Changes

* '''If you use the GPS, please set the pulse width to 10 microsec.''' It is currently defaulting to 1 microsec, and this will be fixed in the next version of the software.

'''Most recent chances at the top'''

*** sudo adjusted to be able to run all services needed including restart_services, rescue_data.py and ....??????

* (1) Connect to the web browser. '''Go to http://shoc40in.suth.saao.ac.za:5000 or http://shoc74in.suth.saao.ac.za:5000 depending on which telescope you are using.'''

* (7) Turn OFF the camera before you leave!!

* <span style="color: red">'''(1)'''</span> Point your browser at shoc40in.suth.saao.ac.za:5000 or shoc74in.suth.saao.ac.za:5000

'''NOTE: ON DNS ALIASES''': These telescope web addresses are aliases to the SHOC instruments. The real addresses for the instruments are shocnawe.suth.saao.ac.za:5000 or shocndisbelief.suth.saao.ac.za:5000. In order to avoid confusion, or the requirement that the user know which instrument is mounted on their telescope, we have created the aliases.

* Initialize the filterwheel(s) <span style="color: red">'''(3)'''</span>, then select the filter required <span style="color: red">'''(4)'''</span>, click "Move" <span style="color: red">'''(5)'''</span>. The "Centered" indicator should be green when the wheel is finished moving <span style="color: red">'''(6)'''</span>.

[[File:gps.png|1000px|left]]<br clear=all>

* If using external triggering, select the GPS tab <span style="color: red">'''(1)'''</span>

* Note that the current default pulse width is 1 microsec and it should be 10 microseconds. Please change it!

[[File:camera_turn_on.png|1000px|left]]<br clear=all>

* Select the camera tab <span style="color: red">'''(1)'''</span>.

* Start the acquisition <span style="color: red">'''(9)'''</span>.

[[File:camera_running.png|800px|left]]<br clear=all>

* Stop to abort <span style="color: red">'''(1)'''</span>, or wait until completion. The image display area (based on DS9) <span style="color: red">'''(2)'''</span> shows snapshots of the images throughout the acquisition.

* '''Make sure to turn off the camera when you are done for the night.'''

When running a series of exposures on the same target with different filters it

progress, the sequence will run to completion.

There are two ways to transfer data: (1) directly to your computer or (2) onto the SAAO storage area network (SAN). The data are automatically copied to the server every morning (at 9:30am).

NOTE: Data are moved to the SAN on the plateau every morning at 9:30am. However, if you're wanting to get your data to the SAN (and from there to the servers in Cape Town sooner than 9:30am) you MUST have run the shocdatacopy.sh script in order to get the data to the SAN. You can then obtain the data from astro.suth.saao.ac.za (or astro.cape.saao.ac.za if you're back in Cape Town).

* The primary means of controlling SHOC is via a web interface. The Firefox or Chrome browsers are preferred.

* Point your browser at http://shoc74in.suth.saao.ac.za:5000 or http://shoc40in.suth.saao.ac.za:5000

* The interface should appear, showing three tabs: Filterwheel, GPS and Camera.

* Select the filterwheel tab. There may be one or two wheels physically present; the interfaces to these are displayed side-by-side. The interface values for a wheel will be empty if the wheel is absent.

* Initialize the wheel by clicking the "Initialize" button (usually only at the start of the night, but may also be done if you suspect that the controller has lost its way). The wheel will move around to the reference position; this may take several seconds. While still moving, the "Moving" indicator above the controls will be red. Once there, the "Initialized" and "At Ref" indicators should turn green. The value in the "Current Position" field should be 1 after initialization. '''YOU MUST INITIALIZE BOTH FILTER WHEELS AT THE START OF THE NIGHT, AND MOVE ONE TO AN "EMPTY" POSITION TO ENSURE THAT THE CORRECT FILTER IS IN THE BEAM.'''

* Select the filter required, by using the up and down arrows on the right of the "Required Position" field. The filter name will indicate the filter in the selected position. Click the "Move" button. The indicators above the wheel controls should change; once the wheel has reached the required position, the "Moving" indicator should turn grey, while the "Centred" indicator should be green. The "Current Position" field will indicate the slot number and name of the filter now in the light path.

* The GPS tab allows the user to view the time, GPS state, and to change the Programmed Output Pulse (POP) settings.

* Check that the time is valid, and that there are no alarm conditions indicated.

* To stop the pulses from being sent, click the "Stop" button.

* The camera tab allows control and setting of the SHOC imaging camera.

* Before using the camera, you need to switch it on: click the "Turn Camera On" button.

'''* Once you're finished with the camera, remember to turn it off! It should not be left with the cooler on once the night's observations are finished.'''

