Simple PCIe FMC carrier SPEC News
Simple PCIe FMC carrier SPEC
26-08-2011: Absolutely ready for production!
The modification for a better mechanical fit has been made and halogen-PCBs will be ordered to start the first series production of SPEC boards.
A serious piece of automated test software has been made that will check all soldered connections on the board and that will measure the different supply voltages. This is all possible because of the groundwork done by the Production Test Suite project software logically called PTS and the FMC Carrier tester test card that measures all connections to the FMC connector. We have used these to create the “PTS for SPEC” production software. The user manual gives a good overview of the ease of use.
Simple PCIe FMC carrier SPEC
22-08-2011: V3 ready, let's go for V4!
The V3 of the design was ready for production on 22 July. We’d like to
produce 70 of those cards of this version, apart from the fact that a
user at GSI just found a mechanical problem that could appear with a
certain combination of SFP plugin and PC type. Being just in time to
correct this by simply moving the SFP 2.5 mm further out on the PCB, we
decided to make a V4 of the PCB.
Why a V4 while the V3 never was produced? As this will ease the
tracibility as possibly copies of this Open Design design may already be
around!
Simple PCIe FMC carrier SPEC
01-07-2011: V2 boards tested
Three V2 boards have been received. One has already passed the full
production suite, two others have only received a very short test (and
passed). This means that this version can be used to start a series
production.
Actually there is still a not-understood issue that we don’t manage to
get communication between the two SATA connectors working, while from
each one to the FMC test board works OK. We are currently looking into
that and believe it is only a firmware problem.
Simple PCIe FMC carrier SPEC
31-05-2011: Production test software working
For the production of the SPEC cards specific production software has been written and demonstrated. This software provides a simple go/no-go interface with logging facilities to easily find production errors. The software is written in Python and uses a CERN-written test environment called Bakara. To test the connectivity FMC connector on the SPEC card, a specific FMC carrier test card is developed that is also able to measure the different power supplies and test the different gigabit links.
Simple PCIe FMC carrier SPEC
13-05-2011: V2 ready. Pre-production boards will be built.
The layout of the V2 of the SPEC board is ready. It is an improvement of version “1.1”. We will build 3 of these pre-production boards before we will order 70 boards. Two production test benches are being set up.
Simple PCIe FMC carrier SPEC
11-05-2011: Design review of V2 held
Five engineers have reviewed version 2 of the SPEC card. Many small changes have been made to make the board better producable. E.g. instead of 23 resistor values only 10 will be needed. The production files will soon be generated by CERN’s design office.
Simple PCIe FMC carrier SPEC
24-02-2011: Design review of "V1.1" on 1/3/11
The debugging of the SPEC card is going really fine: all active
components are fully tested, and most of the slow connections on the FMC
connectors are tested with the fine delay module.
As there is an urgent request for more SPEC cards, notably for the
development of White Rabbit end nodes by CERN’s partners, the team has
been working of solving of all outstanding Issues and making a version
“1.1” of the PCB.
On the first of March we will therefore review the updated schematics
and PCB layout, after which a quick production of ten cards will be
made.
In parallel, the new design will then be verified by CERN’s design
office to generate standardised production files. If everything goes
well, it will be these files that will be used for a first production of
around 50 SPEC cards.
Simple PCIe FMC carrier SPEC
First DMA transfer to/from DDR3
A first DMA transfer to the SPEC DDR3 and back to the host has been done
this morning.
The DDR3 interface seems to work well, but more exhaustive test of the
DDR3 interface are still to be done.
Simple PCIe FMC carrier SPEC
19-01-2011: 3 SPEC cards arrived at CERN
Three cards arrived at CERN. After delivery to our offices they will immediately be powered on.