How it Works
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M2i.3021
Hardware Manual
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Spectrum M2i.3022, M2i.3010, M2i.3010-exp, M2i.3012, M2i.3021 Hardware Manual

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M2i.30xx
M2i.30xx-exp
fast 12 bit transient recorder,
A/D converter board
for PCI-X, PCI and PCI Express bus
Hardware Manual
English version May 24, 2018
SPECTRUM INSTRUMENTATION GMBH · AHRENSFELDER WEG 13-17 · 22927 GROSSHANSDORF · GERMANY
PHONE: +49 (0)4102-6956-0 · FAX: +49 (0)4102-6956-66 · E-MAIL: info@spec.de · INTERNET: www.spectrum-instrumentation.com
(c) SPECTRUM INSTRUMENTATION GMBH AHRENSFELDER WEG 13-17, 22927 GROSSHANSDORF, GERMANY
SBench, digitizerNETBOX and generatorNETBOX are registered trademarks of Spectrum Instrumentation GmbH. Microsoft, Visual C++, Visual Basic, Windows, Windows 98, Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 10 and Windows Server are trademarks/registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. LabVIEW, DASYLab, Diadem and LabWindows/CVI are trademarks/registered trademarks of National Instruments Corporation. MATLAB is a trademark/registered trademark of The Mathworks, Inc. Delphi and C++Builder are trademarks or registered trademarks of Embarcadero Technologies, Inc. Keysight VEE, VEE Pro and VEE OneLab are trademarks/registered trademarks of Keysight Technologies, Inc. FlexPro is a registered trademark of Weisang GmbH & Co. KG. PCIe, PCI Express, PCI-X and PCI-SIG are trademarks of PCI-SIG. PICMG and CompactPCI are trademarks of the PCI Industrial Computation Manufacturers Group. PXI is a trademark of the PXI Systems Alliance. LXI is a registered trademark of the LXI Consortium. IVI is a registered trademark of the IVI Foundation Oracle and Java are registered trademarks of Oracle and/or its affiliates. Intel and Intel Xeon are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Intel Corporation. AMD and Opteron are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Advanced Micro Devices. NVIDIA, CUDA, GeForce, Quadro and Tesla are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of NVIDIA Corporation.
Introduction....................................................................................................................... 9
Preface ............................................................................................................................................................................... 9
Overview ............................................................................................................................................................................ 9
General Information ............................................................................................................................................................. 9
Different models of the M2i.30xx series ................................................................................................................................ 10
Additional options.............................................................................................................................................................. 12
Star-Hub...................................................................................................................................................................... 12
System Star-Hub ........................................................................................................................................................... 12
BaseXIO (versatile digital I/O) ....................................................................................................................................... 13
Digital inputs................................................................................................................................................................ 13
The Spectrum type plate ...................................................................................................................................................... 14
Hardware information......................................................................................................................................................... 15
Block diagram.............................................................................................................................................................. 15
Technical Data ............................................................................................................................................................. 16
Dynamic Parameters ..................................................................................................................................................... 18
Hardware Installation ..................................................................................................... 20
System Requirements .......................................................................................................................................................... 20
Warnings.......................................................................................................................................................................... 20
ESD Precautions ........................................................................................................................................................... 20
Cooling Precautions...................................................................................................................................................... 20
Sources of noise ........................................................................................................................................................... 20
Installing the board in the system.......................................................................................................................................... 21
Installing a single board without any options.................................................................................................................... 21
Installing a board with digital inputs/outputs mounted on an extra bracket .......................................................................... 23
Installing a board with option BaseXIO ........................................................................................................................... 24
Installing multiple boards synchronized by star-hub option ................................................................................................. 25
Software Driver Installation............................................................................................. 26
Windows .......................................................................................................................................................................... 26
Before installation......................................................................................................................................................... 26
Running the driver Installer............................................................................................................................................. 26
After installation ........................................................................................................................................................... 27
Linux................................................................................................................................................................................. 28
Overview .................................................................................................................................................................... 28
Standard Driver Installation............................................................................................................................................ 28
Standard Driver Update ................................................................................................................................................ 29
Compilation of kernel driver sources (option) ................................................................................................................... 29
Update of self compiled kernel driver .............................................................................................................................. 29
Library only ................................................................................................................................................................. 29
Control Center ............................................................................................................................................................. 30
3
Software ......................................................................................................................... 31
Software Overview............................................................................................................................................................. 31
Card Control Center ........................................................................................................................................................... 31
Discovery of Remote Cards and digitizerNETBOX/generatorNETBOX products.................................................................... 32
Wake On LAN of digitizerNETBOX/generatorNETBOX .................................................................................................... 32
Netbox Monitor ........................................................................................................................................................... 33
Hardware information................................................................................................................................................... 33
Firmware information .................................................................................................................................................... 34
Software License information.......................................................................................................................................... 34
Driver information......................................................................................................................................................... 35
Installing and removing Demo cards ............................................................................................................................... 35
Feature upgrade........................................................................................................................................................... 35
Software License upgrade.............................................................................................................................................. 36
Performing card calibration ........................................................................................................................................... 36
Performing memory test ................................................................................................................................................. 36
Transfer speed test........................................................................................................................................................ 36
Debug logging for support cases .................................................................................................................................... 37
Device mapping........................................................................................................................................................... 37
Firmware upgrade........................................................................................................................................................ 38
Compatibility Layer (M2i cards only) .................................................................................................................................... 38
Usage modes............................................................................................................................................................... 38
Abilities and Limitations of the compatibility DLL ............................................................................................................... 39
Accessing the hardware with SBench 6................................................................................................................................. 39
C/C++ Driver Interface....................................................................................................................................................... 39
Header files ................................................................................................................................................................. 40
General Information on Windows 64 bit drivers............................................................................................................... 40
Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0, 2005 and newer 32 Bit........................................................................................................... 40
Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 and newer 64 Bit.................................................................................................................. 40
C++ Builder 32 Bit ....................................................................................................................................................... 41
Linux Gnu C/C++ 32/64 Bit ......................................................................................................................................... 41
C++ for .NET............................................................................................................................................................... 41
Other Windows C/C++ compilers 32 Bit ........................................................................................................................ 41
Other Windows C/C++ compilers 64 Bit ........................................................................................................................ 41
National Instruments LabWindows/CVI........................................................................................................................... 42
Driver functions .................................................................................................................................................................. 42
Delphi (Pascal) Programming Interface .................................................................................................................................. 47
Driver interface ............................................................................................................................................................ 47
Examples..................................................................................................................................................................... 48
Visual Basic Programming Interface and Examples ................................................................................................................. 49
Driver interface ............................................................................................................................................................ 49
Examples..................................................................................................................................................................... 50
.NET programming languages ............................................................................................................................................. 51
Library ........................................................................................................................................................................ 51
Declaration.................................................................................................................................................................. 51
Using C#..................................................................................................................................................................... 51
Using Managed C++/CLI.............................................................................................................................................. 52
Using VB.NET .............................................................................................................................................................. 52
Using J# ...................................................................................................................................................................... 52
Python Programming Interface and Examples......................................................................................................................... 53
Driver interface ............................................................................................................................................................ 53
Examples..................................................................................................................................................................... 54
Java Programming Interface and Examples............................................................................................................................ 55
Driver interface ............................................................................................................................................................ 55
Examples..................................................................................................................................................................... 55
LabVIEW driver and examples............................................................................................................................................. 56
MATLAB driver and examples.............................................................................................................................................. 56
4
Programming the Board .................................................................................................. 57
Overview .......................................................................................................................................................................... 57
Register tables ................................................................................................................................................................... 57
Programming examples....................................................................................................................................................... 57
Initialization....................................................................................................................................................................... 58
Initialization of Remote Products........................................................................................................................................... 58
Error handling.................................................................................................................................................................... 58
Gathering information from the card..................................................................................................................................... 59
Card type.................................................................................................................................................................... 59
Hardware version......................................................................................................................................................... 60
Production date ............................................................................................................................................................ 60
Last calibration date (analog cards only) ......................................................................................................................... 60
Serial number .............................................................................................................................................................. 61
Maximum possible sampling rate ................................................................................................................................... 61
Installed memory .......................................................................................................................................................... 61
Installed features and options ......................................................................................................................................... 61
Miscellaneous Card Information ..................................................................................................................................... 62
Function type of the card ............................................................................................................................................... 62
Used type of driver ....................................................................................................................................................... 62
Reset................................................................................................................................................................................. 63
Analog Inputs.................................................................................................................. 64
Channel Selection .............................................................................................................................................................. 64
Important note on channels selection............................................................................................................................... 65
Setting up the inputs ........................................................................................................................................................... 65
Input ranges................................................................................................................................................................. 65
Input offset................................................................................................................................................................... 66
Input termination........................................................................................................................................................... 67
Automatic adjustment of the offset settings ....................................................................................................................... 67
Read out of input features .............................................................................................................................................. 68
Acquisition modes ........................................................................................................... 69
Overview .......................................................................................................................................................................... 69
Setup of the mode ........................................................................................................................................................ 69
Commands........................................................................................................................................................................ 70
Card Status.................................................................................................................................................................. 71
Acquisition cards status overview ................................................................................................................................... 71
Generation card status overview .................................................................................................................................... 71
Data Transfer ............................................................................................................................................................... 72
Standard Single acquisition mode ........................................................................................................................................ 74
Card mode.................................................................................................................................................................. 74
Memory, Pre- and Posttrigger ......................................................................................................................................... 74
Example ...................................................................................................................................................................... 74
FIFO Single acquisition mode .............................................................................................................................................. 75
Card mode.................................................................................................................................................................. 75
Length and Pretrigger.................................................................................................................................................... 75
Difference to standard single acquisition mode................................................................................................................. 75
