All AIDA operations are controlled from the Dell T410 Workstation aidas1 using web browsers.

AIDA has multiple, independent data acquisition servers connected by an Ethernet network.

Response times to commands, information updates etc are ~10-60s - please be patient!



How To Start Run 

1) Workspace 1 - Firefox web browser - Run Control tab

   Select Update

   Check DAQ stopped (green GO button displayed)

   Check state of *all* data acquisition servers is 'stopped' and histogramming and data transfer 
   is enabled indicated by 'H X'

   See attachment 1

2) Workspace 2 - Firefox web browser - TapeServer tab

   Check Reload

   Check TapeServer stopped and disk file closed (green GO button displayed)

   See attachment 2

3) Workspace 2 - Firefox web browser - MERGE tab

   Check Reload

   Check Merge Program paused - see banner 

   Merge State = GOing     :    paused     :    xfer enabled     :    output paused

   If not paused select Toggle Merge Program Pause State

   See attachment 3

4) Workspace 1 - Firefox web browser - ASIC Control tab

   Check Reload

   Check 'Act on ALL FEE64 modules?' and wait for request to be completed

   Check 'Act on ALL ASICs' and wait for request to be completed

   From 'Select required function' select 'Check ASIC Control'
   After ~60s a pop-up will appear showing the response from each ASIC of each data acquisition server.
   Check all ASICs are OK and status = 0x001F0000.
   Dismiss pop-up by selecting OK

   See attachments 4-5

5) Workspace 1 - Firefox web browser - Run Control tab 

   Start DAQ - select green GO button

   Wait (~60s) until state of all data acquisition servers (nnaida1, nnaida2 ... etc) updates 

   Select 'Data Acquisition Statistics'

6) Workspace 1 - Firefox web browser - Statistics tab 

   Check Reload

   Check 'Show ALL Data Acquisition Servers' 

   From 'Select counter to Monitor' select 'AIDA SYNC'

   Select 'Update Once'

   Check *all* data acquisition servers have a non-zero rate (typically ~300-500Hz)

   See attachment 6

   N.B. If one, or more, data acquisition servers have zero rate

        return to Run Control tab

           stop DAQ (select red STOP button)

           check state of *all* data acquisition servers is 'stopped' with histogramming and
           data transfer are enabled indicated by 'H X'

        start DAQ (select green GO button)

           check state of *all* data acquisition servers is 'going' with histogramming and
           data transfer are enabled indicated by 'H X'

        return to Statistics tab

           check AIDA SYNC rates again and if zero rate persists for one, or more, data acquisition
           servers call for expert help and do *NOT* proceed!

7) Workspace 2 - Firefox web browser - TapeServer tab

   Start TapeServer and open disk file - select green GO button

8) Workspace 2 - Firefox web browser - MERGE tab

   Select 'Reload' several times and check all enabled data links (0-23) are active
         bright green = active, olive green = inactive, red = disabled 

   N.B. If some data links are *always* inactive call for expert help and do NOT proceed!

   Select Toggle Merge Program Pause State to enable data merging 

   Select Reload to observe merge rate (data items/s)

   Observe active spinners in MERGE and TapeServer server terminal windows adjacent to web browser

   See attachment 7

9) Workspace 2 - Firefox web browser - TapeServer tab

   Select Reload and observe number of blocks written to disk

10) Workspace 1 - Firefox web browser - Control tab

    Select 'Save/Restore Settings'

    From 'Save/Restore Module Settings' tab

     select 'Reload'

     select 'Module Names' whose settings should be saved (usually all)

     select 'Generate new DB key' and make a note of the DB key generated
          the DB key will have the format YYYYMMMDD-HH.MM.SS

          The DB key will be used to name a directory to store AIDA settings
          and is created uid: npg, gid: npgstaff, perms 755. However, its
          contents are written uid: nfsnobody, gid nfsnobody. The default
          directory (DB Key) permissions do not work - change the permissions
          to 777 - before attempting to save data to this directory (DB Key).

     launch a terminal and change the permissions of the DB key directory using the command

     chmod 777 /MIDAS/DB/EXPERIMENTS/AIDA/[YYYYMMMDD-HH.MM.SS]

     select 'Save Settings' to save AIDA ASIC, LED and waveform settings to
     the directory (DB key)

11) Update EURICA 2016 Elog with the following information

    AIDA
    run filename (e.g. R99)
    [# data blocks]
    start date & time
    [stop date & time]
    ASIC settings DB key
    AIDA trigger (e.g. OR DSSSDs #1 - #6) 
    additional comments
    your name

    Complete run sheet for written logbook



How to Stop Run

1) Workspace 2 - Firefox web browser - MERGE tab

   Pause MERGE input - select Toggle Merge Program Pause State

2) Workspace 1 - Firefox web browser - Run Control tab

   Select Update

   Stop DAQ - select red STOP button

   Wait (~60s) until state of all data acquisition servers (nnaida1, nnaida2 ... etc) updates 

   Check state of *all* data acquisition servers is 'stopped'

3) Workspace 2 - Firefox web browser - TapeServer tab

   Stop TapeServer and close disk file - select red STOP button

4) Complete EURICA 2016 Elog with the following information

    AIDA
    run filename (e.g. R99)
    [# data blocks]
    start date & time
    [stop date & time]
    ASIC settings DB key
    AIDA trigger (e.g. OR DSSSDs #1 - #6) 
    additional comments
    your name

    Complete run sheet for written logbook