Triggered Sampler (`triggered_sampler_uc`)

Upon trigger (either property change, data on optional input port, or meta data on data port) gate capture_length samples followed by an optional flush, and a discontinuity.

Design

When triggered, capture_length samples are transferred from input to output. These samples are preceded by time and sample_interval operations if the corresponding data is available, and are followed by an optional flush, and a discontinuity.

Single captures are triggered through a write to a property, optional receipt of input metadata or input data on a second optional trigger port. The component also supports a continuous capture mode (controlled through a property), in which captures are repeatedly performed; although it should be noted that a discontinuity will still exist between captures in this mode.

More specifically, captures are triggered when:

true is written to the capture_single property, or

the capture_continuous property is true and there is no capture currently in progress, or

the capture_on_meta property is true and any metadata message is received on input port, or

any message is received on the optional trigger port.

Triggers that occur simultaneously (i.e. within the same cycle in HDL or on the same call to run() in RCC) will result in a single capture.

If additional triggers occur during a capture, another capture is performed once the current capture is complete.

Output sample messages will always be aligned to input sample messages. Once a capture is triggered, the sample output will begin with the start of the next input sample message. Output sample messages will be the same size as the input sample messages, except possibly the final message in a capture which may be shorter to achieve the correct capture size.

The following diagrams depict typical message flows for the four trigger cases. In these examples it is assumed that time and sample interval are known, and are therefore output prior to each capture.

Capture Single

Message flow for single capture. — Figure 165: Capture single

Capture Continuous

Message flow for continuous capture. — Figure 166: Capture continuous

Trigger Port Operation

Metadata Operation

Bypass Mode

The component also supports a bypass mode which disables the capture triggers and simply routes all input messages to output.

While in bypass mode, the behaviour of the capture triggers is:

capture_single - writing true does nothing - no capture is queued.

capture_continuous - writing true will cause captures to start once bypass mode completes.

trigger port - no captures are queued.

metadata message - no captures are queued.

When entering bypass mode:

Any pending captures are cancelled.

Any current capture is aborted - no flush or discontinuity are generated.

Interface

<?xml version="1.0"?>
  <property name="bypass" type="bool" writable="true" default="false" description="When ``true``, trigger functionality is disabled: all messages received on input are routed straight to output."/>
  <property name="capture_length" type="ulong" writable="true" default="1" description="Controls the number of samples in each capture."/>
  <property name="send_flush" type="bool" writable="true" default="false" description="When ``true``, a flush is sent after the samples and before the discontinuity."/>
  <property name="capture_on_meta" type="bool" writable="true" default="true" description="When ``true``, a capture is triggered on receipt of a metadata message on ``input``."/>
  <property name="capture_single" type="bool" writable="true" volatile="true" default="false" description="Writing ``true`` triggers a single capture."/>
  <property name="capture_continuous" type="bool" writable="true" default="false" description="When ``true``, back-to-back captures will be performed."/>
  <property name="capture_in_progress" type="bool" writable="false" volatile="true" description="Returns ``true`` when one or more captures are pending or in progress from any source."/>
  <!-- LINT EXCEPTION: xml_012: -1: Capture_in_progress does not require
       a default value, as it's not writable -->
  <!-- Samples are captured from this port. -->
  <port name="input" producer="false" protocol="uchar_timed_sample-prot"/>
  <!-- A capture is triggered when any message is received on this port. -->
  <port name="trigger" producer="false" optional="true"/>
  <!-- Captured samples are output on this port. -->
  <port name="output" producer="true" protocol="uchar_timed_sample-prot"/>
</componentspec>

Ports

Inputs:

input: Primary input samples port.
- Protocol: uchar_timed_sample-prot
- Optional: False
trigger: Optional trigger port.
- Protocol: None
- Optional: True

Outputs:

output: Primary output samples port.
- Protocol: uchar_timed_sample-prot
- Optional: False

Opcode Handling

On input port:

Time

Re-synchronises an internal sample time counter that is used to generate correct output time messages.

During a capture, message is forwarded to output.

In bypass mode, message is forwarded to output.

Sample_Interval

Value is stored and used for maintaining the internal sample time counter.

During a capture, message is forwarded to output.

In bypass mode, message is forwarded to output.

Flush

Outside of a capture, flush is forwarded to output.

During a capture:

The current output samples message is completed.

The received flush is forwarded to output.

The capture continues and any remaining samples are forwarded when they arrive.

This results in a single capture of capture_length samples, but with an extra flush in the middle.

In bypass mode, message is forwarded to output.

Discontinuity

Invalidates the internal sample time counter.

In non-bypass mode and outside of a capture, only the internal sample counter is invalidated, no data is forwarded to output.

During a capture:

The current output samples message is completed.

The received discontinuity is forwarded to output.

The capture continues and any remaining samples are forwarded when they arrive.

This results in a single capture of capture_length samples, but with an extra discontinuity in the middle.

In bypass mode, message is forwarded to output.

Metadata

In non-bypass mode and outside of a capture, this optionally triggers a capture.

During a capture, this optionally queues another capture to start when the current one completes.

Received metadata messages are always passed to output.

Samples

In all modes, the internal sample time counter is incremented and the samples are dropped.

During a capture, the samples are passed to the output.

In bypass mode, the message is forwarded to output.

