UNIS/UIO CAMERA ACC2 Aurora camera control program USER's MANUAL Version 2.
UPDATES: Jan 15. 1999: Added point 9) in «Chapter 16 Possible errors». The addition was made due to problems with the HP SureStore T4 backup device. (Espen) Jan 23. 1999: UNIS/UiO camera no2 updated with Network Time Server, replacing GPS time. Changes are mainly reflected in Chapter 13. (Espen) Jan 23. 1999: Handwritten notes (by Bjørn?) in the previous manuals Chapter 2, about scaling, is added. (Espen) Jan 24. 1999: A simple Y2K test was performed.
TABLE OF CONTENT: UPDATES: .................................................................................................................................................................2 TABLE OF CONTENT: .................................................................................................................................................3 CHAPTER 1 PRECAUTIONS: ...................................................................................................................................
CHAPTER 1 PRECAUTIONS: • The camera contains a light sensitive image intensifier and is easily damaged by to much light. It has to be operated in darkness. • When mounting / removing the camera the shorting plug must immediately be added to the backside of the camera, when the thick cable to the camera is removed. • The user should read the first 7 pages (i.e. until hardware overview) of the document : "All-Sky Imaging System for University of Oslo", Keo Consultants, 12/5/95.
CHAPTER 2 STARTING THE CAMERA: Turn on the PC. (If the Garmin GPS 12 XL Receiver is used: Turn the receiver on, (the small red button with a drawing of a light bulb).) The Network Time Server is the preferred time source. Shut down all light in the camera hut. Remove the lens cover at the camera unit. Turn on the power on the backside of the camera, and on the camera control unit. On the PC, start the PMIS program.
are correct, the camera should operate. If the current time is within a start and stop time in the sequence file, the sequence is executed. The default is to use dynamic scaling of the data. The operator can set the scaling to «fixed». In the Image_1 window: Display -> Scaling ¤ Fixed Min/Max 0 1500 (is useful settings.) This settings do not affect the data saved to disk. The datarange is 12 bit. The operator can move the cursor around in the image.
CHAPTER 3 STOPPING THE CAMERA: In the ACC window. Press the Stop button and the Exit button. Press the upper right cross to terminate the PMIS program. Answer No to save the image and No to save the Program state . Turn off the power at the backside of the camera unit and the camera control unit. Put the lens cover on the camera unit. Shut off the Garmin GPS 12XL receiver by pressing the red button for about 3 seconds.
CHAPTER 4 OVERVIEW OF THE ACC PROGRAM: RUN file ACC 2 TIMER file SEQUENCE file Visual Basic 5 DDE Dynamic Data Exchange RS-232 COM2: PMIS ver.. 3.5 RS-232 COM1: I/O from AT200 PC board SMARTMR Photmetrics CH200 CCD camera Smartmtr electronics Garmin GPS receiver Figure 1: Overview of the camera computer system. The Garmin GPS receiver is optional. By the time, a Network Time Server is used instead of the GPS. The Time Server communicates via the LAN.
The filter wheel, the intensifier and the shutter is controlled by the SMARTMTR program. The SMARTMTR program in use is called Norway.prg. The CCD camera is controlled by the PMIS program. The PMIS program also cover the RS-232 communication (thin cable) to the SMARTMTR program. This is done via the RS-232 COM1: port. When inspecting the camera system the operator should also watch the PMIS window. The ACC2 program is a Visual Basic 5 program. It communicate with the PMIS program.
CHAPTER 5 THE ACC2 CONTROL FILES: The control files for the ACC2 program is located at the C:\acc\seq directory. The ACC2 program uses 3 control files: The run file, the timer file and the sequence file. The operator should write these three files. The recommended editor is the Windows 95 notepad program. EDIT in DOS can also be used. The format of the control files has to be DOS ASCII. (MARK: Then do not use Word, Word Pad etc. ..) 1) The run file: ----------------The run file is named RUN.ACC .
