Software Release Notes for Build 36

Release Date: Jan 21, 2010
Generic Release Name: B36
Public Release Name: General Development

Telescope Operator Overview Information

• ECSGUI_Version 1.30
  • Added the chamber temperature and dewpoint values to the "OPS" and the "Analog Monitoring" pages of the ECSGUI. This information is being reported only at this time; the values are NOT used in any computation.
• PCS Version-4.5
  • PCS now properly handles the situation of authorizing LBC after an instrument using a telescope rotator has been in use. No warnings or errors should be generated, so users should no longer need to employ workarounds for problems.
  • The utilities "ptlist", "ptmodify", and "ptreset" are now combined into one general program, "pcsutilities". The usage is now

              Usage: pcsutilities utilityName [term] [termValue]
                     where utilityName = ptlist | ptreset | ptmodify
                     only ptmodify uses the parameters term and termValue
              Example: $ pcsutilities ptmodify ca -200.33

This invocation of the utilities has been reverted to the pre-B36 usage as of Build AO2.

• PMC Version 5.5
  • The right side (DX) is now set to use the new hard points. The GUI hardpoint and manual forms have changed.
• IIFGUI Version 1.25
  • Using multiple IIF GUIs will no longer result in incorrect authorizations.
• GCS Version 2.2.10
  • parking the AIP AGW probe should be about 6-8 seconds faster as no focus position is set any more
  • additional DD variables showing when the last image on guider or WFS cameras were taken
  • powering up AIP AGW unit when unit is turned off. Note: TO still has to power unit down manually after the end of the night if so desired.
  • automatically homing unhomed axes of AIP AGW probe when selecting unit
• OSS version 2.7
  • Added new names for the dynamic balance tanks which are more descriptive. ul is now uleft, lr is now lright, ur is now uright, ll is now lleft.
  • Added more indicators to show new reflective memory variables for dynamic balance.
  • Modified call to 'getLastFocalStation' to be 'getCurrentFocalStation' in preparation for the call 'getActualFocalStation'. This is for the display on the Tertiary mirror window in the OSSGUI.
  • Fixed a bug in the display of the command status and return value on the GUI. The effect this had was constantly re-displaying the running command status on the window, event if it hadn't changed. This reduces the amount of scrolling and implements the display as it was originally intended.
  • Migrated classes from the old side class here to the new one in core. Also fixed various bugs having to do with the display of variables for dynamic balance.
  • Added names to command return result values. This way, when the results are displayed they can be easily identified on the OSS GUI.

Support Astronomer Overview Information

• PCS Version-4.5
  • Added the Azimuth and Elevation values to the event messages associated with changing any of the pointing model terms (e.g., ptmodify).
• IIF Version 6.15
  • Return an error from PresetTelescope if the mode is GUIDE or higher and the rotator mode is parallactic.
• IRTC Version 1.4.5
  • Any pointing model parameter may be changed with the SetPMTerm command.

The Details

Specific Tests that need to be performed with the Telescope

• Software Tests and Status

Patches to the Release

• none.

Known Bugs

• none.

Release Overview

• none.

Operating System, System Configuration, TCS and Hardware Computers

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

lbt.conf

• It now has a Side type to represent the side of a telescope. Possible values are Left, Right, Both and None.
• The existing map and set type templates have been extended to support all lbt.conf types.

AGw control server

• none.

AOS - Adaptive Optics

• none.

ECS - Enclosure Control

• ECS_Version 2.15
  • Change to using LBT weather data rather than SMT weather data in the instrument cooling setpoint control.
  • The following events will no longer be generated as the host setpoints are modified every 10 seconds, and therefore, too many events are produced. An event will ONLY be generated upon failure. Note there never was a "start" event.
    • ecs.instrumentCooling.command.setTemperatureSetPt.complete
    • ecs.hydraulicBearing.command.setTemperatureSetPoint.complete
  • Commented out SYSLOG messages regarding successful "writes" to the Host Commands and to Host Setpoints. Only "failure to write" will now be reported.
  • The subsystem now reads the "dome temperature" and "dome dewpoint temperature" values and stores them in reflective memory as: "ecs.chamber.temperature" and "ecs.chamber.dewpoint".
• ECSGUI_Version 1.30
  • Added the chamber temperature and dewpoint values to the "OPS" and the "Analog Monitoring" pages of the ECSGUI. This information is being reported only at this time; the values are NOT used in any computation.
  • Changed Chiller notice so the "Incoming Chilled Water Temperature TT0413 Must Be >= -12.22 C Before Summer Chiller CH0402 Will Run." The former value was -10.55.

