February 14, 2005

Overview

The following changes are introduced in this release:

Items Specific to LightParser:

• Initial implementation of adjustable E1 transmit rates.

Items Specific to DPL3:

• New and modified framer control API functions.

General Items:

• Modified utility programs.

• Changes to FPGA configurations.

• Component versions for this release.

• Known problems.

Notes:

Version 0.7.1 is a beta release of the Channelization API for DPL3 and LightParser Boards. This release does not represent the intended final production release. Some aspects of the application program interface (API) are subject to change as the software development continues to meet design requirements and usability issues.

LightParser: Initial Implementation of Adjustable E1 Transmit Rates

This release includes experimental functionality for adjusting the transmit rates of individual E1 streams. The logic design for this feature is not yet available in the standard Virtex FPGA configuration. The Virtex FPGA configuration version must be loaded on the board using the dplp_flashup program with its "experimental version" option. For example:

     dplp_flashup -uv -xR dplp0

The LightParser API includes new functions to initialize the rate control tables and adjust the transmit rates.

For more information, please see information and sample code in the in the RATE_info directory of the software distribution.

DPL3: New and Modified Framer Control API Functions

Two new functions are included to read the current Comet framer configuration and status. The cac_comet_get_config function retrieves the configuration modes for a specified Comet framer. The cac_comet_get_status function retires current status information for a specified Comet framer.

A new function named cac_l3_get_modes retrieves the current configuration settings for all 3 of the L3 interface devices. A new function named cac_l3_get_status retrieves the current status information for the L3 interface devices. Those two functions replace the three functions, cac_l3_get_mode, cac_liu_get_mode and cac_jat_get_mode, which are no longer included in the API. Many of the macros for L3 configuration options and status information have also changed.

The old cac_l3_get_status for reading the FPGA framer status registers is replaced by cac_fpga_framer_status(). This new function provides additional status information such as the currently enabled receive and transmit framers.

The embedded documentation for the framer control functions has been enhanced to include better descriptions and a list of the macros available for specifying configuration modes and interpreting status results.

Modified Utility Programs

The dpl_framercfg program is modified to use the new API functions and macros for framer configuration and status. The L3 framer transmit mode options are also modified to include an option for loop timing mode.

Changes to FPGA Configurations

No FPGA changes are included in this release other than the distribution of the experimental configuration for the LightParser Virtex FPGA with adjustable E1 transmit rates.

Component Versions for This Release

The Channelization API software release includes several components of software and hardware FPGA configurations. All the components have the same major and minor version numbers. However the update version number of each component may vary depending on the number of changes and iterations each component has gone through between general distribution releases.

The component versions for DPL3 and LightParser Software Release 0.7.1 are:

Component:	Version:
API Library and Programs	0.7.1
Solaris Device Driver	0.7.0
Linux Device Driver	0.7.0
LightParser Spartan FPGA Configuration	0.7.1
LightParser Virtex FPGA Configurations
Standard SDH/PDH variation	0.7.0
Experimental SDH/PDH variation w/ E1 XMT rate adjust	R.9
ATM variation	0.7.3
DPL3 Main FPGA Configuration	0.7.2
DPL3 Expansion FPGA Configurations
E3 G751 E1 variation	0.7.2
DS3 T1 variation	0.7.2
E3 G832 Bulk variation	0.7.0
Generic variation	0.7.0

Known Problems

The following problems are known to exist in this release:
• LightParser:

  Data corruption has been reported when recording raw, descrambled STM-1 signals that include AU3s.

  Using the clock extracted from the electrical (CMI) port causes some data corruption. Work-around is to use the local clock reference when receiving electrical STM-1.

  The ATM version of the Virtex is not able to frame DS3 streams from SDH streams. A work-around is to route the raw DS3 streams from SDH input through the Quad-T3 port, loop the signal back in and frame the DS3s from the Quad-T3 input.

  Detection of ATM client channel overflow (pointers to the bulk ATM buffer that are no longer valid) is not yet implemented in the ATM service.

• DPL3:

  ESF framing is not yet supported for transmitting DS1 streams multiplexed to the output DS3 signal.

  Possible failure of framing logic for embedded E1 or DS1 streams after configuration of Expansion FPGA. See the discussion of this topic in previous notes for details.