The line executed in the timer file is the line where the current time is within the listed interval. The operator writing a new timer file must follow this format exactly. The format of the sequence file name can be different, i.e. it can be at another hard-disk and in another directory. The current version of the ACC2 program can accept maximum 100 lines from the timer file.
running in burst mode. The default is normal mode, but the operator can change to burst mode by pressing the Burst option button in the ACC2 window. When ACC_USE_CONTROL_SEC is 1 in the configuration file : When composing the sequence file the operator must allow the program to read the run file and the timer file or the Garmin GPS 12XL receiver. This is done the ACC_CONTROL_SEC second specified in the configuration file. The ACC2 program needs about 2 seconds to perform these tasks.
filters should be 630.0 nm (f1) and 557.7 nm (f2). The gain is set to 3 (maximum) for the 630.0 nm filter and 2 for the 557.7 nm filter respectively (g$). The exposure times should be 2000 and 1000 milliseconds (e$), and all images are stored at the harddisk (s1). At the start of the minute the image is also copied to network disk (u1). If the ACC_USE_CONTROL_SEC is 2 in the configuration file the program read the run file and the timer file or the Garmin GPS 12XL receiver.
CHAPTER 6 IMAGE FILE NAMES: The image ACC2 program stores images at directory: x:\data\images (Note: x: is d: for the Unis/UiO camera no 1.) Then after a backup the operator can remove all subdirectories at x:\data\images . (Or he can remove the images directory. Afterwards he the has to create the images directory again.) If the Windows95 "Recycle Bin" is used the files has to be emptied from the "Recycle Bin" afterwards. The DOS command DELTREE can be used, (e.g. in DOS deltree 971123 971124).
The filter code '&' is: "r" for the filter no 1, 630.0 nm "s" "t" "u" "v" "g" for the filter no 2, 577.7 nm "h" "i" "j" "k" "b" for the filter no 3, 427.8 nm "c" "d" "e" "f" The explanation of this is. The ACC2 program creates a new directory for each hour. Each image is stored in one file. Normally "r" is the filter code for the 630.0 nm filter no 1. However, if more than 256 (00 to FF Hex) images for filter no 1 are stored at each directory, the code for filter no 1 switches to "s".
CHAPTER 7 THE IMAGE FORMAT: The image format is the PMIS version 3.5 image format. It is described in the PMIS User's manual, Version 3.5 at page 243. It contains an header and then a 513x512x16 bits image. The ACC2 program uses the 100 character image header comment part for storing information about the camera system. The camera delivers 12 bit data, but the PMIS software stores 16 bit data. An example of the start of such a comment is: D1997-12-07_14:51:29W557.7nmF2G0E230....
CHAPTER 8 COPYING IMAGES TO A NETWORK DISK: The ACC2 program can save the image on a network disk. Here it can be read by «another program» which can process and display the on-line image data at e.g. the World Wide Web. The «another program» is not a part of the ACC2 program and can not be run on the camera PC. (The Geomapper program written by Dagfinn Opsvik can be used as the «another program».
The ACC2 program copies the image from the harddisk to the network disk. In this case the s0 u1 line in the sequence file will not work.
CHAPTER 9 CONFIGURATION FILE: The configuration file is named c:\acc\config\config.acc . This file must exist. The file contains comments which explains the file. When the user knows the setup of the camera he can fill inn the correct parameters in this file. Because the upper case characters "A" - "Z" are used as comment identifier, these characters should not be used.
# ACC_MACROS c:\pmis\Macros\Norway # # # Location of the image storage media top directory: ACC_STORAGE_MEDIA_DIR # (when s1 is set in sequence files) # MARK: This directory must exist # The images are stored in this directory tree. # ACC_STORAGE_MEDIA_DIR c:\data\images # # # Type image file name created: ACC_LONG_IMAGENAME # When LONG_IMAGENAME is 1 the long version of the file names are used # When LONG_IMAGENAME is 0 the short version of the file names are used # # MARK: The version 3.
# ACC_USE_GPS 2 # # Usually the computer access the GPS via the COM2: port # This might be named with another port number. # For the Unis/UiO camera no 1 COM4: is used, (ACC_GPS_PORT 4). # For the Unis/UiO camera no 2 COM2: is used, (ACC_GPS_PORT 2).
CHAPTER 10 SAVING DATA AT DAT STORAGE MEDIA: This is for the Unis/UiO camera no 1 (Longyearbyen). When saving data at the DAT tape the Adaptec Backup, abackup, program is used. Using the abackup program: 1. 2. 3. 4. Backup , Data_disk_d (D:) mark D: data, a 'v' tag appears, (Use «right mouse button» and Tag) NextStep> Mark the device HP 35480A 5.StartBackup> This backup last for approximate 1 hour / GB .
