ASIX OMEGA

The ASIX OMEGA is the successor of the ASIX SIGMA logic analyzer. It is a 16 channel logic analyzer with a samplerate of 200MHz (8 channels at 400MHz), and with 512 Mbit on-board memory. It uses Huffman compression and achieves much better a compression ratio than SIGMA. The hardware supports chaining several OMEGA analyzers with synchronization cables to increase the number of channels.

IMPORTANT: The sigrok project currently lacks native support for the device. The sigrok driver uses the vendor software in a specific mode (RTM CLI), thus only part of the feature set is available on those platforms where the vendor software works (Windows x86).

ASIX Omega

Status	supported
Source code	asix-omega-rtm-cli
Channels	16
Samplerate	200MHz @ 16ch, 400MHz @ 8ch
Samplerate (state)	<100MHz
Triggers	value, edge, duration, sequence, counter, logical ops
Min/max voltage	-0.3V — 5.5V
Threshold voltage	Fixed: VIH=2.0V, VIL=0.8V (suitable for TTL, LVTTL, 2.7-5.5V CMOS)
Memory	512 megabit
Compression	"real-time hardware data compression"
Website	asix.net

See ASIX OMEGA/Info for more details (such as lsusb -v output) about the device.

Hardware

• Xilinx Spartan XC3S200A (FPGA)
• FTDI FT232HL (USB connectivity)
• SOT23-5 EEPROM for FTDI FT232H
• 2 x NXP LVC245A (buffer / level shifter)
• LC125A (buffer / level shifter)
• 2 x MT48LC16M16A2B4-7E (DRAM for sample data)
• ICS570BL (IDT, "multiplier and zero delay buffer", trigger clock sync?)
• MF204A (LVDS line driver)
• multiple regulators, and stuff ...

Photos

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Documentation

TODO

Example usage

Ideally the sigrok project's asix-sigma driver would also cover Omega devices, but it doesn't. The firmware is not available for distribution, and the protocol information is not publicly available. The asix-sigma driver can detect the Omega devices' presence, but cannot operate them and merely emits a diagnostics message. Models can be told from the serial numbers.

As a quick enabler a separate sigrok driver makes principal operation of Omega devices available by means of the RTM CLI vendor application, which provides a subset of the device's feature set. These are the resulting limitations:

• fixed operation on 16 input signals at a 200MHz samplerate
• hardware triggers are not available
• chains are not available, only a single device can be used
• the vendor software targets Windows (x86), and also executes in wine (when FTDI libs are made available)
• the theoretical 200MHz @ 16ch throughput is constrained by the USB2.0 FTDI FIFO communication, hardware compression helps when input signals are slow or redundant, as does the deep sample memory which smoothes out bursts of activity, but that limitation remains because streaming mode is used

See the README.devices document for details on the Asix Omega operation in RTM CLI mode. It outlines the approach, and discusses requirements, configuration, and use.

Optional: Specify the vendor application executable location (needed when 'omegartmcli' is not in PATH).

 $ export OMEGARTMCLI="$HOME/.wine/drive_c/progx86/ASIX/SIGMA/omegartmcli.exe"

Scan for the device's presence, reflect its properties. Optional: Select one out of multiple connected devices.

 $ sigrok-cli -d asix-omega-rtm-cli --scan
 $ sigrok-cli -d asix-omega-rtm-cli --show
 $ sigrok-cli -d asix-omega-rtm-cli:conn=sn=a6030123 --show

Capture data for a specified amount of time or a specified amount of samples. Start the GUI for interactive use.

 $ sigrok-cli -d asix-omega-rtm-cli -o capture.sr --time 10s
 $ sigrok-cli -d asix-omega-rtm-cli -o capture.sr --samples 100m
 $ pulseview -d asix-omega-rtm-cli &

Firmware

TODO

Resources

• vendor's product page
• vendor's download page user guide, application notes, vendor software
• Using ASIX products under Linux