DT5810B Firmware

FPGA firmware of the DT5810B Digital Detector Emulator. The DT5810B generates in real time the analog signals a radiation detector and its front-end electronics would produce. This firmware is what runs inside the instrument: installing a new version adds functions and fixes problems without changing the hardware.

What you download

One file, DT5810B-<version>.NIU: the firmware update package. Do not unpack it, the update tools read it as it is.

The package is for the DT5810B only. Do not install it on any other model.

Installing

Connect the instrument over USB, close any other program that is using it, then use one of these:

Do not disconnect the instrument or turn it off while the update is running. When it has finished, restart the instrument if the tool does not do it for you, and check the firmware version the software reports: it must match the version of the file.

What the firmware does

• Pulse emulation on two channels, with programmable energy spectrum, pulse shape, count rate and time statistics, including pile-up
• Noise and baseline: white and 1/f noise, offset and drift, arbitrary baseline movement
• Correlated channels: coincidence and energy sharing between the two outputs
• Function generator on each channel
• Digital I/O: trigger, gate, veto and sync, with a selectable function on every output
• Clock: internal or external sampling clock
• Analog input with its own digital MCA
• XRF mapping from version 18.0, described below

XRF mapping

Mapping emulates a scanning XRF system: the instrument generates events pixel by pixel, so that a detector readout can be tested with a complete image.

• Channel 1 only. Channel 2 keeps working normally
• Dwell time from 100 µs to about 6.5 s per pixel, in steps of 100 µs
• Number of pixels per image, or free running with no limit
• Next pixel on command from the PC, so the time between pixels can be irregular
• No events outside the dwell time
• Two digital output functions: pixel clock, high during each dwell, and start of frame, high from the first pixel to the end of the image

Mapping is off when the instrument starts. It is controlled by DDE Control Center or by the DT5810 SDK, which also set the digital outputs when a scan starts.

Compatibility

If a session that was using mapping ended abruptly, channel 1 can stay silent when the instrument is then used with the DT5810 Control Software, which does not know about mapping. Open the instrument once in DDE Control Center, or turn it off and on again.

Versions

Version numbers are major.minor, the same number the software shows for the instrument. What changed in each version is listed in the changelog on this page.