Examples

The following examples demonstrate common uses of liboni. They generally omit checking return codes, which should be done when the library is used in for real world applications. For instance:

int rc = oni_function(...);
if (rc) goto fail;

Acquisition Context Creation

Every piece of ONI-compliant host hardware (occupying a single PCIe slot, USB port, etc) is governed by an acquisition context. Contexts are fully described by two parameters: a string specifying the hardware driver and an integer specifying which slot the physical hardware occupies on the host computer. Context creation and initialization occurs in two function calls. oni_create_ctx() allocates API-internal resources to hold context state and returns a handle to the context. oni_init_ctx() loads the required driver, attempts to connect to the hardware (opens communication channels), and, finally, obtains a device table that maps the acquisition hierarchy governed by the context. So, for instance, to create and initialize an acquisition context to govern a PCIe acquisition card using the RIFFA driver, you would use

ctx = oni_create_ctx("riffa"); // "riffa" is the driver name
oni_init_ctx(ctx, 0); // 0 is the host index. You can use -1 to get default slot

If the driver translation library onilibrary_<drv_name>.<so/dll> cannot be found by the linker, or the driver finds that the requested index is vacant, this function will error. Otherwise, it will allocate the required resources to manage the hardware at the specified host index using the specified driver.

Note

Specifying a host index of -1 will open the default slot and is useful in cases where there is only one piece of acquisition hardware in the host computer (e.g., a single PCIe card).

When multiple pieces of host hardware exist on a single host (e.g., multiple PCIe cards), a new context must be created and initialized to manage each one. In some cases (e.g., multiple PCIe cards in a single computer), these contexts can be synchronized so that each host receiver board shares a common hardware clock and acquisition trigger (see Synchronizing Contexts for an example). This is not always possible. For instance, multiple USB hosts cannot be synchronized.

Attention

oni_init_ctx() cannot be called on a previously initialized context. Doing so will return an error.

If the device configuration is changed following context initialization (e.g., a headstage is plugged in or turned on), a context reset must be issued to instruct the initialized context to re-evaluate its device table. This can be done via

oni_size_t reset = 1;
oni_set_opt(ctx, ONI_OPT_RESET, &reset, sizeof(reset));

Closing an Acquisition Context

When an acquisition context is no longer needed, it must be disposed to prevent memory leaks. This is accomplished via

oni_destroy_ctx(ctx);

which will free all resources used by the API and underlying device driver and close system-level descriptors providing links to hardware.

Examining the Device Table

Following context initialization or reset, it is useful to examine the device table to see the devices that host has access to. To examine the device table, we query the context for the number of devices in the table, allocate enough space to hold the table, and then populate it:

oni_size_t num_devs;
size_t num_devs_sz = sizeof(num_devs);
oni_get_opt(ctx, ONI_OPT_NUMDEVICES, &num_devs, &num_devs_sz);

size_t devices_sz = sizeof(oni_device_t) * num_devs;
oni_device_t *devices = malloc(devices, devices_sz);
oni_get_opt(ctx, ONI_OPT_DEVICETABLE, devices, &devices_sz);

This will return an array of oni_device_t structs where oni_device_t is defined as:

typedef struct {
    oni_size_t idx;           // Complete rsv.rsv.hub.idx device table index
    oni_dev_id_t id;          // Device ID number (see onix.h)
    oni_size_t read_size;     // Device data read size per frame in bytes
    oni_size_t write_size;    // Device data write size per frame in bytes

} oni_device_t;

Attention

device_t.idx is the fully qualified address (hub.index) of a device within the acquisition hierarchy. Do not expect these values to increase linearly with the position in array returned when querying the device table as some bit ranges are used to specify the hub address.