CHAPTER 11 SAVING DATA AT PINNACLE APEX 2 X 2GB OPTICAL DISK: This is for the Unis/UiO camera no 1 (Longyearbyen). The Pinnacle Apex drive capacity is 2 GB on side A and 2 GB on side B of the optical diskette. At the Micron computer the logical drive is F: (Removable disk (F:)). The files on this drive is directly accessible from Win95 and DOS. Fist time a new optical diskette is used ,it has to be formatted on both sides A and B. (It is done in approximate 5 minutes.
CHAPTER 12 USING THE HP SURE STORE T4i STREAMER: This is for the Unis/UiO camera no 2 (Ny Ålesund). The user should read Chapter 4 in the documentation for the streamer (Hewlett Packard, HP SureStore T4, T4i/e , User’s Guide, Caring for Your Tape Drive). The Colorado Backup program is used for storing images at the HP SureStore T4i tape drive. Press the Colorado Backup icon, (or start it using the Start pop up menu). FORMATTING: The new tapes needs to be formatted before used.
been exposed to low temperature, let it warm up slowly for several hours before using it.
CHAPTER 13 AUTOMATIC UPDATE OF PC CLOCK: Note: The use of GPS time is optional. The preferred time source is the Tardis95 program which updates the PC clock via the LAN to a Network Time Server. Network Time Server The Tardis95 program starts automatically when the computer boots. A small blue icon shall be visible right besides the PC clock in the down-right corner of the monitor. To change the settings, just click on the icon. The settings should be as shown in the figure.
When the Garmin GPS 12XL is operating on battery power or do not find any satellites it automatically shut down after 15 minutes. The mscommtry, (c:\acc\testprog\mscommtry.exe), can be used to test the GPS connection. This is started with the TestGPS icon. When this program is used simultaneously as the ACC2 program a conflict on using the COM2: port will appear.
CHAPTER 14 CAMERA SETUP: This chapter gives an overview of the camera setup. 180 ° fish-eye lens Front lens: Front safety shutter and f4 Garmin GPS 12XL Safety light detector Data cable Filter wheel Connector box Focusing tube RS-232 to COM2: Middle lens: f 0.95 and 19 m (at blacks) AC to DC adapter Image intensifier 220 VAC Focusing tube Bottom lens: f1.
Read the first 7 pages in the document All-Sky Imaging System for University of Oslo, KEO Consultants, 12/5/95. The camera is installed as shown in Figure 2. Three cables are connected from the PC to the camera system. • Optional! One cable from the PC COM2: to the GPS Connector box. • One cable from the PC COM1: to the Smartmtr control on the Camera U-channel. • One cable from the AT200 camera controller PC board to the Photometrics CC200 Camera controller unit.
CHAPTER 15 FOCUSING: One of the drawbacks of a digital camera with no analog output is the difficulty to focus it. The Unis/UiO cameras consist of three adjustable lenses for focusing. 1) Front fisheye lens: This should use the UV filter setting in the lens filter setting. (MARK: This is not the interference filter wheel, 630.0nm, … .) This UV filter is marked with white characters. The other filters are marked with yellow or red characters.
acquire->expose->1000 acquire->focus Now the camera continuously catches images. The Image_1 window is acting like a video camera screen. It is now easiest to see the instantaneously effect of focusing each lens. Perhaps it is easiest to start with the bottom lens and then afterwards the adjust the middle lens. The continuously exposure is stopped with the button or the right mouse button.
CHAPTER 16 POSSIBLE ERRORS: 1) If the ACC2 program do not understand your new timer or sequence file the reason can be that it is not a real ASCII file. Rewrite the sequence file with EDIT in DOS. Then try once more. 2) If the image processing capabilities of the PMIS program is used when the ACC2 program is running, the communication between ACC2 and PMIS can be lost (timed out).
8) If the connection between the PMIS program and the AT200 Interface board is lost the error when starting the PMIS program will appear: ‘Can not find the AT200 camera controller’. The first step is then to power down the computer, wait for about 30 seconds and then start the computer again. The PMIS program is then likely to find the AT200 Interface board. If the problem still exists the reset button on the AT200 camera controller might have to be pushed when the starting the computer.