contains an ARM Cortex-M3 softcore processor and all the required peripherals to communicate with onboard ADCs and DACs (3rd-party IPs or custom-made ones) as well as with an interchangeable fieldbus communication module, allowing the board to be integrated in various types of industrial control networks in view of future evolution. This new architecture is presented together with the advantages in terms of modularity and reusability for future projects.  
poster icon Poster THPDP056 [3.146 MB]  
DOI • reference for this paper ※ doi:10.18429/JACoW-ICALEPCS2023-THPDP056  
About • Received ※ 05 October 2023 — Accepted ※ 08 December 2023 — Issued ※ 15 December 2023  
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THPDP063 The Embedded Monitoring Processor for High Luminosity LHC 1470
 
  • P. Moschovakos, V. Ryjov, S. Schlenker
    CERN, Meyrin, Switzerland
  • D. Ecker
    Bergische Universität Wuppertal, Wuppertal, Germany
  • J.B. Olesen
    AU, Aarhus, Denmark
 
  The Embedded Monitoring Processor (EMP) is a versatile platform designed for High Luminosity LHC experiments, addressing the communication, processing, and monitoring needs of diverse applications in the ATLAS experiment, with a focus on supporting front-ends based on lpGBT (low power Giga-Bit Transceiver). Built around a commercial SoM, the EMP architecture emphasizes modularity, flexibility and the usage of standard interfaces, aiming to cover a wide range of applications and facilitating detector integrators to design and implement their specific solutions. The EMP software and firmware architecture comprises epos, the EMP operating system, quasar OPC UA servers, dedicated firmware IP cores and an ecosystem of different software libraries. This abstract outlines the software and firmware aspects of the EMP, detailing its integration with lpGBT optical interfaces, programmable logic development, and the role of the LpGbtSw library as a Hardware Abstraction Library for the LpGbt OPC UA server.  
DOI • reference for this paper ※ doi:10.18429/JACoW-ICALEPCS2023-THPDP063  
About • Received ※ 06 October 2023 — Revised ※ 27 October 2023 — Accepted ※ 12 December 2023 — Issued ※ 12 December 2023
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THPDP071 Application development on CPCI-S.0 Hardware at PSI 1508
 
  • I.J. Johnson, R. Biffiger, D. Felici, W. Koprek, R. Rybaniec, B. Stef, G. Theidel
    PSI, Villigen PSI, Switzerland
 
  A Hardware and Software Toolbox is being created to accelerate the engineering of electronic components for large facility upgrades at the Paul Scherrer Institut. This Toolbox consists of modular hardware and Base Designs that follow the CPCI-S.0 concept. Our goal is to provide a starting foundation, tools, modules and libraries to simplify and accelerate developments. This contribution will focus on the Base Designs that provide advanced starting points for applications on MPSoC devices, AMD Zynq Ultrascale+. It is an environment containing both a ready-to-use system and functional building blocks. It features two main layers: one for the Processing System (PS) and one for the Programmable Logic (PL). The former is a collection of the software packages that run within an Operating System. The latter, lower layer consists of a seed Vivado project and an array of ready-to-use firmware modules. A set of device-tree-overlay scripts is also available to create high-level connections between PS and PL components.  
poster icon Poster THPDP071 [2.388 MB]  
DOI • reference for this paper ※ doi:10.18429/JACoW-ICALEPCS2023-THPDP071  
About • Received ※ 06 October 2023 — Revised ※ 27 October 2023 — Accepted ※ 08 December 2023 — Issued ※ 09 December 2023
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