Reading and Writing Device Registers

It is often necessary to inspect and configure devices prior to or during acquisition. As described in the ONI specification, a device is a leaf element in the device table with at least the following properties:

1. Its own register address space.

2. Register access through a standardized register programming interface.

3. A datasheet that describes access to these registers.

Device registers can be read as follows:

oni_reg_val_t val = 0;
oni_read_reg(ctx, dev_idx, addr, &val);

Here, dev_idx is the fully specified device table index (hub.index) found in the device table, addr is the register address as specified within the ONI device datasheet. Because this is a register read, val is just a pointer to a register to be filled during the read. This function will return an error if the context is in an inappropriate state (e.g., not initialized), the specified device is not in the device table, or the register is write-only. Registers can be written as follows:

oni_reg_val_t val = 42;
oni_write_reg(ctx, dev_idx, addr, val);

where the function arguments have the same definitions as oni_read_reg. This function will return an error if the context is in an inappropriate state, the device does not exist in the device table, or the register is read-only.

Setting Read and Write Buffer Sizes

After context initialization, the internal read and write buffers can be manually specified. These buffers exist in order to reduce copying.

• During a call to oni_read_frame, the read buffer is checked to see if it contains data. If so, the return frame is simply a zero-copy “view” into this memory. If not, a block read is performed to fill the buffer, and again, the frame is a view into the beginning of this newly allocated block.

• During a call to oni_create_frame, a very similar process occurs in the opposite direction, using the write buffer. Write frames are views into a pre-allocated memory block.

The size of these buffers dictates a trade off between response bandwidth and latency, especially during frame reads. In the case of reads, smaller buffers will be filled faster by the hardware and allow access to data that is closer in time to its physical creation. However, smaller buffers increase the memory allocation rate and decrease the maximum bandwidth of the read link.

For this reason, we have chosen to make the read and write buffer size easily tunable by the user to optimize for different computer capabilities, data bandwidths, and required response latencies. The buffer sizes default to the minimum size for a given device table (the maximum frame read and write sizes across devices in the table aligned to the bus width of hardware communication link). This provides the lowest latency, but is optimal only for very low bandwidth acquisition and deterministic and low-latency threads (e.g. those found on real-time operating system). On a normal computer, these buffers can be set manually to optimize the bandwidth/latency trade off. For example, to set the buffer read and write sizes to 1024 and 8192 bytes respectively, use oni_set_opt:

oni_size_t block_size = 1024;
size_t block_size_sz = sizeof(block_size);
oni_set_opt(ctx, ONI_OPT_BLOCKREADSIZE, &block_size, block_size_sz);

block_size = 8192;
block_size_sz = sizeof(block_size);
oni_set_opt(ctx, ONI_OPT_BLOCKWRITESIZE, &block_size, block_size_sz);

If you attempt to set the buffer size to less than the minimal required in a particular context, these functions will return an error. To examine the buffer sizes, use oni_get_opt as follows

oni_size_t block_size;
size_t block_size_sz = sizeof(block_size);

oni_get_opt(ctx, ONI_OPT_BLOCKREADSIZE, &block_size, &block_size_sz);
printf("Block read size: %u bytes\n", block_size);

oni_get_opt(ctx, ONI_OPT_BLOCKWRITESIZE, &block_size, &block_size_sz);
printf("Write pre-allocation size: %u bytes\n", block_size);

Starting Acquisition

Prior to reading and writing to/from the high bandwidth data streams, acquisition must be started. To do this, write 1 to the ONI_OPT_RUNNING context option:

reg = 1;
oni_set_opt(ctx, ONI_OPT_RUNNING, &reg, sizeof(oni_size_t));

Attention

Following the start of data acquisition, hardware memory resources are used to queue incoming device data. To prevent buffer overflows, the user must issue calls to oni_read_frame fast enough to keep up with data production.

To reset the main system clock counter (frame timer) at any point during or prior to starting acquisition, write 1 to the ONI_OPT_RESETACQCOUNTER context option:

reg = 1;
oni_set_opt(ctx, ONI_OPT_RESETACQCOUNTER, &reg, sizeof(oni_size_t));

Often, the start of data acquisition should precisely co-occur with a clock reset. To perform both a clock reset and acquisition start in perfect sync, write 2 to the ONI_OPT_RESETACQCOUNTER context option:

reg = 2; // NOTE: this changed to 2 compared to previous example
oni_set_opt(ctx, ONI_OPT_RESETACQCOUNTER, &reg, sizeof(oni_size_t));

This will reset the clock and automatically start acquisition (this sets ONI_OPT_RUNNING to 1).

