Week 02b: Picking it Apart

This week we continued our efforts in software development and hardware improvement.

Alex Esclamdo:

This past week I researched more into the Tektronix MS054 oscilloscope and the Brimrose Acousto Optic Deflector. As mentioned previously, the goal is to use the latter as the higher ceiling for scanning samples bilaterally. I followed the documentation for step by step instructions for proper device setup and am familiarizing myself with the software that can control the driver. AOD’s are popularly used for high-speed scanning applications. The diffraction angle of an input laser and the angular position are proportional to the RF frequency. Additional features include low power consumption and high resolution and throughput. This next week I aim to gather additional data and familiarize myself with running tests with the unit.

In terms of the oscilloscope, I am continuing research on Tektronix’s FastFrame™ application for data collection in addition to the CurveStream function for waveform collection. The main problem at hand is being unable to view the entire waveform due to the limited bandwidth on the oscilloscope.

Trevor Wong:

This past week I began downloading the programs needed for PyCUDA and reviewed sample code. Setting up PyCUDA proved to be a much greater challenge than anticipated. There are multiple installation methods and none are up to date. I followed several different installation guides with similar steps with no success. In addition, I followed another guide which was specifically for Windows 10 on my own personal computer, running a GTX 1070. I did this in order to not only find an installation method that works, but also to allow me to work outside the lab. I have Python 2.7.16, CUDA toolkit 10.2, Visual Studio 2019, c++ build tools for Python 2.7, NumPy, and PyCUDA downloaded, which should be all I need, however I am running into errors. I will continue to debug as well as study sample code.