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Item

Lead

Modify ACF file to start exposure on “Trigger In” pulse

Steve K

Modify ACF to stop and read out exposure on “Trigger In” pulse

Steve K

Add “extexpose” command to detector server . Prepares to prepare Archon to start an exposure when “Trigger In” pulse received.

Dave H

Done: command is called “TRIGIN UNTIMED”

Add “extreadout” command to detector server . Prepares to prepare Archon to stop and read out an exposure when “Trigger In” pulse received.

Dave H

Done: command is called “TRIGIN READOUT”

Have the detector server write the individual amplifiers to separate image extensions.

Dave H

Question: how do we change the readout speed? We need to be able to read out at 100 kHz and also at 400 kHz.

Dave H / Steve K

Turn off UTC sub-directories which are currently created for all images.

DONE. Command is ‘autodir no’ (also settable in config file)

Telemetry reporting. What data was being plotted on the Caltech web pages, and how was it pulled from the Archons?

Dave H

Wondering method so that Will can duplicate it for our KPF telemetry.

Test KTL sending of obsID to Archon using “inmum” and “key” commands. Ensure it ends up in the FITS filename and image headers.

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Utilize Archon HeaterX card (thermistors, and heater control on CCDs and within

cryostats) (TBC)

link to COO Detector server page

...

key (to be included in each header

Timelines

We should always disable the shutter.

Add in config table here

KEY

 Description

 Command override?

ARCHON_IP

IP address for Archon controller communications (Archon-only)

no

ARCHON_PORT

Port number for Archon controller communications (Archon-only)

no

EXPOSE_PARAM

Archon parameter used to trigger an exposure (param=1 to trigger exposure) (Archon-only)

no

SHUTENABLE_PARAM

Archon parameter used to enable/disable shutter opening on exposure (param=1 to open on expose  =0 to not open on expose) (Archon-only)

no

HDR_SHIFT

 Sets the number of bits to right-shift the Archon buffer when in HDR mode  i.e. SAMPLEMODE=1 32 bits per pixel. (Archon-only)

hdrshift
§4.3.18

TRIGIN_EXPOSE_PARAM

 Parameter name used to control normal timed exposures triggered externally by TRIGIN. See External Triggering §8.1. (Archon-only)

no

TRIGIN_UNTIMED_PARAM

 Parameter name used to control start-of exposure for untimed exposures triggered externally by TRIGIN. See External Triggering §8.1. (Archon-only)

no

TRIGIN_READOUT_PARAM

 Parameter name used to control end-ofexposure for untimed exposures triggered externally by TRIGIN. See External Triggering §8.1. (Archon-only)

no

DEFAULT_FIRMWARE

 default firmware to load when load command is issued with no arguments

load
§4.3.25

READOUT_TIME

 detector readout time in msec

no

IMDIR

 default base image directory

imdir
§4.3.20

AUTODIR

 set = "yes" or "no" to automatically create a UTC subdirectory for images i.e. IMDIR/YYYYMMDD/filename.fits

autodir
§4.3.3

BASENAME

 default base image name for FITS files

basename
§4.3.3

LOGPATH

 fully qualified path to save log files

no

BLKPORT

 blocking port number for the server

no

NBPORT

 non-blocking port number for the server

no

ASYNCPORT

 async message port number

no

ASYNCGROUP

 asynchronous broadcast group

no

TM_ZONE

 set to local to use local time instead of GMT. Defaults to GMT if this key is omitted

no

DAEMON

 set to yes or no to run as a daemon or not

no

Detector Server Commands (Annotated for KPF)

...

ID

Command

Description

SG KPF Notes

1

abort

 abort an exposure in progress (ARC-only)

 

2

 amplifieramplifier

 set or get which detector amplifier(s) to use 

Is this how we could choose different amplifier schemes?
(1 amp only, 2 amps only, all 4 etc). Not currently implemented.

autodir

automatically create UTC subdirectory for images

NEW 11 Nov. We want this set to ‘NO’, so that UTC subdirectories are not created.

