Experimental Physics and
Industrial Control System

Jukka Pietarinen via Tech-talk <tech-talk at aps.anl.gov> · Fri, 3 Feb 2023 13:37:22 +0200

Hi Rich,

The MRF timing system protocol has never been written out as a real

specification. As others have pointed out the details are available and

you are free to develop your own hardware using this protocol. The

initial protocol has been around for over 20 years with only minimal

(mostly compatible) changes.

The main difficulty in developing a receiver based on this protocol is

getting the timing deterministic. This is why an example receiver has

been released as open source, based on the Xilinx GTX (Kintex-7)

transceiver.

Thanks,
Jukka

On 2/3/23 10:39, Timo Korhonen via Tech-talk wrote:

Hi,

Jukka is watching this mailing list as well so he may reply directly. However, as far as I am aware, the open-source implementation was created exactly for the purpose of enabling 3rd party implementations.

For protocol details, you can take a look at this document: http://mrf.fi/fw/DCManual-191127.pdf
Protocol details can be found in chapter 1.3, page 9 and forward.

Best regards,

Timo

On 2023-02-02, 22:01, "Tech-talk on behalf of Shen, Guobao via Tech-talk" <tech-talk-bounces at aps.anl.gov <mailto:tech-talk-bounces at aps.anl.gov> on behalf of tech-talk at aps.anl.gov <mailto:tech-talk at aps.anl.gov>> wrote:

That I don't know, but I would guess so.
There is github project with VHDL code by the developer (Jukka), for example:
https://github.com/jpietari/mrf-openevr <https://github.com/jpietari/mrf-openevr>

On 2/2/23, 2:33 PM, "Evans, Richard K. (GRC-H000)" <richard.k.evans at nasa.gov <mailto:richard.k.evans at nasa.gov> <mailto:richard.k.evans at nasa.gov <mailto:richard.k.evans at nasa.gov>>> wrote:

Hi Guobao,

Thanks for the quick reply and the links. Does this mean that the MRF protocol is proprietary to MRI.fi? Can 3rd parties develop I/O devices that interact with the MRF timing system?

Thanks!
/Rich

-----Original Message-----
From: Shen, Guobao <gshen at anl.gov <mailto:gshen at anl.gov> <mailto:gshen at anl.gov <mailto:gshen at anl.gov>>>
Sent: Thursday, February 2, 2023 3:23 PM
To: Evans, Richard K. (GRC-H000) <richard.k.evans at nasa.gov <mailto:richard.k.evans at nasa.gov> <mailto:richard.k.evans at nasa.gov <mailto:richard.k.evans at nasa.gov>>>; tech-talk at aps.anl.gov <mailto:tech-talk at aps.anl.gov> <mailto:tech-talk at aps.anl.gov <mailto:tech-talk at aps.anl.gov>>
Subject: [EXTERNAL] Re: looking for a spec for the MRF timing protocol

Rich,
Not sure whether I can remember I have seen a spec of MRF.