Example FIFO acquisition .............................................................................................................................................. 75
Limits of pre trigger, post trigger, memory size ....................................................................................................................... 76
Buffer handling .................................................................................................................................................................. 77
Data organisation .............................................................................................................................................................. 80
Sample format.............................................................................................................................................................. 80
Converting ADC samples to voltage values ...................................................................................................................... 80
Clock generation ............................................................................................................. 82
Overview .......................................................................................................................................................................... 82
The different clock modes .............................................................................................................................................. 82
Clock Mode Register..................................................................................................................................................... 83
Internally generated sample rate .......................................................................................................................................... 83
Standard internal sampling clock (PLL)............................................................................................................................. 83
Using plain Quartz1 without PLL ..................................................................................................................................... 84
Using plain Quartz2 without PLL (optional)....................................................................................................................... 84
External reference clock ...................................................................................................................................................... 85
Oversampling .................................................................................................................................................................... 85
External clocking................................................................................................................................................................ 86
Direct external clock ..................................................................................................................................................... 86
External clock with divider ............................................................................................................................................. 87
5
Trigger modes and appendant registers .......................................................................... 89
General Description............................................................................................................................................................ 89
Trigger Engine Overview..................................................................................................................................................... 89
Trigger masks .................................................................................................................................................................... 89
Trigger OR mask .......................................................................................................................................................... 89
Trigger AND mask........................................................................................................................................................ 91
Software trigger ................................................................................................................................................................. 92
Force- and Enable trigger .................................................................................................................................................... 92
Delay trigger ..................................................................................................................................................................... 93
External TTL trigger ............................................................................................................................................................. 93
Edge and level triggers ................................................................................................................................................. 94
Pulsewidth triggers........................................................................................................................................................ 95
Channel Trigger ................................................................................................................................................................. 96
Overview of the channel trigger registers......................................................................................................................... 96
Channel trigger level..................................................................................................................................................... 98
Pulsewidth counter ........................................................................................................................................................ 99
Detailed description of the channel trigger modes............................................................................................................. 99
Mode Multiple Recording ............................................................................................... 106
Recording modes ............................................................................................................................................................. 106
Standard Mode.......................................................................................................................................................... 106
FIFO Mode ................................................................................................................................................................ 106
Limits of pre trigger, post trigger, memory size ..................................................................................................................... 107
Multiple Recording and Timestamps.............................................................................................................................. 107
Trigger Modes ................................................................................................................................................................. 108
Trigger Counter.......................................................................................................................................................... 108
Trigger Output ........................................................................................................................................................... 108
Programming examples..................................................................................................................................................... 108
Mode Gated Sampling................................................................................................... 109
Acquisition modes ............................................................................................................................................................ 109
Standard Mode.......................................................................................................................................................... 109
FIFO Mode ................................................................................................................................................................ 109
Limits of pre trigger, post trigger, memory size ..................................................................................................................... 110
Gated Sampling and Timestamps ................................................................................................................................. 110
Trigger............................................................................................................................................................................ 111
Trigger Output ........................................................................................................................................................... 111
Edge and level triggers ............................................................................................................................................... 111
Pulsewidth triggers...................................................................................................................................................... 114
Channel triggers modes .............................................................................................................................................. 115
Programming examples..................................................................................................................................................... 119
Timestamps ................................................................................................................... 120
General information ......................................................................................................................................................... 120
Example for setting timestamp mode: ............................................................................................................................ 120
Limits ........................................................................................................................................................................ 121
Timestamp modes............................................................................................................................................................. 121
Standard mode .......................................................................................................................................................... 121
StartReset mode.......................................................................................................................................................... 122
Refclock mode............................................................................................................................................................ 122
Reading out the timestamps ............................................................................................................................................... 123
General..................................................................................................................................................................... 123
Data Transfer using DMA ............................................................................................................................................ 124
Data Transfer using Polling .......................................................................................................................................... 125
Comparison of DMA and polling commands.................................................................................................................. 126
Data format ............................................................................................................................................................... 126
Combination of Memory Segmentation Options with Timestamps ........................................................................................... 127
Multiple Recording and Timestamps.............................................................................................................................. 127
Example Multiple Recording and Timestamps................................................................................................................. 127
Gated Sampling and Timestamps ................................................................................................................................. 128
Example Gated Sampling and Timestamps .................................................................................................................... 128
ABA Mode and Timestamps......................................................................................................................................... 128
6
ABA mode (dual timebase) ............................................................................................ 130
General information ......................................................................................................................................................... 130
Standard Mode.......................................................................................................................................................... 130
FIFO Mode ................................................................................................................................................................ 131
Limits of pre trigger, post trigger, memory size ..................................................................................................................... 131
Example for setting ABA mode: .................................................................................................................................... 132
Reading out ABA data ...................................................................................................................................................... 132
General..................................................................................................................................................................... 132
Data Transfer using DMA ............................................................................................................................................ 133
Data Transfer using Polling .......................................................................................................................................... 134
Comparison of DMA and polling commands.................................................................................................................. 135
ABA Mode and Timestamps......................................................................................................................................... 135
Option BaseXIO............................................................................................................. 137
Introduction ..................................................................................................................................................................... 137
Different functions............................................................................................................................................................. 137
Asynchronous Digital I/O............................................................................................................................................ 137
Special Input Functions................................................................................................................................................ 138
Transfer Data ............................................................................................................................................................. 138
Programming Example ................................................................................................................................................ 138
Special Sampling Feature ............................................................................................................................................ 138
Electrical specifications................................................................................................................................................ 138
Option Star-Hub ............................................................................................................ 139
Star-Hub introduction ........................................................................................................................................................ 139
Star-Hub trigger engine ............................................................................................................................................... 139
Star-Hub clock engine ................................................................................................................................................. 140
Software Interface ............................................................................................................................................................ 140
Star-Hub Initialization.................................................................................................................................................. 140
Setup of Synchronization and Clock ............................................................................................................................. 142
Setup of Trigger ......................................................................................................................................................... 143
Trigger Delay on synchronized cards ............................................................................................................................ 143
Run the synchronized cards ......................................................................................................................................... 143
Error Handling ........................................................................................................................................................... 144
Excluding cards from trigger synchronization ................................................................................................................. 144
SH-Direct: using the Star-Hub clock directly without synchronization.................................................................................. 144
Option System Star-Hub ................................................................................................ 146
Overview ........................................................................................................................................................................ 146
Cabling the system components ......................................................................................................................................... 146
Setting up the master system ........................................................................................................................................ 146
Setting up slave systems .............................................................................................................................................. 147
Connecting the systems ............................................................................................................................................... 147
Programming................................................................................................................................................................... 148
Necessary setup steps ................................................................................................................................................. 148
Select synchronization mode........................................................................................................................................ 148
Compensate injected trigger delays .............................................................................................................................. 149
Programming example ................................................................................................................................................ 149
Option Digital inputs ..................................................................................................... 150
Sample format............................................................................................................................................................ 150
Converting ADC samples to voltage values .................................................................................................................... 150
Option Digital Differential Inputs ................................................................................... 152
Introduction ..................................................................................................................................................................... 152
Sample format ................................................................................................................................................................. 152
Converting ADC samples to voltage values .................................................................................................................... 153
Card Setup...................................................................................................................................................................... 153
Trigger limitations....................................................................................................................................................... 153
Programming ............................................................................................................................................................. 153
Option Remote Server ................................................................................................... 155
Introduction ..................................................................................................................................................................... 155
Installing and starting the Remote Server ............................................................................................................................. 155
Windows .................................................................................................................................................................. 155
Linux......................................................................................................................................................................... 155
Detecting the digitizerNETBOX .......................................................................................................................................... 155
Discovery Function...................................................................................................................................................... 155
Finding the digitizerNETBOX/generatorNETBOX in the network....................................................................................... 156
Troubleshooting.......................................................................................................................................................... 156
Accessing remote cards .................................................................................................................................................... 157
7
Appendix ...................................................................................................................... 158
Error Codes..................................................................................................................................................................... 158
Spectrum Knowledge Base .......................................................................................................................................... 159
Continuous memory for increased data transfer rate ............................................................................................................. 160
Background ............................................................................................................................................................... 160
Setup on Linux systems ................................................................................................................................................ 161
Setup on Windows systems.......................................................................................................................................... 161
Usage of the buffer ..................................................................................................................................................... 162
Pin assignment of the multipin connector ............................................................................................................................. 163
Option “Digital inputs“................................................................................................................................................ 163
Pin assignment of the multipin cable ................................................................................................................................... 164
IDC footprints............................................................................................................................................................. 164
Details on M2i cards clock and trigger I/O section .............................................................................................................. 165
8
Introduction Preface

