GALFA Spectrometer Board Test Procedure



Note: This test procedure requires a CompactPCI backplane that is not installed in a chassis, with a DC power supply capable of supplying +5V, +3.3V, and -12V. It is best if the power supply has adjustable current output limits, and if the various supply rails can be independently applied to the test backplane.

New Board Bring-Up Procedure

  1. Check all chip orientations and tantalum capacitor polarizations; remove ALL jumper caps

  2. Turn off all power supplies to backplane; install board into backplane

  3. On-board power supplies
    1. Using a current limit of ~0.4A, apply +5V to backplane; monitor for excessive current draws
    2. Measure +1.5V switching regulator output (J10 Pin 3, J10 Pin 4, J21 Pin 3, or J21 Pin 4)
    3. Measure +2.5V switching regulator output (J12 Pin 3, J12 Pin 4, J20 Pin 3, or J20 Pin 4)
    4. Measure +3V linear regulator output (J17 Pin 3 or Pin 4)
    5. Turn off +5V supply
    6. Using a current limit of ~0.4A, apply -12V to backplane; monitor for excessive current draws
    7. Measure -3V linear regulator output (J16 Pin 3 or Pin 4)
    8. Remove all supply voltages to backplane

  4. Board test
    1. Simultaneously apply +5V, +3.3V, -12V to backplane; check for excessive current draws
    2. Re-check all voltage regulator outputs; check for overheating regulators, ADCs, FPGAs, etc.
    3. Turn off all power; install jumpers to supply +1.5V, +2.5V to FPGAs; +3V, -3V to ADCs (see jumper settings guide)
    4. Install crystal oscillator and jumper for on-board clock
    5. Check for correct clock frequency

  5. FPGAs
    1. Jumper JP2 to set 2V1000 FPGA for Boundary-Scan programming mode
    2. Using JTAG cable, program 2V1000 with test program (ie., LED blinker)
    3. Jumper JP1 to set 2V4000/2V6000 FPGA for Boundary-Scan programming mode
    4. Using JTAG cable, program 2V4000/2V6000 with test program (ie., LED blinker)
      Note: It has been found that leaving J16 and J17 jumpered can cause programming the BF957 FPGA to fail, possibly due to noise from the ADCs interfering with the download cable. If programming fails repeatedly, try removing jumper caps from J16 and J17
    5. Using JTAG cable, burn XC18V04 PROM with pcib_r.mcs from latest release

  6. CompactPCI chassis operation (brief)
    1. Set jumper JP2 for 2V1000 Master Serial programming mode
    2. Set jumper JP1 for 2V4000/2V6000 Slave Serial programming mode
    3. Make sure cPCI backplane is jumpered for 3.3V VI/O
    4. Install 1 spectrometer board + 1 pre-configured CPU board into cPCI chassis and boot up
    5. Check LEDs 1, 2 for successful programming of FPGAs
    6. Run lspci to make sure installed board returns

      02:xx.0 Co-processor: Xilinx Corporation: Unknown device 0333 (rev 05)

    7. Apply stimulus to spectrometer board inputs and use gdiag diagnostics to check ADC operation



CompactPCI Chassis Operations Test (Extensive)

  1. Make sure CPU board installed with latest OS revision using update

  2. Run "lspci" and make sure that the PCI interface is rev. 05 or greater:

    # lspci

    02:0b.0 Co-processor: Xilinx Corporation: Unknown device 0333 (rev 05)

  3. Run "gload -mtest" to test PCI interface:

    # gload -mtest

    Let it run for a couple of minutes, any error is bad.

  4. Manually load Xilinx part a few times to verify Xilinx loading is okay:

    # zcat /fpga/gk6_r.bin.gz | gload -load

  5. Pattern test accumulators in GALFA
    This tests all of the wires between the 2v6000 and the 2v1000 as well as a lot of logic.

    # gdiag -patt

    Let it run for a minute without error.

  6. Watch a sine wave using the internal digital signal generators in GALFA.
    This should show two complex sine waves of 1.0MHz and 3.0MHz.

    # gdiag -scope -ta=1.0 -tb=3.0

    A picture of this is enclosed as pic-001.gif. Note power of signals is slightly less than -20dBm.

  7. Watch internally-generated sine waves passing through the low pass filter with the complex mixer mixing with DC.

    # gdiag -scope -lpf -ta=0.5 -tb=4.0 -mix=0

    A picture is enclosed as pic-0002.gif. Note that second signal is filtered to almost nothing (-40db) and first signal has the same -20dBm level as the signal generator.

  8. Watch test signals through wideband and narrowband PFBs:

    # gdiag -galfa -ta=-18.1 -tb=-18.2 -mix=26

    This generates signals at -18.1MHz and -18.2MHz. In the wideband display you should see pic-0003.gif, the narrowband PFB should show the peaks in pic-0004.gif.

    At this point the digital end of things is fully verified, but the ADCs haven't been used yet.

  9. Test the ADCs with no signal.
    With the following command the ADCs should look something like pic-0005.gif:

    # gdiag -galfa

    The ADCs can also be tested with gdiag -scope to view the ADCs like an oscilloscope. Test signal levels against a known reference signal.