FAQ (How do I…)

use this documentation?

The content of this manual is arranged in rough reading order. If you start at the beginning and make your way through section by section, you should form a pretty good idea of how ARTIQ works and how to use it. Otherwise:

If you are just starting out, and would like to get ARTIQ set up on your computer and your core device, start with Installing ARTIQ, (Re)flashing your core device, and Networking and configuration, in that order.

If you have a working ARTIQ setup (or someone else has set it up for you), start with the tutorials: read ARTIQ Real-Time I/O concepts, then progress to Getting started with the core device, Using the management system, and Data and user interfaces. If your system is in a DRTIO configuration, DRTIO and subkernels will also be helpful.

Pages like Management system and Core device describe specific components of the ARTIQ ecosystem in more detail. If you want to understand more about device and dataset databases, for example, read the Environment page; if you want to understand the ARTIQ Python dialect and everything it does or does not support, read the Compiler page.

Reference pages, like Main front-end tools and Core real-time drivers, contain the detailed documentation of the individual methods and command-line tools ARTIQ provides. They are heavily interlinked throughout the rest of the documentation: whenever a method, tool, or exception is mentioned by name, like artiq_run, now_mu(), or RTIOUnderflow, it can normally be clicked on to directly access the reference material. Notice also that the online version of this manual is searchable; see the ‘Search docs’ bar at left.

build this documentation?

To generate this manual from source, you can use nix build directives, for example:

$ nix build git+https://github.com/m-labs/artiq.git\?ref=release-[number]#artiq-manual-html

Substitute artiq-manual-pdf to get the LaTeX PDF version. The results will be in result.

The manual is written in reStructured Text; you can find the source files in the ARTIQ repository under doc/manual. If you spot a mistake, a typo, or something that’s out of date or missing – in particular, if you want to add something to this FAQ – feel free to clone the repository, edit the source RST files, and make a pull request with your version of an improvement. (If you’re not a fan of or not familiar with command-line Git, both GitHub and Gitea support making edits and pull requests directly in the web interface; tutorial materials are easy to find online.) The second best thing is to open an issue to make M-Labs aware of the problem.

troubleshoot networking problems?

Diagnosis aids:

  • Can you ping the device?

  • Is the Ethernet LED on?

  • Is the ERROR LED on?

  • Is there anything unusual recorded in the UART log?

Some things to consider:

  • Is the core_addr field of your device_db.py set correctly?

  • Did your device flash and boot successfully? Were the binaries generated for the correct board hardware version?

  • Are your core device’s IP address and networking configurations definitely set correctly? Check the UART log to confirm, and talk to your network administrator about what the correct choices are.

  • Is your core device configured for an external reference clock? If so, it cannot function correctly without one. Is the external reference clock plugged in?

  • Are Ethernet and (on Kasli only) SFP0 plugged in all the way? Are they working? Try different cables and SFP adapters; M-Labs tests with CAT6 cables, but lower categories should be supported too.

  • Are your PC and your crate in the same subnet?

  • Is some other device in your network already using the configured IP address? Turn off the core device and try pinging the configured IP address; if it responds, you have a culprit. One of the two will need a different networking configuration.

  • Are there restrictions or issues in your router or subnet that are preventing the core device from connecting? It may help to try connecting the core device to your PC directly.

fix ‘no startup kernel found’ / ‘no idle kernel found’ in the core log?

Don’t. Note that these are INFO messages, and not ERROR or even WARN. If you haven’t flashed an idle or startup kernel yet, this is normal, and will not cause any problems; between experiments the core device will simply do nothing. The same applies to most other messages in the style of ‘no configuration found’ or ‘falling back to default’. Your system will generally run just fine on its defaults until you get around to setting these configurations, though certain features may be limited until properly set up. See Networking and configuration and the list of keys in core-device-flash-storage.

fix ‘Mismatch between gateware and software versions’?

Either reflash your core device with a newer version of ARTIQ (see (Re)flashing your core device) or update your software (see Upgrading ARTIQ), depending on which is out of date.

Note

You can check the specific versions you are using at any time by comparing the gateware version given in the core startup log and the output given by adding --version to any of the standard ARTIQ front-end commands. This is especially useful when e.g. seeking help in the forum or at the helpdesk, where your running ARTIQ version is often crucial information to diagnose a problem.

