Request & Pub/Sub Interfaces

The CCF implements the following CII MAL interfaces:

  • Standard Application Interface - “stdif”: Defines the set of requests and pub/sub topics that shall be implemented by all instrument applications.

  • DCS Application Interface - “dcsif”: Defines the set of requests that shall be implemented by DCS type of applications like CCF or NGC. No pub/sub topics are defined for this interface at this point in time.

  • Recorder Application Interface - “recif”: Defines the set of requests that shall be implemented by data recording type of applications like CCF or NGC. A data recording application is typically an application sampling data from a source and storing this data in output Data Product Files. No pub/sub topics are defined for this interface at this point in time.

The common CII interfaces used by CCF are provided from within the ELT Development Environment. In Gitlab they are available at this URL: https://gitlab.eso.org/ecs/ecs-interfaces.

These interfaces are documented in detail in the user manuals provided for each interface separately. This information will not be repeated in the CCF user’s manual, but some additional implementation detailed mentioned in this chapter instead.

In this release not all requests have been implemented. The requests not implemented are:

DCS Interface (“dcsif”):

  • Abort

  • GetDiagnostics

  • ReadPars

  • Recover

  • SetConfig

  • WritePars

Recording Interface (“recif”):

  • RecAbort

  • RecContinue

  • RecPause

DCS Interface

The CII Profile for the DCS Interface is available via this link: https://gitlab.eso.org/ecos/dcsif/-/blob/master/if/src/dcsif.xml.

The “dcsif::Start” command, used to start the image acquisition. It provides a parameter “StartProperties”, which can be used to define how/when to start the acquisition.

The following applies:

Supported triggering types:

  • “AbsTime”: CCF takes care of starting the acquisition. This means that a relatively low precision can be obtained (<1 s). The absolute time can be given as seconds since epoch (double) or if given as the time (in s), relative to the time, the “dcsif::Start” command is received.

  • “Custom”: In case “Custom” triggering is specified, it is up to the camera/camera electronics to handle the triggering. CCF will mainly wait for the frames to arrive. Note, the Frame Periodicity Check will be disabled when applying this method, while waiting for the first frame. I.e., it is up to the Communication Adapter in use, to handle a possible time-out condition.

The “Signal” triggering type is not supported.

Recording Interface

The CII Profile for the Recording Interface is available via this link: https://gitlab.eso.org/ecos/recif/-/blob/master/if/src/recif.xml.

The “recif::RecStart” command, used to start the image acquisition. It provides a parameter “RecProperties”, which can be used to define how/when to start the recording and posible acquisition, if not active upon receiving the command.

Only “AbsTime”, i.e., triggering handled by CCF, is supported for this release.