Introduction

Preface

This manual provides detailed information on the hardware features of your Spectrum instrumentation board. This information includes tech­nical data, specifications, block diagram and a connector description.
In addition, this guide takes you through the process of installing your board and also describes the installation of the delivered driver package for each operating system.
Finally this manual provides you with the complete software information of the board and the related driver. The reader of this manual will be able to integrate the board in any PC system with one of the supported bus and operating systems.
Please note that this manual provides no description for specific driver parts such as those for LabVIEW or MATLAB. These drivers have ded­icated manuals, which are available on CD or on the Spectrum website.
For any new information on the board as well as new available options or memory upgrades please contact our website www.spectrum-instrumentation.com. You will also find the current driver package with the latest bug fixes and new features on our site.
Please read this manual carefully before you install any hardware or software. Spectrum is not responsible for any hardware failures resulting from incorrect usage.

Overview

The PCI bus was first introduced in 1995. Nowadays it is the most common platform for PC based instrumentation boards. The very wide range of installations world-wide, especially in the consumer market, makes it a platform of good value. Its successor is the 2004 introduced PCI Express standard. In today’s standard PC there are usually two to three slots of both standards available for
instrumentation boards. Special industrial PCs offer up to a maximum of 20 slots. The common PCI/PCI-X bus with data rates of up to 133 MHz x 64 bit = 1 GByte/s per bus, is more and more replaced by the PCI Express standard with up to 4 GByte/s data transfer rate per slot. The Spectrum M2i boards are available in two versions, for PCI/PCI-X as well as for PCI Express. The 100% software compatible standards allow to combine both standards in one system with the same driver and software commands.
Within this document the name M2i is used as a synonym for both versions, either PCI/PCI-X or PCI Express. Only passages that differ concerning the bus version of the M2i.xxxx and M2i.xxxx-exp cards are mentioned separately. Also all card drawings will show the PCI/PCI-X version as example if no differences exist compared to the PCI Express version.

General Information

The M2i.30xx series offer a wide range of very fast 12 bit A/D converter boards for PCI-X, PCI and PCI Express (PCIe) bus. Due to the well­planned design these boards are available in several versions and different speed grades. That makes it possible for the user to find an individual solution.
These boards offer one to four channels with a maximum sample rate of 200 MS/s. As an option 4 digital inputs per channel can be recorded synchronously. The installed memory of up to 2 GSample will be used for fast data recording. It can completely be used by the currently active channels. If using slower sample rates the memory is switched to a FIFO buffer and data will be transferred online to the PC memory or to hard disk.
Several boards of the M2i.xxxx series may be connected together by the internal standard synchronisation bus in combination with one of the star-hub options to work with the same time base.
Application examples: Laboratory equipment, Supersonic, LDA/PDA, Radar, Spectroscopy.
(c) Spectrum GmbH 9
Different models of the M2i.30xx series Introduction

Different models of the M2i.30xx series

The following overview shows the different available models of the M2i.30xx series. They differ in the number mounted acquisition modules and the number of available channels. You can also see the model dependent allocation of the output connectors.
• M2i.3010
• M2i.3020
• M2i.3010-exp
• M2i.3020-exp
• M2i.3011
• M2i.3012
• M2i.3021
• M2i.3022
• M2i.3031
• M2i.3011-exp
• M2i.3012-exp
• M2i.3021-exp
• M2i.3022-exp
• M2i.3031-exp
• M2i.3015
• M2i.3025
• M2i.3027
• M2i.3015-exp
• M2i.3025-exp
• M2i.3027-exp
10 M2i.30xx / M2i.30xx-exp Manual
Introduction Different models of the M2i.30xx series
• M2i.3013
• M2i.3014
• M2i.3016
• M2i.3023
• M2i.3024
• M2i.3026
• M2i.3033
• M2i.3013-exp
• M2i.3014-exp
• M2i.3016-exp
• M2i.3023-exp
• M2i.3024-exp
• M2i.3026-exp
• M2i.3033-exp
(c) Spectrum GmbH 11
Additional options Introduction

Additional options

Star-Hub

The star hub piggy-back module al­lows the synchronisation of up to 16 M2i cards. It is possible to synchro­nize cards of the same type with each other as well as different types.
Two different versions of the star-hub module are available. A minor one for synchronizing up to five boards of the M2i series, without the need for an additional system slot. The major version (option SH16) allows the synchronization of up to 16 cards with the need for an addition­al slot.
The module acts as a star hub for clock and trigger signals. Each board is connected with a small ca­ble of the same length, even the master board. That minimizes the clock skew between the different cards. The figure shows the piggy-back module mounted on the base board schematically without any cables to achieve a better visibility. It also shows the locations of the available connectors for the two different versions of the star-hub option.
Any of the connected cards can be the clock master and the same or any other card can be the trigger master. All trigger modes that are available on the master card are also available if the synchronization star-hub is used.
The cable connection of the boards is automatically recognized and checked by the driver when initializing the star-hub module. So no care must be taken on how to cable the cards. The star-hub module itself is handled as an additional device just like any other card and the pro­gramming consists of only a few additional commands.

