P7001: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 12:07, 4 August 2019

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Digitizer for the 7704A oscilloscope

Produced from 1973 to 1981

Manuals

(All manuals in PDF format unless noted otherwise)

Manuals – Specifications – Links – Pictures

The Tektronix P7001 is a digitizer, processor, and memory for the 7704A oscilloscope. The P7001 can also be connected to an external computer which then is able to process the digitized signals. The complete system was called "Digital Processing Oscilloscope" or "DPO" for short and was presented to the public on 26 March 1973 at the IEEE Intercon in New York City.

The design of the P7001 assumes it will be part of a 7704A system, and that the 7704A will be displaying a steady trace. The vertical and horizonal plug-ins control the beam as they would in any 7000-series scope.

The P7001 periodically samples the horizontal and vertical signals simultaneously as they pass from the plug-ins to the vertical and horizontal amplifiers. This allows it to fill its memory with data points represented as coordinate pairs, (x1,y1), (x2,y2), (x3,y3), etc. It is not necessary that x2 be greater than x1, i.e. the samples can be taken out-of-order with respect to their equivalent time in the waveform.

Key Specifications

Bandwith	175MHz
Resolution	10 bit (V), 9 bit (H)
Memory	four waveforms, 512 samples each (4K × 10 bit core, or multiple 1k × 10 bit or 2k × 10 bit RAM boards)
Sampling rate	150 kHz ±30 kHz
External interface	16 bit parallel, proprietary "CP bus" (dual 37-pin Sub-D connectors) interfacing with Tektronix CP-1100 or CP-4100 series controllers

Links

Catalog / Specs

Advertising

Internals

The signal coming from the acquisition unit enters a fast four-diode sample and hold circuit where it is sampled at 150 ksamples/sec. Each sample is digitized using a successive-approximation scheme. The analog to digital converter is made of several chips: a digital to analog converter, a comparator, and control logic.

The P7001 has its own power supply built into it, independent of the power supply in the acquisition unit of the 7704A.

The Acquisition Unit of the 7704A, the P7001 Processor, and the Display Unit of the 7704A are connected by the Acquisition-Processor-Display (APD) Interface.

Asynchronus Bus

To provide maximum flexibility all P7001 circuit cards are connected over an 16 bit asynchronous bus with 13 address lines. The bus is mostly implemented as etched lines on the Main Interface Board. Only some High speed signals are sent through coaxial cables that connect to the cards using Peltola connectors. A serially connected line, or daisy chain, in the bus establishes device priority. This signal is called "Data Channel Grant Line". Each card has a specific location in the DPO. The position determines the priority that each card has in the use of the address and data buses. Unused slots must be fitted with a jumper card to close the daisy chain.

Memory

Several types of memory configurations were available: 1k, 2k, 3k or 4k semiconductor memory and also 4k non-volatile core memory. All configurations were available through the whole lifecycle of the P7001. The memory serves to store the acquired waveforms and their associated scale factors. It also stores the computer output for display. Depending on the configuration the following storing capabilites are available:

Configuration	Waveforms	Readout Scale factors	Messages
1k with readout	1	1	3
1k no readout(*)	2	0	0
2k with readout	2	2	4
2k no readout(*)	4	0	0
3k	4	1	4
4k	4	4	12

* Removing the Readout-Interface card doubles the space for storing waveforms but eliminates the capability of displaying text information.

Readout Interface

There are two readout devices in the DPO. One is the readout board in the acquisition unit of the 7704A and the other is the readout interface card in the P7001. In the modes "PLUG-INS" or "STORE" all readout information displayed on the CRT come directly from the plugins. In "STORE" mode the readout interface digitizes these information, converts them to ASCII-data and stores it in memory. In the modes "BOTH" or "MEMORY" the readout interface converts the ASCII data back to readout information and displays them on the CRT.

Display Generator

The Display Generator card generates the CRT display of either real-time computer output (XY mode) or data stored in the processsors memory (XT mode). Any combination of the stored and acquired waveforms may be displayed simultaneously. Also, since the display generator operates independent of other devices, changing data may be viewed during a store operation. The Display Generator card has a set of jumpers which switch the CRT output between vector and dot display.

Hardware Signal Averager

For DPOs which are connected via the fast CP bus, it is no problem to transfer several data sets over the interface and then have the computer calculate the averaged waveform. But with the relatively slow interfaces like GPIB this procedure is impractical. The optional HSA card solves this problem by locally computing the averaged waveform of up to 4096 single waveforms. The HSA card also has the ability to calculate the histogram of a waveform. The histogram will be displayed horizontally at the lower third of the CRT.

External Interfaces

The external interface card provides a bilateral link between the P7001 and an external controller. The controller has full access to all programmable functions in the Processor, and the P7001, in turn, may interrupt the controller at any time. During the production time of the P7001, the following interfaces were gradually developed:

Description	Part Number	Manual
DPO to Data General Nova	021-0113-00	070-1776-00.pdf
DPO to APD (CP Bus)	021-0116-00	070-1654-00.pdf
DPO to CP1100 (CP Bus)	021-0117-00	070-1654-01.pdf
DPO to TEK31 calculator	021-0127-00	070-1777-00.pdf
DPO to CAMAC	021-0146-00
DPO to 4010 Family	021-0175-00	070-1936-00.pdf
DPO to GPIB	021-0206-00	070-2623-00.pdf

