The MultiChannelDAQ example design features a GUI enabled by FrontPanel Platform, allowing users to manage 8 near-real-time DAC and ADC channels. The DAC channels function as a signal generator, producing sinusoidal waves using a CORDIC core, while the ADC channels function as an oscilloscope. The FrontPanel Platform software and gateware control two ADC and DAC controllers to operate the SZG-MULTIDAQ on the XEM8320. With FrontPanel Platform, users have access to open-source JavaScript libraries, and in this example, we utilize Chart.js to provide a versatile toolkit for data acquisition and oscilloscope display, serving as a foundation for more advanced projects.

• SZG-MULTIDAQ
• Source Code
• MultiChannelDAQ-ExampleDesign-vX.Y Release
• FrontPanel Platform Introduction

1. Set up and use a GUI enabled by FrontPanel Platform for controlling gateware.
2. Utilize the open-source JavaScript library Chart.js for data acquisition and oscilloscope display.
3. Interface with the SZG-MULTIDAQ on the XEM8320.

The goal of this getting started guide is to run the provided example design using prebuilt sources. This is a crucial first step to ensure correct hardware setup with known good sources.

• Latest MultiChannelDAQ-ExampleDesign-vX.Y release ASAR file
  • The FPGA bitfile is contained in this file. The ASAR is all you need!
• FrontPanel 6.0.0 beta or higher
• XEM8320-AU25P
• SZG-MULTIDAQ on Port D of the XEM8320

1. Connect Devices: Connect the XEM8320 and the SZG-MULTIDAQ, then power them on.
2. Add Physical Connection: Connect Channel 1 of the DAC to Channel 1 of the ADC using a piece of conductive wire.

1. Open the FrontPanel Platform application.
2. Install the MultiChannelDAQ application by clicking the ‘+’ button in the Application Card panel. Then locate the MultiChannelDAQ-ExampleDesign-vX.Y.asar file you downloaded from the latest MultiChannelDAQ-ExampleDesign-vX.Y release. See: Building the Template App Guide for more details.
3. Connect an XEM8320 device to your PC.
4. Click and drag the MultiChannelDAQ Application card to the available XEM8320 device.

1. Enable Channel 1 of the DAC: Set the frequency to 1000 using the number entry component.
2. Enable Channel 1 of the ADC: The graph will display the retrieved data from the ADC in red.

• Latest MultiChannelDAQ-ExampleDesign-vX.Y release Source Code (zip or tar.gz)
• Vivado
  Notice: Our tested version is v2023.2. Versions outside of this are not guaranteed to work.
• FrontPanel Vivado IP Core v1.0.5 or higher

1. Extract Example Design Release: Unzip/tar.gz the Example Design release and note the location for step 3.
2. Add IP Cores to Vivado: Follow the instructions for Vivado IP Cores’ Distribution v1.0.5 or later and note the installation location for step 4.
3. Navigate to Gateware Folder: Open the Vivado GUI and navigate to the MultiChannelDAQ gateware folder using the TCL Console.
   • Example: cd C:/path/to/MultiChannelDAQ/Gateware
4. Set IP Core Path: Set the fpdir variable to the IP core path.
   • Example: set fpdir C:/path/to/FrontPanel-Vivado-IP-Dist-vX.Y.Z
5. Run Setup Script: Run source project.tcl.
6. Generate Bitstream: Click ‘Generate Bitstream’ once the project is ready.

• Latest MultiChannelDAQ-ExampleDesign-vX.Y release Source Code (zip or tar.gz)
• multidaq.bit
• Install prerequisites from the Building the Template App guide.
• FrontPanel 6.0.0 installed

1. Open Folder: Open the Software folder in Visual Studio Code. This folder is located in the MultiChannelDAQ-ExampleDesign-vX.Y release Source Code.
2. Add Prebuilt Bitfile: Copy the multidaq.bit to the assets folder.
3. Install Dependencies: Run npm install within a Visual Studio command terminal.
4. Build Project: Run npm run pack within a Visual Studio command terminal.
5. Locate Output: The app.asar file is located in the output folder.
6. Start FrontPanel Platform: Open FrontPanel Platform Application.
7. Install Application: Install the app.asar by clicking the ‘+’ button in the Installed Applications panel of the FrontPanel Platform. For more details, see Building the Template App Guide.
8. Run Application: Click and drag the MultiChannelDAQ Application card to an available XEM8320 device

• ADC FSM (Finite State Machine): Manages SPI communication with the SZG-MULTIDAQ to receive digital values for 8 channels.
• ADC FIFO: Stores the digital values in a header-payload format. The header indicates the channel, and the payload contains the data.
• Data Flow: Digital values are gathered from SZG-MULTIDAQ via SPI → ADC FSM → ADC FIFO → FrontPanel Vivado IP Core (PipeOut) → Host Application.

• 8 CORDIC Modules: Generate sinusoidal output for each of the 8 DAC channels. Frequency is controlled by the user application.
• DAC FSM: Stripes through the 8 CORDIC outputs, collecting output data and transmitting it via SPI to the SZG-MULTIDAQ.
• Data Flow: Frequency control data from FrontPanel Vivado IP Core (WireIn) → 8 CORDIC Modules → DAC FSM → SZG-MULTIDAQ (via SPI).

The user interface shown above has the following components to control the behavior of the SZG-MULTIDAQ:

GUI elements are labeled with a red number corresponding to the key below.

• ADC Channel Count – This selects the number of ADC channels that will be active. The more active channels there are, the slower the effective sampling rate.
• Enable All/Disable All – Enables/Disables all DAC channels.
• DAC Toggle Switches – If untoggled, disables the specific DAC channel.
• Frequency (Hz) – The frequency of the specified DAC Channel.

Our releases for the MultiDAQ Example Design are located on GitHub at:
opalkelly-opensource/MultiChannelDAQ Releases

• Example renamed and migrated into a separate repository

• Updated to provide application information

• Updated to use version 0.5.0 of the FrontPanel Platform API
• Updated so application can be installed in the FrontPanel Platform launcher

• Upgrade to utilize FrontPanel Platform

• Initial Creation
• Prebuilt bitfile generated using the following tool versions:
  • Vivado v2023.2
  • Vivado IP Cores’ Distribution v1.0.5
• Prebuilt Alloy application generated using the following tool versions:
  • FP-Alloy Core library v0.1.0
  • FrontPanel React component library v0.1.0