System Star-Hub

The System Star-Hub (SSH) option al­lows to synchronize clock and trig­ger information between Star-Hubs located in multiple PC systems. Therefore one system is set up as the System-Master, generating the trig­ger and clock signals, which then are distributed to all System-Slave systems, and additionally also to the System-Master itself, to minimize phase delays.
All connected Star-Hubs therefore have one additional PCI bracket in­stalled, that allows to feed in clock and trigger signals coming from the System-Master distribution card (not shown in the drawing). This bracket comes pre-connected with your M2i.xxxx or M2i-xxxx-exp card.M2i
For the System-Master there is addi­tionally a clock and trigger distribu­tion card included providing MMCX connectors on its bracket, to connect to up to 17 different systems (including the System-Master itself). The installation and cabling from and to this System-Master distribution card will be shown in the according synchronization chapter later in this manual.
12 M2i.30xx / M2i.30xx-exp Manual
Introduction Additional options

BaseXIO (versatile digital I/O)

The option BaseXIO is simple-to-use enhancement to the cards of the M2i series. It is possible to control a wide range of external instruments or other equipment by using the eight lines as asynchronous digital I/O. The BaseXIO option is useful if an external amplifier should be control­led, any kind of signal source must be programmed, if status informati­on from an external machine has to be obtained or different test signals have to be routed to the board. In addition to the I/O features, these lines are also for special functions. Two of the lines can be used as ad­ditional TTL trigger inputs for com­plex gated conditions, one line can be used as an reference time signal (RefClock) for the timestamp option. The BaseXIO MMCX connectors are mounted on-board. To gain easier access, these lines are connected to an extra bracket, that holds eight SMB male connectors. For special purposes this option can also be ordered without the extra bracket and instead with internal cables. The shown option is mounted exemplarily on a board with two modules and with the extra bracket. Of course you can also combine this option as well with a board that is equipped with only one module.

Digital inputs

This option allows the user to ac­quire additional digital channels synchronous and phase-stable along with the analog data.
Therefore the analog data is filled up with the digital bits up to 16 Bit data width. This leads to a possibili­ty of acquiring 4 additional digital bits per channel with 12 bit resolu­tion boards, and 2 additional digital bits per channel with 14 bit resolu­tion boards.
The connectors for these digital out­puts are mounted on an additional bracket. The figures show the option on boards with either one or two modules.
(c) Spectrum GmbH 13
The Spectrum type plate Introduction

The Spectrum type plate

The Spectrum type plate, which consists of the following components, can be found on all of our boards. Please check whether the printed information is the same as the information on your delivery note. All this information can also be read out by software:
The board type, consisting of the two letters describing the bus (in this case M2i for the PCI-X bus) and the model number.
The size of the on-board installed memory in MSample or GSample. In this example there are 1 GS = 1024 MSample (2 GByte =
2048 MByte) installed.
The serial number of your Spectrum board. Every board has a unique serial number.
A list of the installed options. A complete list of all available options is shown in the order information. In this example the options
Multiple recording, Gated Sampling, Timestamp and Star-Hub 5 are installed.
The base card version, consisting of the hardware version (the part before the dot) and the firmware version (the part after the dot).
The version of the analog/digital front-end module. Consisting of the hardware version (the part before the dot) and the firmware
version (the part after the dot)
The date of production, consisting of the calendar week and the year.
The version of the extension module if one is installed. Consisting of the hardware version (the part before the dot) and the firmware
version (the part after the dot). In our example we have the Star-Hub 5 extension module installed. Therefore the version of the ex-
tension module is filled on the type plate. If no extension module is installed this part is left open.
Please always supply us with the above information, especially the serial number in case of support request. That allows us to answer your questions as soon as possible. Thank you.
14 M2i.30xx / M2i.30xx-exp Manual
Introduction Hardware information

