Data Transfer Rate Test Program

The Data Transfer Rate Test Program (DTR) can be used to measure the effective PCI Express data transfer rate in real conditions.

Host PC requirements

● The Host PC must be equipped with at least one CoaxlinkEuresys product series name of CoaXPress frame grabbers card.
● Driver version 12.4 or higher must be installed on the Host PC.

Camera requirements

● The camera must be configured to deliver continuously image data.

Installation

The DTR is included in gentl.exe, a command-line tool that is delivered with the eGrabber driver. No further installation is required.

The DTR measures the data transfer rate by completely filling the internal frame store and only then transferring images to the host computer:

1. All buffers are unqueued (the data stream cannot use them)
2. The data stream and remote device are started
3. When the frame store is full, the remote device is stopped
4. Current timestamp is retrieved (t0)
5. All buffers are queued to the data stream and transfers start
6. Buffers are popped from the data stream
7. When the frame store is empty and all buffers have been retrieved, the data stream is stopped

The DTR program computes the data transfer rate as follows:

- byte count = sum of each buffer's BUFFER_INFO_SIZE_FILLED

- t1 = last buffer's BUFFER_INFO_CUSTOM_EVENT_TIMESTAMP

- duration = t1 - t0

- data transfer rate = byte count / duration

GenTL Explorer

gentl [COMMAND] ... [OPTIONS]

Commands:
	info    Show detailed information about the transport layer system
	report  Generate a GenTL report archive (for Euresys tech support)
	xml     Download GenApi files (XML register descriptions)
	play    Open a data stream and acquire images (no display)
	view    Open a data stream and display images
	grab    Grab N images
	genapi  Enter the GenApi command-line interface or perform a GenApi operation
	read    Read data from a GenTL port
	write   Write data to a GenTL port
	event   Wait for events and display information about them
	script  Execute script
	run     Run an action
	dtr     Measure PCIe data transfer rate
	ber     Measure bit error rate confidence level (a.k.a. link validation tool)

Common flags:
		--cti=LIBPATH  		Path to GenTL producer library. 
					Default: use EURESYS_COAXLINK_GENTL64_CTI and
					GENICAM_GENTL64_PATH environment variables to 
					locate the library.
	-j=N				Limit the number of CPU cores to use to N (default: 2)
  	-h	--help         		Display help message
	-V	--version     		Print version information
		--numeric-version  	Print just the version number
	-v 	--verbose          	Loud verbosity
	-q 	--quiet            	Quiet verbosity
GenTL Explorer

gentl dtr [OPTIONS]

Flags:
       --if=ID                          Interface ID
       --dev=ID                         Device ID
       --ds=ID                          Data stream ID
       --device-access=ACCESS           Access flags used to open the device (GenTL standard access flags:
                                        DEVICE_ACCESS_READONLY, DEVICE_ACCESS_CONTROL, DEVICE_ACCESS_EXCLUSIVE;
                                        Coaxlink custom access flags:
                                        DEVICE_ACCESS_CUSTOM_READONLY_DEVICE_READONLY_STREAM) (default:
                                        DEVICE_ACCESS_CONTROL)
       --ro                             Open the device as read-only (shorthand for
                                        --device-access=DEVICE_ACCESS_READONLY)
       --buffers=INT                    Buffer count (default: 4)
       --buffersize=INT                 Buffer size
       --width=WIDTH                    Buffer width
       --height=HEIGHT                  Buffer height
       --pixelformat=ITEM               PFNC Pixel format
       --bayer=BAYERDECODINGMETHOD      Bayer method (Legacy, Advanced) (default: Advanced)
       --set=SETTINGS                   GenApi settings, such as Module.Feature=INT
       --setup=FILE                     Path to script to execute before starting stream
       --run=FILE                       Path to script to execute concurrently
       --timeout=INT                    Acquisition timeout, in milliseconds (default: infinite)
       --zero                           Zero memory when queuing buffers (default: memory is only zeroed when buffers
                                        are allocated)
       --remotexml=FILE                 Use FILE as register description (default: register description is read from
                                        remote device)
  -n   --repeat[=N]                     Measure data transfer rate N times (default: 1)
Common flags:
       --cti=LIBPATH                    Path to GenTL producer library. Default: use EURESYS_COAXLINK_GENTL64_CTI and
                                        GENICAM_GENTL64_PATH environment variables to locate the library.
  -j=N                                  Limit the number of CPU cores to use to N (default: 2)
  -h   --help                           Display help message
  -V   --version                        Print version information
       --numeric-version                Print just the version number
  -v   --verbose                        Loud verbosity
  -q   --quiet                          Quiet verbosity
TIP For a better measurement accuracy, use the gentl ber -n option to execute multiple measurements repeatedly. The DTR program will average the results.