dt5810 — Python binding of the DT5810 SDK

Control the CAEN DT5810 / DT5810B Digital Detector Emulator (Nuclear Instruments) from Python: energy (fixed or spectrum), pulse shape, time base, noise, baseline drift, correlation, digital I/O, run control, monitoring, AWG / sequences and the analog input MCA. The package calls the native DT5810 library (dt5810.dll / libdt5810.so) through ctypes; a built-in simulator (sim://) lets you develop and test without hardware.

Installation

pip install dt5810

The wheels for Windows x64 and Linux x86_64 (glibc 2.34+) include the native library. Python 3.8 or later; no mandatory dependency (pip install dt5810[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 DT5810_LIBRARY at it (full path of dt5810.dll / libdt5810.so); otherwise the library is looked up in the package, then by the system loader.

Quick start

import dt5810

print(dt5810.version())
for d in dt5810.enumerate(dt5810.Bus.USB):
    print(d.serial, d.address)

with dt5810.open("sim://") as dev:          # or "usb://", "usb://NI050123"
    print(dev.info.model_name, dev.info.serial)
    ch = dev.channel(0)
    ch.set_fixed_energy(20000)              # LSB, 0..32767
    ch.set_drc(rise_ns=20, decay_ns=50000)
    ch.set_timebase(dt5810.TimebaseMode.POISSON, rate_hz=10000)
    ch.enable()
    print(ch.stats())

Errors raise dt5810.Dt5810Error subclasses (OutOfRangeError, InvalidParameterError, NoDataError, NotFoundError, DeviceTimeoutError, ...) carrying .status and .message. The examples/ folder has runnable scripts for every feature (python examples/01_info.py usb://).

Instruments on USB and firmware

for d in dt5810.usb_list():                 # every instrument, in any state
    print(d.usb_serial, d.state.name, d.serial, "USB 3" if d.super_speed == 1 else "USB 2")
dt5810.fx3_load_all()                       # load the USB firmware where it is missing
dt5810.fpga_update("", "DT5810B.NIU",       # FPGA update, instrument in FPGA boot loader
                   progress=lambda stage, f: print(stage, f"{f:.0%}"))

At power-up the USB controller of the instrument waits for its firmware: the firmware service of the SDK installer / Linux packages loads it automatically, fx3_load_all() does it from Python (the firmware is inside the library).

GUI example

examples/gui/dt5810_gui.py is a PyQt6 control panel with live plots (signal, emitted spectrum, count rate) and the firmware functions; it runs on the simulator too:

pip install -r examples/requirements.txt
python examples/gui/dt5810_gui.py sim://

Documentation

User guide and API reference: https://public-repo.pages.nuclearinstruments.eu/dt5810/dt5810-sdk/

Source: https://gitlab.nuclearinstruments.eu/public-repo/dt5810/dt5810-sdk — MIT License.