dt4800 — Python binding of the DT4800 SDK

Control the CAEN DT4800 Micro Digital Detector Emulator (Nuclear Instruments) from Python: time base (constant, Poisson, external), amplitude (fixed or from a spectrum), pulse shape, noise, output stage, trigger output, monitoring (In / Out / LIVE % / Counts, realtime signal and spectrum), .nis settings files, the Spectrum Importer and Editor, the isotope library and Radionuclide Composer, activation and the FPGA firmware update. The package calls the native DT4800 library (dt4800.dll / libdt4800.so / libdt4800.dylib) through ctypes; a built-in simulator (sim://) lets you develop and test without hardware.

Installation

pip install dt4800

The wheels for Windows (x64, x86) and Linux (x86_64 and aarch64, glibc 2.34+) include the native library. Python 3.8 or later; no mandatory dependency (pip install dt4800[numpy] to get numpy arrays from the read functions with as_numpy=True).

With the source distribution, or to use another build of the library, point DT4800_LIBRARY at it (full path of dt4800.dll / libdt4800.so / libdt4800.dylib); otherwise the library is looked up in the package, then by the system loader.

USB drivers

The DT4800 is an FTDI USB device, driven through FTDI's D2XX library:

• Windows: install the CAEN FTDI driver from the DT4800 SDK installer (or the DT4800 Control Software); it provides ftd2xx.dll.
• Linux: the wheels carry FTDI's libftd2xx.so inside the package; the instrument must be accessible to your user: install the udev rule (the .deb / .rpm packages of the SDK install it), then unplug and plug the instrument again.

dt4800.usb_driver() tells which D2XX library is used (or why none can be loaded). The simulator needs no driver.

Quick start

import dt4800

print(dt4800.version())

with dt4800.open("sim://") as dev:            # the simulator, no hardware
    print(dev.info.model_name, dev.info.serial)
    ch = dev.channel(0)
    ch.set_shape(rise_us=0.05, tau_us=50)      # Control Software units
    ch.set_timebase(dt4800.TimebaseMode.POISSON, rate_hz=10000)
    ch.set_fixed_energy(20000)                 # register value (2 x panel LSB)
    ch.set_output(gain=1.0, offset=0)
    ch.enable()                                # OUTPUT on
    st = ch.stats()
    print(st.count_rate, st.live, "%.1f %%" % st.live_percent, st.event_counter)

On USB:

for d in dt4800.enumerate(dt4800.Bus.USB):
    print(d.serial, d.address, "busy" if d.busy else "")

with dt4800.open("usb://") as dev:             # or "usb://<serial>"
    ch = dev.channel(0)
    ch.apply(dt4800.load_settings("panel.nis"))   # a Control Software settings file

A spectrum and the Radionuclide Composer:

lines = [l.source() for n in ("Co-60", "Cs-137")
         for l in dt4800.nuclide_lines(n, dt4800.LineType.GAMMA) if l.intensity > 1]
lo, hi = dt4800.compose_range(lines)
spectrum = dt4800.peaks_to_spectrum(dt4800.compose_peaks(lines, lo, hi))
ch.set_spectrum(spectrum)

Errors raise dt4800.Dt4800Error subclasses (OutOfRangeError, InvalidParameterError, NotFoundError, FileError, DeviceTimeoutError, ...) carrying .status, .message (the description of the library) and .function. The examples/ folder has runnable scripts for every feature (python examples/01_info.py sim://).

GUI example

examples/gui/dt4800_panel.py is a PyQt6 control panel reproducing the main window of the DT4800 Control Software (with the plot window: input spectrum, realtime spectrum, realtime signal); it runs on the simulator too:

pip install -r examples/requirements.txt
python examples/gui/dt4800_panel.py sim://

Documentation

User guide and API reference: https://public-repo.pages.nuclearinstruments.eu/dt4800/

Source: https://gitlab.nuclearinstruments.eu/public-repo/dt4800 — MIT License.