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... | @@ -19,6 +19,84 @@ TV](https://www.ohwr.org/news/42)\! |
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A [fiber cleaning course](https://www.ohwr.org/news/44) was recently
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A [fiber cleaning course](https://www.ohwr.org/news/44) was recently
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organized to raise awareness about this important issue.
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organized to raise awareness about this important issue.
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### WR Switch firmware activities
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We have released WR Switch firmware v5.0 with many improvements in both
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software and gateware. Inside you will find an updated Buildroot and
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Linux kernel, added VLANs configuration to the main dot-config file,
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improved Syslog messages, added tools for reading and writing SFP
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EEPROMs and much more. On the HDL side, version v5.0 brings among others
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a new bandwidth throttling module for the
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traffic going to the ARM CPU and re-written, more efficient multi-port
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linked list in the Ethernet switching core. Please check [the official
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news](https://www.ohwr.org/news/43) message about the release. We are
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currently in the process of integrating WR switches within the CERN
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monitoring (SNMP) and configuration (dot-config generation from a
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central database) infrastructure.
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We plan soon to prepare a v5.0.1 release with several minor software
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fixes to v5.0. Please check the
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[issues](https://www.ohwr.org/project/wr-switch-sw/issues) with a target
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version v5.0.1 for more details.
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### WR PTP Core activities
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We have released v4.0 of the WR PTP Core. This new release adds among
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others the SNMP and Syslog for remote monitoring as well as VLAN
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support. On the HDL side, we have re-written the Mini-NIC module to fix
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problems with handling high loads of traffic and improved a lot the
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synthesis time with RAM initialization for Xilinx. We took the
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opportunity of this new release to reorganize the wr-cores HDL
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repository to add platform and board support modules as well as a few
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reference designs for officially supported boards. Please check the
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release user manual for a detailed description of these new modules and
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instructions for how to use them in your custom designs. In the coming
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months we would like to expand the platform, board, reference design
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modules to cover also Xilinx series 7 FPGAs and work on porting the WR
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PTP Core to Kintex Ultrascale
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FPGAs.
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### New manufacturer of the WR Switch hardware and the official Production Test Suite
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Creotech Instruments S.A. is another company that started producing WR
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Switch hardware last year. We have bought a few devices and successfully
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evaluated them together with GSI to make sure they are produced from the
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same design files as switches sold by 7Solutions. Currently, we are
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working together with INCAA to prepare an official Production Test Suite
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(PTS) for the WR Switch hardware. This PTS
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consists of a set of tests that can be used either by the companies
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during production, to verify that all the hardware components are
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soldered and working properly, or by users to test the hardware in case
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of
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failures.
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### SPEC and SVEC PTS-es expanded to assign official MAC addresses by manufacturers.
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Till now, the Ethernet MAC address of a WR port on SPEC and SVEC cards
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was generated from the 1-Wire thermometer ID. Last year we updated the
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Production Test Suites (PTS) for SPEC and SVEC cards to allow
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manufacturers to assign unique MAC addresses from the official pool. The
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MAC address is stored in the Flash memory and can be used by the default
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WR PTP Core firmware. The update to PTS-es was sent to all the companies
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producing these cards. Please contact your supplier if you're interested
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in having WR Nodes with official MAC
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addresses.
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### Proof of concept demo of super low latency triggers distribution in White Rabbit.
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In 2016 we made a proof of concept implementation of super low latency
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trigger distribution in White Rabbit. We added a module that injects
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special 8B/10B characters to the Ethernet data stream. These special
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characters are then detected on the other side and interpreted as
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triggers. Thanks to the fact that the injection and reception is done in
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the physical layer, the overall latency of the trigger is the result of
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only the SerDes, PCB and fiber latencies. This opens new possibilities
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of using White Rabbit as a trigger distribution network in high energy
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physics experiments. This is currently a proof of concept implementation
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and still requires more work to be included in the stable release of the
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WR Switch and WR PTP Core. If you find this interesting for your
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application, please let us know and have a look at branch *supertrigger*
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in the wr-cores HDL repository.
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## Tsinghua University
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## Tsinghua University
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We have adapted WR technology for a pre-clinical Positron Emission
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We have adapted WR technology for a pre-clinical Positron Emission
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