Armada Toolset

1
Armada Toolset

• Terminology and Overview
• Armada Toolset Technical Summary

2
What is Armada?

• Armada is...
• A software library for real-time data acquisition
  and signal processing on the PC
• Written in C
• Composed of software components
• Visual (user-interface) or non-visual
  (processing)
• Compatible with
• Borland Builder (native VCL components)
• Visual C and .NET (via DLL and class wrappers,
  with some restrictions)

3
Operational Modes

• In order of decreasing performance
• Slave Mode
• Board configuration, specialized HW-specific I/O
• Snap Mode
• Burst multi-channel signal capture with
  channelized, pump-based, post-processing
• Block Mode
• Continuous multi-channel I/O with real-time,
  event-oriented processing
• Streaming Mode
• Continuous I/O with real-time, channelized,
  pump-based, signal processing

4
Slave Mode Operation

• Slave Mode Signal Flow

ChicoPlus FIFO-based module(s)
User Application
Slave PCI accesses
DSP baseboard
Messages
TIICaliente is not used. No automatic streaming
data movement functions are performed. HW
interrupts supported to max Windows rates, 5
kHz. Messages used to interchange data with DSP
boards
Typically gt 10 MHz Peripherals
5
Slave Mode Operation

• Advantages
• Familiar, albeit comparatively complex
  programming paradigm
• Realizes theoretical baseboard performance
• ie. 200 MSamples/sec for Lobo (2 GB bursts only)
• Disadvantages
• Unsuitable for continuous processes
• Greater familiarity with HW required

6
Snap Mode Operation

• Snap Mode Signal Flow

Pool Buffers sized tolt size of PC memory
ChicoPlus FIFO-based module(s)
2-32 MB Bus Master Memory
TIICaliente
Typically gt 10 MHz Peripherals
DSP baseboard
TIICaliente automatically channelizes streams in
this mode
User Application
TIIGenericSink
TIIGenericFilter
TIIStreamInput
7
Snap Mode Operation

• Advantages
• Block-diagram application development
• Less familiarity with HW required
• Arbitrarily complex signal manipulation on
  channel-by-channel basis
• Realizes theoretical baseboard performance
• 200 MB/sec for Matador/Velocia
• Disadvantages
• Not suitable for continuous processes

8
Block Mode Operation

• Block Mode Signal Flow

Pool Buffers sized to instantaneous load
ChicoPlus module(s)
2-32 MB Bus Master Memory
TIICaliente
Typically .1 to 10 MHz Peripherals
DSP baseboard
TIICaliente does not channelize streams in this
mode
User Application
User Application
TIIBlockStream
TIIChannelStripper
TIIChannelStripper optionally allows user
processing of channelized events in this mode
9
Block Mode Operation

• Advantages
• Very rapid development of recorders and players
• Suitable for continuous processes
• Suitable for intermittent processes on Velocia
• Realizes theoretical baseboard performance
• 200 MB/sec for Matador/Velocia
• Simple interface to custom data streams
• Disadvantages
• Greater familiarity with HW required

10
Streaming Mode Operation

• Streaming Mode Signal Flow

Pool Buffers sized to instantaneous load
ChicoPlus module(s)
2-32 MB Bus Master Memory
TIICaliente
Typically .1 to 10 MHz Peripherals
TIICaliente automatically channelizes streams in
this mode
User Application
TIIGenericSink
TIIGenericFilter
TIIStreamInput
TIIGenericFilter
TIIStreamOutput
TIIGenericSource
11
Streaming Mode Operation

• Advantages
• Block-diagram application development
• Suitable for continuous processes
• Less familiarity with HW required
• Arbitrarily complex signal manipulation on
  channel-by-channel basis
• Disadvantages
• Cannot realize theoretical HW performance
• 10 Msamples/sec aggregate for all pump chains on
  P4-2.5

12
Mode Comparison
13
Armada Toolset

• Component Categories
• Caliente - Low-level hardware interface
• Internal interrupt handling buffering
  channelization and format conversion
• Baseboard
• All baseboard-specific communications (bus-master
  and messages) Downloading
• Data Pump - Real-time signal flow
• Generic sources, filters, sinks
• Analysis MMX-optimized signal processing
• Filtering recording and playback FFTs signal
  generation signal analysis plotting

14
Armada Summary

• Designed from scratch for performance
• Full bandwidth Dsp-Host communications
• Native signal processing on Intel architectures
• Manages all real-time data flow signaling and
  buffer management
• Ships with each product in Matador and Velocia
  product line
• Fully documented in new CHM and PDF files

15
Product Weaknesses

• Architecture biased towards BCB programmers
• BCB programmers lt 20 of audience
• Some features inaccessible to MSVC and .NET users
• DLL and its maintenance required for MSVC/.NET
• Operating system-specific code
• Makes porting to other OSes difficult
• Reduces our sales potentia

16
Redesign Effort

• Two principle tasks
• Recode all support functions in generic C
• All Armada support classes to compile under MSVC,
  .NET, Intel and Borland compilers
• User-access classes (such as TIILogger or
  TIIPlot) become superficial Substance of these
  classes implemented in generic C within Armada
  support classes
• Modularize all OS specific code
• Substitute portable inter-task signals instead of
  Windows messages, events, etc.