We do use its user manual, available from its home page:
https://gcc02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mrf.fi%2Findex.php%2Fdownloads%2F101-product-manuals&data=05%7C01%7Crichard.k.evans%40nasa.gov%7C5c8e93b224f34655afe008db055b760e%7C7005d45845be48ae8140d43da96dd17b%7C0%7C0%7C638109662598671759%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=wbLnWDRXFyUlgD0f8vqCSb6Xd6kQ6iHPltnvGLDqea8%3D&reserved=0 <https://gcc02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mrf.fi%2Findex.php%2Fdownloads%2F101-product-manuals&amp;data=05%7C01%7Crichard.k.evans%40nasa.gov%7C5c8e93b224f34655afe008db055b760e%7C7005d45845be48ae8140d43da96dd17b%7C0%7C0%7C638109662598671759%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&amp;sdata=wbLnWDRXFyUlgD0f8vqCSb6Xd6kQ6iHPltnvGLDqea8%3D&amp;reserved=0> <https://gcc02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mrf.fi%2Findex.php%2Fdownloads%2F101-product-manuals&amp;data=05%7C01%7Crichard.k.evans%40nasa.gov%7C5c8e93b224f34655afe008db055b760e%7C7005d45845be48ae8140d43da96dd17b%7C0%7C0%7C638109662598671759%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&amp;sdata=wbLnWDRXFyUlgD0f8vqCSb6Xd6kQ6iHPltnvGLDqea8%3D&amp;reserved=0> <https://gcc02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mrf.fi%2Findex.php%2Fdownloads%2F101-product-manuals&amp;amp;data=05%7C01%7Crichard.k.evans%40nasa.gov%7C5c8e93b224f34655afe008db055b760e%7C7005d45845be48ae8140d43da96dd17b%7C0%7C0%7C638109662598671759%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&amp;amp;sdata=wbLnWDRXFyUlgD0f8vqCSb6Xd6kQ6iHPltnvGLDqea8%3D&amp;amp;reserved=0&gt;>
More specifically, the one we are using a lot here at APS:
https://gcc02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mrf.fi%2Ffw%2FDCManual-191127.pdf&data=05%7C01%7Crichard.k.evans%40nasa.gov%7C5c8e93b224f34655afe008db055b760e%7C7005d45845be48ae8140d43da96dd17b%7C0%7C0%7C638109662598671759%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=6VOBI%2F0sr666hMbrPTOh0wjrCz2l9FG4RTUigGaTFnQ%3D&reserved=0 <https://gcc02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mrf.fi%2Ffw%2FDCManual-191127.pdf&amp;data=05%7C01%7Crichard.k.evans%40nasa.gov%7C5c8e93b224f34655afe008db055b760e%7C7005d45845be48ae8140d43da96dd17b%7C0%7C0%7C638109662598671759%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&amp;sdata=6VOBI%2F0sr666hMbrPTOh0wjrCz2l9FG4RTUigGaTFnQ%3D&amp;reserved=0> <https://gcc02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mrf.fi%2Ffw%2FDCManual-191127.pdf&amp;data=05%7C01%7Crichard.k.evans%40nasa.gov%7C5c8e93b224f34655afe008db055b760e%7C7005d45845be48ae8140d43da96dd17b%7C0%7C0%7C638109662598671759%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&amp;sdata=6VOBI%2F0sr666hMbrPTOh0wjrCz2l9FG4RTUigGaTFnQ%3D&amp;reserved=0> <https://gcc02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mrf.fi%2Ffw%2FDCManual-191127.pdf&amp;amp;data=05%7C01%7Crichard.k.evans%40nasa.gov%7C5c8e93b224f34655afe008db055b760e%7C7005d45845be48ae8140d43da96dd17b%7C0%7C0%7C638109662598671759%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&amp;amp;sdata=6VOBI%2F0sr666hMbrPTOh0wjrCz2l9FG4RTUigGaTFnQ%3D&amp;amp;reserved=0&gt;>

Thanks,
Guobao

On 2/2/23, 2:15 PM, "Tech-talk on behalf of Evans, Richard K. (GRC-H000) via Tech-talk" <tech-talk-bounces at aps.anl.gov <mailto:tech-talk-bounces at aps.anl.gov> <mailto:tech-talk-bounces at aps.anl.gov <mailto:tech-talk-bounces at aps.anl.gov>> <mailto:tech-talk-bounces at aps.anl.gov <mailto:tech-talk-bounces at aps.anl.gov> <mailto:tech-talk-bounces at aps.anl.gov <mailto:tech-talk-bounces at aps.anl.gov>>> on behalf of tech-talk at aps.anl.gov <mailto:tech-talk at aps.anl.gov> <mailto:tech-talk at aps.anl.gov <mailto:tech-talk at aps.anl.gov>> <mailto:tech-talk at aps.anl.gov <mailto:tech-talk at aps.anl.gov> <mailto:tech-talk at aps.anl.gov <mailto:tech-talk at aps.anl.gov>>>> wrote:

Hello,

I'm developing a requirements document for an EPICS-based system and I'd like to include the MRF timing protocol explicitly, however I'm having trouble finding any links to an actual spec for it. I can find lots of folks describing it and presentation their use of it, but I can't find an actual link to where the official MRF spec is hosted. Any thoughts?

Thanks in advance,
Rich Evans (NASA GRC-ATF)

Experimental Physics and Industrial Control System

Experimental Physics and
Industrial Control System