Interface Specifications

PROTOCOL

The user interface to the detector controller server supports standard TCP/IP sockets. The interface uses simple mnemonic, English-looking ASCII-character commands and return values.

CONFIGURATION

User-configurable parameters are defined in a configuration file which is read upon start-up of the server. When the server is run as a daemon then the configuration file will also be read when the HUP signal is received. The configuration file is ASCII plain text formatted as:

KEY=VALUE # optional comment

Configuration keys also support arrays by specifying the configuration line as:

KEY=(IDX VALUE)
KEY=(IDX VALUE)
etc.

This will assign VALUE to index IDX in an array of keys of name KEY. Allowed keywords are shown in Table 1. Any text following the number sign "#" is ignored and may be used to include comments. Some of these keys can only be set in the configuration file and cannot be changed while the server is running, but others are simply defaults which can be readily changed or overridden by a command. Keys which can be changed or overridden via command are indicated in the 3rd column of Table 1 by the command which changes them.

Table 1. Server configuration keywords

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 (see SHUTENABLE_ENABLE and SHUTENABLE_DISABLE) Archon only	no
SHUTENABLE_ENABLE	optional Value to write parameter identified by SHUTENABLE_PARAM which enables shutter opening on exposure. Default value is 1 if omitted. Archon only	no
SHUTENABLE_DISABLE	optional Value to write parameter identified by SHUTENABLE_PARAM which disables shutter opening on exposure. Default value is 0 if omitted. 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
TRIGIN_EXPOSE_PARAM	Parameter name used to control normal, timed exposures triggered externally by TRIGIN. See External Triggering §8.1. Archon only	no
TRIGIN_EXPOSE_ENABLE	optional Value to write to parameter identified by TRIGIN_EXPOSE_PARAM to enable externally triggered timed exposures. Default value is 1 if omitted. Archon only	no
TRIGIN_EXPOSE_DISABLE	IP address for Archon controller communications 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_UNTIMED_ENABLE	(optional) Value to write to parameter identified by TRIGIN_UNTIMED_PARAM to enable externally triggered untimed exposures. Default value is 1 if omitted. Archon only	no
TRIGIN_UNTIMED_DISABLE	(optional) Value to write to parameter identified by TRIGIN_UNTIMED_PARAM to disable externally triggered untimed exposures. Default value is 0 if omitted. `Archon only	no
TRIGIN_READOUT_PARAM	Parameter name used to control end-of-exposure for untimed exposures triggered externally by TRIGIN. See External Triggering §8.1. Archon only	no
TRIGIN_READOUT_ENABLE	(optional) Value to write to parameter identified by TRIGIN_READOUT_PARAM to enable externally triggered readout. Default value is 1 if omitted. Archon only	no
TRIGIN_READOUT_DISABLE	(optional) Value to write to parameter identified by TRIGIN_READOUT_PARAM to disable externally triggered readout. Default value is 0 if omitted. `Archon-only	no
DEFAULT_FIRMWARE	default firmware to load when load command is issued with no arguments	load §4.3.27
READOUT_TIME	detector readout time in msec, used to inform system of a timeout if readout doesn't occur within this time plus 10%
IMDIR	default base image directory	imdir §4.3.21
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. The command line "-d" option will override a "no" here.	no
LONGERROR	set true or false to enable or disable long error messages being returned on the command port	longerror §4.3.29
AMPS_AS_CUBE	for CCDs with multiple amplifiers, write each amplifier to a separate extension when = true. Default is false if undefined.	cubeamps §4.3.9