Software Release Notes for Build "2012G"

Release Date: September 03, 2012
Generic Release Name: 2012G
Public Release Name: general release 2012G
General Description: ...

Telescope Operator Overview Information

• none.

Support Astronomer Overview Information

• PCS: Created a new telemetry stream, mountEquatorial, which is comprised of MJDUTC, MJDTAI, and the mount coordinates (RA, HA, and Dec) in radians. In particular, this is to satisfy OVMS requirements.
• GCS: The new WFS algorithm is supposed to get later deployed as a patch to 2012G GCS for testing as the implementation couldn't get completed before the build cutoff date.

The Details

New Functionality Tests that need to be performed with the Telescope

• PCS: Ensure the new telemetry stream, mountEquatorial, is being written.
• PCS: Verify the "trajectories" telemetry stream now contains rotator trajectories for instruments with an internal rotator (e.g., LBC).

Patches to the Release

• OSS V2.27.1
  • IT #4119 undone, timeouts increased back to 5 minutes. It was determined that a more sophisticated approach is necessary to cut down unnecessary wait times

• OSS V2.27.2
  • added new config value to oss.conf: oss.terc.selector.timeout , defaulting to 300 seconds
  • added new config value to oss.conf: oss.terc.tiptilt.timeout , defaulting to 300 seconds
  • terc moves now use different, configurable timeout settings for the move of the selector and the tip/tilt moves. Both sides use the same timeouts. IT 4119
  • added more mutexes around command strings sent to the UMAC when it refers to two sides and chances are that the calls are coming in simultaneously for both sides. IT 4194
  • updated oss.conf with new RFBG values used with M3

Known Bugs

• none.

Release Overview

• none

IIF list of Public Data Dictionary Variables

• IIF Public Data Dictionary Variables compatible with this release.

Operating System, System Configuration, TCS and Hardware Computers

• Linux OS has been upgraded from CentOS 5.5 to CentOS 6.3.

TCS Servers / Workstations

• none.

agw-control computer

• none.

jet computer, DSP, FPGA

• none

Networks

• none.

PLCs

• none.

TCS Subsystems and GUIs, and significant configuration files

AGw control server

• none.

AOS - Adaptive Optics

• none.

ECS - Enclosure Control

• ECS Version 2.28
  • Add getPath for telemetry configuration file.

• ECSGUI Version 2.0
  • Convert to QT 4.
  • Fix warnings from new compiler (4.4.6).

ENV - Environmental Sensors

• ENV Version 1.14
  • Fix warnings from the new compiler (4.4.6).
  • Add getPath() for telemetry configuration file.

• ENVGUI Version 2.1
  • Change position of 'front' LBT weather data.
  • Change fonts for better look in CentOS 6.3.

IIF - Instrument Interface

• IIF Version 8.18
  • Accept an int in the config() method instead of a bool to allow greater flexibility.
  • Add support for fallback modes (GUIDE or ACTIVE) if shell RIP is being ignored. The fallback mode can be changed during a RIP condition and the IIF will activate the requested mode. IssueTrak 4054.
  • Clean up variables in IIF.cpp.
  • Deprecate external AO variables S_AOWFS1xxx and S_AOWFS2xxx. They have been renamed to S_AOFLAOWxxx and S_AOLBTIWxxx. The old names will be kept for at least one build.
  • Return a warning (instead of a failure) for RunAO if the AO loop is already closed.
  • Correct check for NSIGUI proxy name in authorized check in UpdateNonSiderealTarget.
  • Do not allow a non-sidereal override while a Preset is busy.
  • Fix warnings from new compiler (4.4.6).
  • Add command GetRotatorPolynomials for LINC.
  • Add getPath for telemetry configuration file.
  • Change UpdateNonSiderealTarget command to remove all arguments except for the two new rates.
  • Add GetRotatorPolynomials command.

• IIFGUI Version 4.1
  • Support RIP ignore fallback modes.
  • Add display for tracking mode: not tracking, sidereal, non-sidereal.
  • Change fonts for better look in CentOS 6.3.

