% WR SPEC Starting Kit
% Benoit RAT, Javier Diaz (Seven Solutions)

Introduction
=============


About the White Rabbit technology
----------------------------------

White Rabbit ([WR]) is an extension to Ethernet network with **accurate 
synchronization** and Gigabit data transfer capability. It has been 
conceived to fulfill the following goals:\


Time Precision
:	The [WR] technology provides a common clock for physical layer in the entire network, allowing synchronization at sub-nanosecond accuracy with  picoseconds precision.

Scalability
:	The [WR] network is designed to be highly scalable up to thousands of nodes. It also intends to be as modular as possible and compatible with non-[WR] devices. Finally, all products related to this technology available at the Open Hardware Repository ([OHWR]) represent “open developments”, i.e. all the hardware designs, firmware and software and documentation are fully available. This shall facilitate the new incremental developments and customization of the available designs and products.
 
Distance Range
:	Taking into account the size and ranges of the majority of industrial and scientific facilities, the [WR] network specifications have been chosen to support distance ranges of 10 km between nodes using fiber cables.\


The **Starting Kit** has been designed to test and check if the White 
Rabbit technology meets your requirements. It shall also facilitate the 
understanding on the technology capabilities and possibilities. 
WR starting kit can also be used to evaluate what can be done with it 
and how to integrate it on your own project.

You can find more information on other components and use cases on:

* Our webpage <http://www.sevensols.com/whiterabbitsolution/>
* The official wiki page <http://www.ohwr.org/projects/white-rabbit/wiki>


About the Starting Kit
----------------------------------

This starting kit uses two nodes, each one composed of a [SPEC] and one 
[FMC-DIO] card.

A node makes basic operations such as input timestamping or programmable output pulse generation.
Additionally, specific software and gateware layers allow to use it as a standard network 
interface card implementing the White Rabbit technology functionalities. 
Network packages with accurate time-stamping information are generated/timestamped at 
the hardware level to achieve the highest accuracy. 

It is based on different projects:

* [spec-sw]: driver to communicate to the [SPEC] card through PCIe. It 
also includes a set of tools to experiments.
* [wr-nic]:  gateware that includes the NIC & DIO capabilities.
* [wrpc-sw]: white rabbit PTP firmware for the synchronization. 


About this document:
---------------

This document is intended to be a step by step user friendly tutorial 
to start with the White Rabbit technology. It includes the description 
of some simple experiments to illustrate [WR] capabilities. Some 
concepts are deliberately avoided to ease the comprehension of this document. 
If you want to know more about these concepts, please access to the 
related documents in the [Reference section](#references) 
and especially to the following ones:

* [spec-sw.pdf]
* [wrpc.pdf]

The rest of the document provides an explanation about the system setup, software driver, FPGA configuration and 
some application examples. 

This will allow easily validating the main capabilities of White Rabbit 
technology. 

We have also included a chapter called [Quick Start Guide for 
Developers](#quick-start-guide-for-developers) in order to facilitate 
the starting stages of development processes, indicating where to find 
the different source projects and how to compile them.

 
System Setup
===========

This section describes the main elements required to start with the White-Rabbit based 
on the *"White Rabbit (SPEC-based) starting kit"*. The different 
hardware elements and theirs connections are described in this section. 


Starting kit components
----------------

The starting kit is composed of various elements that you should find 
in the package[^standardssk] :
	
* 2x [SPEC]s boards compatible with *PCIe x4* or more
* 2x [FMC-DIO]s 5CH TTL A

* 2x SFPs LC 
	* AXGE-1254-0531 (blue)
	* AXGE-3454-0531 (violet)
* 1x LC-LC cable (2m) 
* 2x LEMO cable (2m)
* 2x LEMO-BNC Adaptor

![The components of the starting kit](ssk_components.jpg)

[^standardssk]: Only with the standard version of starting kit.


Physical configurations
-------------------


* Plug the [SPEC+FMCDIO] into your *PCIe x{4,8,16}* port.
* You should also connect a micro-USB cable to the UART of the board. 
(A Virtual UART is also available, but it is safer to use the physical 
one). 
* Connect the two [SPEC+FMCDIO] boards using the SFPs and the optical fiber cable (LC-LC)
* Run a linux distribution (This tutorial has been written using Ubuntu 12.04 and it is focused on 
debian's like distribution).
* Prepare an oscilloscope with at least two input channels to access 
the [FMCDIO] outputs.


> ***Note:*** This tutorial follow a configuration with two [SPEC+FMCDIO] boards connected in the two **PCIe x16** interfaces of the same computer.

> You can also use two different computers (if you do not have two **PCIe x4**) and follow this tutorial; you 
just need to replace all the commands with `wr1` or `0x0300` by the `wr0` and its corresponding bus_id on the second PC.

The configuration with two separated PCs is more *"natural"* to 
understand how to communicate two different nodes using the starting kit, 
but it requires more physical space to implement it.

![Configuration with one or two PCs](ssk_configs.png)

![Mounting two SPECs in the same PC](ssk_inside.jpg)

![Connecting SFPs and fiber](ssk_sfp.jpg)

![The UART use a micro-USB cable to communicate](ssk_usb.jpg)
  

	
Installation of WR-NIC
=======================

Once you have the linux system is with the boards plugged in the 
equipments:

* Install the tools to build drivers, etc...
* The drivers : `spec-sw`
* The HDL bitstream of [SPEC+FMCDIO]: `wr-nic`

Tools
-----------------

The first step is to install all the tools that you will need:

* **git**: A powerful & distributed version control system
* **build-essentials**: Contains various binaries to build source code
* **linux-source**: Might be useful to compile drivers & kernel modules
* **minicom**: Hyperterminal for linux
* **texinfo, texlive, emacs**: Tools to build documentation


You can also run this command[^debian]:

~~~~{.sh}
sudo apt-get install git build-essential linux-source minicom texinfo emacs texlive
~~~~~~~~~

[^debian]: This sample command is for debian's like distributions. 
However similar packages exist for other distributions. 

