Home

Documentation

Project Support

Changes in Version 4 of GraspExtras

Author:
isani
Timestamp:
Mon Oct 8 20:00:47 2012

Legend:

Unmodified
Added
Removed
Modified

  • GraspExtras

    v3 v4
    1     = STARGRASP Extras = 
      1   '''[wiki:GraspSw STARGRASP Software Extras]''' 
    1    [[TracNav(GraspExtrasContents)]] 
      1  [[TracNav(GraspContents)]] 
    2      We have been at the front lines of large mosaics, so we have developed quite 
    3      a few tools to make life easier for the detector engineer who 
    4      has to integrate a 500+ channel focal plane system. 
      2  Many non-essential but potentially helpful C programs are distributed in the software tarball.  These unsupported "extras" can be installed by running: 
      3  {{{ 
      4  make extras 
      5  }}} 
      6  after installing the core libraries and utilities necessary to run a detector.  These tool are supplied in the hope that they may prove to be useful in some way.  Suggestions, requests, and patches are welcome but the tools are provided as-is. 
      7  Many of the system level tools used with STARGRASP on the Pan-STARRS 1 Giga Pixel Camera 1 are those developed at the [http://www.cfht.hawaii.edu Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope].  Typically, each facility will want to use the [wiki:GraspSwToolkit STARGRASP Toolkit] programs to interface to existing software.  In many cases, it is convenient to set up some of the following in order to have a more complete system. 
    5      Voltages are applied by the grasp_pon_ota.c tool.  A custom 
    6      tool should be written for each type of CCD that STARGRASP 
    7      controls so that the tool can be responsible for enforcing 
    8      safe voltage limits and power-up sequences for your particular 
    9      flavor of device.  The grasp_pon_ota.c tool does this as 
    10      defined by MITLL for their type of OTA, specifically CCID58s. 
      8   * [wiki:GraspExtrasOperationsStatserv Status Server] 
      9   * [wiki:GraspExtrasOperationsLogging Log System] 
      10   * [wiki:GraspExtrasSoftwareFitspipe Fitspipe Video Server] 
    11      We would like to create a graphical tool like "cestlavie" 
    12      to tune voltages.  This tool would do the work we do now with 
    13      simple shell scripts (sometimes just typed from the command 
    14      line) that edit the FITS header of your most recent set of 
    15      FITS files and then re-run grasp_pon_ota.  In this way, the 
    16      grasp_pon_ota tool enforces that the new changed voltages are 
    17      still within range relative to the other current settings. 
      11  Command line tools, many with specialized support for specific detector types such as OTAs: 
    18      We have used parameter search loops that work in this way, 
    19      for instance, changing drain voltages to find the optimum setting. 
    20      These scripts operate on the entire focal plane at once. 
      12   * [wiki:GraspExtrasSoftwareNoisetone noisetone] - C program. Repeatedly reads out a small area of a device and depicts calculated noise data as audible tones. Useful for providing immediate feedback on changes made to system grounding, etc. without having to refer to a numeric readout on a screen. 
      13   {{{ 
      14  # noisetone 10.10.10.155 
      15  }}} 
      16   * [wiki:GraspExtrasSoftwareOtatool otatool] - C program. Multi-use tool to operate on a MEF FITS file and generate various different outputs, including per-extension statistics, colour-stretched JPEGs of the image data, etc. 
      17   {{{ 
      18  # otatool jmosaic=t test.fits 
      19  }}} 
    21      We have scripts which produce linearity plots for all cells 
    22      of all devices in one image with lots of little graphs. 
    23     
    24      At the device level, we have a program which works like a 
    25      stethoscope, providing audio tones proportional in frequency 
    26      to the RMS noise in the overscan of a readout at a high rate. 
    27      (2 outputs if you have stereo ... ooh.)  This is useful for 
    28      all sorts of tuning, including voltage changes, slight clocking 
    29      pattern changes, and grounding changes. 
    30     
    31      A program called "slotmachine.c" can analyze a multi-dimensional 
    32      (multi-sampled) STARGRASP FITS file and report the absolute 
    33      best signal to noise possible by varying the weighting of 
    34      the samples.  This can lead to a better choice of a cestlavie 
    35      timing pattern, especially if you are generating a relatively 
    36      slow (>2usec) timing pattern. 
    37     
    38      We make extensive use of X-Rays (from Fe55) to measure gain 
    39      and charge transfer efficiency.  A tool called "otaslop" 
    40      automatically reports all kinds of statistics for each cell 
    41      in each OTA when you take an "XRAY" type exposure with STARGRASP. 
    42      (Can demo this on GPC1, which has an internal XRAY source.)