ENV - Environmental Sensors

• ENV Version 1.2
  • Change the time interval from 300 to 60 seconds over which at least one weather value must change in order for the data to be considered valid.

IIF - Instrument Interface

• IIFGUI Version 1.25
  • Pack the display more tightly to recover space added for the build string display.
  • Correct multiple GUI synchronization logic so incorrect instruments are not sometimes authorized when multiple GUIs are is use.
• IIF Version 6.15
  • Remove commands RotMaximizeTime, RotAdjustPosition, RotNextPosition, AOPause, and AOResume. These commands are either not needed, or will change names in the future.
  • Modify command RotServicePositon to remove the rotator mode parameter. The rotator coordinate system for this command is always the native system.
  • Add commands RotReady and MaximizeWrapTime. MaximizeWrapTime is not yet operational.
  • Allow any pointing model term in SetPMTerm.
  • Return an error from PresetTelescope if the mode is GUIDE or higher and the rotator mode is parallactic.

GCS - Guiding Control V2.2.10

• added more debug output to AzCam and ImageServerThread classes to analyze a problem with receiving the full CCD readout for a guide star acquisition
• set park position of AIP AGW to not change focus as this is not necessary and costs about 6-8 seconds when parking and UNparking for a new preset.
• added DD variable GuideCam.lastImageTaken to publish the time when the image was taken from which the latest guide star related data has been computed from. Time data is in Unix time_t format, to be easily converted into anything else. As a reminder, the same time data is already available in human readable form in string::GuideCam.date_lastImage
• added DD variable WFSCam.lastImageTaken to publish the time when the image was taken from which the latest WFS related data has been computed from. Time data is in Unix time_t format, to be easily converted into anything else. As a reminder, the same time data is already available in human readable form in string::WFSCam.date_lastImage
• added DD variable AGW.accessible of type bool to indicate accessibility status of AGW control server and UMAC.
• added DD variable AGW.powerFlag of type bool to indicate status of power control of the unit
• added DD variable AGW.powerStatus of type int to verify physical power to the subunits stage control, guide camera, WFS camera (supporting a MODS feature), AIP AGWs will always report power on or off for all units
• added support for power control and power status checks in AGWUnit classes
• added check for homing status of axes, modified the initialization procedure in AGWUnit classes to perform actual homing of unhomed axes
• added update of new power status flags in DD
• added automatic power on control of AGW if unit is found to be powered off, power off control has been commented out as it would interfere with telescope operations when accidentally authorizing the wrong instrument/focus or when quickly switching between two.
• added the option to selectively disable cameras on an AGW unit by setting IP address to 0.0.0.0, which helps for testing when only one camera or camera server can be set up
• slightly modified the synchronization code in IST/AzCam classes to better adapt to AzCam 4.0 and added debug statements if there's any delay
• added more WFS status messages that would show up in GUI if image is too dim or saturated as this results in not processing the image and also not sending PSF corrections. This will be visualized as an error.
• added more WFS status messages in case one of the vital configuration files would be missing or the image couldn't be processed for any reason. All these conditions show as errors as it prevents processing.
• added a mutex to prevent multiple setNewInstrument/selectAGW calls to run in parallel and causing GCS to die.
• added the update of the acquisition image size for movie mode which had been omitted before
• added a couple of event messages to the movie thread to document possible problems and give personnel the chance to detect those problems when they occur

LSS - Logging and Events

• none.

MCS / mcstemp - Mount Control

• The MCS has added a secondsToLimit parameter to the data dictionary. MCS.AZDrive.secondsToLimit is the number of seconds before the AZ axis will hit the end of the wrap (-90 or +450) for the object currently being tracked. If the time is very long, or "never" it will show as 1,000,000 sec. When the telescope is within 20 deg of a limit and heading towards it, the time is valid. The closer you get to the limit, the more accurate it is. The same has been implemented for the rotators in RotatorSide[].Rotators[].secondsToLimit. This will be refined in future revisions to be more useful to observers.
• The MCSPU (rev. 2.70) now has a configuration file called mcspu.conf. It is in /home/tsargent/newMCSPU/MCSPU/ on jet for now. It has about 120 different configuration parameters for the MCSPU. These are things like max/min allowed speeds, which encoders are enabled, legal ranges for various input parameters, timeout periods, etc. So the behavior of MCSPU can be changed just by editing this file and saving it to disk - the program doesn't need to be recompiled. For some parameters the change is immediate. For others, which are only referenced at initialization time, the program has to be stopped and restarted.
• The hbssys display page in the engineering Interface now shows how long it has been since the HBS was turned on or restarted.
• The dyn display page in the engineering interface has been re-arranged. It still shows the same information it always did. The change is to allow the next revision to show show much change in moment is available given the current tank level readings. The 2 new display parameters, +Moment and -Moment will show this, but for the time being they will always show 0.

