NAOMI

Nasmyth Adaptive Optics for Multi-purpose Instrumentation

The Engineering and Control Program: ‘TopGui’
User Guide

Version: 0.1 19-Oct-2001

Author: Nigel Dipper

University of Durham, Department of Physics

1. Scope

This document provides a detailed description of the NAOMI Engineering and Control GUI known as ‘TopGui’. The function of every feature of the GUI is described here. The document is structured in the same way as the GUI. Each ‘page’ has a description, with subsections to describe the function of each feature within that page.
A separate document “NAOMI Engineering and Control Program: ‘TopGui’, Programmer’s Guide” provides a description of the structure and details of the program itself.

2. Overview

The TopGui is an integrated tool to allow full control of all aspects of the NAOMI adaptive optics (AO) system. It is intended primarily for the use of observatory staff and AO experts. It is used by these staff for the routine setup and operation of NAOMI. An alternative tool, the ‘NAOMI Observers Gui’, is available for observers to script observations with NAOMI.

2.1. The ‘Tools’ Menu Bar Option: TopGui Pages

At startup, TopGui shows the ‘Main’ page. All other pages are accessed via the ‘Tools’ option on the menu bar. These additional pages are shown by expanding the TopGui window to double size. The window can be contracted back to the basic display by choosing the ‘None’ option from the tools menu.

2.1.1. Mirror Control Page

Full manual control is provided of both the segmented mirror and the NAOMI fast steering or tip/tilt mirror.

2.1.2. Diagnostics Page

A large amount of diagnostic data is available on command. This page allows the user to select a diagnostic stream for display. The display is provided in a separate popup window.

2.1.3. Realtime Page

Many of the parameters of the c40 realtime AO system can be set from this page. The AO reconstructor will also eventually be controlled from this page. (Not yet implemented).

2.1.4. C40 Control Page

The state of the all of the C40 processors within the AO system is displayed here. Full control of the two AO control loops is provided.

2.1.5. Wavefront Sensor Display Page

The wavefront sensor (WFS) display is on the main page. This display can be controlled from the WFS display page. Various WFS tools are also provided. Note that direct control of the SDSU WFSs is provided on a separate page.

2.1.6. Status Display Page

A colour coded summary of the status of all aspects of the system is provided here.

2.1.7. Locks Page

The status of all of the sequencer locks is displayed here. Locks can also be broken from this page.

2.1.8. Mechanism Page

All of the NAOMI mechanisms can be manually controlled from this page at the assembly level.

2.1.9. SDSU Control Page

Direct control of the SDSU CCDs if provided from this page.

2.2. Other Menu Bar Options

2.2.1. The ‘File’ Option

Files that are relevant to any page in TopGui cab be loaded and saved from here. A button to exit TopGui is also provided.

2.2.2. The ‘Options’ Option

These options are provided mainly for problem debugging and program development purposes. They should not normally be changed.

2.2.3. Engineering Gui Option

Some aspects of the control of NAOMI that are NOT integrated into TopGui are provided by separate Gui applications launched from here.

2.2.4. Help Option

Online help is not yet available. The version of TopGui that is running can be identified from here.

3. Requirements to run TopGui

TopGui is normally run on the NAOMI visualisation console ‘navis’. TopGui is a client of various NAOMI servers that must be running for it to operate correctly. These are:
The NAOMI sequencer (known as Sequencer2).
The NAOMI process monitor (known as EPM2).
The C40 communications server (known as C40Comms). C40Comms runs on the NAOMI imbedded Sparc ‘aocontrol1’.
If any of these resources is not running, a sytem restart must be performed using the ‘NaomiRestart’ command at the command line.

4. Colour Code
A set of colours is used in TopGui to represent different status conditions. More details of the use of this colour code may be found in section xxx. The colour code is a slightly extended version of the standard colour code in use at the Isaac Newton Group of Telescopes for instrumentation software:

Green: ‘Ok’, or ‘Ready for use’.
Pink: A warning condition.
Red: An error condition. (Or an emergency stop button)
Orange: An ‘Unknown’ status. (The EPM has no information)
Blue: A ‘Busy’ condition. (Generally used for mechanisms)
Cyan: Data has been changed and no longer represents the value in the EPM
Cyan: Also used to show selected elements in a mimic

5. Details of TopGui Pages

At startup, TopGui shows only the ‘Main’ page. All other pages are accessed via the ‘Tools’ option on the menu bar. These additional pages are shown by expanding the TopGui window to double size. The various elements of each page are arranged in ‘frames’ or outlined regions with central titles. Each element of each frame is described in a subsection. The title of the element is followed by its type in brackets.

5.1. The Main Page

The main page provides a very simple top-level set of displays and controls for routine operation of Naomi. This is the only page visible at startup. Any other page that may be opened is positioned to the right of this page. The layout is shown in Figure 1.

5.1.1. Display (Frame)

The topmost frame contains the main page display. This is normally used for the WFS display. Other displays may be selected from the ‘Main Display’ menu in the ‘Display Control’ frame. However, no other displays are currently implemented.

5.1.2. Display Control (Frame)

Some basic controls for the main page display are located here. More detailed control is provided on the ‘WFS Control’ page.

5.1.2.1. Main Display (Menu)

This menu is used to select what is displayed in the main page display area. Currently, only the WFS display is implemented and this menu option should be left set to WFS.

5.1.2.2. Continuous (Toggle)

If this toggle is set, TopGui will continuously request diagnostics data from the AO system and update the WFS display. If the toggle is not set, no data will be requested and the display will ‘freeze’.

5.1.2.3. Max (Spinbox)

The maximum display level for all pixels in the WFS display is displayed here and can be changed. The level will not be used until the next set of data for display arrives. Thus, if ‘continuous’ is not set, the display will not change when ‘max’ is changed.

