DT5810 Control Software

Windows control software for the CAEN DT5810 Digital Detector Emulator, designed and developed by Nuclear Instruments. The DT5810 generates, in real time, the analog signals that a radiation detector and its front-end electronics would produce: you choose the energy spectrum, the pulse shape, the count rate, the noise and the baseline behaviour, and the instrument emits the corresponding pulse train on its analog outputs, together with the digital signals (trigger, gate, veto) that go with them. DT5810 Control Software is where all of this is configured and monitored.

What you can do with it

Energy

Per channel, the energy distribution of the emitted pulses. Spectra can be imported from text files or from spectra saved by MCA software (Spectrum Importer), composed from scratch by adding peaks and continua (Spectrum Composer), or built from the isotope library, which includes the periodic table and the decay data of every nuclide (Decay Selector). An Energy Calibration panel maps channels to keV so the spectrum is expressed in physical units. A live MCA preview shows the spectrum the instrument is actually producing.

Shape

The pulse shape of each channel: exponential with programmable rise and decay times, Custom Shape drawn or imported point by point (Shape Editor), Multi Shape sequences that alternate several shapes, Transistor Reset preamplifier emulation with its sawtooth baseline, and the Digital RC filter that shapes the output in the digital domain, with interpolation and decimation for very long time constants.

Time base and rate

How pulses are distributed in time: constant, Poisson (random exponential inter-arrival times) or paralysable/non-paralysable statistics, with pile-up. Rate Control and File Rate Control change the count rate over time, following a profile you define or a time/amplitude sequence imported from a file (Sequence Importer). The rate emitted by the instrument and the events lost to saturation are shown live on the Rate History panel, with a selectable integration time (0.1 s to 100 s), a configurable log length, CSV export and continuous recording to file.

Noise and baseline

White and 1/f noise with programmable amplitude, baseline offset and drift, and the Baseline Editor to draw an arbitrary baseline movement over time.

Correlated channels

On dual-channel units the two outputs can be correlated: Correlation Controller, Correlated Energy, Correlated Timebase and Correlated Random Generator emulate coincidence and anti-coincidence sources, energy-sharing and time-related events between the two detectors.

Function generator

Each channel can also work as an arbitrary waveform generator (AWG CH 1 / CH 2), playing a waveform loaded from a CSV file with programmable amplitude and frequency.

Digital I/O, clock and environment

Digital outputs and inputs (trigger, gate, veto, sync), the Clock Manager for the sampling clock source and distribution, the ADC input mixer and, on the models that have it, the Climatic Cell Control for temperature-related behaviour.

Analog input

The DT5810 has an analog input with its own digital MCA. The Analog Input view shows the acquired spectrum, the raw signal, or both, with trigger and filter configuration, average of the acquired waveforms, pile-up rejection, and export of spectrum and waveforms to file. This is also where the emitted signal can be looped back and checked.

OneTouch, configurations and remote control

• OneTouch configures a channel in one step from a few high-level parameters (detector type, energy resolution, rate), applying consistent shape, time base and noise settings
• Configurations are saved and restored as .dde files; the last configuration of every instrument is restored automatically at startup
• The built-in HTTP server (Enable Server, TCP Port) accepts GET requests to change the rate, the emission and the energy of a channel from any other application or script (/Rate?device=<SN>&ch=<n>&rate=<value>, /Emission?..., /Energy?...)
• The Debug window shows the live counters of the instrument (events, saturated events, run/real/busy time, measured rate)

Installation

Run dt5810-control-software-setup.exe and follow the wizard. Administrator rights are required because the setup:

• installs Microsoft .NET Framework 4.8 if it is missing (the only runtime prerequisite: no Visual C++ redistributable is needed)
• registers and starts the DT5810 Firmware Service (DT5810FwService, automatic start), which loads the USB controller firmware on every DT5810 in bootloader mode — at boot and whenever a unit is plugged in. Without it the instrument is not recognised
• installs the DT5810 USB driver (task checked by default): the driver wizard appears during the installation, accept the publisher certificate when asked
• offers to remove the previous Detector Emulator Control Center installation, whose uninstaller would otherwise remove the service

Default folder: C:\Program Files (x86)\Nuclear Instruments\DT5810 Control Software

Start menu group DT5810 Control Software: the application, the Firmware Upgrader, the manual Firmware Updater, the USB driver installer and the uninstaller.

Getting started

1. Connect the DT5810 to the PC with the USB 3.0 cable, or to the network, and switch it on. Over USB the front panel display shows the unit initialising while the service loads the firmware, which takes a few seconds
2. Start DT5810 Control Software from the Start menu; the Instrument Selector lists the units found on USB, Add Instrument adds a unit by IP address
3. Select the instrument and enable the channels to control (CH 1, CH 2), then open the panels from the ribbon: General Settings, Energy, Shape, Time Base, Noise, Base Line, Random Generator, Digital I/O, Energy Calibration
4. Every panel writes to the instrument as soon as a value is applied; the Real Time group of the Plot page shows what the unit is emitting
5. Save the configuration with Save As Configuration to reuse it later

An instrument that is not activated runs for a grace period only: the status bar reports the remaining time and the Activation tool is where the activation code is entered.

Troubleshooting

• Instrument not listed — check that the DT5810 Firmware Service is running (services.msc) and that the DT5810 device appears in Device Manager. If the driver is missing run Install DT5810 USB driver from the Start menu; if the service cannot be used, DT5810 Firmware Updater (manual) loads the firmware interactively
• Remote control server does not start — the TCP port is in use or blocked by the firewall; choose another port and enable the server again
• Firmware upgrade — DT5810 Firmware Upgrader programs a new FPGA firmware; do not disconnect the unit while it runs

Support

Nuclear Instruments — www.nuclearinstruments.eu

The version in use is shown in the About window and in the installed program list; quote it when reporting a problem, together with the instrument model and serial number.