Hardware information

Block diagram

(c) Spectrum GmbH 15
Hardware information Introduction

Technical Data

Analog Inputs
Resolution 12 bit Input Range software programmable ±200 mV, ±500 mV, ±1 V, ±2 V, ±5 V, ±10 V Input Mode fixed bipolar, single-ended Input Offset software programmable ±100% of input range in steps of 1% ADC Differential non linearity (DNL) ADC only ±1 LSB ADC Integral non linearity (INL) ADC only ±1 LSB Offset error (full speed) after warm-up and calibration ≤ 0.1% of range Gain error (full speed) after warm-up and calibration ≤ 1% of current value Crosstalk: 1 MHz Signal, 50 Ω termination all input ranges ≤ -70 dB on adjacent channels Analog Input impedance software programmable 50 Ω or 1 MΩ || 25 pF Analog input coupling fixed DC Over voltage protection (active card) ranges ≤ ±1 V ±5 V Over voltage protection (active card) ranges > ±1 V ±50 V Input signal with 50 Ω termination max 5 V rms Channel selection software programmable 1, 2 or 4 (maximum is model dependent)
Trigger
Available trigger modes software programmable Channel Trigger, External, Software, Window, Pulse, Re-Arm, Or/And, Delay Trigger level resolution software programmable 10 bit
Trigger edge software programmable Rising edge, falling edge or both edges Trigger pulse width software programmable 0 to [64k - 1] samples in steps of 1 sample Trigger delay software programmable 0 to [64k - 1] samples in steps of 1 sample Multi, Gate: re-arming time < 4 samples (+ programmed pretrigger) Pretrigger at Multi, ABA, Gate, FIFO software programmable 4 up to [8176 Samples / number of active channels] in steps of 4 Posttrigger software programmable 4 up to [8G - 4] samples in steps of 4 (defining pretrigger in standard scope mode) Memory depth software programmable 8 up to [installed memory / number of active channels] samples in steps of 4 Multiple Recording/ABA segment size software programmable 8 up to [installed memory / 2 / active channels] samples in steps of 4 Trigger output delay One positive edge after internal trigger event Internal trigger accuracy 1 sample External trigger accuracy ≤ 100 MS/s 1 sample External trigger accuracy > 100 MS/s 2 samples External trigger type (input and output) 3.3V LVTTL compatible (5V tolerant with base card hardware version > V20) External trigger input Low ≤ 0.8 V, High ≥ 2.0 V, ≥ 8 ns in pulse stretch mode, ≥ 2 clock periods all other modes External trigger maximum voltage -0.5 V up to +5.7 V (internally clamped to 5.0V, 100 mA max. clamping current) Trigger impedance software programmable 50 Ohm / high impedance (> 4kOhm) External trigger output type 3.3 V LVTTL External trigger output levels Low ≤ 0.4 V, High ≥ 2.4 V, TTL compatible External trigger output drive strength Capable of driving 50 ohm load, maximum drive strength ±128 mA
Clock
Clock Modes software programmable internal PLL, internal quartz, external clock, external divided, external reference clock, sync Internal clock range (PLL mode) software programmable 1 kS/s to max using internal reference, 50kS/s to max using external reference clock Internal clock accuracy ≤ 20 ppm Internal clock setup granularity ≤1% of range (100M, 10M, 1M, 100k,...): Examples: range 1M to 10M: stepsize ≤ 100k External reference clock range software programmable ≥ 1.0 MHz and ≤ 125.0 MHz External clock impedance software programmable 50 Ohm / high impedance (> 4kOhm) External clock range see „Dynamic Parameters“ table below External clock delay to internal clock 5.4 ns External clock type/edge 3.3V LVTTL compatible, rising edge used External clock input Low level ≤ 0.8 V, High level ≥ 2.0 V, duty cycle: 45% - 55% External clock maximum voltage -0.5 V up to +3.8 V (internally clamped to 3.3V, 100 mA max. clamping current)
External clock output type 3.3 V LVTTL External clock output levels Low ≤ 0.4 V, High ≥ 2.4 V, TTL compatible External clock output drive strength Capable of driving 50 ohm load, maximum drive strength ±128 mA Synchronization clock divider software programmable 2 up to [8k - 2] in steps of 2 ABA mode clock divider for slow clock software programmable 8 up to 524280 in steps of 8
(not 5V tolerant)
BaseXIO Option
BaseXIO modes software programmable Asynch digital I/O, 2 additional trigger, timestamp reference clock, timestamp digital inputs BaseXIO direction software programmable Each 4 lines can be programmed in direction BaseXIO input TTL compatible: Low ≤ 0.8 V, High ≥ 2.0 V BaseXIO input impedance 4.7 kOhm towards 3.3 V BaseXIO input maximum voltage -0.5 V up to +5.5 V BaseXIO output type 3.3 V LVTLL BaseXIO output levels TTL compatible: Low ≤ 0.4 V, High ≥ 2.4 V BaseXIO output drive strength
16 M2i.30xx / M2i.30xx-exp Manual
32 mA maximum current, no 50 Ω loads
Introduction Hardware information
Digital Inputs Option
Digital data acquisition modes software programmable 4 digital inputs per active analog channel Digital inputs delay to analog sample -11 Samples Input Impedance 110 Ω at 2.5 V Maximum voltage -0.3 V up to +5.5 V (internally clamped to 3.3V and ground, 200 mA max. clamping current) Input voltage Low ≤ 0.8 V, High > 2.0 V (TTL compatible)
Connectors
Analog Inputs 3 mm SMB male (one for each single-ended input) Cable-Type: Cab-3f-xx-xx Trigger Input/Output programmable direction 3 mm SMB male (one connector) Cable-Type: Cab-3f-xx-xx Clock Input/Output programmable direction 3 mm SMB male (one connector) Cable-Type: Cab-3f-xx-xx Option Digital Inputs/Outputs 40 pole half pitch (Hirose FX2 series) Cable-Type: Cab-d40-xx-xx Option BaseXIO 8 x 3 mm SMB male on extra bracket, internally 8 x MMCX female
Environmental and Physical Details
Dimension (PCB only) 312 mm x 107 mm (full PCI length) Width (Standard or with option star-hub 5) 1 full size slot Width (star-hub 16) additionally back of adjacent neighbour slots Width (with option BaseXIO) additionally extra bracket on neighbour slot Width (with option -digin, -digout or -60xx-AmpMod) additionally half length of adjacent neighbour slot Weight (depending on version) 290g (smallest version) up to 460g (biggest version with all options, including star-hub) Warm up time 10 minutes Operating temperature 0°C to 50°C Storage temperature -10°C to 70°C Humidity 10% to 90%
PCI/PCI-X specific details
PCI / PCI-X bus slot type 32 bit 33 MHz or 32 bit 66 MHz PCI / PCI-X bus slot compatibility 32/64 bit, 33-133 MHz, 3,3 V and 5 V I/O Sustained streaming mode > 245 MB/s (in a PCI-X slot clocked at 66 MHz or higher)
PCI Express specific details
PCIe slot type x1 Generation 1 PCIe slot compatibility x1/x4/x8/x16 (Some x16 PCIe slots are for graphic cards only and can not be used) Sustained streaming mode > 160 MB/s
Certification, Compliance, Warranty
EMC Immunity Compliant with CE Mark EMC Emission Compliant with CE Mark Product warranty 5 years starting with the day of delivery Software and firmware updates Life-time, free of charge
Power Consumption
PCI / PCI-X PCI EXPRESS
3.3 V 5 V Total 3.3V 12V Total
M2i.30x0 (256 MSample memory) 2.2 A 0.8 A 11.3 W 0.4 A 1.0 A 13.3 W M2i.30x1, 30x2 (256 MSample memory) 2.3 A 0.9 A 12.1 W 0.4 A 1.1 A 14.5 W M2i.30x5, 30x7 (256 MSample memory) 2.5 A 1.1 A 13.8 W 0.4 A 1.2 A 15.7 W M2i.30x3, 30x4, 30x6 (256 MSample memory) 2.6 A 1.4 A 15.6 W 0.4 A 1.4 A 18.1 W M2i.3026 (2 GSample memory) max power 3.7 A 1.4 A 19.2 W 0.4 A 2.0 A 25.3 W
MTBF
MTBF 500000 hours
(c) Spectrum GmbH 17
Hardware information Introduction