Install the project
-------------------

The first step is to install the driver to communicate with the card using 
the PCIe port. To do so you need to get the latest release[^commitgit] of [wr-starting-kit] project which 
includes the [spec-sw] project.

~~~~{.sh}
## Create the "root" directory
>:$ mkdir -p ~/wr/
>:$ cd ~/wr/

## Clone the repository
>:$ git clone git://ohwr.org/white-rabbit/wr-starting-kit.git
>:$ cd wr-starting-kit

## Checkout the stable release
>:$ git checkout -b wr-starting-kit-v1.0 wr-starting-kit-v1.0

## Obtain the spec-sw project using submodules
>:$ git submodule init
>:$ git submodule update

## Update submodule of spec-sw
>:$ cd spec-sw
>:$ git submodule init
>:$ git submodule update
~~~~~~~~~~~~

[^commitgit]: You should only use our package or proper release (tagged commit). 
The **master** branch might have the latest source but support is only offered for tagged release. The other branches are normally used for development and are not stable.


		
Structure of the spec-sw project
---------------------------------

Most of the information on how the project is structured can be found in the [spec-sw.pdf] in the `/doc` folder, 
however in the following paragraphs we briefly summarize it:

### Folders layout

Each of the following folders contain:

* **doc**: documentation of the project 
* **gateware**: downloaded HDL binaries also called gateware.\
 (This folder is created while downloading gateware)
* **kernel**: Kernel modules (drivers) to connect the [SPEC] to the PC through PCIe.
* **tools**: Set of tools used for the experiments in the Starting Kit


### Structure of the driver and HDL

The Starting Kit contains 3 different drivers:

* **fmc.ko**: Define a generic FMC-bus[^fmc-bus] used to identify and connect to FMC boards independently 
of the carrier being used (e.g. [SPEC], SVEC, ...)
* **spec.ko**: It is the device driver that connects to the [SPEC] through PCI. It also loads the spec-init.bin “golden” gateware file.
* **wr-nic.ko**: The wr-nic driver is basically an Ethernet driver with 
support for hardware time stamping. It also loads the following:
	* `fmc/wr_nic_dio.bin` gateware for the NIC and DIO properties.
	* `fmc/wr_nic_dio-wrc.bin` software for the LM32[^lm32inc]. 
	
[^fmc-bus]: More information about the [FMC]-bus can be found within [fmc-bus.pdf] in the `doc/` folder.
[^lm32inc]: In future version, the program file for the LM32 will be included into the gateware. 


Compile & install 
------------------------	

A Makefile in the [spec-sw] project has been written to compile and install easily the drivers and the tools used below.

~~~~{.sh}
## Go to spec-sw project
>:$ cd spec-sw

## In the root folder (spec-sw), run
>:$ make

## then, install the driver in your system so that they load automatically
>:$ sudo make install
~~~~~~~~~~~	
	
If everything works well you should see the driver in 
	
~~~~{.sh}
>:$ ls -l /lib/modules/$(uname -r)/extra
~~~~~~~~~~~

> ***Notes:*** In some distributions such as Ubuntu 12.04, you might 
need to force the creation of dependency
to load the modules using modprobe.

~~~~{.sh}
>:$ sudo depmod -a
~~~~~~~~~~~


Download, install & load the gateware
--------------------------------------

You need to install the gateware[^version] to `/lib/firmware/fmc`

### Manual installation

~~~~{.sh}
## Create the gateware folder
>:$ mkdir firmware
>:$ cd firware

## Download all the firware files (from OHWR website).
>:$ wget -nv http://www.ohwr.org/attachments/download/1815/wr-starting-kit-v1.0_gw.tar.gz -O- | tar -xvz 
~~~~~~~~~~~

Once you have the file you need to install them to your system in order to make them load automatically

~~~~{.sh}
## Install the HDL binaries in /lib/firmware/fmc (require sudo)
>:$ sudo cp -v firmware/*.bin /lib/firmware/fmc
~~~~~~~~~~~~~

### Automatic installation

You can also use the script `wr-ssk-get` in `wr-starting-kit/scripts` folder
to ease the installation. `sudo` is required 

~~~~{.sh}
## Fetch and install the firmware
>:$ scripts/wr-ssk-get --all
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[^version]: The HDL binaries (gateware) came from other project, you can find in 
the [Developers Section](#quick-start-guide-for-developers) where to obtain them and 
how to compile them. 



Loading the driver
------------------------	

To enable the wr-nic you should execute the modprobe[^errmodprobe] command to load everything

~~~~{.sh}
>:$ sudo modprobe wr-nic
~~~~~~~~

[^errmodprobe]: We have found a problem in some distribution with `modprobe` command. 
You should use `insmod` instead and  look at the [Known Bugs sections](#known-bugs).

	
You should expect to obtain one (or two) new interface(s): 	

~~~~{.sh}
>:$ ifconfig -a | grep wr
wr0       Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX 
~~~~~~~~~~~~


Setting Master & Slave using White Rabbit Core
=============================================

A "[SPEC+FMCDIO]" board is considered as a slave node, however in a standard
 White Rabbit network the synchronization is done using a master such 
 as a White Rabbit Switch [WRS].
 
In order to enable the synchronization capabilities we need to set up one board in master mode 
(faking to be a [WRS]) and the other one in slave mode (default mode).  This is done through the
shell of White Rabbit Core that allows this functionality among others.


Connect to the UARTs
-----------------------

### Physical UART

To configure the [SPEC] board in master/slave mode you need to access to the White Rabbit Core (WRC) through the UART (virtual or physical). 

To access to the physical, you first need to connect the mini-USB of the [SPEC] to your PC. Then, you need to run
 a terminal emulator[^sudomc] (such as minicom) on the device created while plug-in the USB cable. 

