dosepix / dpx_control

Control software for the Dosepix detector, written in Python3 w/ Python2.7 compatibility

Dosepix Control Software for python3

Module name: dpx_control
Author: Sebastian Schmidt
E-Mail: [e-mail]

Installation

There are multiple ways to install the module. The easiest one is to use a virtual environment. More experiened users might consider to install the module directly. Please refer to the instructions below and ensure that python 3 is used.

Virtual Environment Installation

First, a directory for the virtual environment has to be created. To provide an example, it is called dpx_venv in the following. Afterwards, the environment is created via

python3 -m venv dpx_venv

Activate the virtual environment by executing

source dpx_virtenv/bin/activate

If everything worked correctly, the name of your virtual environment should appear in parentheses in front of your command prompt. Finally, proceed like described in the "Direct Installation"-section below.

Direct Installation

sudo might be needed in order to provide installation privileges. This won't be necessary when installing in an virtual environment.

via pip

If no administrator access is possible, add the parameter --user right behind install.

python3 -m pip install /path/to/package

If you want to modify the code later on, use

python3 -m pip install -e /path/to/package

instead.

via setup.py

Execute in the module's main directory:

python3 setup.py install

If you want to modify the code later on, use

python3 setup.py develop

instead.

Examples

Dosepix initialization

First, import the module.

import dpx_control

The connection to the Dosepix test board is established via:

dpx = dpx_control.Dosepix(portName, baudRate=2e6, configFN=None, thl_calib_files=None, params_file=None, bin_edges_file=None)

This creates an object dpx of the class Dosepix.
Important parameters are:

Parameter	Function
portName	Name of the used com-port of the PC. For Linux, it usually is /dev/ttyUSB0. For Windows, the port name has the form of 'COMX'.
baudRate	Used baud rate of the connection between DPX test board and PC. This is set to 2e6 in the board's current firmware and shouldn't be modified here.
configFn	Configuration file containing important parameters of the used Dosepix detectors.
thl_calib_files	The DAC value and corresponding voltage of the threshold (THL) show a dependency of a sloped sawtooth. By measuring this dependency, a corrected threshold value can be used. Only important for certain tasks like threshold equalization or threshold scan measurements.
params_file	File containing the calibration curve parameters (a, b, c, t) for each detector and pixel. Only needed for dose measurements as it is used to specify the bin edges in DosiMode.
bin_edges_file	File containing the bin edges used in DosiMode. If params_file is set, the file should contain the bin edges in energy. Else, it should contain the bin edges in ToT.
eye_lens	Set to True if hardware for eye lens dosimetry is used, as it only utilizes a single slot. Standard value is False

A measurement can be started by using the dpx object. For example a ToT-measurement:

dpx.measureToT(slot=[1, 2, 3], intPlot=True, cnt=10000, storeEmpty=True, logTemp=True)

See documentation for more info.

Equalization

See the equalization-script.

First, important parameters are defined:

PORT = '/dev/ttyUSB0'
CONFIG_FN = 'DPXConfig.conf'
CONFIG_DIR = 'config/'
CHIP_NUMS = [22, 6, 109]
CALIB_THL = False

CONFIG_FN specifies the file in which the configuration of the current setup is stored. This file will be created in the directory specified in CONFIG_DIR. If the configuration directory does not exist, the program will create the folder by itself.
CHIP_NUMS are the identification numbers of the used detectors, usually written on the backside of the COB.

This equalization procedure includes THL measurementes which are optional. They are performed if the flag CALIB_THL is set to True. Afterwards, a THL-calibration file is created for each detector. This improves the equalization procedure but is not a necessity. At the current revision of the DPX test board, the measurement of the relation between THL DAC and THL voltage is only possible at Slot 1. Therefore, only one detector can be measured at a time.
IMPORTANT: the board has to be disconnected from power when switching detectors!

Afterwards, the command

dpx.thresholdEqualizationConfig(CONFIG_DIR + '/' + CONFIG_FN, I_pixeldac=None, reps=1, intPlot=False, resPlot=True)

performs the threshold equalization and stores the results in the specified configuration file. If intPlot is set to True, equalization results are shown for each detector once the equalization is done.