Sci-Compiler
Sci-Compiler, developed by Nuclear Instruments, is a visual programming environment for the open FPGAs of both CAEN and its own digitizers and programmable logic units. It lets physicists and engineers implement custom acquisition and processing logic without writing a single line of HDL.
A design is created by drawing a diagram: high-level functional blocks are placed on a canvas and connected together. The block library covers everything a typical acquisition chain needs, from I/O interfaces, logic gates, counters, timers and state machines, to signal processing blocks such as trapezoidal filters, shapers, charge integrators and constant fraction discriminators, up to diagnostic instruments like oscilloscopes and online spectrum analyzers.
From the diagram, Sci-Compiler automatically generates the VHDL code and builds the firmware for the target board. The design can be simulated before compiling, to quickly validate the algorithm. Together with the firmware, Sci-Compiler produces a C++/Python library and example code to configure the design and read out its data from your own software. The result is a complete workflow, from the idea to a running firmware, within a single tool.