Operating the VELO DAQ

Introduction

The VELO DAQ project controls the whole Velo DAQ: Control Boards, Beetle chips and Tell1s. The DAQ project is made of four different PVSS projects running on dedicated machines:

• VEDAQACB: this project controls the Control Boards and the Beetle chips of the Velo A side; it runs on vedaqa01 under the velo_user account.
• VEDAQCCB: this project controls the Control Boards and the Beetle chips of the Velo C side; it runs on vedaqc01 under the velo_user account.
• VEDAQATE: this project controls the Tell1s of the Velo A side; it runs on vedaqa02 under the velo_user account.
• VEDAQCTE: this project controls the Tell1s of the Velo C side; it runs on vedaqc02 under the velo_user account.

FSM conventions

The following conventions are adopted in the DAQ FSM:

state	color
ERROR	red
NOT_READY	yellow
CONFIGURING	yellow
READY	blue
RUNNING	green

How to get the VELO DAQ panel

• Log on to a Windows console in the online network (LHCb domain).
• Open the following directory: G:\online\ecs\Shortcuts\VELO
• Double click on VEECS1_UI_FSM. The following panel will pop up:
  
  
  

• Right click on VELO to get the VELO ECS top panel. In this panel you find the list of all the Velo subsystems:
  
  
  

• Click on VELO_DAQ to get the Velo DAQ panel. If the VELO_DAQ subsystem is not included, click on the corresponding padlock and choose take:
  
  
  

• Make sure that both halves are enabled or that the half you don't want to use is disabled: in order to enable (disable) one half, just click on the red cross (green tickmark) and choose "Enable" ("Disable").
• Click on VELOA(C)_DAQ to get the corresponding panel:
  
  
  

• The DAQ panel is composed by several subsystems, listed on the left side of the panel:
  - The VELOA(C)_DAQ_CB Control Unit has the seven A(C) Control Boards as children.
  - Each VELOA(C)_DAQ_Mnn Control Unit has the two corresponding Velo Hybrids as children plus a pointer to the relevant Control Board.
  - The VELOA(C)_DAQ_TE Control Unit has the 42 A(C) tell1s as children (it is, actually, a link to the tell1s project).
  

• On the top part of the panel, the seven Control Boards are shown:
  
  
  

• By clicking on one of them, the corresponding panel will pop up:
  
  
  

• The central part of the panel is dedicated to the Velo Modules:
  
  
  

• Each Velo Module is represented as a small button with an R (R sensor) or a phi (phi sensor) on it. By clicking one of these buttons, the corresponding panel will pop up:
  
  
  

How to Configure the whole Velo DAQ

1. Make sure that the LV system is READY. If not follow the instructions on the Low Voltage System.
2. Go to the VELO_DAQ panel (see the above section):
   
   
   
3. Make sure that both halves are enabled: in order to enable one half, just click on the red cross and choose "Enable".
4. Click on the "NOT_READY" button of the VELO_DAQ system and choose "Configure":
   
   
   
5. A pop-up panel will ask you to set several parameters; just enter the RUN_TYPE (default is PHYSICS) and press Send:
   
   
   
6. The system will go in the state "CONFIGURING"; after few minutes (depending on the tell1s), the system will be in the state "READY":
   
   
   

How to Configure the DAQ of a single Velo haf

1. Make sure that the LV system for the A(C) side is READY. If not follow the instructions on the Low Voltage System.
2. Go to the VELOA(C)_DAQ panel (see the above section).
3. Click on the "NOT_READY" button of the VELOA(C)_DAQ system and choose "Configure":
   
   
   
4. A pop-up panel will ask you to choose a RUN_TYPE (default is PHYSICS). Enter the RUN_TYPE and press Send.
5. The system will go in the state "CONFIGURING"; after few minutes (depending on the tell1s), the system will be in the state "READY":
   
   
   

How to Configure a single DAQ Velo Module

1. Make sure that the corresponding LV channels are READY. If not follow the instructions on the Low Voltage System.
2. Go to the VELOA(C)_DAQ panel (see the above section):
   
   
   
3. Click on the "NOT_READY" button of the VELOA(C)_DAQ_CB subsystem and choose "Configure":
   
   
   
4. The VELOA(C)_DAQ_CB subsystem will go in state READY:
   
   
   
5. Click on the "NOT_READY" button of the VELOA(C)_DAQ_Mnn subsystem and choose "Configure":
   
   
   
6. The VELOA(C)_DAQ_Mnn subsystem will go in state READY:
   
   
   
7. N.B.: if you want to take data, you have to configure also the relevant tell1s and exclude all the Velo Modules and all the tell1s you will not use.

How to Reset the whole Velo DAQ

In principle, you could reset the Velo_DAQ in one go from the VELO top panel. Since in this way only the state of the DAQ is reset while the DAQ hardware is not touched at all (in order to prevent a continous loading/unloading of the Beetle chips), a more safe procedure is described in the following:

1. Go to the VELOA(C)_DAQ panel (see the above section):
   
   
   
2. Click on the READY button of the VELOA(C)_DAQ system and choose "Reset":
   
   
   
3. A pop-up panel will ask you to set two parameters: CB_Conf (default is UNCHANGED) and Beetle_Conf (default is UNCHANGED).
4. If you want to change the DAQ state to NOT_READY but NOT REALLY UNLOAD THE HARDWARE, then enter UNCHANGED in both fields:
   
   
   
5. If you want to change the DAQ state to NOT_READY and REALLY UNLOAD THE HARDWARE, then enter UNLOAD in both fields:
   
   
   
6. Repeat all points for the other Velo half.

How to Reset the DAQ of a single Velo haf

Consult the section How to Reset the whole Velo DAQ and follow the described procedure only for the half you want to reset.

How to Reset a single DAQ Velo Module

1. Go to the VELOA(C)_DAQ panel (see the above section):
   
   
   
2. Click on the "READY" button of the VELOA(C)_DAQ_Mnn subsystem and choose "Reset":
   
   
   
3. A pop-up panel will ask you to set the Beetle_Conf parameter; enter UNLOAD and press Send:
   
   
   
4. The VELOA(C)_DAQ_Mnn subsystem will go in state NOT_READY:
   
   
   
5. Click on the "NOT_READY" button of the VELOA(C)_DAQ_CB subsystem and choose "Reset":
   
   
   
6. A pop-up panel will ask you to set the CB_Conf parameter; enter UNLOAD and press Send:
   
   
   
7. The VELOA(C)_DAQ_CB subsystem will go in state NOT_READY:
   
   
   

Troubleshooting

Some hints here!

-- StefanoDeCapua - 08 Aug 2008