Commands

The main extensions to Tcl will be in the form of commands. Examples of telescope specific commands can be found at almost every observatory. The following list has been partly inspired by the OBSINP, OBS and OBS_E adverbs in use at the Effelsberg 100m, Pico Veleta 30m and Mount Graham 10m telescopes.

All commands are executed immediately. There is no notion of an active or passive field which is then activated by the operator as in the case of OBS. Commands are executed synchronously and the calling program waits for a return from the control system before continuing.

1.

Low Level

Refers to commands used for low-level actions at a system level. These commands should normally only be used by system administrators.

• dev_putget - execute a single device server command

  input device-name command-specific-input-parameters

  output command-specific-output-parameters

• sdio read - read an sdio node

  input node-name whole/byte/nybble/bit [byte] [nybble/bit]

  output value

• sdio write - write to an sdio node

  input node-name whole/byte/nybble/bit [byte] [nybble/bit] data

  output none

2.

General

Refers to general commands which are useful for more than one type of observation.

• project - specify project name

  input project-id

  output none

• observer - specify observer's name

  input observer's-name

• scan - request a scan id

  input type duration mode

  output scan-id

• catalog - select a source catalog

  input catalog-name

  output none

• source - select a source from a catalog

  input source-name

  output none

• abort - abort present observations (send appropriate commands to STEER and all configured hardware e.g. correlator, pulsar timer etc.)

  input none

  output none

• subref read - read the position of the subreflector

  input none

  output subreflector-position

• weather - report on weather

  input none

  output temperature pressure humidity

3.

Steer

Refers to commands sent to the telescope drive program - STEER.

• steer coord - select steer coordinate system

  input topo/hori/appa/mean/b1950/j2000/gala/ecli

  output none

• steer feed - select feed system

  input feed-name

  output none

• steer lat - select position and scan rate for latitude

  input latitude scan-rate

  output none

• steer long - select position and scan rate for longitude

  input longitude scan-rate

• steer euler - select Euler angles for coordinate rotation

  input psi phi theta

  output none

• steer parallax - set lunar parallax

  input angle

  output none

• steer beamoff - select beam offset

  input hour-angle declination

  output none

• steer tilt - select subreflector tilt for feed system

  input angle

  output none

• steer focus - select subreflector focus position for feed system

  input angle

  output none

• steer alarm - switch steer alarm on/off

  input on/off

  output none

4.

Continuum

Commands which are used for doing continuum observations (ask Jonathan and George for input on this section).

• cont onoff - do an onoff observation
• cont channel - select channel to record
• cont dscan - do a drift scan
• cont point - do a point source measurement
• cont cross - do a cross scan

5.

Spectral Line

Commands used for doing spectral line measurements (ask Mike for input on this section).

• sline channels - select number of correlator channels to use
• sline bw - select correlator bandwidth
• sline cfreq - select centre frequency of spectrum
• sline cvel - select central velocity of spectrum
• sline ave - select averaging time for observations

6.

Pulsar

Commands used for doing pulsar observations (ask Claire for input on this section).

7.

Mapping

Commands used for mapping (ask Justin for input on this section).