~~~~~{.sh}
>:$ sudo minicom --device=/dev/ttyUSB0 -b 115200 
>:$ sudo minicom --device=/dev/ttyUSB1 -b 115200 
~~~~~~~~~~	

> ***Notes:*** ttyUSB0 might not correspond to your first board, and ttyUSB1 to the second one. 
This depends on how you have plugged the USB cable to your USB of your machine.

### Virtual UART
	
An easier way to perform this operation is to access to the virtual 
UART of the [SPEC] board by using the spec-vuart tool.
You first need to know the ***bus_id*** of your board

> ***Notes:*** The VUART is currently not working for this package, but 
the information is given for the next versions. See [Known Bugs sections](#known-bugs)
 
~~~~~{.sh}
>:$ lspci | grep CERN
02:00.0 Non-VGA unclassified device: CERN/ECP/EDU Device 018d (rev 03)
03:00.0 Non-VGA unclassified device: CERN/ECP/EDU Device 018d (rev 03)
~~~~~~~~~~
 
 This means that your first board (wr0) is at **02**:00.0 and the second one (wr1) is at **03**:00.0
 Thus, for each board you can open a terminal and run the following command:
 
~~~~~{.sh}
>:$ sudo tools/spec-vuart -b 02	#For the first SPEC board 
>:$ sudo tools/spec-vuart -b 03	#For the second SPEC board
~~~~~~~~~~


[^sudomc]: On Ubuntu 12.04, you need sudo permission to access to a 
ttyUSB*X* device. It might be a good idea to add your user to the dialout group to
obtain appropriate permisssion on the device: `sudo usermod -a -G dialout $USER`


The White Rabbit Core Shell
----------------------------

Once you are in the UART you should obtain the White Rabit Core console (`wrc#`).
A complete reference of the shell commands is included in the [wrpc.pdf] manual or 
you can read them in the [Wiki](http://www.ohwr.org/projects/wr-cores/wiki/Wrpc_shell)

The most useful commands are repeated here for your convenience

* `gui`
* `mode master`
* `mode slave`
* `ptp stop`
* `ptp start`

For the tutorial we will use the following names: 

* `wrc1#` for `wrc#` console of the main board (wr0/busID=0x0200)
* `wrc2#` for `wrc#` console of the second board  (wr1/busID=0x0300)


Configure in slave & master mode
--------------------------------

Now we can perform the following operation:

* Check if you have the correct SFP and its corresponding value[^sfpdetectbug]

~~~~~{.sh}
wrc1# sfp detect
AXGE-3454-0531 #purple
wrc1# sfp match                                                                  
SFP matched, dTx=46407, dRx=167843, alpha=-73622176    
~~~~~~~

~~~~~{.sh}
wrc2# sfp detect
AXGE-1254-0531 #blue
wrc1# sfp match                                                                  
SFP matched, dTx=46407, dRx=167843, alpha=73622176 
~~~~~~~

[^sfpdetectbug]: If you obtain an error such as **Could not match to DB** you 
might add your own SFP parameters. List your actual sfp database with `sfp show` 
and check the [wrpc.pdf] that explain how to add SFPs parameters. 

* Setup one board in master (the one with the purple SFP)

~~~~~{.sh}
wrc1# mode master
SPLL_Init: running as Free-running Master, 1 ref channels, 2 out channels
Locking PLL...
~~~~~~~

* And let the other one in slave mode (since slave mode is the default 
mode, this should not be necessary but you might have set it before in master mode)

~~~~~{.sh}
wrc2# mode slave
slave
~~~~~~~

### Start the synchronization with PTP daemon


You should run the PTP daemon on both cards

~~~~~{.sh}
wrc1# ptp start
wrc2# ptp start
~~~~~~~

And you should obtain the following message on the slave board:

	SPLL_Init: running as Slave, 1 ref channels, 2 out channels
	Enabling ptracker channel: 0
	Enabling ptracker channel: 0
	servo:pre: -1885143040/2ps
	servo:Deltas: Master: Tx=46407ps, Tx=175043ps, Slave: tx=46407ps, Rx=167843ps.
	Adjust: counter = seconds [+0]
	Adjust: counter = nanoseconds [+343914800]
	servo:busy

Finally you can run the WRC shell in `gui` mode to obtain more information 

~~~~~{.sh}
wrc2# gui
~~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~{.sh}
WR PTP Core Sync Monitor v 1.0
Esc = exit

TAI Time:                  Thu, Jan 1, 1970, 0:30:15

wru1: Link up   (RX: 766, TX: 340), mode: WR Slave   Locked  Calibrated  

Synchronization status:

Servo state:               TRACK_PHASE
Phase tracking:            ON
Synchronization source:    wru1
Aux clock status:          

Timing parameters:

Round-trip time (mu):      698557 ps
Master-slave delay:        345660 ps
Master PHY delays:         TX: 46407 ps, RX: 175043 ps
Slave PHY delays:          TX: 46407 ps, RX: 167843 ps
Total link asymmetry:      7237 ps
Cable rtt delay:           262857 ps
Clock offset:              2 ps
Phase setpoint:            7268 ps                                              
Skew:                      2 ps                                                 
Manual phase adjustment:   0 ps                                                 
Update counter:            117                                                  
--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You can see that the slave node is locked, calibrated and that the phase tracking is enabled.


> ***Notes: *** We also recommand you to set up an init script if you do not want to repeat these operations at each 
reboot. You can look at the [wrpc.pdf] for more information or use the `init show` command to check the 
one you have running. 




Bring up the network interface
-------------------------------

Once the drivers are loaded and the PTP has started you might need to bring the new network interfaces up.
In order to do this you should just execute:

~~~~{.sh}
>:$ sudo ifconfig wr0
>:$ sudo ifconfig wr1
~~~~~~~~~~~~

And then check if they are mounted by doing

~~~~{.sh}
>:$ sudo ifconfig | grep wr 
wr0       Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 08:00:30:0d:e8:6b  
wr1       Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 08:00:30:0d:e4:cd  
~~~~~~~~~~~~


> ***Notes:*** On the distributions that use gnome desktop (i.e, Ubuntu), the interfaces are automatically mounted by *gnome 
network manager*, so you might not need to perform the last step. 


Some Illustrative Experiments
==================

To perform the experiments we recommend you to plug the LEMO cable to your
oscilloscope by using the LEMO-BNC adapter provided in your package.

It is also recommended to follow the order of the tutorial since the 
concepts that are intended to be described and tested are explained in 
the same order as the experiments.

> **Notes:** Before each experiment you should make sure that you set 
up your boards in *master/slave* mode and that the PTP daemons are running on both.


Playing with the DIO channels
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The first step to perform is to check if the [FMCDIO] channels are accessible using the installed driver.
In the `tools` subdirectory you will you find the `wr-dio-cmd` program, 
that let you quickly test the I/O features of the [FMCDIO] boards

This is the general syntax of the command[^sudo]: `wr-dio-cmd <ifname> <cmd> [<arg> ...]`

The main commands correspond to: `mode, pulse & stamp`, and you can 
find an extended description of
 them in the [spec-sw.pdf:6.7][spec-sw.pdf] document.