Dynamic Parameters

M2i.3011 M2i.3013
min internal clock 1 kS/s 1kS/s 1kS/s 1kS/s 1kS/s 1kS/s 1kS/s max internal clock 40 MS/s 50 MS/s 62.5 MS/s 80 MS/s 105 MS/s 160 MS/s 200 MS/s min external clock 1 MS/s 1 MS/s 1 MS/s 1 MS/s 1 MS/s 1 MS/s 1 MS/s max external clock 40 MS/s 50 MS/s 62.5 MS/s 80 MS/s 105 MS/s 80 MS/s 105 MS/s
-3 dB bandwidth DC to 20 MHz DC to 25 MHz DC to 30 MHz DC to 40 MHz DC to 40 MHz DC to 40 MHz DC to 40 MHz Zero noise level (< 125 MS/s) < 1.1 LSB rms < 1.1 LSB rms < 1.4 LSB rms < 1.5 LSB rms < 1.5 LSB rms < 2.0 LSB rms < 2.0 LSB rms Zero noise level (> 125 MS/s) n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. < 3.0 LSB rms < 3.0 LSB rms Test - sampling rate 40 MS/s 50 MS/s 60 MS/s 80 MS/s 100 MS/s 80 MS/s 100 MS/s Test signal frequency 1 MHz4 MHz1 MHz4 MHz1 MHz4 MHz1 MHz9 MHz1 MHz9 MHz1 MHz9 MHz1 MHz9 MHz SNR (typ) (dB) 66.2 64.8 65.2 64.5 64.5 63.5 65.2 63.3 65.1 63.0 65.0 62.8 65.0 62.5 THD (typ) (dB) -74.0 -71.0 -72.3 -71.0 -70.5 -68.9 -72.2 -66.5 -72.0 -66.1 -69.8 -65.9 -69.5 -65.8 SFDR (typ), excl. harm. (dB) 80.4 77.9 80.2 77.8 80.0 78.0 79.0 77.9 78.0 77.5 78.2 77.0 77.8 76.9 ENOB based on SNR (bit) 10.7 10.5 10.6 10.4 10.5 10.3 10.6 10.2 10.6 10.2 10.5 10.1 10.4 10.1 ENOB based on SINAD (bit) 10.6 10.3 10.5 10.2 10.3 10.1 10.4 10.1 10.4 10.1 10.4 10.0 10.3 9.9
Dynamic parameters are measured at ± 1 V input range (if no other range is stated) and 50 Ohm termination with the samplerate specified in the table. Measured parameters are aver­aged 20 times to get typical values. Test signal is a pure sine wave of the specified frequency with > 99% amplitude. SNR and RMS noise parameters may differ depending on the quality of the used PC. SNR = Signal to Noise Ratio, THD = Total Harmonic Distortion, SFDR = Spurious Free Dynamic Range, SINAD = Signal Noise and Distortion, ENOB = Effective Number of Bits. For a detailed description please see application note 002.
M2i.3021 M2i.3023
M2i.3031 M2i.3033
M2i.3010 M2i.3012 M2i.3014
M2i.3020 M2i.3022 M2i.3024 M2i.3027
M2i.3015 M2i.3016
M2i.3025 M2i.3026
18 M2i.30xx / M2i.30xx-exp Manual
Introduction Hardware information
Order InformationThe card is delivered with 256 MSample on-board memory and supports standard acquisition (Scope), FIFO ac-
quisition (streaming), Multiple Recording, Gated Sampling, ABA mode and Timestamps. Operating system drivers for Windows/Linux 32 bit and 64 bit, examples for C/C++, LabVIEW (Windows), MATLAB (Windows and Linux), LabWindows/CVI, IVI, .NET, Delphi, Visual Basic, Java, Python and a Base license of the oscilloscope software SBench 6 are included. Drivers for other 3rd party products like VEE or DASYLab may be available on request.
Adapter cables are not included. Please order separately!
PCI Express (PCIe) PCI/PCI-X
Memory
Options
Services
Cables
Amplifiers
Software SBench6
Software Options
(1)
: Just one of the options can be installed on a card at a time.
(2)
: Third party product with warranty differing from our export conditions. No volume rebate possible.
PCI Express PCI/PCI-X Standard mem 1 channel 2 channels 4 channels
M2i.3010-exp M2i.3010 256 MSample 80 MS/s
M2i.3011-exp M2i.3011 256 MSample 40 MS/s 40 MS/s M2i.3012-exp M2i.3012 256 MSample 80 MS/s 40 MS/s M2i.3013-exp M2i.3013 256 MSample 40 MS/s 40 MS/s 40 MS/s M2i.3014-exp M2i.3014 256 MSample 80 MS/s 80 MS/s 40 MS/s M2i.3015-exp M2i.3015 256 MSample 160 MS/s 80 MS/s M2i.3016-exp M2i.3016 256 MSample 160 MS/s 80 MS/s 40 MS/s M2i.3020-exp M2i.3020 256 MSample 100 MS/s M2i.3021-exp M2i.3021 256 MSample 50 MS/s 50 MS/s M2i.3022-exp M2i.3022 256 MSample 100 MS/s 50 MS/s M2i.3023-exp M2i.3023 256 MSample 50 MS/s 50 MS/s 50 MS/s M2i.3024-exp M2i.3024 256 MSample 100 MS/s 100 MS/s 50 MS/s M2i.3025-exp M2i.3025 256 MSample 200 MS/s 100 MS/s M2i.3026-exp M2i.3026 256 MSample 200 MS/s 100 MS/s 50 MS/s M2i.3027-exp M2i.3027 256 MSample 100 MS/s 100 MS/s M2i.3031-exp M2i.3031 256 MSample 60 MS/s 60 MS/s M2i.3033-exp M2i.3033 256 MSample 60 MS/s 60 MS/s 60 MS/s
Order no. Option
M2i.xxxx-512MS Memory upgrade to 512 MSample (1 GB) total memory M2i.xxxx-1GS Memory upgrade to 1 GSample (2 GB) total memory
Order no. Option
M2i.xxxx-diff Digital differential mode for combining two single-ended channels to one differential channel. M2i.xxxx-SH5 (1) Synchronization Star-Hub for up to 5 cards, only 1 slot width M2i.xxxx-SH16 (1) Synchronization Star-Hub for up to 16 cards M2i.xxxx-SSHM (1) System-Star-Hub Master for up to 15 cards in the system and up to 17 systems, PCI 32 Bit card,
M2i.xxxx-SSHMe (1) System-Star-Hub Master for up to 15 cards in the system and up to 17 systems, PCI Express card,
sync cables and extra bracket for clock and trigger distribution included
sync cables and extra bracket for clock and trigger distribution included M2i.xxxx-SSHS5 (1) System-Star-Hub Slave for 5 cards in one system, one slot width all sync cables + bracket included M2i.xxxx-SSHS16 (1) System-Star-Hub Slave for 16 cards in system, two slots width, all sync cables + bracket included M2i.3xxx-dig Additional synchronous digital inputs (4 per analog channel) including Cab-d40-idc-100 M2i.xxxx-bxio Option BaseXIO: 8 digital I/O lines usable as asynchronous I/O, timestamp ref-clock and additional
external trigger lines, additional bracket with 8 SMB connectors M2i-upgrade Upgrade for M2i.xxxx: later installation of option -M2i.xxxx-1GS, -SH5, -SH16 or -bxio
Order no.
Recal Recalibration at Spectrum incl. calibration protocol
Order no.
for Connections Length to BNC male to BNC female to SMA male to SMA female to SMB female Analog/Clock/Trigger 80 cm Cab-3f-9m-80 Cab-3f-9f-80 Cab-3f-3mA-80 Cab-3f-3fA-80 Cab-3f-3f-80 Analog/Clock/Trigger 200 cm Cab-3f-9m-200 Cab-3f-9f-200 Cab-3f-3mA-200 Cab-3f-3fA-200 Cab-3f-3f-200 Probes (short) 5 cm Cab-3f-9f-5
to 2x20 pole IDC to 40 pole FX2
Digital signals (option) 100 cm Cab-d40-idc-100 Cab-d40-d40-100
Order no. Bandwidth Connection Input Impedance Coupling Amplification
(2)
SPA.1412
(2)
SPA.1411
(2)
SPA.1232
(2)
SPA.1231 Information External Amplifiers with one channel, BNC/SMA female connections on input and output, manually adjustable offset, man-
200 MHz BNC 1 MOhm AC/DC x10/x100 (20/40 dB)
200 MHz BNC 50 Ohm AC/DC x10/x100 (20/40 dB)
10 MHz BNC 1 MOhm AC/DC x100/x1000 (40/60 dB)
10 MHz BNC 50 Ohm AC/DC x100/x1000 (40/60 dB)
ually switchable settings. An external power supply for 100 to 240 VAC is included. Please be sure to order an adapter
cable matching the amplifier connector type and matching the connector type for your A/D card input.
Order no.
SBench6 Base version included in delivery. Supports standard mode for one card. SBench6-Pro Professional version for one card: FIFO mode, export/import, calculation functions SBench6-Multi Option multiple cards: Needs SBench6-Pro. Handles multiple synchronized cards in one system. Volume Licenses Please ask Spectrum for details.
Order no.
SPc-RServer Remote Server Software Package - LAN remote access for M2i/M3i/M4i/M4x/M2p cards SPc-SCAPP Spectrum’s CUDA Access for Parallel Processing - SDK for direct data transfer between Spectrum card
and CUDA GPU. Includes RDMA activation and examples. Signed NDA needed for access.
(c) Spectrum GmbH 19
System Requirements Hardware Installation

Hardware Installation

System Requirements

All Spectrum M2i/M3i.xxxx instrumentation cards are compliant to the PCI standard and require in general one free full length slot. This can either be a standard 32 bit PCI legacy slot, a 32 bit or a 64 bit PCI-X slot. Depending on the installed options additional free slots can be necessary.
All Spectrum M2i/M3i.xxxx-exp instrumentation cards are compliant to the PCI Express 1.0 standard and require in general one free full length PCI Express slot. This can either be a x1, x4, x8 or x16 slot. Some x16 PCIe slots are for the use of graphic cards only and can not be used for other cards. Depending on the installed options additional free slots can be necessary.

Warnings

ESD Precautions

The boards of the M2i/M3i.xxxx series contain electronic components that can be damaged by electrostatic discharge (ESD).
Before installing the board in your system or even before touching it, it is absolutely necessary to bleed off any electrostatic electricity.

Cooling Precautions

The boards of the M2i/M3i.xxxx series operate with components having very high power consumption at high speeds. For this reason it is absolutely required to cool this board sufficiently.
For all M2i/M3i cards it is strongly recommended to install an additional cooling fan producing a stream of air across the boards surface. In most cases professional PC-systems are already equipped with sufficient cooling power. In that case please make sure that the air stream is not blocked.

