ADLambda 

author:: John Hammonds (Argonne National Laboratory)

Introduction 

This is an EPICS areaDetector driver for the Lambda detector from X-spectrum

The interface to the detector is provided by a TCP/UDP/IP socket interface to the detector. X-Spectrum provides a library to handle communications and acquisition in the camera. This driver provides an interface layer between the vendor library and EPICS areaDetector.

The hardware interface between the camera and the controlling computer consists of

A single 1GB copper network link used for command/control
A pair of 10GB Fiber network links for sending image data

This detector is capable of acquiring up to 2000 images/sec. It may be necessary, therefore, to adapt standard areaDetector plugins for faster collection to ensure processing of all images.

Implementation of standard driver parameters 

The following table describes how the Lambda driver implements some of the standard driver parameters.

EPICS record name	Description
AcquireTime	Controls the exposure time of the camera in seconds.
AcquirePeriod	NOT YET IMPLEMENTED IN FIRMWARE. Controls the period between exposures in internal trigger mode. Currently this feature is not supported by the camera firmware but this is a planned feature. Once the firmware supports this feature, the software should support this.
TriggerMode	Default descriptions are overloaded. Allows four modes: Internal External_SequencePer - each external pulse runs an image sequence per pulse External_ImagePer - each external pulse runs an image per pulse Gating_Mode - Trigger an image that is active while the pulse is high
Acquire	Controls starting and stopping camera images.
NumImages	In Multiple Image mode, this controls the number of images to be collected.
ImageMode	Sets selection of Single or multiple Images when acquire button is pressed. Acquisition on the Lambda is controlled by setting a defined number of images. “Continuous” has been removed from the options.

Lambda specific parameters 

Parameter Definition in ADLambda.cpp and record definitions in ADLambda.template

Parameter index variable	asyn interface	Access	Description	drvInfo string	EPICS record name	EPICS record type
LAMBDA_ConfigFilePath	asynOctet	r/w	Displays the full path to the detector’s configueationFile	LAMBDA_CONFIG_FILE_PATH	ConfigFilePath	waveform
LAMBDA_EnergyThreshold	asynFloat64	r/w	Sets the minimum energy that should register a valid event.	LAMBDA_ENERGY_THRESHOLD	EnergyThreshold	ao
LAMBDA_DecodedQueuePath	asynInt32	r	Displays how far into the decoded queue we have reached.	LAMBDA_DECODED_QUEUE_DEPTH	DecodedQueueDepth	longin
LAMBDA_BadFrameCounter	asynInt32	r	Counts the number of bad frames detected during decoding. images are sent as a number of packets, rotating over 4 network ports. If the packets for the next image are received on all 4 ports, before the finish of an image, then the frame is counted as a bad frame.	LAMBDA_BAD_FRAME_COUNTER	BadFrameCounter	longin
LAMBDA_OperatingMode	asynInt32	r/w	Switches between 12 and 24 bit counting mode. These are referenced in pulldown as ContinuousReadWrite - Switches to 12-bit mode and sets image data type to UInt16. TwentyFourBit - Switches to 24-bit mode also sets image data type to UInt32. Note that it is possible in each mode to choose any Integer data type	LAMBDA_OPERATING_MODE	OperatingMode OperatingMode_RBV	mbbo mbbi
LAMBDA_DetectorState	asynInt32	r	Displays the current state of the image processing of the detector. ON - Normal idle state. DISABLE BUSY - Performing non-imaging task such as loading config file. FAULT RECEIVING_IMAGES - Detector is actively taking images and placing them in the raw buffer to be decoded. PROCSSING_IMAGES - The detector is finished collecting images and has placed the in the raw buffer to be decoded. The decoding process is still working on reconstructing packets for images in the raw buffer and placing them in the decoded buffer FINISHED - All images have been received and decoded. The raw buffer is empty. This signal will remain in this state until StopAcquisition is called. Once StopAcquisition is called, then this signal will return to ON.	LAMBDA_DETECTOR_STATE	LambdaState	mbbi

Configuration 

The Lambda detector instance is created using the LambdaConfig command, either from C/C++ or from the EPICS IOC shell.

int LambdaConfig(const char *portName, const char* configPath,
        int maxBuffers, size_t maxMemory,
        int priority, int stackSize)

For details on the meaning of the parameters to this function refer to the documentation on the LambdaConfig function in the Lambda.cpp documentation

and in the documentation for the constructor in the ADLambda class)

MEDM screens 

Performance measurements 

The Lambda detector itself is rated at 2000 frames/sec. This rate has been achieved simply processing the detector images into NDArrays. We have been able to save up to 2000 images/sec for a period of time using a PipeWriterPlugin that writes to a Unix Pipe which feeds an external MPI program which compresses the image data and writes to a binary file with occasional bad frame errors. Sometimes the detector seems to persist giving bad frames once it gets started and the detector has to be reset. Sometimes we lose communication with the detector through the 1GB command interface. When this happens we have to power down the detector for about 10 minutes before it will come on again.

Hardware Notes 

This detector is capable of supporting a number of features which are not currently available in the detector driver & firmware. These features will be added as they are made available by the vendor.

Restrictions 

To be added later…