[^sudo]: As the application use `ioctl` you should call with root privilege by using sudo.

### Setting the mode

The first thing is to set the correct mode for each channel; you can use a command that set the 
mode for a specific channel[^dionum] or for all of them at the same 
time.

	mode <channel> <mode> [<channel> <mode> ...]
	mode <modech0><modech1><modech2><modech3><modech4>

The available modes are:

* `I/i`: input (`I` with 50-ohm termination resistor and `i` without)
* `0/1`: output, steady state fixed at `0` low or `1` high.
* `D/d`: DIO core output (`D` with 50-ohm termination resistor and `d` without)

For example you can set it up like this

~~~~~{.sh}
## Configure channel 0 as input with termination, 1 as input, 4 as fixed low
>:$ sudo wr-dio-cmd wr0 mode Ii--0
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
	
> ***Notes:*** please note that the `pulse` command activates the [FMCDIO] mode (without changing the termination)

 
### Generating pulse  

The command is used in the following formats:

	pulse <channel> <duration> <when> [<period> <count>]
	
You should plug the LEMO cable in the connector #5 (channel 4), and connect the BNC adapter to your oscilloscope.

![Connecting LEMO on connector #5 (channel 4)](ssk_lemo.jpg)
 
Finally you need to active a trigger pulse in your oscilloscope. Then you can try the following commands: 

~~~~~{.sh}
## Pulse channel 4 for 0.1 seconds now
>:$ sudo wr-dio-cmd wr0 pulse 4 .1 now

## Pulse for 10 microseconds in the middle of the next second
>:$ sudo wr-dio-cmd wr0 pulse 4 .00001 +1.5

## Pulse for 1ms at 17:00 today
## Set the datetime of the next event (60 seconds from now)
## NOTE: this only work if the date is correctly set in the master SPEC, 
>:$ sudo wr-dio-cmd wr0 pulse 4 .001 $(date +%s --date 17:00)
~~~~~~~~



### Time stamping output

Once you have generated the pulse you can retrieve its timestamp by executing:

~~~~~{.sh}
>:$ sudo wr-dio-cmd wr0 stamp 4
ch 4,       378.788588536
ch 4,       381.268701864
ch 4,       387.284885816
ch 4,       469.500000000
ch 4,       500.500000000
ch 4,       504.500000000
ch 4,       530.500000000
ch 4,       534.500000000
ch 4,       542.500000000
~~~~~~~~


### Time stamping input & output.

The idea here, is to create a pulse from one [FMCDIO] and to timestamp it as local 
and remote input. Then we can compare both time stamps and measure the 
interval between generation and reception of the pulse.

The configuration is done as indicated in the figure below:

![Time-stamping configuration](ssk_playdio.png)

~~~~~{.sh}
## Configure channel 2 of both boards (wr0 & wr1) as input with termination
>:$ sudo wr-dio-cmd wr0 mode 2 I
>:$ sudo wr-dio-cmd wr1 mode 2 I

## Then flush the previous timestamp
>:$ sudo wr-dio-cmd wr0 stamp &> /dev/null
>:$ sudo wr-dio-cmd wr1 stamp &> /dev/null


## Schedule the pulse to the next common event on two outputs
>:$ sudo wr-dio-cmd wr0 pulse 0 .00001 +2
>:$ sudo wr-dio-cmd wr0 pulse 4 .00001 +2

## Then (after 60s), you should run stamp on the wr0
>:$ sudo wr-dio-cmd wr0 stamp
ch 0,      2267.500000000
ch 2,      2267.500000008
ch 4,      2270.500000000
>:$ sudo wr-dio-cmd wr1 stamp
ch 2,      2270.500000008
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


We observe that locally (ouput=>ch0, input=>ch2) and remotely (output=>ch4, input=>ch2), 
the timestamp between sending a pulse and receiving is of 8 nanoseconds[^8ns] for both.
This is a very simple example to show how the two [SPEC]s are synchronized.


[^dionum]: The connector on the [FMC-DIO] panel are enumerated from 1 to 5 and correspond to the channel 0 to 4 on the `wr-dio-cmd`. 
[^8ns]: The DIO core work at a frequency of 125Mhz, therefore the minimum difference between two timestamped events is of 8ns. 
However with the next experiment you will find out that the synchronization is better.

Synchronization of PPS
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This corresponds to the experiment from [spec-sw.pdf:6.8][spec-sw.pdf] document. 
Here we want to synchronize the PPS of the master and slave boards using WR protocol on a fiber.

### Setup

In order to perform a more illustrative experiment, this example should 
be done with two [SPEC+FMCDIO] boards separated by a 5km fiber
on two different PCs. However to simplify the experiments we are using 2m fiber cable and the two boards connected to the same PC. One channel of each board (channel 4 & 0) is connected to the oscilloscope using LEMO cable & adapter. 

![Setup for the PPS synchronization](ssk_pps-setup.png)


### Run PPS command

Once the synchronization is enabled, you just need to run the PPS from the command line
This program just fires a 1ms-long *pps* pulse on one of the output
channels. 

~~~~~~{.sh}
## run pps on channel 2 of the default SPEC card
>:$ sudo tools/wr-dio-pps wr0 4

## run pps on channel 0 of the "second" card
>:$ sudo tools/wr-dio-pps wr1 0
~~~~~~~~~~


### Result

The following two figures show the *pulse-per-second* signals
retrieved from two different *simple-DIO* cards. 

![Synchronization of the two PPS (5ns/div)](ssk_pps-res.jpg)

To avoid the unstable signal after the pps go high you can 
add a 50-ohm resistor termination if the oscilloscope allows it.

To stop the PPS you need to set the channel in output mode (low/high)
	
~~~~~{.sh}	
sudo tools/wr-dio-cmd wr0 mode 4 0 
sudo tools/wr-dio-cmd wr1 mode 0 0 
~~~~~~~~

> ***Notes:*** In some cases, it
may happen that the leading edges differ by almost exactly 8ns; this
happens because in the *simple-DIO* all times are quantized by
8ns-long clock ticks. The differences in internal delays (which depend
on the carrier, the mezzanine and the FPGA binary), are not
self-measured and calibrated in this simple design and may appear in
the output after quantization.