Pictures

Front panel
P7001 in 7704A
P7001 in 7704A

Internal

Top view
Front of backplane
main interface board (backplane)
Rear of backplane
Interunit connector
Interunit connector
Interunit connector
Switching power supply
front panel rear
extender boards
"Dummy-card" or official called "Data Channel Grant jumper card". Needs to be installed in empty slots of Backplane.
Data Channel Grant Card
Bus Priority of a fully equipped P7001

Keyboard overlay cards

blank card for user definable programs
Two examples of original overlay cards
Example of aftermarket overlay cards

External Interfaces (optional)

CPBus interface mounted
CP Bus Interface front
CP Bus Interface rear
GPIB Interface IO board
GPIB Interface IO board with shielding
GPIB Interface CPU board
Modern clone of the P7001 GPIB interface
Modern clone of the P7001 GPIB interface

Sample and Hold Card

Vertical sampling bridge
Horizontal sampling bridge
Sampling strobe generator
Sample and hold edge connector
Sample and hold transformers
Sample and hold transformer
Sample and hold rear

Core Memory (optional)

Address decoder
Core boards
Core memory
Core closeup
Core closeup
High Resolution view of partial core module

Semiconductor memory (optional)

2K semiconductor memory (aka "MOS")

ADC and Display

Front panel connections
ADC
ADC rear
Probe points on ADC
Display generator
Display generator rear
Z-axis and panel controller
Z-axis and panel controller rear
Readout interface

Hardware signal Averager (HSA)

HSA timing board. The HSA module (optional) performs signal averaging and can calculate a histogram.
HSA memory board.

Schematics

Block Diagram
Address map of a fully equipped P7001
Power supply schematic 1
Power supply schematic 2
APD Interconnect

Cofigurations

Example of Calculator based system (WP1100) in 1974
Example of Calculator based system (WP1100) in 1978
Example of Controller based system (WP1200) in 1973
Example of Controller based system (WP1200) in 1975

Workflow with connected Controller

With pressing a program-call button on the P7001...
.. the displayed signal is digitized...
...and transferred to the Controller...
...the Controller does some calculations...
...and transfers the result back to the P7001

X/Y Mode for external Controller

A connected computer has direct access to the Display Generator. This allows software-controlled live movements of the Beam.

Design Team
Notable Members of the Design Team were: Hiro Moriyasu, Bruce Hamilton, Luis Navarro, Bob Shand and Jack Gilmore.

Key design Team of the P7001.

Firmware (uploaded BIN files)

@@ Line 78: / Line 78: @@
 [[File:Tek_P7001_Buspriority.jpg|200px|thumb|right|Bus Priority of a fully equipped P7001]]
-==Asynchronus Bus==
+===Asynchronus Bus===
 To provide maximum flexibility all P7001 circuit cards are connected over an 16 bit asynchronous bus with 13 address lines. The bus is mostly implemented as etched lines on the Main Interface Board. Only some High speed signals are sent through coaxial cables that connect to the cards using [[Peltola connector]]s. A serially connected line, or daisy chain, in the bus establishes device priority. This signal is called "Data Channel Grant Line". Each card has a specific location in the DPO. The position determines the priority that each card has in the use of the address and data buses. Unused slots must be fitted with a jumper card to close the daisy chain.
-==Memory==
+===Memory===
 Several types of memory configurations were available: 1k, 2k, 3k or 4k semiconductor memory and also 4k non-volatile core memory. All configurations were available through the whole lifecycle of the P7001. The memory serves to store the acquired waveforms and their associated scale factors. It also stores the computer output for display. Depending on the configuration the following storing capabilites are available:
@@ Line 126: / Line 126: @@
 <nowiki>*</nowiki> Removing the Readout-Interface card doubles the space for storing waveforms but eliminates the capability of displaying text information.
-==Readout Interface==
+===Readout Interface===
 There are two readout devices in the DPO. One is the readout board in the acquisition unit of the 7704A and the other is the readout interface card in the P7001. In the modes "PLUG-INS" or "STORE" all readout information displayed on the CRT come directly from the plugins. In "STORE" mode the readout interface digitizes these information, converts them to ASCII-data and stores it in memory. In the modes "BOTH" or "MEMORY" the readout interface converts the ASCII data back to readout information and displays them on the CRT.
-==Display Generator==
+===Display Generator===
 The Display Generator card generates the CRT display of either real-time computer output (XY mode) or data stored in the processsors memory (XT mode). Any combination of the stored and acquired waveforms may be displayed simultaneously. Also, since the display generator operates independent of other devices, changing data may be viewed during a store operation. The Display Generator card has a set of jumpers which switch the CRT output between vector and dot display.
-==External Interfaces==
+===Hardware Signal Averager===
-The external interface card provides a bilateral link between the P7001 and an external controller. The controller has full access to all programmable functions in the Processor, and the P7001, in turn, may interrupt the controller at any time. During the production time of the P7001, the following interfaces were developed:
+For DPOs which are connected via the fast CP bus, it is no problem to transfer several data sets over the interface and then have the computer calculate the averaged waveform. But with the relatively slow interfaces like GPIB this procedure is impractical. The optional HSA card solves this problem by locally computing the averaged waveform of up to 4096 single waveforms. The HSA card also has the ability to calculate the histogram of a waveform. The histogram will be displayed horizontally at the lower third of the CRT.
+===External Interfaces===
+The external interface card provides a bilateral link between the P7001 and an external controller. The controller has full access to all programmable functions in the Processor, and the P7001, in turn, may interrupt the controller at any time. During the production time of the P7001, the following interfaces were gradually developed:
 {| class="wikitable"