v1.56.2

This is the S4ACS release v1.56.2, which fixes the problem related to the SDK version used to control the EMCCD cameras.

Full Changelog: v1.56.1...v1.56.2

v1.56.1

Warning: the SDK package used in this release to control the EMCCD cameras was found to be incompatible with the detectors used in SPARC4. Use it carefully.

This is the S4ACS release v1.56.1. In the following sections, the major and minor changes included in this version are briefly presented.

Major Changes

• An operating mode has been implemented in which S4ACS, in conjunction with S4ICS, enables hardware-triggered advancement of the instrument waveplate during polarimetric acquisitions.
• The observatory keywords CHECKSUM, DATASUM, DATEFILE, PROJID, TELESCOPE, and SITEID have been added to the image header. In addition, the keywords WPROSTAT, WPSESTAT, ANSTAT, CALWSTAT, GMIRSTAT, GFOCSTAT, and TFOCSTAT have been introduced to represent the status of the SPARC4 mechanisms prior to data acquisition.

Minor Changes

• New log files are now generated daily at 12:00 UTC, regardless of whether S4ACS is actively running.
• The commands responsible for camera configuration and acquisition initiation have been separated into distinct VIs.

Full Changelog: v1.56.0...v1.56.1

v1.56.0

In this release, the S4ACS project was refactored to be used in the development of the ECHARPE Acquisition Control System (EACS). The following sections briefly describes the main modifications done to meet this requirement.

Major changes

• Create a generic Simulated Camera Class.
• Create a Simulated iXon Ultra class, which inherits from the Simulated Camera Class.
• Create a class to represent the iXon Ultra cameras, which inherits from its respective simulated class
• New unit tests were added. The current code coverage is 54.8%
• Create a SPARC4 Channel class that inherits from the generic Channel class
• Add a parameter to indicate if S4ACS is in the real or simulated mode.

Minor changes

• #SEQS, #CYCLES, and WPPOS parameters were removed from the simulated camera class and passed to the Channel class.
• Several unused classes and methods were removed from the project

Full Changelog: v1.55.1...v1.56.0

v1.55.1

This is the S4ACS release v1.55.1. In this release, the information if S4ACS was run in the real or simulated mode was included into the published status message.

Full Changelog: v1.55.0...v1.55.1

v1.55.0

This is the S4ACS release v1.55.0. In the following sections, the major and minor changes included in this version are brifely presented.

Major changes

• The class responbile for creating the log files were refactored. Now, by setting a front panel parameter, S4ACS allows to choose between the log levels STATUS, DEBBUG, INFO, WARNING, ERROR, and CRITICAL. When chosing the INFO log level, for example, S4ACS will write in the log file all the messages with the level INFO or above.
• The read noise and gain values related to the EMCCD camera 14364 were included in the csv files used by the Python script to create the image headers.

Minor changes

• Some non-used parameters related to the S4ACS initialization were removed. Besides, the configuration of the parameters is disabled after the execution of the software.
• Log messages with the level of DEBBUG and STATUS were added to the code.
• The waveplate status verification algorithm done by S4ACS before the start of an exposure was refactored using the LabVIEW library to deal with JSON strings.
• The template S4ACS configuration file was modified to include the log level parameter.
• Now, a runtime error stops the S4ACS execution.
• Some classes that were not being used were removed from the project.

v1.54.0

This is the S4ACS release v1.54.0. In the following sections, the changes implemented in this current version are brifely presented.

Major Changes

• The problem related to the ABORT command received during the acquisition of an image series using the asynchronous mode was fixed.
• Validity checking of parameters configured using the SET command is now being done individually instead of for all the acquisition configuration parameters.
• A verification of the maximum number of frames allowed as a function of the cameras spatial resolution was added.
• The time at which S4ACS finishes acquiring an image series and saving these images to the computer disk are being logged.

Minor Changes

• Bugs related to the treatment of the coordinated provided by TCS using regex were fixed.
• The content of the image headers was updated.
• The S4ICS mechanisms status with pos_id=-1 are not discarded anymore.

v1.53.4

In the following, the modifications implemented in this release are briefly presented:

• S4ACS logs when it is started.
• Add a routine to fix wrong values found for the RA, DEC, TCSHA, and ICSVRSN keywords.

v1.53.3

This release fix the communication problem found in the previous version of the software. In addition, the time interval considered by S4ACS to detect a loss of communication with external applications was changed from 60 s to 4 s.

v1.53.2

⚠️WARNING:
IN THIS RELEASE, A PROBLEM RELATED TO THE STATUS MESSAGES PUBLISHED BY S4ACS WAS IDENTIFIED.
WE SUGGEST DO NO USE IT.

In this release, the problem related to the loss of communication during an observation was fixed.
This problem required the observatory assitant to reinitialize S4ACS to reestablish the communicaiton with the weather station and focuser applications.

v1.53.1

This is the first release in which the S4ACS executable was created using the 64bits version of LabVIEW.
This change required the whole acquisition system (including Python) to be migrated to the specified version too.

In the follwing, the mains S4ACS features added in this release are breafly presented:

Major changes

• The problem of image headers with outdated keyword values was fixed.
• A verification using regular expression (regex) was implemented for some keywords as, for example, RA and DEC.
• A JSON string with the status of the communication between S4ACS and other external applications was included in the published status message.
• All the S4ICS keywords are being wirtten into the image headers.

Minor changes

• The time when S4ACS stops is logged in the corresponding log file.
• The problem as an exposure time value of 9.99999e-6 s found in the header of bias images was fixed.
• The problem of subexposed images found in the simulated mode was fixed.
• The problem of image headers containing an empty COMMENT keyword was fixed.