5.1.3. Control (Frame)

The AO control loop (WFS loop) can be controlled from here. More detailed status and control of the C40 based AO control system is provided on the ‘C40 Control’ page.

5.1.3.1. Open Loop (Button)

This button opens the AO (WFS) control loop. All AO correction will cease.

5.1.3.2. Close Loop (Button)

This button closes the AO (WFS) control loop and activates AO correction.

5.1.4. Performance (Frame)

This is a display only area. The current performance of the AO system is summarised. This performance value is based on the centroid data that is a part of the diagnostics data for the WFS display. If centroid data is not currently being requested, the performance data will not be updated. The performance is displayed as a value of the Fried parameter ‘R0’ in both arc seconds and as a coherence length in cms. The value is integrated over a number of frames (default 100) that can be changed from the WFS display page. The current frame number is also displayed.

5.1.5. Status (Frame)

A small amount of status data is displayed here. More detailed status information is available on the ‘Status’ page. This can be accessed directly by pressing the ‘Show status Details’ button.

5.1.5.1. Loop (Text Display)

The current state of the AO (WFS) loop is displayed. If the loop is open, it is coloured pink as a warning. It is coloured green when closed.

5.1.5.2. External Control (Text Display)

This feature is not yet in use and should display ‘OFF’.

5.1.5.3. Show Status Details (Button)

The colour of this button shows the overall status of the system. It should be green during astronomical observations. Pressing the button displays the full status page. If the status is not green, the lower level element that is causing a non-green status can be traced by colour coding through the full status page.

5.1.5.4. Time now (Text Display)

The current time is displayed. The time is the system time from the machine on which TopGui is running.

5.1.5.5. Last Command (Text Display)

A simple description of the last command sent to the NAOMI sequencer by TopGui is displayed here. If multiple commands were sent, the last of them is displayed. The time at which the command was sent is also displayed. The time is the system time from the machine on which TopGui is running.

5.2. Mirror Control

The mirror control page is displayed by selecting the ‘Mirror Control’ option from the ‘Tools’ menu on the main menu bar. This page allows full manual control of both the segmented mirror and the fast tip-tilt mirror. It should NOT be used during routine observing.

5.2.1. Mirror Selector (Frame)

The mirror selector frame contains a mimic of the segmented mirror. Individual mirrors or rows or columns of the mirror may be controlled. A single element is selected by clicking on that element. A single row is selected by clicking on the row number (eg R3) on the left hand side of the mimic. A single column is selected by clicking on the column number (eg C4) below the mimic. All segments can be selected by clicking on the ‘All segments’ button at the bottom of the mimic.
The central four obscured segments are marked in green. Information on the current state of the segment(s) selected, is shown in the ‘Control Selected Mirrors’ frame below.

5.2.2. Control Selected Mirrors (Frame)

This frame provides control of selected mirror elements in two different ways, along with control of the fast tip/tilt mirror. If any mirror actuators reach their limits, the relevant segment in the mimic will be coloured pink as a warning. Which type of control is selected is controlled by the 3 exclusive toggles:

5.2.2.1. Actuators (Toggle)

When this toggle is set, display and control of the selected mirror segment(s) is provided in the form of individual actuator control. Each mirror segment has 3 actuators called A, B and C.

5.2.2.1.1. Actuator A, Actuator B, Actuator C (Spinboxes)

The average value of the relevant actuator for all of the mirror segments selected is displayed. The values may be changed.

5.2.2.1.2. Ave. Piston (Spinbox)

The average piston value for all three actuators on all the mirror segments selected is displayed. The value may be changed.

5.2.2.1.3. Piston Angle (Spinbox)

If a single column or row of the mirror is selected, the overall piston angle is displayed in this spinbox and may be changed.

5.2.2.2. X-Y-Piston (Toggle)

When this toggle is set, display and control of the selected mirror segment(s) is provided in the form of movement in X, Y and piston. It is easier to align a segment in this mode since the direction of movement may be easily predicted.

5.2.2.2.1. X (Spinbox)

The position of the selected mirror segment(s) in the X direction is displayed and can be changed.

5.2.2.2.2. Y (Spinbox)

The position of the selected mirror segment(s) in the Y direction is displayed and can be changed.

5.2.2.2.3. Piston (Spinbox)

The average piston value of the selected mirror segment(s) is displayed and can be changed.

5.2.2.2.4. Piston Angle (Spinbox)

If a single column or row of the mirror is selected, the overall piston angle is displayed in this spinbox and may be changed.

5.2.2.3. Tip/Tilt Mirror (Toggle)

When this toggle is set, control of the fast tip/tilt mirror is available. The mirror has 2 actuators known as X and Y.

5.2.2.4. Tip/Tilt X (Spinbox)

The tip/tilt mirror position in the X direction is displayed and can be changed. If the actuator reaches its limits, the spinbox background will be coloured pink as a warning.

5.2.2.5. Tip/Tilt Y (Spinbox)

The tip/tilt mirror position in the Y direction is displayed and can be changed. If the actuator reaches its limits, the spinbox background will be coloured pink as a warning.

5.2.2.6. Mid Range (Button)

This button will set both the X and Y actuators of the Tip/Tilt mirror to their mid range (safe) values.

5.2.2.7. Zero Values (Button)

This button will set both the X and Y actuators of the Tip/Tilt mirror to their zero values.

5.2.2.8. Setup… (Button)

This will bring up the Setup popup window.

5.2.2.8.1. Value Increment (Spinbox)

The increment achieved in values in spinboxes on the mirror control page by using the up and down arrows can be altered from here.

5.2.2.8.2. Number of bounces. (Spinbox)

This control should not be used.

5.2.3. Control All Mirrors (Frame)