GCS - Guiding Control V2.7.3

• changed AGWUnit telemetry initialization to be called from outside the class as destruction of the object doesn't undo the telemetry definition and resources cannot be retrieved. This change has been tested to work ok on the dev machine
• fixed warnings in AGWUnitAIP about "or" operator |
• fixed a problem with the BINNING header entry in WFS images reflecting the binning settings of the guide camera instead of the wfs camera
• added Zernikes/RMSmed.xml for additional Zernike application decision factor
• added new optional configuration value WFS_redefine_med_z to AGW configuration files. This defaults to "78" so these Zernike coefficients can be biased a little in bad conditions.
• added new optional configuration value WFS_med_factor to AGW configuration files. It defines the factor for the WFS_redefine_med_z bias and defaults to 0.3 if missing.
• added new optional configuration value WFS_high_factor to AGW configuration files. It defines additional scale factor for the Z12-Z22 terms. Defaults to 1.0.
• added getPath call to telemetry configuration file definition
• added extensive FITS header generation for WFSC images containing all relevant Zernike computation data in addition to .info file generation
• added new optional configuration value WFS_useSextractor (bool) to enable or disable the use of the yet to be implemented new WFS computation approach. Default is false.
• changed type of header entries for Zernike coeffs to rounded integer.
• added more header entries to WFS FITS files containing additional M1/M2/M3 DD entries for post analysis of collimation
• changed Instrument2AGW.cfg to reflect the AGW swap in LFBG for left LUCI.
• removed additional WFS FITS header generation from old style WFSing code and disabled unfinished new style WFSing in GCS code

LSS - Logging and Events

• LSSGUI Version 2.1
  • Change fonts for better look in CentOS 6.3.

MCS / mcstemp - Mount Control

• MCS
  • Add getPath for telemetry configuration file.

• MCSGUI Version 3.0
  • Convert to QT 4.
  • Fix warnings from new compiler (V 4.4.6).
  • Change fonts for better look in CentOS 6.3.

OSS - Optical Support

• OSS Version V2.27
  • Add getPath for telemetry configuration file.
  • IT #4119: shortened timeout for Secondary moves to 1 minute (previously 5 minutes)
  • IT #4119: shortened timeout for Tertiary moves to 1 minute (previously 5 minutes)
  • added MCS_CONF resource to the Configuration object, so mcspuIP would be found in the mcs.conf file needed by OSS
  • replaced the default IPs for the MCSPU machine with non-IP address text to indicate a serious configuration error when IP is missing

• OSSGUI Version 2.4
  • Fix warnings from new compiler (V 4.4.6) by making arrays in xpm files 'const'.

PCS - Pointing Control

• PCS Version 6.22
  • Created a new telemetry stream, mountEquatorial, which is comprised of MJDUTC, MJDTAI, and the mount coordinates (RA, HA, and Dec) in radians. In particular, this is to satisfy OVMS requirements.
  • Implemented a new routine, getRotatorPolynomials(), which is essentially an improved version of getRotatorTrajectory() routine. The routine is meant to supercede (eventually) the getRotatorTrajectory() routine. The improvements are:
    • requested and provided time stamps are both in MJDUTC
    • the instrument requests a number of polynomials and the time interval between polynomials
    • the order of the polynomial can be 0 - 2
  • Changed indicator for LRBG to be NO_TELROTATOR; LINC will not use the telescope rotator. Recall that IRTC was previously (temporarily) mounted in this focal station.
  • Changed the way the configuration file name for Telemetry is constructed to accommodate the fact the Telemetry configuration files are now part of TCS.
  • Fixed usage of mount virtual telescope method, "xy2sky()", to use the coordinates of the actual pointing origin and not (0.0, 0.0).
  • Modified the trajectory generation so that rotator trajectories are generated for ALL instrument/focal station combinations. This makes it easy to verify that the correct "on-demand" rotator trajectory is generated for a requested time (e.g., LBC, PathFinder). However, for any instrument/focal station combination which does NOT use a rotator known to the telescope (i.e., the MCSPU), no trajectories are transmitted from PCS to MCSPU.
  • Improved the handling of divide by zero in the guide scaling function. Even though divide by zero should not be an issue for floating point values according to IEEE754, I do a quick check just in case. Removed the "const double SM_CONSTANT".
  • Updated the pcs.conf file for the delat value (TAI - UTC). A leap second was added on 30 June 2012, so the delat is now 35 seconds.
  • Created new data dictionary items for the mount position (the mid-point is currently computed):
    • pcs.mount.achieved.achieved_RA.RAString
    • pcs.mount.achieved.achieved_HA.HAString
    • pcs.mount.achieved.achieved_DEC.DECString
    • pcs.mount.achieved.achieved_RA.Radians
    • pcs.mount.achieved.achieved_HA.Radians
    • pcs.mount.achieved.achieved_DEC.Radians

PCS GUI

• none.

Pointing Kernel / Pointing Kernel tools

• none.

PMC - Primary Mirror Cell

• PMC Version 5.24
  • Fix warnings from new compiler (4.4.6).
  • Add getPath for telemetry configuration file.

• PMCGUI Version 6.1
  • Correct text color in Actuators form disabled actuators display.
  • Correct text color in Main form event display.
  • Fix warnings from new compiler (4.4.6).
  • Use getPath to find location of telnet.
  • Change fonts for better look in CentOS 6.3.

PSF - Point Spread Function

• PSF Version 5.7
  • Remove range balanced mode 1 pointing because the pivot point must be in the focal plane.
  • Clean up instrument setup at startup.
  • Fix warnings from the new compiler (4.4.6).
  • Add getPath for telemetry configuration file.
  • Work on future use of absolute Zernike coefficients, instead of relative. Relative ones still in use.