Minor version mismatches are common, even in stable ARTIQ versions, but should not cause any issues. The ARTIQ release system ensures breaking changes are strictly limited to new release versions, or to the beta branch (which explicitly makes no promises of stability.) Updates that are applied to the stable version are usually bug fixes, documentation improvements, or other quality-of-life changes. As long as gateware and software are using the same stable release version of ARTIQ, even if there is a minor mismatch, no warning will be displayed.

change configuration settings of satellite devices?

Currently, it is not possible to reach satellites through artiq_coremgmt config, although this is being worked on. On Kasli, use artiq_mkfs and artiq_flash; on Kasli-SoC, preload the SD card with a config.txt, formatted as a list of key=value pairs, one per line.

Don’t worry about individually flashing idle or startup kernels. If your idle or startup kernel contains subkernels, it will automatically compile as a .tar, which you only need to flash to the master.

add or remove EEM peripherals or DRTIO satellites?

Adding new real-time hardware to an ARTIQ system almost always means reflashing the core device; if you are adding new satellite core devices, they will have to be flashed as well. If you have obtained your upgrades from M-Labs or QUARTIQ, updated binaries and reflashing support will normally be offered to you directly. In any other case, track down your JSON system description file(s), bring them up to date with the updated state of your system, and see Building and developing ARTIQ.

Once you have an updated set of binaries, reflash the core device, following the instructions in (Re)flashing your core device. Be sure to update your device database before starting experimentation; run artiq_ddb_template on your system description(s) to update the local devices, and copy over any aliases or entries for NDSP controllers you may have been using. Note that the device database is a Python file, and the generated file of local devices can also simply be imported into the final version, allowing for dynamic modifications, especially in complex systems that may have multiple device databases in use.

see command-line help?

Like most if not almost all terminal utilities, ARTIQ commands, tools and applets print their help messages directly into the terminal and exit when run with the flag --help or -h:

$ artiq_run -h

This is the simplest and most direct way of accessing the same usage and reference material that is replicated in this manual on the pages Main front-end tools and Utilities.

find ARTIQ examples?

The official examples are stored in the examples folder of the ARTIQ package. You can find the location of the ARTIQ package on your machine with:

python3 -c "import artiq; print(artiq.__path__[0])"

Copy the examples folder from that path into your home or user directory, and start experimenting! (Note that some examples have dependencies not included with a standard ARTIQ install, like matplotlib and numba. To run those examples properly, make sure those modules are accessible.)

If you have progressed past this level and would like to see more in-depth code or real-life examples of how other groups have handled running experiments with ARTIQ, see the “Community code” directory on the M-labs resources page.

fix failed to connect to moninj in the dashboard?

This and other similar messages almost always indicate that your device database lists controllers (for example, aqctl_moninj_proxy) that either haven’t been started or aren’t reachable at the given host and port. See Non-RTIO devices and the controller manager, or simply run:

$ artiq_ctlmgr

to let the controller manager start the necessary controllers automatically.

diagnose and fix sequence errors?

Go through your code, keeping manual track of SED lanes. See the following example:

@kernel
def run(self):
    self.core.reset()
    with parallel:
        self.ttl0.on()  # lane0
        self.ttl_sma.pulse(800*us)  # lane1(rising) lane1(falling)
        with sequential:
            self.ttl1.on()  # lane2
            self.ttl2.on()  # lane3
            self.ttl3.on()  # lane4
            self.ttl4.on()  # lane5
            delay(800*us)
            self.ttl1.off() # lane5
            self.ttl2.off() # lane6
            self.ttl3.off() # lane7
            self.ttl4.off() # lane0
    self.ttl0.off()  # lane1 -> clashes with the falling edge of ttl_sma,
                     # which is already at +800us

In most cases, as in this one, it’s relatively easy to rearrange the generation of events so that they will be better spread out across SED lanes without sacrificing actual functionality. One possible solution for the above sequence looks like:

@kernel
def run(self):
    self.core.reset()
    self.ttl0.on()     # lane0
    self.ttl_sma.on()  # lane1
    self.ttl1.on()     # lane2
    self.ttl2.on()     # lane3
    self.ttl3.on()     # lane4
    self.ttl4.on()     # lane5
    delay(800*us)
    self.ttl1.off()    # lane5
    self.ttl2.off()    # lane6
    self.ttl3.off()    # lane7
    self.ttl4.off()    # lane0  (no clash: new timestamp is higher than last)
    self.ttl_sma.off() # lane1
    self.ttl0.off()    # lane2

In this case, the pulse() is split up into its component on() and off() so that events can be generated more linearly. It can also be worth keeping in mind that delaying by even a single coarse RTIO cycle between events avoids switching SED lanes at all; in contexts where perfect simultaneity is not a priority, this is an easy way to avoid sequencing issues. See again Sequence errors.

understand applet commands?