The Network Interface Card (NIC) Synchronization
---------------------------------------
	
### Introduction

The *wr-nic* driver registers a Linux network interface card for
each [SPEC] device that it drives.  The cards are called `wr%d` (i.e.,
*wr0*, *wr1*, ...).

The [SPEC] can carry normal data traffic in
addition to the PTP frames of *White Rabbit*, that remain
invisible to the host computer.

> ***Notes:*** If a user wants to use the WR-NIC on a real network to transfer
data he should assign an Interface address. However the *White Rabbit* synchronization happens at Ethernet 
layer therefore no IP address is needed. Moreover if you want to communicate two WR-NIC boards that are on the same 
computer you should not use an IP protocol because the data will never 
be put on the fiber since the computer knows
that the two IPs are on the same machine.

### Timestamp Mechanism

The [SPEC] Ethernet interface
supports hardware timestamping for user frames through the
standard Linux mechanisms.  Time stamps are currently reported with
a resolution of 8ns only (*White Rabbit* does much better, but the code 
to illustrate this is not developed for this simple demo, yet).

Unfortunately the Linux mechanisms are not trivial: the application must
enable timestamping on both the hardware interface and the specific
socket it is using, and it must issue several *ioctl* and *setsockopt*
commands. Moreover, timestamps are returned to user space using the
*recvmsg* system call, which is more difficult to deal with than the
normal *send* or *recv* commands.

To simplify use of timestamps for Ethernet frames, 
this package includes the `stamp-frame` program in the
`tools` directory.  The program is a minimal implementation of the basic
time-synchronization protocols (like NTP and PTP), but excluding the
synchronization itself. The idea is sending a frame from one host to
another, and receiving a second frame back; the departure and arrival
times are recorded and collected at a single place, so they can
be reported to
the user.

### Synchronization And Timestamping

The `stamp-frame` example supports two modes of operations. In
*listen* mode, it binds to an Ethernet interface and listens forever:
it waits for the forward frames and replies to them; in normal mode it
sends the forward frame and reports data as soon as it gets a reply.

~~~~~{.sh}
## On a terminal run
>:$ sudo tools/stamp-frame wr0 listen
tools/stamp-frame: Using interface wr0, with all timestamp options active

## On another terminal (maybe on another host) run
>:$ sudo tools/stamp-frame wr1
tools/stamp-frame: Using interface wr1, with all timestamp options active
timestamp    T1:      1891.948736656
timestamp    T2:      1892.038390176
timestamp    T3:      1892.048625152
timestamp    T4:      1891.958972320
round trip time:         0.000000688
forward    time:         0.089653520
backward   time:        -1.910347168
~~~~~~~~~~~~

This is done four times: departure and arrival of the forward frame, followed
by departure and arrival of the backward frame. Thus,
time stamps T1 and T4 are collected at the
original sender (here: *wr1*) while T2 and T3 are collected at the
remote host (here: *wr0*).  The times above are all consistent
because the two [SPEC] cards are synchronized with *White Rabbit*. The
reported forward and backward times match the fact that we used
a 10km fiber to connect the two cards; the difference between them
is due to the different speed of light in the two directions,
because the two SFP transceivers we plugged to use different wave lengths.

The following example shows the output for two forcibly-unsynchronized
cards.  The difference between the two clocks is clearly a
few seconds; the
*round trip time* is correct nonetheless, because it is a difference of
differences:

~~~~~{.sh}
   timestamp    T1:        13.225249168
   timestamp    T2:         9.130237600
   timestamp    T3:         9.140438816
   timestamp    T4:        13.235559016
   round trip time:         0.000108632
   forward    time:        -5.904988432
   backward   time:         4.095120200
~~~~~~~~~~~~

The code in `stamp-frame`
is designed to be simple to be reused, but there is one non-obvious detail
that is worth describing here.  Whereas the receive timestamp is
returned to user-space together with the frame it refers to, the
transmit timestamp is only known after the relevant frame left the
computer.  For this reason, in order
to communicate the TX timestamp of a frame to your peer, you will need to
send another message which carries the departure time of the previous
frame.  This further message is usually called *follow-up*,
and `stamp-frame` respects this tradition.	
	



Transmitting external frequency
-----------------------------------

This experiment merges the concepts seen before with the [FMCDIO] channels and the NIC synchronization.

### Summary

A typical application for *White Rabbit* (or any time
synchronization system) is being able to generate output signals at the
same time in different output boards; (in the framework of a 
distributed instrumentation facility); another typical application is
time stamping input events.

Thus in these experiments we are going to transmit an external frequency in 
the 100Hz range using the starting kit:

* The user supplies a ~100Hz square wave on the channel 0 of the master card. 
* The **dio-ruler** on master host reads the UTC time of the rising edge of the external pulse upon IRQ. 
* Then the **dio-ruler** forwards it (as an **ioctl** structure) to its local and remote selected outputs.
* At the slave workstation the **dio-agent** waits to receive 
timestamped **ioctl** order and passes it to the *DIO* driver.
* The DIO will generate a *1ms* pulse at the programmed time. 
* On the screen of the oscilloscope we should see a constant time offset between the two pulses.

The figure below illustrates how the connection must be done between the different components:

![Setup to transmit a 100Hz signal](ssk_100Hz.png)

 
### How does it work?


The example is made up of two programs: `wr-dio-agent` and `wr-dio-ruler`: the ruler rules and the agent acts only.

These programs transmit using raw Ethernet frames to force the optical fiber transmission when two boards are on the same machine.
It also transmits using broadcast addresses to avoid complication on 
selecting to who it should be transmitted. 
The simplification adopted above, however, most likely prevents the programs from working within a more complex
network topology. 

> ***Notes:*** By using an IP protocol (i.e, UDP) the data will never enter the optical fiber between the two boards 
because the OS see that the destination is local and therefore routes them directly to the receiver without using the sender.

The *agent* is a "dumb" agent in charge of forwarding *WR* packet to the *DIO* core.

The *ruler* waits for timestamps to appear on a specific input channel;
when a positive-going edge occurs the *ruler* notifies it or replicates the edge on one or more outputs.
Each output can be local or remote, and can use a different delay from the input pulse.