• PSFGUI Version 5.1
  • Remove support for range balanced mode 1 pointing changes.
  • Fix 'Sec Shell Offload' button logic.
  • Change fonts for better look in CentOS 6.3.

TCS GUI

• TCSGUI Version 2.1
  • When starting/stopping the network servers on the entire cluster, start syslogserver first, and stop it last, so as many syslog messages as possible will get captured.
  • Add ssh option ForwardX11=no to avoid xterm startup failures.
  • Remove above ssh option since it didn't do any good.
  • Detect and retry remote failures for X11 authentication.

WX - Weather Station

• none.

TCS Common Software

commandreturn - client command status returns

• none.

commandsequencer - client/subsystem command handling

• none.

core - foundation routines

• Add buffer length argument to UDPSocket::recvfrom() methods.
• Add UDPSocket::purge() methods to throw away any existing buffer data.
• Add overloaded method SystemClock::getCalendarDay(long long) to decode an existing millisecond timestamp.

datadictionary - reflective memory and event support

• none.

eventhandler - event handling

• none.

networkconfig - subsystem management

• Make clearWhoIAm() work correctly.
• Remove all traces of old subsystems 'TEL' and 'SDB'.
• Put number of subsystems and subsystem list in tcs.conf instead of hardcoded values in several places.
• Increase size of networkserver shared memory to support greater than 32 subsystems (currently 34).
• Remove NetworkConfig::getPath() since it was not used.
• Add buffer lengths in UDPSocket::recvfrom() calls.

reflectivememory - global shared memory

• Make the owner string for reflective memory variables sided. This is to support correct write permission checking on sided subsystems.
• Improvements to minimize shared memory timeouts and token out-of-order problems seen with the new 2.6.32 kernel:
• Add sent timestamps to HELLO and TOKEN packets.
• Remove check for multiple sequential restarts.
• Parameterize packet lengths and check for correct length read.
• Add adjustable delay before sending token.
• Purge socket read buffer at restart.

rpc - communication protocol

• Adjust select timeouts in RPCHost for the new (tickless) kernel (2.6.32) to approximate the old behavior. There is now about 53 microseconds overhead for each select call when before there was zero, and some of it is CPU time, so when subsystems are just waiting for network requests they now use some CPU time.

setvalue - reflective memory access

• Fix warnigs from new compiler (4.4.6):
  • Make Gtype string assignment operator take a const char *.
  • Make SetValueInterface write() methods take const char * offset.

tcs.conf - tcs configuration

• Move telemetry configuration files into tcs/etc.
• Add variable TEL_STORE_CFG_DIR to tcs.conf for use with getPath() to find the above files.
• Put number of subsystems into tcs.conf.
• Put subsystem list into tcs.conf.
• Remove variable USRCOMMONSW.
• Add variable gshmtokendelay.

TCS Tools

DDEditor - Data Dictionary Editor

• none.

DDBrowser - Data Dictionary Browser

• none.

DDViewer - Data Dictionary Viewer

• none.

Event Editor

• none.

Telemetry

Collector

• none.

Instruments and Environmental Sensors

DIMM - Differential Image Motion Monitor

• Version 2.2
  • Reset to full-frame FOV when starting new measurement.
  • Don't calculate statistics if data buffer is empty.
  • Added catch and logging to all communication exceptions thrown.
  • Log telescope az,el when mount moves.
  • Updated starlist: added arclength distance to list, modifed configured maximum magnitude to 3.5.
  • Clip region-of-interest to 0 if star not centered and calculated star position of region is negative.
  • Reset out of range error each time you read the position values.

IRTC - Infrared Test Camera

• IRTC Version 3.6
  • Add GetRotatorTrajectory command.
  • Add GetRotatorPolynomials command.

LBC - LBT Binocular Camera

• LBC Control Software Version 1.1
  • Disabled Balluff encoders.
  • Change voltage comparison value on CCD controller channel 8 from 5.0 to 4.75.
  • Update configuration for CCD controller hardware IDs and red filter wheel positions.

LBTO Weather Station - 3DWGUI

• none.

MAT - Mount Axilliary Telescope

• MATGUI Version 2.1
  • Use ICE to communicate with the TCS.
  • Use a new ICE configuration file for parameters that lives in directory 'etc'.
  • Use new environmental variable MAT_CONFIG to point to the configuration file.
  • Use MATGUI.log as the default logfile name.
  • Use gethostbyname() to convert the mat IP so a DNS name can be used.
  • Clean up noMAT and noIIF logic.
  • Add etc/mat.config to the list of installed files and clean up build system for ICE.
  • Fix warnings for new compiler (V 4.4.6).

All Sky Monitor

• none.

-- MicheleDeLaPena - 31 Aug 2012