The ‘Command’ field contains the exact terminal command used to open and operate the applet. The default ${artiq_applet} prefix simply translates to something to the effect of python -m artiq.applets., intended to be immediately followed by the applet module name. The options suffixed after the module name are the same used in the command line, and a list of them can be shown by using the standard command line -h help flag:

$ python -m artiq.applets.plot_xy -h

in any terminal.

organize datasets in folders?

Use the dot (“.”) in dataset names to separate folders. The GUI will automatically create and delete folders in the dataset tree display.

organize applets in groups?

Create groups by left-clicking within the applet list and selecting ‘New Group’. Move applets in and out of groups by dragging them with the mouse. To unselect an applet or a group, use CTRL+click.

organize experiment windows in the dashboard?

Experiment windows can be organized by using the following hotkeys:

  • CTRL+SHIFT+T to tile experiment windows

  • CTRL+SHIFT+C to cascade experiment windows

The windows will be organized in the order they were last interacted with.

fix errors when restarting management system after a crash?

On Windows in particular, abnormal shutdowns such as power outages or bluescreens sometimes corrupt the organizational files used by the management system, resulting in errors to the tune of ValueError: source code string cannot contain null bytes when restarting. The easiest way to handle these problems is to delete the corrupted files and start from scratch. Note that GUI configuration .pyon files are kept in the user configuration directory, see below at find the dashboard and browser configuration files?

create and use variable-length arrays in kernels?

You can’t, in general; see the corresponding notes under ARTIQ types. ARTIQ kernels do not support heap allocation, meaning in particular that lists, arrays, and strings must be of constant size. One option is to preallocate everything, as mentioned on the Compiler page; another option is to chunk it and e.g. read 100 events per function call, push them upstream and retry until the gate time closes.

understand how best to send data between kernel and host?

See also Basic ARTIQ Python. Let’s run down the options for kernel-host data transfer:

  • Kernels can return single values directly. They cannot return lists, arrays or strings, because of the way these values are allocated, which prevents values of these types from outliving the kernel they are created in. This is still true when the values in question are wrapped in functions or objects, in which case they may be missed by lifetime tracking and accepted by the compiler, but will cause memory corruption when run.

  • Kernels can freely make changes to attributes of objects shared with the host, including self. However, these changes will be made to a kernel-owned copy of the object, which is only synchronized with the host copy when the kernel completes. This means that host-side operations executed during the runtime of the kernel, including RPCs, will be handling an unmodified version of the object, and modifications made by those operations will simply be overwritten when the kernel returns.

Note

Attribute writeback happens once per kernel, that is, if your experiment contains many separate kernels called from the host, modifications will be written back when each separate kernel completes. This is generally not suitable for data transfer, however, as new kernels are costly to create, and experiments often try to avoid doing so. It is also important to specify that kernels called from a kernel will not write back to the host upon completion. Attribute writeback is only executed upon return to the host.

  • Kernels can interact with datasets, either as attributes (if setattr_dataset() is used) or by RPC of the get and set methods (get_dataset(), set_dataset(), etc.). In this case note that, like certain other host-side methods, get_dataset() will not actually be accepted by the compiler, because its return type is not specified. To call it as an RPC, simply wrap it in another function which does specify a return type. set_dataset() can be similarly wrapped to make it asynchronous.

  • Kernels can of course also call arbitrary RPCs. When sending data to the host, these can be asynchronous, and this is normally the recommended way of transferring data back to the host, resulting in a relatively minor amount of delay in the kernel. Keep in mind however that asynchronous RPCs may still block execution for some time if the arguments are very large or if many RPCs are submitted in close succession. When receiving data from the host, RPCs must be synchronous, which is still considerably faster than starting a new kernel. Note that if data is being both (asynchronously) sent and received, there is a small possibility of minor race conditions (i.e. retrieved data may not yet show updates sent in an earlier RPC).