3

 basenamebasename

 base image name for FITS image files 

KPF can set this in the config file as it will never change (Green: "KPF_Green_", Red: "KPF_Red_")

4

 biasbias

 bias voltage

Steve K: would we ever adjust this or is it set once and for all in the ACF file? (If we're adjusting it we'll want the value for telemetry)

5

 bufferbuffer

 PCI/e image buffer mapping (ARC-only)

 

6

 cdscds

 CDS/Deinterlace configuration key (Archon-only) 

I'm not sure what this is, or if it's used by the KPF Archons

7

 closeclose

 close the connection to the detector controller 

No doubt needed by KPF software

8

 datacubedatacube

 data cube state

I'm not sure if this is used to make a our FITS with the amplifiers separate?  (Manual implies it is more for combining images from multiple exposure runs).

9

 echoecho

 test server communication 

No doubt useful to KPF software development

10

 exit

 exit the server 

Likely needed by KPF software

11

 expose

 initiate an exposure 

I don't think KPF needs this since we are triggering from TTL?

12

 exptime

 exposure time

I don't think KPF needs this since we are triggering from TTL?

13

 fitsnaming

 FITS filename format 

Here we should be able to use the 'number' setting, since with imnum below we can specify which number to use (i.e. we can give it the current obsID)

14

 framestatus

 read the frame status (Archon-only) 

Not implemented yet, but I don't think KPF needs this.

15

 geometry

 detector geometry (ARC-only) 

 

16

 getp

 get parameter value (Archon-only)

We could used this to get telemetry, one parameter at a time.  However, the native Archon commands STATUS and SYSTEM might be easier/faster as telemetry is returned en mass.

17

 hdrshift

 HDR bit-shift value (Archon-only) 

I'm not sure what this is, or if it's used by the KPF Archons

18

 heater

 control HeaterX module (Archon-only) 

We will definitely want to query and change the HeaterX values for tuning and engineering/maintenance.

 

 

   set target

 

 

   set PID parameters

 

 

   set ramp and ramp rate

19

 imdir

 base image directory for FITS image files 

Since this won't change it can be hard-set in the config file.
Does the daily sub-directory saving still happen if fitsnaming is 'number' and not 'date'?

20

 imnum

 image number for FITS image files

KPF will want to use this and set it to the obsID for each exposure.  Then images will be named G_obsID.FITS or R_obsID.FITS

21

 inreg

 write to VCPU input register (Archon-only)

I'm not sure if our Archons are using this

22

 interface

 return the detector interface type 

Perhaps we want this as a record in case it changes?  Keyword?

23

 key

 add FITS keyword to user-defined database

Would be nice to send the obsID ot the header as a keyword as well (records it for posterity since filename obsID will disappear once it is absorbed into the L0 FITS).  This might be the only FITS keyword we send to the Archons.

24

 load

 load firmware into detector controller

We'll want this for engineering only, so that we can upload a new ACF file if needed.  Not sure what manual means by 'power to detector will be off after' (does another command need to follow this?)

25

 loadtiming

 load timing script and parameters (Archon-only) 

Is this needed as part of an ACF upload?

26

 longexposure

 long exposure mode to extend exptime unit (Archon-only)

Since we are using a TTL-driven trigger exposure I don't think we'll need this

27

 mode

 camera mode (Archon-only) 

The default KPF mode will be all 4 quadrants being separate.  Is this what we'd use for different readout modes (1, 2, 4 quadrants?)

28

 open

 open a connection to the detector controller 

No doubt needed by KPF software

29

 sensor

 set or get temperature sensor current (Archon-only)

Steve K:  do the KPF Archons have any of these sensors?

30

 setp

 set parameter value (Archon-only) 

I don't think we will set any parameters on the Archon?  Not sure what these parameters would be (Steve K?)

31

 shutter

 set or get the shutter enable state on expose 

I think we would only use this if we were monitoring the shutter out as an idicator the exposure has begun.

32

 systemfile

 generate a system file (Archon-only) 

Not yet implemented, I think not needed by KPF as we'd just use the native Archon commands SYSTEM and STATUS instead

33

 useframes

 set or get the useframes flag (ARC-only)

 

34

 writekeys

 when to write FITS header keywords 

Likely we use "before exposure" setting?  But perhaps also depends on what Archon does internal telemetry?

35

 writep

 write parameter value to configuration memory (Archon-only) 

Not yet implemented. I'm also not sure if we need it.

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