For further details (deeper studies) the user is recommended to read the [spec-sw.pdf:6.8][spec-sw.pdf] document 
and to also take a look at the source code of `wr-dio-agent` and `wr-dio-ruler` 


> ***Notes:***  All pulses generation are driven by
host software, after a hardware interrupt reports the input event.
For this reason, you will not be able to reliably replicate pulses with
delays smaller than a few hundred microseconds, depending on the
processing power of your computer and the load introduced by other
processes.  For remote connections, you must also count the overhead
of network communication as well as transmission delays over
the fiber (a 10km fiber introduces a
delay of 50 microseconds). 

[^loopback]: 

### The setup

Then we should run the "dumb" agent[^agentbg] on the slave board in charge of forwarding *ioctl* packet to the *DIO* core:

	$ sudo wr-dio-agent wr1 &

Then you need to connect the output of the generator[^fake100hz] to channel 0 of the master [SPEC+FMCDIO] board. 
The generated waveform should be a 0-5V pulse at ~100Hz (5ms at 5V then 5ms at 0V)

<!-- TOJAVI: le hemos probado y no hemos tenido problema aqui-->

[^fake100hz]: If you lack a wave form generator, you can make an output pulse with
`wr-dio-pps` or other means and use it as a trigger. Check the [Two PCs example](#two-pcs-example).



You should setup the channel 0 as input and check if the 100Hz signal is correctly timestamped:

~~~~~~{.sh}
## Set channel 0 of master board as Input.
>:$ sudo wr-dio-cmd wr0 mode 0 I 

## Retrieved the time stamped value
>:$ sudo wr-dio-cmd wr0 stamp 
ch 0,      3573.281851462
ch 0,      3573.291851460
ch 0,      3573.301851460
ch 0,      3573.311851456
ch 0,      3573.321851454
ch 0,      3573.331851458
ch 0,      3573.341851454
...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Here we can see that we have correctly timestamped each 10ms (+/- 10ns)[^10ns].

[^10ns]: The 10 nanosecon jitter is due to our waveform generators used in the experiments. 
This should disappear by using a good quality waveform generator.


Once you know that your input is correct, you need to capture each 
event on channel 0 and replicate them with a delay of 1ms
on both the local (channel 3) and the remote card (channel 1) 

~~~~~~{.sh}
## Creating the ruler to forward from input 0 to local3 and remote1
>:$ sudo wr-dio-ruler wr0 IN0 L3+0.001 R1+0.001
wr-dio-ruler: configured for  local channel 3, delay 0.001000000
wr-dio-ruler: configured for remote channel 1, delay 0.001000000
~~~~~~~~~~~~~

### Result

To check if the experiment works well you can compare the timestamp of the two outputs

~~~~~~~~{.sh}
## Checking the timestamp on local ouput
>:$ sudo wr-dio-cmd wr0 stamp 3
ch 3,      5340.004864960
ch 3,      5340.014864960
ch 3,      5340.024864968
ch 3,      5340.034864964
...

## Checking the timestamp on remote ouput
>:$ sudo wr-dio-cmd wr1 stamp 1
ch 1,      5340.004864962
ch 1,      5340.014864960
ch 1,      5340.024864968
ch 1,      5340.034864960
...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Or compare the signals[^3cables] on the oscilloscope as in the next figure:

![Result with a 100Hz train](ssk_100Hz-train.jpg)

[^3cables]: To do this you need to connect from the waveform generator to the input with a LEMO cable that is not provided.

> ***Notes:*** This code was developed as a demo sample therefore: the delays should be no
more than the interval between input pulses, because the tools
reprograms all output triggers at each input event. The output pulse is fixed at 1ms


### Two PCs example

This experiment is taken from the spec-sw document; 
we verified the tools and we think this is a good explanation of how to use them.

It shows how to use the *ruler* and *agent* on
two hosts, called `spusa` and `tornado`. It is pretty the same thing as the previous
experiment only that the board are now both named `wr0`. 

![Transmit PPS between two PCs](ssk_txpps.png)

The input events on `spusa` are replicated to one local channel and two remote channels,
with a delay of 1ms. The input events in this case are from a *pulse-per-second* signal from 
channel 0.

~~~~~{.sh}

   >spusa:# wr-dio-pps wr0 0 

   >tornado:# wr-dio-agent wr0 &

   >spusa:# wr-dio-ruler wr0 IN4 L3+.001 R4+.001 R2+.001
   wr-dio-ruler: configured for  local channel 3, delay 0.001000000
   wr-dio-ruler: configured for remote channel 4, delay 0.001000000
   wr-dio-ruler: configured for remote channel 2, delay 0.001000000

   [... wait a few seconds ...]

   >spusa:# wr-dio-cmd wr0 stamp 3
   ch 3,       385.001000000
   ch 3,       386.001000000
   ch 3,       387.001000000
   ch 3,       388.001000000
   >tornado:# wr-dio-cmd wr0 stamp 2
   ch 2,       385.001000000
   ch 2,       386.001000000
   ch 2,       387.001000000
   ch 2,       388.001000000
   >tornado:# wr-dio-cmd wr0 stamp 4
   ch 4,       385.001000000
   ch 4,       386.001000000
   ch 4,       387.001000000
   ch 4,       388.001000000
~~~~~~~~~~~~



<!--TODO: Heat & Auto-calibration chapter -->



Quick Start Guide For Developers
=================================


Introduction
--------------

> ***Notes:*** This section is still in development, you can read it to 
have a few hints on where to find the project but it shall be seen as 
work in progress. It will become more complete as new users step in and 
report their problems.


This section has the purpose to give the developers a quick start guide to install 
the tools and compile the different projects to obtain the binaries used previously.

The starting kit is based on various project:

[spec-sw]
:	The project that contains the software (application + driver) which you have already compiled above.
[spec-golden]
:	A simple gateware in order to access to the EEPROM of the [FMC] (WB-I2C)
[wr-nic]
:	gateware (FPGA HDL) that includes the NIC & DIO capabilities.
[wrpc-sw]
:	LM32 software in the white rabbit PTP core for the synchronization. 


