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PixieSDK - System Tests#

Warning

The following programs no longer supported. The documentation is retained for reference use only.

This folder contains various system level tests for the PixieSDK. We define system tests as being any test that requires hardware to be present. For example, we can’t test whether or not we can write to and read from the DSP memory without having the DSP connected to the system.

test_direct_communication#

This test program allows users direct access to the modules via the hardware level APIs. It doesn’t use any of the functionality provided at the User API level. Users can test the following features:

  • booting modules

  • writing to and reading from the

    • DSP

    • Main Memory (MCA)

  • Checking the status of the External FIFO (list-mode data)

  • Direct register access

The program has a dry-run mode activated with the --dry_run switch. This switch disables any communication with the modules and starts the API in the Offline setting.

Configuration File#

For the moment, we’re only allowing interaction with a single module type in the system. The configuration file should take the following form:

1
5
/usr/local/xia/pixie/firmware/revf_general_16b250m_r35921/firmware/syspixie16_revfgeneral_adc250mhz_r33339.bin
/usr/local/xia/pixie/firmware/revf_general_16b250m_r35921/firmware/fippixie16_revfgeneral_16b250m_r36563.bin
FPGATrig
/usr/local/xia/pixie/firmware/revf_general_16b250m_r35921/dsp/Pixie16DSP_revfgeneral_16b250m_r35921.ldr
pixie.set
/usr/local/xia/pixie/firmware/revf_general_16b250m_r35921/dsp/Pixie16DSP_revfgeneral_16b250m_r35921.var

Where the first line is the number of modules in the system (only 1 supported) and 5 is the slot number of that module. The remaining files are firmware for the FPGAs and DSP along with the DSP settings file. Multiple modules can be added by adding their slots and updating the number of modules in the system. Note This will only work if all modules have the same type!

2
5
10
...

Test Data Patterns#

The software recognizes a number of test data patterns. Each pattern may be useful to test different aspects of the system.

  • HI_LO

    • Even elements = 0xAAAA5555

    • Odd elements = 0x5555AAAA

  • FLIP_FLOP

    • Even elements = 0xA0500A05

    • Odd elements = 0x50A0050A

  • RAMP_UP - monotonic increase from 0 to data_size - 1

  • RAMP_DOWN - monotonic decrease from data_size to 1

  • CONSTANT - All values equal to 0x50f750fa

  • EVEN_BITS - All elements equal to 0xA5A5A5A5

  • ODD_BITS - All elements equal to 0x5A5A5A5A

  • ZERO - All elements equal to 0x0

Usage#

Booting#

  • Perform a full boot - 0x7F

    test_direct_communication boot cfg.txt

  • Perform a partial boot - 0x70

    test_direct_communication boot cfg.txt -b 0x70

Direct Register Access#

This type of access will only write a single 32-bit word to the provided memory register. The memory address is referenced from the modules PLX Virtual Address. We use Pixie_Register_IO.

test_direct_communication raw cfg.txt -wr -d 0x1 -a 0x10

DSP Tests#

All of the examples below perform a full boot of the system and test the DSP and test against memory address 0x50000.

  • Perform a write/read with constant data at memory address 0x50000

test_direct_communication dsp cfg.txt -wr -p CONSTANT -a 0x50000

  • Write data in a RAMP_UP pattern once, and then read three times.

test_direct_communication dsp cfg.txt -wr -p RAMP_UP -a 0x50000 --one_write -l 3

  • Write data in the EVEN_BITS pattern and read it back in a burst read.

test_direct_communication dsp cfg.txt -wr -p EVEN_BITS -a 0x50000 --burst_read

  • Write and Read Constant data three times

test_direct_communication dsp cfg.txt -wr -p CONSTANT -a 0x50000 -l 3

  • Don’t actually perform any of the the module interaction, just print what we would have done.

test_direct_communication dsp cfg.txt -p CONSTANT -a 0x50000 -w -r --dry_run

External FIFO#

All of these examples perform a full boot of the system.

  • Read the external FIFO data

test_direct_communication external_fifo cfg.txt -r

  • Check the number of words in the External FIFO

test_direct_communication external_fifo cfg.txt -s

Main Memory (MCA)#

All of these examples perform a full boot of the system.

  • Clear the MCA memory

test_direct_communication mca cfg.txt -c

  • Read data from the MCA memory and compare it to the CONSTANT data pattern

test_direct_communication mca cfg.txt -r -p CONSTANT

  • Write CONSTANT data to the MCA memory and read it back

test_direct_communication mca cfg.txt -wr -p CONSTANT

  • Write CONSTANT data to the MCA memory

test_direct_communication mca cfg.txt -w -p CONSTANT
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