Sources of noise

The analog acquisition and generator boards of the M2i/M3i.xxxx series should be placed far away from any noise producing source (like e.g. the power supply). It should especially be avoided to place the board in the slot directly adjacent to another fast board (like the graphics controller).
20 M2i.30xx / M2i.30xx-exp Manual
Hardware Installation Installing the board in the system

Installing the board in the system

Installing a single board without any options

Before installing the board you first need to unscrew and remove the dedicated blind-bracket usually mounted to cover unused slots of your PC. Please keep the screw in reach to fasten your Spectrum card afterwards. All Spectrum cards require a full length PCI, PCI-X slot (either 32Bit or 64Bit) or PCI Express slot (either x1, x4, x8 or x16) with a track at the backside to guide the board by its retainer. Now insert the board slowly into your computer. This is done best with one hand each at both fronts of the board.
While inserting the board take care not to tilt the retainer in the track. Please take especial care to not bend the card in any direction while inserting it in the system. A bending of the card may damage the PCB totally and is not covered by the standard warranty.
Please be very carefully when inserting the board in the slot, as most of the mainboards are mounted with spacers and therefore might be damaged if they are exposed to high pressure.
After the board’s insertion fasten the screw of the bracket carefully, without overdoing.
Installing the M2i/M3i.xxxx PCI/PCI-X card in a 32 bit PCI/PCI-X slot
Installing the M2i/M3i.xxxx PCI/PCI-X card in a 64 bit PCI/PCI-X slot
(c) Spectrum GmbH 21
Installing the board in the system Hardware Installation
Installing the M2i/M3i.xxxx-exp PCI Express card in a PCIe x1 slot
Installing the M2i/M3i.xxxx-exp PCI Express card in a PCIe x4, x8 or x16 slot
22 M2i.30xx / M2i.30xx-exp Manual
Hardware Installation Installing the board in the system

Installing a board with digital inputs/outputs mounted on an extra bracket

Before installing the board you first need to unscrew and remove the dedicated blind-brackets usually mounted to cover unused slots of your PC. Please keep the screws in reach to fasten your Spectrum board and the extra bracket afterwards. All Spectrum boards require a full length PCI slot with a track at the backside to guide the board by its retainer. Now insert the board and the extra bracket slowly into your computer. This is done best with one hand each at both fronts of the board.
While inserting the board take care not to tilt the retainer in the track. Please take especial care to not bend the card in any direction while inserting it in the system. A bending of the card may damage the PCB totally and is not covered by the standard warranty.
Please be very carefully when inserting the board in the PCI slot, as most of the mainboards are mounted with spacers and therefore might be damaged they are exposed to high pressure.
After the board’s insertion fasten the screws of both brackets carefully, without overdoing. The figure shows an ex­ample of a board with two installed modules.
(c) Spectrum GmbH 23
Installing the board in the system Hardware Installation

Installing a board with option BaseXIO

Before installing the board you first need to unscrew and remove the dedicated blind-brackets usually mounted to cover unused slots of your PC. Please keep the screws in reach to fasten your Spectrum board and the extra bracket afterwards. All Spectrum boards require a full length PCI slot with a track at the backside to guide the board by its retainer. Now insert the board and the extra bracket slowly into your computer. This is done best with one hand each at both fronts of the board.
While inserting the board take care not to tilt the retainer in the track. Please take especial care to not bend the card in any direction while inserting it in the system. A bending of the card may damage the PCB totally and is not covered by the standard warranty.
Please be very carefully when inserting the board in the PCI slot, as most of the mainboards are mounted with spacers and therefore might be damaged they are exposed to high pressure.
After the board’s insertion fasten the screws of both brackets carefully, without overdoing. The figure shows an ex­ample of a board with two installed modules.
24 M2i.30xx / M2i.30xx-exp Manual
Hardware Installation Installing the board in the system

Installing multiple boards synchronized by star-hub option

Hooking up the boards
Before mounting several synchronized boards for a multi channel system into the PC you can hook up the cards with their synchronization cables first. If there is enough space in your computer’s case (e.g. a big tower case) you can also mount the boards first and hook them up afterwards. Spectrum ships the card carrying the star-hub option together with the needed amount of synchronization cables. All of them are matched to the same length, to achieve a zero clock delay between the cards.
Only use the included flat ribbon cables.
All of the cards, including the one that carries the star-hub piggy-back module, must be wired to the star-hub as the figure is showing as an example for three synchronized boards.
It does not matter which of the available connectors on the star-hub module you use for which board. The software driver will detect the types and order of the synchronized boards automatically. The figure shows the three cables mounted on the option M2i.xxxx-SH16 star-hub to achieve a better visibility. The option M3i.xxxx-SH8 is handled similar to this picture. When using the M3i.xxxx-SH4 or M2i.xxxx-SH5 version, only the connectors on the upper side of the star-hub piggy-back module are available (see figure for details on the star-hub connector loca­tions).
As some of the synchronization cables are not secured against wrong plugging you should take care to have the pin 1 markers on the multiple connectors and the cable on the same side, as the figure on the right is showing.
Mounting the wired boards
Before installing the cards you first need to unscrew and remove the dedicated blind-brackets usually mounted to cover unused slots of your PC. Please keep the screws in reach to fasten your Spectrum cards afterwards. All Spectrum boards require a full length PCI slot with a track at the backside to guide the card by its retainer. Now insert the cards slowly into your computer. This is done best with one hand each at both fronts of the board. Please keep in mind that the board carrying the star-hub piggy-back module requires the width of two slots, when the option M3i.xxxx-SH8 or M2i.xxxx-SH16 version is used.
While inserting the board take care not to tilt the retainer in the track. Please take especial care to not bend the card in any direction while inserting it in the system. A bending of the card may damage the PCB totally and is not covered by the standard warranty.
Please be very careful when inserting the cards in the slots, as most of the mainboards are mounted with spacers and therefore might be damaged if they are exposed to high pressure.
After inserting all cards fasten the screws of all brackets carefully, without overdoing. The figure shows an example of three cards with two installed modules each.
(c) Spectrum GmbH 25
Windows Software Driver Installation

Software Driver Installation

Before using the board a driver must be installed that matches the operating system.
Since driver V3.33 (released on CD V3.48 in August 2017) the installation is done via an installer exectutable rather than manually via ths Windows Device Manager. The steps for manually installing a card has since been moved to a separate application note „AN008 - Legacy Windows Driver Installation“.
This new installer is common on all currently supported Windows platforms (Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 10) both 32bit and 64bit. The driver from the CD supports all cards of the M2i/M3i or M4i/M4x series. That means that you can use the same driver for all cards of these families.

Windows

Before installation

When you install a card for the very first time, Windows will dis­cover the new hardware and might try to search the Microsoft Website for available matching driver modules.
Prior to running the Spectrum installer, the card will appear in the Windows device manager as an generalized card (in case of Windows 10 as a „PCIe Data Acquisition and Signal Processing Controller“ as shown here.

Running the driver Installer

Simply run the installer supplied on the CD (..Driver\windows“ folder or downloadable from www.spectrum-instrumentation.com
26 M2i.30xx / M2i.30xx-exp Manual
Software Driver Installation Windows

After installation

After running the Spectrum driver installer, the card will appear in the Windows device manager with its name matching the card se­ries.
The card is now ready to be used.
(c) Spectrum GmbH 27
Linux Software Driver Installation

Linux

Overview

The Spectrum M2i/M3i/M4i/M4x/M2p cards and digitizerNETBOX/generatorNETBOX products are delivered with Linux drivers suitable for Linux installations based on kernel 2.4, 2.6, 3.x or 4.x, single processor (non-SMP) and SMP systems, 32 bit and 64 bit systems. As each Linux distribution contains different kernel versions and different system setup it is in nearly every case necessary, to have a directly matching kernel driver for card level products to run it on a specific system. For digitizerNETBOX/generatorNETBOX products the library is suffcient and no kernel driver has to be installed.
Spectrum delivers pre-compiled kernel driver modules for a number of common distributions with the cards. You may try to use one of these kernel modules for different distributions which have a similar kernel version. Unfortunately this won’t work in most cases as most Linux system refuse to load a driver which is not exactly matching. In this case it is possible to get the kernel driver sources from Spectrum. Please contact your local sales representative to get more details on this procedure.
The Standard delivery contains the pre-compiled kernel driver modules for the most popular Linux distribu­tions, like Suse, Debian, Fedora and Ubuntu. The list with all pre-compiled and readily supported distribu­tions and their respective kernel version can be found under:
http://spectrum-instrumentation.com/en/supported-linux-distributions
The Linux drivers have been tested with all above mentioned distributions by Spectrum. Each of these distri­butions has been installed with the default setup using no kernel updates. A lot more different distributions are used by customers with self compiled kernel driver modules.
or via the shown QR code.