Tools
----------------

You must have installed the following tools:

* Xilinx ISE (>14.x)
* Git
* Build-essentials
* Autoconf/Automake
* Kernel source
* Lm32 cross compiler
* Hdl make
* Texinfo 


For all these steps you can follow our guide [ohwr_development.pdf](ohwr_development.pdf)


Golden SPEC gateware
---------------------

> *Dep*: hdlmake, Xilinx ISE 14

This is a really simple gateware that allows the PC to read the FMC-EEPROM in
order to know what type of gateware it should load.
The gateware is a wishbone PCIe bridge connected to a WB I2C module.

To synthetize it, the user needs to follow the next steps:

~~~~~~{.sh}
## Checkout the code
svn checkout http://svn.ohwr.org/spec/trunk/hdl/golden@53 spec-golden

## Go to the main directory
cd spec-golden/syn/

## Synthetize using hdlmake
hdlmake --fetch
hdlmake
make
~~~~~~~~~~~


You will therefore obtain your golden firmware called as `spec-init.bin`


WRPC-SW (LM32 firmware)
-----------------------

> ***Notes***: The steps in this section are not needed as we already provide the `wrc.ram` in the [wr-nic] repository. 
However we provide here a simple resume of the steps required to compile the firmware specifically for the wr-nic.
You should also look at the [wrpc.pdf] to understand how to use it and 
how to compile new firmware for other configurations.

You can download it from [wr-nic-v1.0.tar.gz](http://www.ohwr.org/projects/wr-nic/files) file or you can try to compile it following the instructions below:

You first need to install the **lm32** compiler as suggested in 
[wrpc.pdf], and then you need to compile it using the specific configuration as bellow:

~~~~~~{.sh}
## Set up CROSS_COMPILE variable for this terminal
export CROSS_COMPILE="<your_path_to_lm32>/lm32/bin/lm32-elf-";

## Clone the repository
git clone git://ohwr.org/hdl-core-lib/wr-cores/wrpc-sw.git 
cd wrpc-sw

## Checkout the stable release
git checkout -b wr-nic-v1.0 wr-nic-v1.0 

~~~~~~~~~~

And finally configure and compile it

~~~~~~{.sh}
## Configuring the project for SPEC
make wrnic_defconfig

## Compile
make
~~~~~~~~~~

You should obtain various files named wrc.bin, wrc.elf, wrc.vhd, wrc.ram

You can therefore use them to override the one in [wr-nic](#wr-nic-hdl-gateware) project.

~~~~~{.sh}
## Override the default embeded wrpc-sw 
cp wrc.ram <wr_root_folder>/wr-nic/syn/spec
~~~~~~~~~~~

	
WR-NIC (HDL-gateware)
----------------------

This step shows us how to prepare the WR-NIC bitstream ([SPEC+FMCDIO]) with 
the wrpc-sw (`wrc.ram` file) embedded inside.


~~~~~~{.sh}
## Checkout the code
git clone git://ohwr.org/white-rabbit/wr-nic.git
cd wr-nic

## Checkout the stable release
git checkout -b wr-nic-v1.0 wr-nic-v1.0

## Go to the main directory
cd wr-nic/syn/spec/

## Synthetize using hdlmake
hdlmake --fetch
hdlmake --fetch
hdlmake -l
~~~~~~~~~~~	

You should finally obtain the bitstream to import in your [FMC] driver folder.


Appendix
============

In the Appendix we include other information that may be of interest.

WRPC as grandmaster
--------------------

In basic configuration your Master [SPEC] can use its internal 
free-running oscillator as a time reference. However, you can also 
discipline your Master [SPEC] with external 10 MHz and 1-PPS signal by 
connecting them to the appropriate LEMO connectors of [FMC-DIO] board:


![Grandmaster setup](ssk_grandmaster.png)

Then in the wrc console just execute the following commands:

~~~~~~{.sh}
wrc# mode grandmaster
wrc# ptp start
~~~~~~~~~~~~~

FAQS & Bugs
============

Known Bugs
----------


### Virtual UART

The following command: `sudo tools/spec-vuart -b <dev_id>` does not show anything?

Virtual UART is not enabled on the current release but will be available on the next one.
Until the next release you should stick with the Physical UART: micro USB cable and minicom.


### No SFP in EEPROM database

When you try to match your SFPs and you obtain an error such as **Could not match to DB** you 
need to add your own SFP parameters. 

~~~~~{.sh}
## List your actual sfp database
wrc# sfp show    

## Erase the actual database if it was corrupted
wrc# sfp erase

## Add the parameters for the SFP provided in the starting kit
wrc# sfp add AXGE-1254-0531 46407 167843 73622176
wrc# sfp add AXGE-3454-0531 46407 167843 -73622176
~~~~~~~~~~~

You can also check the [wrpc.pdf] for extended explanations on how to obtain the parameters for your own SFP
and how to calibrate them. 

### Modprobe is not working

If you get and error like the following:

~~~~~~~{.sh}
>:$ sudo modprobe wr-nic
FATAL: Module wr_nic not found.
~~~~~~~~~
	
Be sure that you have run the `sudo depmod -a` command. 
Otherwise you can still load the kernel modules with insmod using the 
following commands:

~~~~~~~{.sh}
>:$ sudo insmod kernel/fmc.ko
>:$ sudo insmod kernel/spec.ko
>:$ sudo insmod kernel/wr-nic.ko
~~~~~~~~~~~~~

### The system hangs-up

Unfortunately, in some circumstances the system may hang during or slightly after firmware
loading. We are trying to solve this problem. You can contribute by sending us a log with the following information:

* What is your system & distribution  (`uname -a`)
* All the commands executed from login to the crash
* The serial log starting from the login (dmesg)


### Only one wrX interface is brought up

On Ubuntu 12.04 (32bits & 64bits), the driver only loads one card. 
This might due to some problems with the network manager. 
We suggest you to reboot your system and restart the operation to solve this issue.


Frequently Added Questions
----------------------------

We also recommand the lecture of the online FAQ:

* <http://www.ohwr.org/projects/spec/wiki/FAQ>
* <http://www.ohwr.org/projects/wr-starting-kit/wiki/FAQ>
* <http://www.ohwr.org/projects/wr-cores/wiki/Wrpc_faq> 


### I don't see the interface using ifconfig

Please check if you see them using `ifconfig -a`, if you see them by using the `-a` option you just need
to bring them up. This is explained in the [Bring up the network interface](#bring-up-the-network-interface) section.