Reading Data Frames

oni_frame_t’s are minimal packets containing metadata and raw binary data blocks from a single device within the device table. A oni_size_t is defined as

struct oni_frame {
    const uint64_t dev_idx;  // Device index that produced or accepts the frame
    const uint32_t data_sz;  // Size in bytes of data buffer
    const uint64_t time;     // Frame time (ACQCLKHZ)
    uint8_t *data;           // Raw data block
};

where dev_idx is the fully qualified device index within the device table (hub.index), data_sz is the size in bytes of the raw data block, time is the system clock count that indicates the frame creation time, and, data is a pointer to the raw data block. A single frame can be read from an acquisition context after it is started (see Starting Acquisition) using repeated calls to oni_read_frame as follows:

// Read a frame
oni_frame_t *frame = NULL;
oni_read_frame(ctx, &frame);

// Perform desired operations with frame

// Dispose of frame
oni_destroy_frame(frame);

In the preceding example, frame is initialized to NULL because a call to oni_read_frame will assign its contents to an existing, pre-allocated memory block (see Setting Read and Write Buffer Sizes). oni_read_frame will return an error if the acquisition context is in an inappropriate state (e.g., not started). If the hardware is not producing frames, it will wait indefinitely.

Attention

After acquisition is started, oni_read_frame must be called frequently enough such that hardware buffers do not overflow.

After they have been used, frames must be disposed using oni_destroy_frame.

Attention

Every call to oni_read_frame must be matched by a call to oni_destroy_frame. Not doing so will result in a memory leak.

Writing Data Frames

Writing frames to an appropriate device in the device table follows similar steps to reading frames.

// Required elements to create frame
oni_frame_t *frame = NULL;
size_t dev_idx = 256;
size_t data_sz = 8; // or 16, 24, 32, etc
char data[] = {0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7};

// Create a frame
oni_create_frame(ctx, &frame, dev_idx, data, data_sz);

// Write the frame
oni_write_frame(ctx, frame);

// Dispose the frame
oni_destroy_frame(frame);

First, a frame is created using a call to oni_create_frame (analogous to oni_read_frame, except that frame data is provided by the user instead of the hardware). In the preceding example, it is assumed that the user has queried the device table to ensure that the device with qualified index 256 is writable and has a write size of 8 bytes. If the device at dev_idx does not accept writes or data/data_sz are not a multiple of the device write size, then oni_create_frame will return an error.

Note

When calling oni_create_frame, data/data_sz can be a multiple of the write size for a particular device. This way, a frame can be loaded with multiple data packets that are written to the device as quickly as the hardware and device driver permit.

Warning

Attempting to write multi-packet frames that are larger than ONI_OPT_BLOCKWRITESIZE will result in a error.

After a frame has been created, it can then be written to hardware using oni_write_frame. Just like frames produced by oni_read_frame, frames generated by oni_create_frame must be disposed of using oni_destroy_frame when the are no longer needed.

Tip

Frames created using oni_create_frame can be reused by re-writing their data field following a frame write.

The following example shows a single frame being used for two writes with a change in the data field in between writes:

// Required elements to create frame
oni_frame_t *frame = NULL;
size_t dev_idx = 256;
size_t data_sz = 8; // or 16, 24, 32, etc
char data[8] = {0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7};

// Create a frame
oni_create_frame(ctx, &frame, dev_idx, data, data_sz);

// Write the frame
oni_write_frame(ctx, frame);

// Reuse the same frame
char new_data[8] = {8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15};
memcpy(frame->data, new_data, data_sz);

// Write the frame with new_data
oni_write_frame(ctx, frame);

// Dispose the frame
oni_destroy_frame(frame);

Synchronizing Contexts

Todo

Document.