POLREF: Allow control of the CCD

ISISComputingGroup / IBEX

POLREF: Allow control of the CCD #6604

Open DominicOram opened 3 years ago

DominicOram commented 3 years ago

As an IS on POLREF I would like to be able to read data from my CCD so that I can do laser alignment tests in the long shutdown.

Acceptance Criteria

A discussion is had with the IS about exactly how much integration they need at this point
Data is read from the to the IS's satisfaction

Notes

The CCD has already been purchased (see BC106N-VIS_M-Manual.pdf)
It is USB controlled and a couldn't find any EPICS drivers on a quick look
Eventually the CCD will be incorporated into the DAE and we would read it from there
There are also options to incorporate into a Beckhoff
Originally this was planned for BotF but scientist now wants it on the instrument due to delays in BotF

rerpha commented 3 years ago

It is USB controlled and a couldn't find any EPICS drivers on a quick look

ChrisM-S commented 3 years ago

Looking at the manual. This is clearly something which will need it's own PC/Laptop to drive the device and to install the Thor Labs specialized software (it's a full software suite with several components including imaging/image processing). The USB from the device would be connected into this ancillary computer and we might then need a remote IOC on this which could be controlled from IBEX via the network to this PC - a bit like the IMAT imaging PCs. It is just possible that some access to the hardware might be available by using NI VISA remoting from the instrument PC (this is how we read the DAEII so is already there) so might be a bit of a shortcut - the software appears to be based on at least some components though VISA drivers. There may be other scripting/control as part of the software suite too.

FreddieAkeroyd commented 3 years ago

https://www.thorlabs.com/software_pages/ViewSoftwarePage.cfm?Code=Beam says it can be programmed from c++, the release notes say the download includes an example c++ program, so writing an areaDetector driver may then be the best option

DominicOram commented 3 years ago

We also don't necessarily have to come up with a full solution with bells and whistles. They may only need a method to trigger the camera from a script. I've suggested to the scientist we get a laptop and see what control the Thor Labs software gives us out of the box and go from there.