OSS - Optical Support

• none.

PCS - Pointing Control

• PCS Version-4.5
  • Made the PCS robust against the situations where an instrument is not going to use its associated telescope rotator (e.g., test mode) and/or an instrument does not have or never uses the telescope rotator (e.g., LBC). A problem would occur when a PresetTelescope would be issued for LBC, and the startTracking component of the command would try to put the LBC telescope rotator into a hold mode, causing the MCSPU to raise an error. The PCS now properly handles the situation.
  • Added the Azimuth and Elevation values to the event messages associated with changing any of the pointing model terms (e.g., ptmodify).
  • Removed/modified SYSLOG messages specifying "GCS" when the command might also be issued by AOS; this is to eliminate confusion during testing.
  • Simplified the wait computation for the predicted versus the measured guide star position to be rectified.
  • The weather information (pressure, temperature, humidity) used for the computation of the atmospheric dispersion was upgraded. In the new scheme the weather data are acquired from the ENV subsystem with priority:
    1. valid LBT data
    2. valid SMT data
    3. PCS default values
  • Due to configuration requirements, the PCS command line utilities which manipulate the pointing model values have been combined into one "super" utility, "pcsutilities".

PCS GUI

• none

Preset GUI

• none.

Pointing Kernel / Pointing Kernel tools

• none.

PMC - Primary Mirror Cell

• PMCGUI Version 5.5
  • Convert to double valued (i.e. sided) PMC lbt.conf parameters using the new map data types.
  • Use LBT weather data instead of SMT data.
  • Change air pressure limits for new hard points to 110 - 160 psi.
  • Add button on new hard points manual form to zero all the relative encoders.
• PMC Version 5.5
  • Convert to double valued (i.e. sided) PMC lbt.conf parameters using the new map data types.
  • Use LBT weather data instead of SMT data.
  • The default for the DX mirror is to expect new hard points.
  • Change air pressure limits for new hard points to 110 - 160 psi.

PSF - Point Spread Function

• PSFGUI Version 4.25
  • Change focusComp variable from int to bool as only a true/false is needed.
• PSF Version 4.43
  • Convert to double valued (i.e. sided) PSF lbt.conf parameters using the new map data types.
  • Change focusComp variable from int to bool as only a true/false is needed.

SDB - Star Database

• none.

TCS GUI

• TCSGUI Version 1.15
  • Pack the display more tightly to recover space added for the build string display.

WX - Weather Station

• none.

TCS Common Software

commandreturn - client command status returns

• none.

commandsequencer - client/subsystem command handling

• none.

core - foundation routines

• The Side class has been moved from Utilities into core.
• The Configuration class now supports Side values. The existing set class template support has been extended to allow sets of all types supported by Configuration, excluding set and map types. The existing map class template support has been similarly extended, but allows all supported types to be used as keys as well as values.

datadictionary - reflective memory and event support

• none.

eventhandler - event handling

• none.

networkconfig - subsystem management

• none.

reflectivememory - global shared memory

• none.

rpc - communication protocol

• none.

setvalue - reflective memory access

• none.

tcs_config - tcs configuration

• none.

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 Monitor

• none.

idl

• none.

iraf

• none.

IRTC - Infrared Test Camera

• Version 1.4.5
  • Remove commands RotMaximizeTime, RotAdjustPosition, RotNextPosition, AOPause, and AOResume. These commands are either not needed, or will change names in the future.
  • Modify command RotServicePosition to remove the rotator mode parameter. The rotator coordinate system for this command is always the native system.
  • Add command RotReady and MaximizeWrapTime. MaximizeWrapTime is not yet supported in the TCS.

LBC - LBT Binocular Camera

• none.

LBTO Weather Station - 3DWGUI

• none.

MAT - Mount Axillary Telescope

• none.

Polaris Monitor

• none.

-- NormCushing - 22 Dec 2009