Engineering 2011JunJul

TODO LIST

• Recenter champ internal mirrors while maintaining CHARA internal fringes and also keep MIRC fringes.

• Focus champ ToP mirrors.

• Start working on the automatic alignment

2011July JDM Notes

2011 1 July

FB: mainly worked on integrating CHAMP with chara system, which requires solving some dependencies and conflicts. This is not an easy task as a lot of the code has been duplicated into files specific to CHAMP. Vacuum pumped CHAMP in prevision for the run, pressure ~5e-6.

2011 2-3 July

FB: Went to get Xiao at the airport. Still working on the code, most of it compiles but still many issues, need to make the error() functions from CHAMP and CHARA compatible, as well as the char_waiting() function. CHAMP now cooled, pressure is high ~1.5e-6 but lots of outgassing from the inner dewar so will see when stabilized.

2011 4 July

FB: astropci_usr now compiles without errors as a CHARA server, need to check everything works.Did the internal alignment for CHAMP. Pressure is dropping, 1e-6 at the end of the day.

2011 5 July

FB: test if camera/pyramid are well aligned, more work on CHARA servers.

2011 6 July

Started working on automatic alignment.

2011 7 July

Clock issues between MIRC and CHAMP.

champdev@champ ~/control/CHAMP/spooler $ sudo ./spooler

ctime -- GMT time 2011-07-07 at 19:51:36

Unix time -- 1310068293951475528.000000

Unix time truncated -- 68293951853494.000000

mirkwood:/home/xche/MIRCFB# ./spooler

ctime -- GMT time 2011-07-07 at 19:51:36

Unix time -- 1310068296857988904.000000

Unix time truncated -- 68296858045643.000000

Difference 2.906 seconds, launching MIRC spooler after CHAMP spooler

champdev@champ ~/control/CHAMP/spooler $ sudo ./spooler

ctime -- GMT time 2011-07-07 at 19:57:20

Unix time -- 1310068638048980465.000000

Unix time truncated -- 68638049038729.000000

mirkwood:/home/xche/MIRCFB# ./spooler

ctime -- GMT time 2011-07-07 at 19:57:20

Unix time -- 1310068640444883803.000000

Unix time truncated -- 68640444909570.000000

Difference of 2.395 seconds, launching CHAMP spooler after MIRC spooler

After rebooting CHAMP, nearly no difference, 3.15 seconds, launching MIRC spooler after CHAMP spooler.

After rebooting MIRC, -0.09 seconds, launching MIRC spooler after CHAMP spooler.

champdev@champ ~/control/CHAMP/spooler $ sudo ./spooler

ctime -- GMT time 2011-07-07 at 20:08:15

Unix time -- 1310069294843309881.000000

mirkwood:/home/xche/MIRCFB# ./spooler

ctime -- GMT time 2011-07-07 at 20:08:15

Unix time -- 1310069294753602329.000000

-0.09 seconds

mirkwood:/home/xche/MIRCFB# ./spooler

ctime -- GMT time 2011-07-07 at 20:58:45

Unix time -- 1310072324484454938.000000

champdev@champ ~/control/CHAMP/spooler $ sudo ./spooler

ctime -- GMT time 2011-07-07 at 20:58:45

Unix time -- 1310072320851251127.000000

3.6 seconds

2011 10 July

We want to phase MIRC, CHAMP, and optical combiners, as well as put the vernier on the far right mirror to center of their positions. To do this

Verniers init M1 : 0.26

M2 : 5.08

M3 : 2.96

M4 : 2.98

M5 : 4.24

M6 : 3.02

M1 moved to 2.5

W1W2 on B1B2:

B2: 5.08 -> Retro = 3.35

B2: 5.0 -> Retro = 3.43

B2: 4.8 -> Retro = 3.63

B2: 4.3 -> Retro = 4.11

B2: 3.38 -> Retro = 5.02 / OK

Realigning 5.33

50 microns OPD+ on Ealing offset IR2 = 35 microns RETRO

+100 microns IR2, 5.432 -> 5.554 on newport

+500 microns IR2, 5.554 -> 6.02

M2: 3.38 -> 2.5 Newport 6.02 -> 6.854

IR2 new good position = 168360

B2B3 init retro fringes 6.731

M2 2.96 -> M3 2.5, retro 6.731 -> 7.18

IR3 init 173123

-200 Microns on IR3, retro 6.98

-1050 Microns on IR3, retro 5.94 OK

New good position for IR3, 160523

Final notes on the pickoff alignment: Media:pico_debug.txt

2011 July 16

(JDM) More problems with CHAMP readout. The most common symptom is that the system will return error codes during 'config camera.' The first settings always work -- including nrows, ncols, reset controller, load tim.lod, etc. The error usually start with frames per reset, nreads, and setting the bias voltages.

In order to isolate the failing compoment, we started to use MIRC hardware.

Started tests: Champ computer, Champ fiber, Champ electronics == FAIL

Champ computer, Champ fiber, MIRC electroncis == FAIL (this suggests either champ computer or champ fiber. i.e, champ electronics OK)

MIRC computer, MIRC fiber, CHAMP electrnoics == PASS (this is consistent with champ computer or champ fiber as problem

Champ computer, MIRC fiber, Champ electronics == PASS

Champ computer, CHAMP fiber, Champ electrnoics == PASS (crap! this is where we started. so the system is now working! This could mean it has to do with a blocked fiber port on the champ card. or just basic flakiness in the pci card for champ)

next step: when problem happens. first try use MIRC fiber. if that fails, then we further focus on the champ pci card. matt anderson is mailing us the spare card on monday so we can test this component separately on tuesday.

2011 July 17

(SK) CHAMP Readout problem happened again at the beginning of the day-shift. CHAMP electronics was at room temperature. Tried to reboot. Exchanged CHAMP fibers with MIRC fibers, but without success. Switched MIRC fiber pair, but without success. Works on second try after reboot (the correct MIRC fiber orientation is with blue ribbon at the top).

Notes from observing during the night:

Fringe positions:

fringe 1:

fringe 2: -0.047

fringe 3: 0.030

fringe 4: -0.085

fringe 5: 0.011

fringe 6: 0.435

bug: FT offset RESET and INIT does the same thing

look what FT numbers mean

MWC361: typically around 50 counts on MWC361 on all baselines (20 counts minimum)

time delay in fringe plot

fringe found at -1.9 at W1-W2 at 4:55

high SNR, seeing 5(W1)-3.4(W2), around 50 counts (relatively poorly focused beams)

INIT on one baseline changes mode on other baseline

w1 reference, total offset 1.75 mm

FB: Champ focusing notes Media:champ_focusing.txt

Phasing with MIRC on sky, pickoff ealing mirror values:

IR1 183539

fast mode, GDT gain +0.05, 15 accumulate, StoSL 5, SLtoL 20000: effective, keeping fringes

2011 July 21

(SK) Today, the CHAMP failure occurred again. As a new test, we only rebooted the CHAMP computer, but did not reset the electronics. If the problem would only be related to the CHAMP electronic, we would expect that a reboot of the computer would not be sufficient to recover after a failure. We find that after 1-2 attempts, we could recover with the computer reboot, which seems to suggest that the problem is either related to the computer itself (motherboard etc.?) or a connected component.

We have now a functioning version of the calibration tool. However, more work might be needed in order to test it and to calibrate the values for all beams.