Standard Driver Installation

The driver is delivered as installable kernel modules together with libraries to access the kernel driver. The installation script will help you with the installation of the kernel module and the library.
This installation is only needed if you are operating real locally installed cards. For software emulated demo cards, remotely installed cards or for digitizerNETBOX/generatorNETBOX products it is only necessary to in­stall the libraries as explained further below.
Login as root
It is necessary to have the root rights for installing a driver.
Call the install.sh <install_path> script
This script will install the kernel module and some helper scripts to a given directory. If you do not specify a directory it will use your home directory as destination. It is possible to move the installed driver files later to any other directory.
The script will give you a list of matching kernel modules. Therefore it checks for the system width (32 bit or 64 bit) and the processor (single or smp). The script will only show matching kernel modules. Select the kernel module matching your system. The script will then do the follow­ing steps:
• copy the selected kernel module to the install directory (spcm.o or spcm.ko)
• copy the helper scripts to the install directory (spcm_start.sh and spc_end.sh)
• copy and rename the matching library to /usr/lib (/usr/lib/libspcm_linux.so)
Udev support
Once the driver is loaded it automatically generates the device nodes under /dev. The cards are automatically named to /dev/spcm0, /dev/spcm1,...
You may use all the standard naming and rules that are available with udev.
Start the driver
Starting the driver can be done with the spcm_start.sh script that has been placed in the install directory. If udev is installed the script will only load the driver. If no udev is installed the start script will load the driver and make the required device nodes /dev/spcm0... for accessing the drivers. Please keep in mind that you need root rights to load the kernel module and to make the device nodes!
Using the dedicated start script makes sure that the device nodes are matching your system setup even if new hardware and drivers have been added in between. Background: when loading the device driver it gets assigned a „major“ number that is used to access this driver. All device nodes point to this major number instead of the driver name. The major numbers are assigned first come first served. This means that installing new hardware may result in different major numbers on the next system start.
28 M2i.30xx / M2i.30xx-exp Manual
Software Driver Installation Linux
Get first driver info
After the driver has been loaded successfully some information about the installed boards can be found in the /proc/spcm_cards file. Some basic information from the on-board EEProm is listed for every card.
cat /proc/spcm_cards
Stop the driver
You may want to unload the driver and clean up all device nodes. This can be done using the spcm_end.sh script that has also been placed in the install directory

Standard Driver Update

A driver update is done with the same commands as shown above. Please make sure that the driver has been stopped before updating it. To stop the driver you may use the spcm_end.sh script.

Compilation of kernel driver sources (option)

The driver sources are only available for existing customers on special request and against a signed NDA. The driver sources are not part of the standard delivery. The driver source package contains only the sources of the kernel module, not the sources of the library.
Please do the following steps for compilation and installation of the kernel driver module:
Login as root
It is necessary to have the root rights for installing a driver.
Call the compile script make_spcm_linux_kerneldrv.sh
This script will examine the type of system you use and compile the kernel with the correct settings. If using a kernel 2.4 the makefile expects two symbolic links in your system:
• /usr/src/linux pointing to the correct kernel source directory
• /usr/src/linux/.config pointing to the currently used kernel configuration
The compile script will then automatically call the install script and install the just compiled kernel module in your home directory. The rest of the installation procedure is similar as explained above.

Update of self compiled kernel driver

If the kernel driver has changed, one simply has to perform the same steps as shown above and recompile the kernel driver module. However the kernel driver module isn’t changed very often.
Normally an update only needs new libraries. To update the libraries only you can either download the full Linux driver (spcm_linux_drv_v123b4567) and only use the libraries out of this or one downloads the library package which is much smaller and doesn’t contain the pre-compiled kernel driver module (spcm_linux_lib_v123b4567).
The update is done with a dedicated script which only updates the library file. This script is present in both driver archives:
sh install_libonly.sh

Library only

The kernel driver module only contains the basic hardware functions that are necessary to access locally installed card level products. The main part of the driver is located inside a dynamically loadable library that is delivered with the driver. This library is available in 3 different versions:
• spcm_linux_32bit_stdc++5.so - supporting libstdc++.so.5 on 32 bit systems
• spcm_linux_32bit_stdc++6.so - supporting libstdc++.so.6 on 32 bit systems
• spcm_linux_64bit_stdc++6.so - supporting libstdc++.so.6 on 64 bit systems
The matching version is installed automatically in the /usr/lib directory by the kernel driver install script for card level products. The library is renamed for easy access to libspcm_linux.so.
For digitizerNETBOX/generatorNETBOX products and also for evaluating or using only the software simulated demo cards the library is in­stalled with a separate install script:
sh install_libonly.sh
(c) Spectrum GmbH 29
Linux Software Driver Installation
To access the driver library one must include the library in the compilation:
gcc -o test_prg -lspcm_linux test.cpp
To start programming the cards under Linux please use the standard C/C++ examples which are all running under Linux and Windows.

Control Center

The Spectrum Control Center is also available for Linux and needs to be installed sepa­rately. The features of the Control Center are described in a later chapter in deeper de­tail. The Control Center has been tested under all Linux distributions for which Spectrum delivers pre-compiled kernel modules. The following packages need to be installed to run the Control Center:
• X-Server
• expat
• freetype
• fontconfig
• libpng
• libspcm_linux (the Spectrum linux driver library)
Installation
Use the supplied packages in either *.deb or *.rpm format found in the driver section of the CD by double clicking the package file root rights from a X-Windows window.
The Control Center is installed under KDE, Gnome or Unity in the system/system tools section. It may be located directly in this menu or under a „More Programs“ menu. The final location depends on the used Linux distribution. The program itself is installed as /usr/bin/spcmcontrol and may be started directly from here.
Manual Installation
To manually install the Control Center, first extract the files from the rpm matching your distribution:
rpm2cpio spcmcontrol-{Version}.rpm > ~/spcmcontrol-{Version}.cpio cd ~/ cpio -id < spcmcontrol-{Version}.cpio
You get the directory structure and the files contained in the rpm package. Copy the binary spcmcontrol to /usr/bin. Copy the .desktop file to /usr/share/applications. Run ldconfig to update your systems library cache. Finally you can run spcmcontrol.
Troubleshooting
If you get a message like the following after starting spcmcontrol:
spcm_control: error while loading shared libraries: libz.so.1: cannot open shared object file: No such file
or directory
Run ldd spcm_control in the directory where spcm_control resides to see the dependencies of the program. The output may look like this:
libXext.so.6 => /usr/X11R6/lib/libXext.so.6 (0x4019e000) libX11.so.6 => /usr/X11R6/lib/libX11.so.6 (0x401ad000) libz.so.1 => not found libdl.so.2 => /lib/libdl.so.2 (0x402ba000) libpthread.so.0 => /lib/tls/libpthread.so.0 (0x402be000) libstdc++.so.6 => /usr/lib/libstdc++.so.6 (0x402d0000)
As seen in the output, one of the libraries isn’t found inside the library cache of the system. Be sure that this library has been properly installed. You may then run ldconfig. If this still doesn’t help please add the library path to /etc/ld.so.conf and run ldconfig again.
If the libspcm_linux.so is quoted as missing please make sure that you have installed the card driver properly before. If any other library is stated as missing please install the matching package of your distribution.
30 M2i.30xx / M2i.30xx-exp Manual
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