Kernel attributes and data transfer remain somewhat of an open area of development. Many such developments are or will be implemented in NAC3, the next-generation ARTIQ compiler. The overhead for starting new kernels, which is largely dominated by compile time, should be significantly reduced (NAC3 can be expected to complete compilations 6x - 30x faster than currently).

write part of my experiment as a coroutine/asyncio task/generator?

You cannot change the API that your experiment exposes: build(), prepare(), run() and analyze() need to be regular functions, not generators or asyncio coroutines. That would make reusing your own code in sub-experiments difficult and fragile. You can however wrap your own generators/coroutines/tasks in regular functions that you then expose as part of the API.

determine the pyserial URL to connect to a device by its serial number?

You can list your system’s serial devices and print their vendor/product id and serial number by running:

$ python3 -m serial.tools.list_ports -v

This will give you the /dev/ttyUSBxx (or COMxx for Windows) device names. The hwid: field gives you the string you can pass via the hwgrep:// feature of pyserial serial_for_url() in order to open a serial device.

The preferred way to specify a serial device is to make use of the hwgrep:// URL: it allows for selecting the serial device by its USB vendor ID, product ID and/or serial number. These never change, unlike the device file name.

For instance, if you want to specify the Vendor/Product ID and the USB Serial Number, you can do:

$ -d "hwgrep://<VID>:<PID> SNR=<serial_number>"``.

run unit tests?

The unit tests assume that the Python environment has been set up in such a way that import artiq will import the code being tested, and that this is still true for any subprocess created. This is not the way setuptools operates as it adds the path to ARTIQ to sys.path which is not passed to subprocesses; as a result, running the tests via setup.py is not supported. The user must first install the package or set PYTHONPATH, and then run the tests with e.g. python3 -m unittest discover in the artiq/test folder and lit . in the artiq/test/lit folder.

For the hardware-in-the-loop unit tests, set the ARTIQ_ROOT environment variable to the path to a device database containing the relevant devices.

The core device tests require the following TTL devices and connections:

  • ttl_out: any output-only TTL.

  • ttl_out_serdes: any output-only TTL that uses a SERDES (i.e. has a fine timestamp). Can be aliased to ttl_out.

  • loop_out: any output-only TTL. Must be physically connected to loop_in. Can be aliased to ttl_out.

  • loop_in: any input-capable TTL. Must be physically connected to loop_out.

  • loop_clock_out: a clock generator TTL. Must be physically connected to loop_clock_in.

  • loop_clock_in: any input-capable TTL. Must be physically connected to loop_clock_out.

If TTL devices are missing, the corresponding tests are skipped.

find the dashboard and browser configuration files?

python -c "from artiq.tools import get_user_config_dir; print(get_user_config_dir())"

Additional Resources

“Help, I’ve done my best and I can’t get any further!”

  • If you have an active M-Labs AFWS/support subscription, you can email helpdesk@ at any time for personalized assistance. Please include the following information:

    • Your installed ARTIQ version (add --version to any of the standard ARTIQ commands)

    • The variant name of your system (refer to the sticker on the crate if you aren’t sure)

    • The recent output of your core log, either through artiq_coremgmt (if you’re able to contact your device by network), or over UART following the guide here

    • How your problem happened, and what you’ve already tried to fix it

  • Compare your materials with the examples; see also finding ARTIQ examples above.

  • Check the list of active issues on the ARTIQ GitHub repository for possible known problems with ARTIQ. Search through the closed issues to see if your question or concern has been addressed before.

  • Search the M-Labs forum for similar problems, or make a post asking for help yourself.

  • Look into the Mattermost live chat or the bridged IRC channel.

  • Read the open source code and its docstrings and figure it out.

  • If you’re reasonably certain you’ve identified a bug, or if you’d like to suggest a feature that should be included in future ARTIQ releases, file a GitHub issue yourself, following one of the provided templates.

  • In some odd cases, you may want to see the mailing list archive; the ARTIQ mailing list was shut down at the end of 2020 and was last regularly used during the time of ARTIQ-2 and 3, but for some older ARTIQ features, or to understand a development thought process, you may still find relevant information there.

In any situation, if you found the manual unclear or unhelpful, you might consider following the directions for contribution and editing it to be more helpful for future readers.