DS-GPS-Clock Setup with SBox

HI,

Just trying to configure a DS-GPS-Clock with an Sbox and some sirius slices. However, I don't get the expected options in the settings menu as per Section 4.3.1 of the DS-GPS-Clock user manual. I am only getting the option to select EthercatPPS as an external clock source. My end goal is to configure the DS-GPS-Clock as to have a GPS input, provide synchronisation time to the SBox and via the BNC connector on the DS-Clock-GPS provide an IRIG-B signal to a different test setup.

I have tried the following setups:

SBox connected to DS-GPS-Clock Via USB cable

DS-GPS ClockGPS antenna plugged connected

DS-GPS-Clock Sync cable (4 pin lemo) to SBox (have tried with this cable connected as well as disconnected)

DS-Clock-GPS power light on and Status light flashing on once per second

DS-Clock-GPS displaying as a connected device in the settings menu

GPS antenna location is not ideally positioned, however it is placed on a window in a low rise building.

As above but with one and 2 Siriuswe slices connected via USB

A I missing something in the setup (I have nothing connected to the GPS connector on the SBOX nor the Multi I/O connector on the DS-GPS-Clock)?

Dear Tristan,

I have put together a similar system as descirbed and can confirm that there are multiple sync options to choose from.

Can you provide some more information regarding your system?

• How many satelites are wisible and in use?
• 
• Please send us a picture of the settings.
• Is this a new system, or are the devices older?
• What are the FW versions?

Best Regards.

Rok

Rok,

Thanks for the response. I think the key driver for the issue is the poor satellite reception in my office as i was only able to get 2 in view and 0 used on the display when i set the unit back up. I was unable to get screenshots of the setup, I will report back once I am able to setup the system in a more GPS friendly test location.

All of the devices in question are new (Purchased in the last couple of months), we only received them from your distributor 2 weeks ago.

I will confirm FW versions at a later date but they are as shipped from Dewesoft in the past couple of months.

Thanks

Hi,

I have had time to do more testing.

Sync cable connected to GPS clock OR DS-IRIG-ACDC (also tried with this cable disconnected)

GPS antenna not connected due to test location and timing source being IRIG-B AM.

GPS clock connected to sbox via USB

IRIG-B AM signal input into GPS clock OR DS-IRIG-ACDC

Siriusiwe slice connected via USB & powered from a Dewesoft provided AC-DC power pack, No EtherCAT connections in test setup.

Details of hardware and firmware below:

When the Sirius and GPS clock are attached the only External sync option available is EtherCAT PPS

With Sirius disconnected GPS clock is able to be configured to IRIG-B AM (along with all the other IRIG options available. I also ran the same test with an DS-IRIG_ACDC and was able to select from a similar list of options.

When the Sirius was reconnected to the system with the above sync settings the Sirius would not show up in the device list until the time source was changed back from external, At which point in time the only available sync option for external was again greyed out and limited to EtherCAT PPS.

Questions:

1. Do you have any advice for how we are able to connect and use both the sirius slice and the GPS clock Or the IRIG-ACDC as the time source.
2. The Status light is a long on followed by a small off on the GPS clock with an IRIG-B AM signal on the IRIG connector. Not sure if this is indicating that the GPS hasn't been configured correctly for an IRIG input or if the status light acts differently when there is an irig signal being input rather than GPS.
3. What is the source of the EtherCAT PPS time option?

Thanks

Hi, Just wondering if there was any updates on this?

Thanks

Hi,

I did some additional fault finding on this today. If I connect a Dewe43A at the same time the time options become available again

Likewise if i disconnect the dewe43 the options go away again

Following on from this I took some measurements our IRIG-B AM time source at the input and outputs of the DS-IRIG-ACDC

AM Signal Input, a nominally 3.6V Peak to peak signal

The IRIG-B DC output at the BNC of the DS-IRIG-ACDC also looks correct

When measured from the second sync connector of the Dewe 43 broken out to BNC connectors the clock line shows the expected DC square wave

However the trigger line does not yield the expected result

When configured in this state with time source set to external and IRIG-B DC as the source, we are unable to take measurements as we get the following error (presumably due to what we can see on the trigger line of the sync connector)

It looks like we are dealing with multiple issues here

Potential Hardware/ software feature (or bug) that isnt documented for a siriusiwe setup (given there is no sync connector on the back of the Waterproof version versus the standard sirius modules is there a hardware difference here?

Potentially faulty DS-IRIG-ACDC, the user manual is very scant on detail but I believe the expected result would be as per this support post (or potentially a 180 degree out of phase clock signal).

Thanks

Dear Tristan,

Sorry for the late reply. I have put together a system containing:

• SBOXe
• DS-GPS-CLOCK
• 2x SIRIUSe
• Dewe-43

The synchronization was made as on the picture below:

The GPS-CLOCK works as a converter between IRIG-AC to IRIG-DC.

The sync cable is connected to SBOXe, GPS-CLOCK and Dewe-43. Sync for SIRIUSe devices is provided over orange Ecat cables.

Both SIRIUSe devices are connected over Ecat cables to the SBOXe - providing power and synchronization (only data is transmitted over USB line).

If needed I can provide pictures of my system connection.

I have requested a DS-IRIG-ACDC device so I can check the behaviour.

Could you please provide some pictures or schematics of your system configuration, and how is everything connected?

Best regards.

Rok

Rok,

Can you please try the same setup without the Dewe43A connected?

Yesterdays testing had 4 setups to rule out variables, shown in the following diagrams. Of note yesterday i was indoors so I was using a PC with an IRIG card to generate the IRIG-B AM signal and was mainly using the DS-IRIG-ACDC as the dewesoft clock source

Red is power input

Green is sync

Purple is USB

Yellow is IRIG-B AM

Orange is ethercat

Setup 1

Sirius, SBox and IRIG-ACDC

Unable to get any time source options but ethercat PPS

Tried with both 1 and 2 siriusiwe slices connected via usb (second sirius slice powered via ethercat from the first unit)

Setup 2

Siriusiwe, dewe43A, SBox and IRIG-ACDC

Able to set sync to IRIG-B DC, however would not allow the measurement window to open (Start pulse is not detected error).

Tried with both 1 and 2 siriusiwe slices connected via usb (second sirius slice powered via ethercat from the first unit)

Removing the Dewe43A from this setup made everything but ethercatPPS go missing from the time source options (refer screen shots from yesterdays post).

Setup 3

dewe43A, SBox and IRIG-ACDC

Able to set sync to IRIG-B DC, however would not allow the measurement window to open (Start pulse is not detected error).

Setup 4

dewe43A, Standalone Laptop and IRIG-ACDC

Able to set sync to IRIG-B DC, however would not allow the measurement window to open (Start pulse is not detected error).

Thanks

I have also tried the above with an ethercat cable connected and experienced similar issues

Dear Tristan,

To get the synchronization to the Sirius-e the orange ethercat cable is required. The USB cable is only used for data speed-boost.

But be careful, when the Sirius-e is connected with orange cable it already has power from SBOX. If it is powered with an additional power supply it can be damaged.

Unfortunately, I did not get a IRIG ACDC2 for testing, I will try to get one elsewhere.

We would like to ask how the IRIG-ACDC is set, the arrows near the LED indicate selected input and corresponding active output:

Please note that for IRIG AC mode: power on, press the button cycle LED to IRIG AC mode, now the adapter needs a power cycle.

Rok,

I can confirm irig-acdc was configured as per your image, including the power cycle after setting the mode via the button.

Thanks

Tristan