Getting_Started - david-macmahon/wiki_convert_test GitHub Wiki

This page seeks to provide the most pertinent information for getting started with the CASPER design methodology.

Overview

If you are new to the CASPER collaboration, the following videos and paper provide a good overview of the CASPER design philosophy, hardware capability, and projects within the collaboration:

• CASPER Workshop 2007 - Intro and Overview by Dan Werthimer
• CASPER Workshop 2008 - Intro and Overview by Dan Werthimer

• "A New Approach to Radio Astronomy Signal Processing,"

Using Simulink/SysGen and the CASPER design environment

The CASPER toolflow uses Simulink-based design environment. For an introduction to working in Simulink and using the casper_library DSP blocks, please watch:

• CASPER Workshop 2007 - Simulink Overview by Aaron Parsons

For an overview of how to use the bee_xps interface system libraries and an introduction to how the toolflow works, see:

• CASPER Workshop 2007 - Infrastructure Libraries by Henry Chen

Setting Up Your ROACH/ROACH2 Boards

• Getting Started with ROACH
• Getting Started with ROACH2

Getting Started

To get set up and running with the CASPER toolflow, you'll need to install all the various tools and acquire the CASPER-developed libraries. Details of that can be found at:

• Getting and setting up tools and libraries

Once you have all the tools and libraries installed, there is an introductory tutorial that walks you through compiling your first design:

• Design tutorial

After completing the Design tutorial you can go through this tutorial on using some of the CASPER blocks to capture ADC data and compute the summed power:

• ADC/iBOB tutorial

• ADC/iBOB tutorial example model file

Using the Libraries and Toolflow

• Advanced tutorial (Spectrometer design)
• Sync pulse usage memo
• Common design gotchas

Additional Information

The referenced videos provide a good start to using the tools, but more information is available from the other workshop lectures:

• Video lectures from the Summer 2007 CASPER workshop.
• Video lectures from the Summer 2008 CASPER workshop.

For more detailed information about using the library blocks, refer to the Library Block Documentation page.

While CASPER contributors strive to keep toolflow and libraries in a usable state, please remember that much of it are works in progress, especially as we continue to develop and update. As such, there are sometimes glitches, gotchas, idiosyncrasies, and outright errors that may crop up as you use the design tools.

After going through all of the prescribed materials, please subscribe to the CASPER mailing list by going to http://lists.berkeley.edu and joining casper (at) lists (dot) berkeley (dot) edu. On the list, many experienced users of the tools can help you with any issues that aren't yet covered by the documentation and references.