FMC Time to Digital Converter | FMC TDC 1ns 5cha
The FMC TDC 1ns 5cha Time to Digital Converter mezzanine board houses 5
input channels. It can calculate time differences between pulses
arriving to the channels with a precision of ±700 ps.
It can be carried by any of the carrier boards:
SPEC or
SVEC. It is implemented using
a dedicated time-to-digital converter chip from the European company
ACAM.
SVEC carrier with two slots for TDC mezzanines and SPEC carrier with
one slot for a TDC mezzanine (more TDC
views )
Specifications
| Parameter | Value |
|---|---|
| Input Channels | 5 channels TTL with software selectable 50 Ohm termination (CDCLVC1102PW) Inputs are protected against +15V pulses with a pulse width of at least 10us at 50Hz |
| Channels enable | Software controlled switch that enables/disables all 5 channels |
| Timestamps transfer modes | DMA on SPEC, FIFO on SVEC |
| Timestamps precision (deviation) |
± 700 ps Outliers of ±4 ns are observed at the expected frequency of ~ 1 outlier/10M measurements. More information at Board Performance documents. |
| Timebase accuracy | With White Rabbit: < 1ns Without White Rabbit: ± 4 ppm from a local TCXO on the FMC card |
| Maximum input pulse rate |
Burst: 5 MHz burst of 5k samples in DMA mode; Continuous mode: up to 200KHz on 3GHz CPU; Please note the performance is highly dependent on CPU & application |
| Timestamps | Timestamps apply only to rising edges of incoming pulses; on the gateware level the falling edges are used for the calculation of the pulse width, ignoring pulses < 96 ns; With White Rabbit, the TDC offers absolute timestamping and timestamps from different boards in the same White Rabbit network can be correlated. Without White Rabbit the timestamps from one board need to be always subtracted between them, to calculate time differences |
| Minimum input pulse width | 96 ns, narrower pulses are ignored on gateware level |
| ACAM mode | I-mode, 81ps resolution, +/- 500ps precision (6σ) |
| Connectors | LEMO 00 |
| FMC connector | Low Pin Count |
| PCB | 6 layers |
Releases
The FMC TDC development consists of software and gateware that you can find within this project. they are always release together to guarantee full compatibility.
| Current Release | Date |
|---|---|
| v8 | 2022-07-12 |
Project documents
| Link to document | Description |
|---|---|
| Board Performance | On precision and performance over time |
| Literature | Relevant literature about Time to Digital conversion |
| Users | Known users inside and outside CERN |
| CERN specific information | - |
| KEK EPICS SPEC/TDC driver | SPEC/TDC device driver for EPICS |
Contacts
| Type | Contact |
|---|---|
| General Questions | Erik van der Bij, Eva Gousiou at CERN |
| Commercial producers |
FMC TDC, Seven Solutions, Spain BO-FMC-02290: FMC TDC 1ns, Janz Tec AG, Germany |
Project Status
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 06-12-2010 | Project start |
| 14-12-2010 | First specification available for comments |
| 09-03-2011 | First schematic available. (need to replace LEDs) |
| 18-03-2011 | Second schematics design review held |
| 08-04-2011 | First layout made. Review made, needs moving of components (check review#1) |
| 11-04-2011 | Layout being modified. Planning: 3 assembled prototypes by 16 May |
| 19-04-2011 | New layout received. Design review on 20-04-2011 |
| 20-04-2011 | Review held (check review#2 ); layout office modifies the design |
| 29-04-2011 | Layout office finalized the design |
| 30-05-2011 | Three prototypes ready |
| 01-06-2011 | Start of writing firmware |
| 05-08-2011 | Design specification review held (check review ) |
| 08-08-2011 | Basic functionality OK. Several issues found that need a new PCB layout |
| 16-12-2011 | New PCB layout made. Production files will be generated |
| 02-02-2012 | V2 schematics and PCB made. Will be reviewed on 7 February. Foresee production 8 boards for 23 March. |
| 07-02-2012 | Schematics reviewed (check review#3 ); improved schematics ready by 21-02-2012 for new review |
| 30-05-2012 | V2 boards received |
| 30-08-2012 | V3 schematics and PCB being made; input circuit modified |
| 23-10-2012 | V3 schematics and PCB ready |
| 15-11-2012 | Ordered 60 V3 boards: 10 for delivery by begin March end April 2013, 50 by begin May 2013 (check order) |
| 04-12-2012 | Feedback on design received. Can use same PCB. Other changes may be handled in a V4 |
| 25-03-2013 | Will make V3-1 design (only change of BOM) to handle five issues |
| 08-04-2013 | Working on: correcting two firmware bugs, writing documentation, writing software to test firmware |
| 26-04-2013 | No known firmware bugs left. Writing calibration test program |
| 06-05-2013 | V3-1 design ready (only change of BOM) to handle five issues |
| 13-05-2013 | CERN received 9 pre-series V3-1 boards |
| 22-05-2013 | CERN accepted quality of pre-series V3-1 boards; production of 50 series (original foreseen for delivery in May 2013) started |
| 09-08-2013 | 51 V3-1 boards received |
| 20-06-2014 | Added White Rabbit support for SVEC and SPEC |
| 04-07-2014 | Ordered 60 V3-1 boards: 20 for delivery by end October 2014, 40 by begin January 2015 (check order) |
| 10-07-2014 | Project split into hw, gw, sw sub-projects |
| 03-04-2019 | Cards used at CERN in accelerator system |
| 14-12-2021 | Performance tests will be made using the latest gateware |
| 23-06-2022 | KEK developed a SPEC/TDC device driver for EPICS. |
| 23-06-2022 | V8 of gateware and software being developed. |
| 12-07-2022 | V8 Released. |