### Compilation of spec-sw is impossible

To compile you must have at least the 2.6.36 kernel (errors occurs with
2.6.32, 2.6.34). We recommend you to use the latest version of your distribution.

### The starting kit is based on Ubuntu. How can I use it with Scientific Linux?

The commands to execute in order to update the kernel using scientific linux (you need at least the 2.6.36 to compile the starting kit) are:

~~~~~{.bash}
rpm --import http://elrepo.org/RPM-GPG-KEY-elrepo.org
rpm -Uvh http://elrepo.org/elrepo-release-6-5.el6.elrepo.noarch.rpm
sudo yum --enablerepo=elrepo-kernel --skip-broken install kernel-lt kernel-lt-devel kernel-lt-headers
~~~~~~~~~~

You can have more information on how to do this by browsing the (http://elrepo.org/tiki/tiki-index.php "ELRepo Project")
After this you should reboot your PC with the new kernel source and start from [section compile & install](#compile-install)


### I am stuck in calibration!

You have run

~~~~~{.sh}
wrc# calibration force                                                          
Enabling ptracker channel: 0
LNK: 
PLL: SPLL_Init: running as Slave, 1 ref channels, 2 out channels
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And the calibration is doing an infinite loop. 

Calibration is only available for slave and you need to be connected to a  **working PTP master** master ([SPEC] in master mode or the switch) to be completed.
To configure your [SPEC] as a working PTP master, just execute in the wrpc shell of the other board:

~~~~~{.sh}
wrc# sfp match
wrc# mode master
wrc# ptp start
~~~~~~~~~~



If you have blocked your two boards in calibration mode and they stay in this mode even after rebooting and reloading firmware/gateware
you might need to format the EEPROM.


### How can I format the EEPROM?

Generate an empty file of 64kb (the extension must be .bin)

	dd count=64 bs=1k if=/dev/zero of=/tmp/zero64k.bin

and use the *fmc-write-eeprom* module from the [spec-sw] project to 
flash the EEPROM with zero bytes.

	 insmod kernel/fmc-write-eeprom.ko file=/tmp/zero64k.bin busid=<busid_SPEC-DIO>
	 
> ***Notes:*** By doing this you will lose all the SFP information and therefore you will 
need to recalibrate "correctly" your boards.

	 
### The link is down, but everything is connected

*The SFPs and the optical fiber are plugged but the error message appears `Link down --`
and you can not see any green LED on the [SPEC].*

Please check that the SFP connector is totally plugged into the [SPEC]. The SFP cage of the [SPEC]
can be blocked sometimes by the PC back-panel. You must push the SFP 
until hearing a "clicking noise".

### What is the latency in the WR-NIC

Many people ask us about the latency in the WR-NIC. 

The answer depends really on what you want to measure: The only "relevant" delay might be the time between the SFP and the PCIe which is less than 20 cycles.
However the delay introduced by your nondeterministic OS is much more important.

Glossary
===========

NIC
:	Network Interface Card
DIO 
:	Digital Input/Output
PTP
:	Precise Time Protocol, a time synchronization protocol
EEPROM
:	Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory, a non-volatile memory
FMC
:	FPGA Mezzanine Card, an ANSI standard for mezzanine card form factor.
LEMO
:	LEMO is the name of a push-pull connectors made by the LEMO company.
SFP
:	Small form-factor pluggable transceiver, a hot-pluggable transceiver for optical fiber
PCIe
:	Peripheral Component Interconnect Express, a high-speed serial computer expansion bus standard
LM32
:	LatticeMico32 is a 32-bit microprocessor soft core optimized for field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs).
HDL
:	Hardware description language
SPEC
:	Simple PCIe FMC carrier
UART
:	Universal Asynchronous Receiver/Transmitter
WB
: 	Whishbone Bus, an open system bus interconnect architecture designed for reuse
WRC / WRPC
:	 White Rabbit (PTP) Core, the main funcionality shared by all WR elements.
[WR]
: 	White Rabbit
[WRS]
: 	White Rabbit Switch


[WR]:http://www.sevensols.com/whiterabbitsolution
[WRS]: http://www.sevensols.com/index.php?seccion=1410&subseccion=1435
[WRSSK]: http://www.sevensols.com/index.php?seccion=1410&subseccion=1437
[SPEC+FMCDIO]: http://www.sevensols.com/index.php?seccion=1410&subseccion=1437
[SPEC]: http://www.sevensols.com/index.php?seccion=1410&subseccion=1432
[FMC]: http://www.ohwr.org/projects/fmc-projects
[FMC-DIO]: http://www.sevensols.com/index.php?seccion=1410&subseccion=1436
[FMCDIO]: http://www.sevensols.com/index.php?seccion=1410&subseccion=1436
[OHWR]: http://www.ohwr.org/projects/white-rabbit



References
============

* [spec-sw.pdf] main documentation of the spec-sw
* [wrpc.pdf] White Rabbit Core documentation 
* [fmc-bus.pdf] How the FMC bus driver works and how to write one for your own FMC board.
* SFPs information <http://www.ohwr.org/projects/white-rabbit/wiki/SFP>
* White Rabbit Calibration: <http://www.ohwr.org/documents/213>
* [spec-2-spec]: SPEC-2-SPEC demo

<!-- List of links -->




[wr-nic]: http://www.ohwr.org/projects/wr-nic/
[wr-starting-kit]: http://www.ohwr.org/projects/wr-starting-kit/
[spec-sw]: http://www.ohwr.org/projects/spec-sw/
[wrpc-sw]: http://www.ohwr.org/projects/wrpc-sw/
[spec-golden]: http://www.ohwr.org/projects/spec/repository/show/trunk/hdl/golden
[spec-2-spec]: http://www.ohwr.org/projects/wr-cores/wiki/spec-to-spec
[wrpc.pdf]: http://www.ohwr.org/attachments/download/1762/wr-nic-v1.0.pdf
[wr-nic.pdf]: http://www.ohwr.org/attachments/download/1761/wr-nic-v1.0.tar.gz
[spec-sw.pdf]: http://www.ohwr.org/attachments/download/1760/spec-sw-2012-12-14-v2.2.pdf
[fmc-bus.pdf]: http://www.ohwr.org/attachments/download/1656/fmc-bus-2012-10-12-v1.0.pdf