* As an acquisition proceeds, snapshot images are displayed in the display area of the camera tab, basically as fast as the browser can render them.

* The interface is based on JS9, a Javascript version of the DS9 FITS processing and display engine (so users familiar with DS9 should be able to adapt to the JS9 interface relatively easily).

[[File:RealTimeSHOC.jpg|800px|left]]<br clear=all>

The FITS information is mostly drawn from the Andor camera. We have added additional keywords added to contain information on target (which can be entered by the user under the "advanced" tab in the web interface), the GPS settings, and from the telescope (when available -- currently only for the 74 inch). We have retained the raw state of Andor's keywords in order keep things as simple and straightforward as possible.

|}

With the release of the new, web-based software there have been changes in the naming of some of the FITS keywords. The keywords are documented in the table below:

'''NOTE:''' The conversion script makes use of [http://astropy.org Astropy]. See the official documentation for [http://astropy.readthedocs.org/en/stable/install.html installation instructions].

The specification sheets for the cameras, other manuals and documentation, can be found at http://shoc.saao.ac.za/Documentation.html .

* BINNING: The plate scale is 0.076 and 0.163 "/pixel for the 1.9m without and with the focal reducer. It is 0.167"/pixel for the 1.0m without the focal reducer. The optimal binning is ~ 3 pixels per full width half maximum. The seeing conditions in Sutherland are typically > 1"; therefore, SHOC should usually be binned at least 2x2.

: For example, if the seeing is 2" and SHOC is mounted on the 1.9m telescope without the focal reducer, sources would be well sampled at a binning of 6x6.

: 3 MHz Conv...................1, 2.5, 5....................................... 10, 4, 1.8

* '''Camera won't switch on:''' If the camera display times out when trying to switch on, you will need to restart the services. To do this:

** Open a terminal. This is available from the top menu or side menu of the thin client in the warm room. If the web browser is full screen, push 'F11', and you should then see the top menu bar. Once the terminal window appears, ssh to the instrument by running the command

*'''Camera tab is frozen:''' Occasionally (often at the start of the night) the first acquisition causes the camera tab to become unresponsive and 'freeze up'. The solution to this is to restart the services, as described above, then refresh the browser window and try again to restart the camera. This may need to be repeated several times before the camera starts.

*'''Camera overheats:''' Should the camera over heat (this normally results from the air outlets being blocked), an alarm will sound from the camera. Unfortunately no indication or reason for the alarm will be given on the control software. In the case of this happening please shut the instrument down and contact electrical support immediately. THE CAMERA MAY NOT BE USED WHILE THE ALARM IS SOUNDING.

Under normal operation, the system automatically updates the FITS cube header with supplementary information (filter, external trigger parameters, telescope pointing information etc.) and the moves the cube to the permanent (for the night) storage area. From time to time, it may be necessary to do this manually, using the rescue_data.py tool. In particular, if the system has frozen at the end of an acquisition, but before fixing the header and moving the data file, it will be necessary to perform this procedure. ''This procedure does NOT need to be done when stopping an acquisition; only if the interface hangs and you cannot do anything do you need to run this script.''

* You will be prompted for an index to use. NB: '''make sure there is no existing file with the same index that will be overwritten''' The script will scan the target directory and list the existing files. Choose and index which isn't used(one option is to use an index like 3a , if index 3 exists). In other words, if files such as SHA_20150403.0004.fits and SHA_20150403.0005.fits, choosing either index 4 or 5 will result in that file being overwritten. If you choose as index 4a or 5a, the files will not be overwritten.

*The SHOC box should be mounted at the base of the telescope, and the camera should be mounted below the filter wheel box.

** (3) Press the computer power button on the front of the computer.

* Once the machine has booted, fire up a browser and point it at http://shocnawe.suth.saao.ac.za:5000/ or http://shocndisbelief.suth.saao.ac.za:5000/.

* In the filterwheel tab:

** Switch the camera off again (press "turn camera off").

To access the SHOC computer, ssh into it from a terminal on your local machine or tablet (e.g. ssh ccd@shocnawe.suth.saao.ac.za or ssh ccd@shocndisbelief.suth.saao.ac.za).

**Under /home/ccd/programming/shoc, type the following: ./restart_services

* Before physically unmounting the instrument from the telescope, the SHOC control computer should be powered down. To do this:

ssh ccd@shocnawe.suth.saao.ac.za

* SHOC computers have two disks, a solid state drive to which data are spooled and a hard drive which runs the system. If there are concerns about the disks, you can verify mount points:

:At the command line, type the command 'mount'. The solid state disk should be mounted on /data/spool, while the spinning hard disk should be mounted on /data.