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COO has developed a generic detector controller software suitable for operating both STA/Archon and Astronomical Research Camera (a.k.a. "Leach") detector controllers. Regardless of the type of detector (e.g. CCD, IR) a detector controller must perform the same set of functions. These include configuring the controller hardware (load waveforms, set biases, etc.), setting up for an exposure (set geometry, exposure time, etc.), initiating an exposure, reading pixels and saving them in a FITS file. The detector controller software is a server which provides this functionality to a client.
A variety of clients may connect to the server via standard sockets, send ASCII character based commands to access all possible detector functions, and receive back ASCII character replies.
This document describes the interface between a client and the detector controller server so that any client can utilize it in any environment, whether that be in a lab/test/engineering setting or as part of a suite of other software modules of a deployed instrument in a larger observatory environment.
The intended audience for this document includes the following:
- detector engineers who wish to interface to a detector controller directly
- programmers who are integrating a detector controller into an instrument
The broken black line in Figure 1 illustrates the interface that this document describes, which is the client interface to the detector controller server (blue box in the figure).
The grey box at left is any detector controller, e.g. Archon or ARC. The interface between the detector controller server and the detector controller hardware is indicated by the green arrows, the details of which are beyond the scope of this document.
Possible clients are shown by the grey boxes to the right of the interface line. Details of clients suitable for communicating with the detector controller server is beyond the scope of this document, although suggestions and example clients will be given in Section 3.4.
Pixel data written by the detector controller server are shown crossing to the right of the interface because data can be written to any (shared) disk; no special interface is required to access the data, which are stored in standard FITS file format.
Figure 1. Detector Controller Server Interfaces
| Abbreviation | Description |
|---|---|
| ACF | Archon Configuration File |
| API | Application Programming Interface |
| ARC | Astronomical Research Cameras, Inc. (a.k.a. "Leach") |
| BOI | Band of Interest |
| CIT | California Institute of Technology |
| CLI | Command Line Interface |
| COO | Caltech Optical Observatories |
| DMA | Direct Memory Access |
| DRP | Data Reduction Pipeline |
| FITS | Flexible Image Transport System |
| GUI | Graphical User Interface |
| ICD | Interface Control Document |
| ICS | Instrument Control Software |
| IP | Internet Protocol |
| OIR | (COO) Optical / Infrared Service Center |
| PCI/e | Peripheral Component Interconnect/express |
| ROI | Region of Interest |
| SNR | Signal to Noise Ratio |
| STA | Semiconductor Technology Associates, Inc. |
| TCP | Transmission Control Protocol |
| TCS | Telescope Control System |
| UDP | User Datagram Protocol |
| UTC | Universal Coordinated Time |