ARC system

  ARC system

The CMS Silicon Strip Tracker instruments the central region of the CMS experiment. There are four subdetectors: Tracker Inner Barrel (TIB), Tracker Inner Disks (TID), Tracker Outer Barrel (TOB) and the Tracker End Caps (TEC). 15148 detector modules equip the SST making it the largest all silicon tracker in the world. It has a sensitive silicon area of 200 m2. An individual module consist of three elements: silicon sensor(s), a mechanical support structure and a the front end electronics (FE hybrid).

The ARC Readout Controller (ARC) was introduced for testing and QA of FE hybrids and detector modules. The ARC System provides a very compact and flexible structure and is a low cost test setup necessary in all centers participating in the module production of the CMS Tracker. It provides complete control of the APV hybrid including all ASICs. An individually designed LabVIEW application called APV Readout Controller Software (ARCS) serves as a user friendly interface which allows for easy implemetation of automatic test procedures. All silicon detector modules were qualified with the ARC System.

An overview of the ARC System is published in CMS note 01/046 - A Test Setup for Quality Assurance of Front End Hybrids.


ARC Links and Prices:

  • ARC Board: 1100 CHF (740 €)
  • PC Interface: 120 CHF (80 €)
  • FE old version: 190 CHF (130 €)
  • FE new version: 240 CHF (160 €)
  • FE (humid. sensor): 285 CHF (190 €)
  • LED Pulser: 450 CHF (300 €)
  • DEPP HV Board: 570 CHF (380 €)
  • ARC Software: free
 

ARC Board

ARC board Copyright: © Oliver Pooth

The ARC Board is the central device of the ARC System. It provides full operational control of connected Frontend (FE) hybrids.
There are three main function blocks on the ARC board for the operation of FE hybrids: clock and trigger, data sampling and I²C communication (slow control / low voltage control).
The ARC FE adapter is the second important element in the framework of the ARC test setup. The hybrid is connected to the ARC FE adapter which is directly connected to the ARC board via one 26 pin twisted pair flat cable.
The ARC board fits into a standard 19inch crate.

ARC Manual


Requirements for ARC Operation:

  • ARC Board (for 2 hybrids), ISA Interface and ARC Frontend Adapter provided by Aachen III B
  • laboratory power supply +5V/2A,-5V/1A (0,5A for each hybrid)
  • Recommended PC Equipment:
  • processor: 500 MHz, 128 Mbyte memory, 1 ISA (!) slot, operating system: Windows 95, 98, NT, 2000, XP
  • Send questions and comments concerning the ARC hardware to us


ARCS uses direct port I/O to communicate with the ARC board. Since Windows NT/2000/XP restricts the port I/O to its kernel, a device driver is necessary to use port I/O.

To install the device driver you need the device driver giveio.sys (from the zip file directio.zip) and the program instdrv.exe (instdrv.zip) from the device driver kit (DDK) for Windows NT.

Installation instructions:

    • Copy the driver giveio.sys from the archive directio.zip (see directory giveio\i386\free\) into %SystemRoot%\system32\drivers.
    • Use command line to install the driver using instdrv:
      instdrv giveio %SystemRoot%\system32\drivers\giveio.sys
    • In order to start this driver at every reboot automatically, change the start up behaviour to automatic:
    • 2000/XP: start regedit and change the value of the key "Start" in "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\giveio" to 2.
    • NT: Control Panel->Devices->giveio->Start Up->Automatic.
     

    Interface

    ARC interface Copyright: © Oliver Pooth

    The PCMIO card fits into an ISA slot and serves as interface between the ISA bus and the ARC board. Alternatively it is possible to use the PC LPT port as an interface to connect ARC to the PC. It is mandatory that the LPT port provides the standard Enhanced Parallel Port protocol. An external EPP Interface allows using a notebook as control computer resulting in a fully portable system.


    PCMIO Manual

     

    LED pulser

    LED pulser Copyright: © Oliver Pooth

    The LED Pulser (LEP 16) is a PCB providing single and parallel operation and control of maximum 16 LEDs via the ARC Software. For each LED the pulslength (0-15 x 25ns) and intensity can be modified.
    The LED Pulser was designed to be plugged into a 19inch crate.

    Manual LED Pulser

     

    HV board

    HV board Copyright: © Oliver Pooth

    The new High Voltage Board (DEPP) is designed to supply silicon detector modules with a voltage in a range of 0 to 600 Volts (resolution: 150 mV / count). It also provides the measurement of the detectors´ leakage current in three ranges of 10/100/1000 µA (resolution: 0,25/2,5/25 nA / count). The HV Board is connected to the ISA Bus and therefore easily controllable via the ARC Software.

    Manual HV Board (DEPP)

     

    ARC software

    ARC Software Copyright: © Oliver Pooth

    The APV Readout Controller Software is a LabVIEW 6i application which serves as graphical user interface in the silicon module and hybrid test setup ARC. ARCS can be run in two different modi. The operator modus, where no detailed knowledge is necessary, enables non experienced users to do tests (automatic test procedures), while in experts modus the operator has full access to the hardware and test objects and all registers can be set manually.

    The Photo shows a screenshot of the ARCS Version 5.01 in the Monitoring Mode.

    Downloads:

    ARC Software (Ver. 8.1)
    ARC Parser (Ver. 8.1)
    Root to Postscript Converter
    LabVIEW 6.0.2 Run-Time Engine (Needed for ARCS! Please do NOT use Run-Time Engine 6.1!)
    ARCS Manual
    Using ARCS with Windows ME/NT/2000/XP



    Installation hints:

    ARCS needs ROOT Version 3.05/02 for Windows 9x/ME/NT/2000 and Xerces 2_2_0 for the generation of the XML files.

    After the installation of ROOT and Xerces in a prefered directory, all DLL files from ../root_3.05.02/bin and ../xerces-c2_2_0-win32/bin have to be copied to Windows/system/ (Win 98, Win ME,...) resp. WINNT/system (Win NT, Win 2000).

    Windows 98: The autoexec.bat file must contain the following line

    set ROOTSYS=%ROOTPATH% (e.g. set ROOTSYS=C:/root_3.05.02)

    Windows 2000:

    the autoexec.bat file may be hidden or not existing. If entering

    set ROOTSYS=%ROOTPATH% (e.g. set ROOTSYS=C:/root_3.05.02)

    in the autoexec.bat file is not enough, try to edit

    Start -> Settings -> Control Panel -> System -> Advanced -> Environment Variables.

    If ROOTSYS does not occur in the list of environment variables, you have to create a new one named ROOTSYS and give it the value of the %ROOTPATH% (e.g. C:/root_3.05.02)


    Source Code ARCS 8.1 (latest version):

    Labview Files (14.2MB)
    C++ Files (331 kB)

    Please note, that any private modification of the source code will not be supported by the ARCS-developer team.