Change Log

This file lists all important changes to ATS9373-A3 Firmware

[34.01] - 2021-04-07

Updated NPT footer logic to allow optional fixed 50 MHz timing.
Also added NPT footer capability in 12-bit packed mode for dual channel acquisition.

Fixed bug whereby overflow was not reported and data was allowed to be written into VFIFO even after an overflow, causing recording of corrupt lossy data.

Improved timing for ADC data capture at 2 GS/s. This is to fix a problem seen with some ADC chips at higher temperatures.

Added protection against false trigegring if trigger source is External and has a frequency higher than one trigger per record. New signal re_trigger_protection (REG58[26]) = '1' will holdoff trigger until record is done.

Fixed bug introduced in FPGA v30.01 that resulted in the possibility of having a corrupt data packet at the start of a DMA buffer.

Uses FFT v5.2 that allows 250kHz trigger rate in RAW+FFT (as opposed to 200kHz) and also fixes a bug in REAL_ONLY and IMAG_ONLY outputs. External trigger is not affected, as it was already working properly.

Fixed a bug in trigger logic that would miss triggers if the source was CHA or CH B. External trigger is not affected, as it was already working properly.

Reduced re-arm time by modifying Trigger logic. Earlier versions of firmware required hundreds of sample clocks for re-arm. Now it is down to 32 points.

Improved DMA circuit for Dual Buffer Mode. FIFO read circuit stops only when used[9..8] = '11'.

Added the ability to read virtual FIFO usage using Register 46. An increasing value can be useful to predict if data consumption is slower than acquisition speed.
Added circuit that allows user to read out data already acquired in the on-board 8GB DDR3 buffer if an overflow is detected. This is done by deferring the overflow flag until all the data has been read out.
Removed FIFO flushing after end of trigger enable (B-scan) as that is shown to have caused data corruption problems.

NPT Footer (time domain) now goes into last 8 samples of both CH A buffer & CH B buffer in dual_buffer_mode. Other mode behaves same as before.

Added additional FIFOs for dual channel mode to get separate, de-interleaved, buffers for each channel.

Added software selectable FPGA based filtering of (Nyquist/2) spur in DES mode. Turned on by writing to Register 52 (in 3 separate commands) 0x0000 0000 , 0x0000 0710 and finally 0x0000 0730. To turn off, write 0x0000 0000 to Register 52.