PandA Box
PandABox is a fully integrated position, acquisition and control system, equipped to process absolute encoder inputs. Designed to meet the requirements of many modern experiments, PandABox can synchronously calculate, control and record the position of multiple hardware components.
PandABox is the result of a collaboration between SOLEIL and DIAMOND to upgrade their position and acquisition processing platforms. PandABox provides a common encoder processing platform based on Zynq 7030 and supports multiple encoder standards. It delivers synchronous triggering, data capture and data manipulation capabilities. Based on Diamond’s ‘Zebra’ and SOLEIL’s ‘SPEITBOX’, PandABox offers various improvements including absolute encoder protocols, higher bandwidth data transfer and greater FPGA resources to ensure the platform is ready for the experiments of the future.
PandA Box Installations
| Title | Address | Description |
|---|---|---|
Beijing Synchrotron Radiation Facility | 19 Yuquan Rd, Shijingshan Qu, Beijing Shi, China | System Installed – Visit the group website |
The China Spallation Neutron Source (CSNS) | Zhong Zi Yuan Lu, Dongguan Shi, Guangdong Sheng, China | System Installed – Visit the group website |
Diamond Light Source | Diamond House, Harwell Science and Innovation Campus, Fermi Ave, Didcot OX11 0DE, UK | System Installed – Visit the group website |
Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility (SSRF) | 239 Zhangheng Rd, Pudong Xinqu, China | System Installed – Visit the group website |
Jagiellonian University | Gołębia 24, 31-007 Kraków, Poland | System Installed – Visit the group website |
LNLS - Laboratório Nacional de Luz Síncrotron | Polo II de Alta Tecnologia de Campinas - R. Giuseppe Máximo Scolfaro, 10000 - Bosque das Palmeiras, Campinas - SP, 13083-100, Brazil | System Installed – Visit the group website |
MAX IV Laboratory | Fotongatan 2, 224 84 Lund, Sweden | System Installed – Visit the group website |
National Synchrotron Light Source II | Upton, NY 11973, USA | System Installed – Visit the group website |
Paul Scherrer Institute | PSI CH, Forschungsstrasse 111, 5232 Villigen, Switzerland | System Installed – Visit the group website |
Synchrotron Soleil | L'Orme des Merisiers, 91190 Saint-Aubin, France | System Installed – Visit the group website |
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory | 2575 Sand Hill Rd, Menlo Park, CA 94025, USA | System Installed – Visit the group website |
Applications
Tomography
Imaging
Specifications
Absolute and incremental encoder support
Synchronous triggering and data capture
Sequencing and multi-channel position compare
Gigabit data transfer
Easy to use browser-based GUI
Expandable block-based software design
System Integration
Each unit will compose of following electronics modules mechanically assembled into a 1U chassis:
Main carrier PCB board
Front panel PCB board
4x Encoder Daughter Modules
Avnet Picozed-7030 Zynq SoC Module
More info on the open source hardware project can be found here OHWR PandABox Hardware Repository.
Software
PandABox is programmed through a specially designed web browser GUI. The GUI offers full access to all of PandABox’s functionality via an easy to use block-based design. Each block has a specific function (e.g. trigger creation, logic) and blocks are linked together to create the desired result. Custom blocks can be programmed by the user and uploaded to PandABox to offer even greater functionality. Once programmed, PandABox can be interfaced with beamline control systems (EPICS, TANGO) for day-to-day use.