On trigger port

Any message received on this port while in non-bypass mode will trigger a single capture. The trigger port is read from continuously until there are no more messages present on the trigger port. After checking the trigger port, the input port is checked to handle any incoming opcodes. A maximum of two captures can be queued at any one time (regardless of how the capture was initially triggered). If a trigger is received while two captures are already queued (i.e. one capture is pending and one capture is queued), then the trigger port is advanced and the trigger ignored. Otherwise, if a capture is pending, but no capture is queued, receipt of input on the trigger port will cause a capture to be queued. If no captures are pending or queued, then an incoming trigger will cause a capture to start, pending arrival of Sample opcodes.

All received messages are otherwise discarded; nothing is forwarded to the output port.

On output port:

Time

If known, time is sent at the start of every capture (ahead of interval and samples)

It won’t be known if a time has not been received since start or since most recent discontinuity.

Time messages received on input during a capture or bypass mode are forwarded to output.

Sample_Interval

If known, sample_interval is sent at the start of every capture (just after time)

It won’t be known if an interval has not been received since start.

Sample_interval messages received on input during a capture or bypass mode are forwarded to output.

Flush

Optionally sent (controlled by “send_flush” property) after the last sample in a capture.

Flush messages received on input at any time are forwarded to output.

Discontinuity

Sent at the end of every capture (after the optional flush).

Discontinuity messages received on input during a capture or bypass mode are forwarded to output.

Metadata

Metadata messages received on input at any time are forwarded to output.

Samples

Sample messages received on input during a capture or bypass mode are forwarded to output.

Properties

bypass: When true, trigger functionality is disabled: all messages received on input are routed straight to output. When false, the component is in normal mode and the capture functionality is enabled.
- Type: bool
- Access:
  - Parameter: False
  - Writable: True
  - Initial: False
  - Volatile: False
- Default value: false
capture_length: Controls the number of samples in each capture. Changes only affect captures which have yet to start (even if they have been triggered, but are pending completion of a previous capture). Minimum = 1, Maximum = \(2^{32}-1\).
- Type: ulong
- Access:
  - Parameter: False
  - Writable: True
  - Initial: False
  - Volatile: False
- Default value: 1
send_flush: When true, a flush is sent after the samples and before the discontinuity.
- Type: bool
- Access:
  - Parameter: False
  - Writable: True
  - Initial: False
  - Volatile: False
- Default value: false
capture_on_meta: When true, a capture is triggered on receipt of a metadata message on input.
- Type: bool
- Access:
  - Parameter: False
  - Writable: True
  - Initial: False
  - Volatile: False
- Default value: true
capture_single: Writing true triggers a single capture. Writing true triggers a single capture. It will return true until the capture actually starts (this is almost immediate if there is no capture in progress). Writing true again during a capture causes another capture to be queued to start when the current one finishes. It will return true until that second capture actually starts. Writing true while it is already true (i.e. when another capture is queued) does nothing. Writing false while it is true (i.e. when another capture is queued) cancels that queued capture. Note that the return value indicates whether a capture has started - not completed. It does not return true when captures are triggered by metadata or trigger port messages. To check if all the requested captures have completed, read capture_in_progress. If capture_single is true on entry to bypass mode, it will immediately become false, thus cancelling any queued capture. In bypass mode, any value written to this is ignored, and it will return false.
- Type: bool
- Access:
  - Parameter: False
  - Writable: True
  - Initial: False
  - Volatile: True
- Default value: false
capture_continuous: When true, back-to-back captures will be performed. Note that when one capture finishes, the next capture will start at the beginning of the next sample message - there may be a gap in samples between the captures, depending on the message and capture lengths. Write false to cease capturing at the end of the current capture. In bypass mode, any value written will be stored and returned, although no captures will be performed. If true is written during bypass mode, captures will begin when the component returns to normal mode.
- Type: bool
- Access:
  - Parameter: False
  - Writable: True
  - Initial: False
  - Volatile: False
- Default value: false
capture_in_progress: Returns true when one or more captures are pending or in progress from any source. Returns false when no captures are pending. In bypass mode, this returns false.
- Type: bool
- Access:
  - Parameter: False
  - Writable: False
  - Initial: False
  - Volatile: True
- Default value: None

Implementations

triggered_sampler_uc (HDL)

The Triggered Sampler primitive implements the functionality for all HDL workers. The workers provide only a very thin data type conversion layer. Because there is no sample data processing, this single primitive can be used for all protocol variants.
triggered_sampler_uc (RCC)

Example Application

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<application done="file_write">
  <instance component="ocpi.core.file_read" connect="triggered_sampler_uc" to="input">
    <property name="filename" value="input.bin"/>
  </instance>
  <instance component="ocpi.comp.sdr.util.triggered_sampler_uc" connect="file_write">
    <property name="bypass" value="false"/>
    <property name="capture_length" value="1000"/>
    <property name="send_flush" value="true"/>
    <property name="capture_on_meta" value="true"/>
    <property name="capture_single" value="false"/>
    <property name="capture_continuous" value="false"/>
  </instance>
  <instance component="ocpi.core.file_write">
    <property name="filename" value="output.bin"/>
  </instance>
</application>

Dependencies

The dependencies to other elements in OpenCPI are:

Triggered Sampler primitive

There is also a dependency on:

ieee.std_logic_1164

Limitations

Limitations of triggered_sampler_uc are:

None

Testing

Tested platforms: None

Component testing not completed.

Triggered Sampler (triggered_sampler_uc)