IMACS Software Documentation
The Observatories of the Carnegie Institution for Science
(Carnegie Observatories), Pasadena, CA
Version 2.06 (2009-09-29)
Version 2.05 (2009-06-25)
Version 2.04 (2009-05-06)
Version 2.03 (2009-03-24)
Version 2.02 (2008-12-02)
updated 2008-10-28
Version 2.00 (2008-06-23)
Version 1.14 (2008-01-17)
updated 2007-06-20
updated 2007-04-19
updated 2006-12-12
updated 2006-08-02
updated 2005-05-24
Version 1.00 (2004-06-02)
Christoph C. Birk (birk AT obs DOT carnegiescience DOT edu)
Location of this document: http://www.obs.carnegiescience.edu/~birk/IMACS/overview.html
This document decscribes the IMACS software from a technical point of
view and is directed at the support staff at SBS and LCO.
Further documentation:
- The official
IMACS User Manual
(dressler AT obs DOT carnegiescience DOT edu)
- The documentation of the data reduction pipeline is here:
COSMOS
(oemler AT obs DOT carnegiescience DOT edu)
- The IMACS project website is here:
IMACS
(bigelow AT obs DOT carnegiescience DOT edu)
Index
Release Notes
Trouble Shooting
v2.06 (2009-09-29) 
- SetupTool:
- The 'setuptool' now ckecks for duplicates and inconsistent
filter types when the filter-setup is updated.
- MechGUI:
- The flexure control is turned on at startup.
- The disperser-server automatically moves the grating
to the maximum tilt angle when a grating is moved to the
service position.
- Black ABS-Box (for details please check with Alan Bagish):
- GP-375 (vacuum gauges) replaced with RS232 models.
- RS422/RS232 converters removed.
- +-15V power supply exchanged.
- various adapters (eg. RJ45/DB9) removed/replaced.
- Here is the new
Lantronix layout.
v2.05 ,
v2.04 ,
v2.03 ,
v2.02 ,
v2.01 ,
v2.00 ,
v1.14 ,
v1.13 ,
v1.12 notes
- Software Overview
- Introduction
- Design Philosophy
- System Architecture
- System Requirements
- Mechanics Control
- Low Level Control (Module Testing)
- Mid Level Control (Engineering)
- High Level Control (User)
- Data Acquistion
- CCDserver
- CamGUI
- QlTool
- Trouble Shooting
- Common Error Codes
- Dos and Don'ts
- Starting Over
- Linmot Controller Setup
- Lantronix TCP/IP-Serial Converters
- System Setup
- System Setup Tool
- Setup Files
- User Manual
- System Startup
- Mechanics Control
- Data Acqusition and Display
0 : Software Overview
0.1 : Introduction
The IMACS control system is responsible for controlling the IMACS
instrument. It constitutes the interface between the user (observer)
and all IMACS related hardware
(science arrays, motion controllers and sensors).
0.2 : Design Philosophy
All code for the IMACS control system was written in
ANSI-C and runs under Linux, Solaris and MacOS-X.4 (Tiger).
All graphical components make use of the X11 libraries without any
3rd-party extensions to ensure high flexibility and
compatibility over various platforms.
modular design (mechanics, data-acq, ql-tool indepenent)
3 level mechanical testing (xxtest, enggui, mechgui, graphgui)
necessary due to long lead times on components
0.3 : System Architecture
The IMACS control system consists of several modules:
The "Instrument Motion Control"-GUI and the "Science Array Control"-GUI
store their status in a common database.
The database allows each module
to retrieve status information about other modules
but keeps interfaces between modules as simple as possible.
Communication between all IMACS control system modules is
done over TCP/IP sockets. This allows for maximum flexiblility
and compatibility between operating systems.
0.4 : System Requirements
- UN*X operating system with X11 libraries.
Linux (RedHat/Fedora), Solaris and MacOS-X (Tiger) are tested.
Note: Solaris is probably (I have no access to any
computer running Solaris anymore) broken since it does
limit the number of semaphores to 16, but the current IMACS software
requires at least 24.
- CXT (Christoph's X11-toolkit) library
(source code is available here)
- Shared memory (SysV) settings (#blocks >= 9, size >= 32 MBytes)
- MacOS-X.4: /etc/rc (Leopard: /etc/rc.local)
sysctl -w kern.sysv.shmmax=33554432
.shmmin=1
.shmmni=32
.shmseg=16
.shmall=65536
- The SAO-, GSC- or USNO-A catalog(s) are optional to run the
data simulator. If no catalog is present the software
will create random stars.
Christoph C. Birk,
Carnegie Observatories (last updated: 2009-11-12)
