Archon To-Do List

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

Dave H

Done: command is called “TRIGIN UNTIMED”

Add command to detector server 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.

Oct 26: Will asked “Do we know when image written to disk?”, Dave said he would add response to know when written.

If we turn on shutters but only use the shutter BNCs to go to Galils for monitoring is this helpful?

Command

Description

SG KPF Notes

abort

 abort an exposure in progress (ARC-only)

amplifier

 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
NEW in 11 Nov. 2021 version.

automatically create UTC subdirectory for images

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

basename

 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_")

bias

 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)

buffer

 PCI/e image buffer mapping (ARC-only)

cds

 CDS/Deinterlace configuration key (Archon-only) 

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

close

 close the connection to the detector controller 

No doubt needed by KPF software

datacube

 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).

echo

 test server communication 

No doubt useful to KPF software development

exit

 exit the server 

Likely needed by KPF software

expose

 initiate an exposure 

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

exptime

 exposure time

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

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)

framestatus

 read the frame status (Archon-only) 

Not implemented yet, but I don't think KPF needs this. Manual notes equivalent Archon-native ‘FRAME’ command

geometry

 detector geometry (ARC-only) 

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.

hdrshift

 HDR bit-shift value (Archon-only) 

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

heater

 control HeaterX module (Archon-only) 

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

   set/get target

   set/get PID parameters

   set/get ramp and ramp rate

 imdir

base image directory for FITS image files 

Since this won't change it can be hard-set in the config file.

 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

 inreg

write to VCPU input register (Archon-only)

I'm not sure if our Archons are using this

 interface

return the detector interface type 

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

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.

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?)

loadtiming

 load timing script and parameters (Archon-only) 

Is this needed as part of an ACF upload?

longexposure

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

Changes time unit for exposure from msec (false) to seconds (true).

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

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?)

open

 open a connection to the detector controller 

No doubt needed by KPF software

sensor

 set or get temperature sensor current (Archon-only)

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

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?)

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.

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

trigin
NEW in 11 Nov. 2021 version.

KPF will use ‘trigin untimed’ to prepare the Archon for a tigger pulse that will start an exposure, a well as a ‘trigin readout’ to prepare the Archon for a trigger pulse that will end an exposure.

 useframes

 set or get the useframes flag (ARC-only)

 writekeys

 when to write FITS header keywords 

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

 writep

 write parameter value to configuration memory (Archon-only) 

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

FRAME

Not sure if this is useful to save as telemetry for KPF

STATUS

Likely our source of telemetry?  Or hand-pick parameters?

SYSTEM

Likely good to log in case hardware changed out at some point