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M&C 5.5 Release Notes

Released on Tuesday, August 16, 2005 PM

• Testing Activities
• New Features and Improvements
  • Ygor
    • config_tool
    • Pulsar Spigot Card
    • IF Manager
    • Managers now have correct units
    • Millimeter Converter
    • Antenna Fits Files
    • DCR Driver modifications
    • Antenna Characterization PFM model Loading
    • Linux Sampler Driver modifications
    • Grail sampler stream management improvements
  • Observing API Improvements
  • Astrid
• Known Issues
  • LO1 Manager Loss of External Reference (remains from last cycle)
  • Power Supply 5 in Motor Rack (remains from last cycle)
  • IFManager connection failure messages from dependent child managers (remains from last cycle)

Testing Activities

New Features and Improvements

Ygor

config_tool

Transfer switch setup was added for Rcvr8_10.

The Active Surface is included in the ScanCoordinator for Rcvr4_6. The behavior for all other receivers remains unchanged, i.e. the Active Surface is included in the ScanCoordinator for receivers above 4Ghz.

Pulsar Spigot Card

With the exception of Presto, the Pulsar Spigot Card software is now being maintained by the GB SDD. Users who wish to use the supported code should begin their sessions by sourcing /home/gbt/bin/spigot.{bash,sh,csh} instead of /users/pulsars/scripts/spigot.{bash,sh,csh}, but otherwise may proceed as before.

The holdInputLevel.py script has been revised this cycle to use Grail (running on the control computer, wind). Observers should see no difference in functionality between the old script and the new one.

IF Manager

The IF Manager's circuit simulation for the Ka Band receiver was updated to include the second feed.

Managers now have correct units

A problem was introduced in 5.4 which caused some fields labeled as 'MegaHertz' to be displayed as 'KiloHertz'. The acutal data was not affected. This has been corrected in 5.5.

Millimeter Converter

The Millimeter Converter now reads its configuration file (MMConverter.conf in /home/gbt/etc/config) upon startup to determine its initial state (On/Off/Standby).

Antenna Fits Files

The antenna now flushes its FITS files during writing. The intent is to assure data is on disk and available to quick look programs during a scan.

DCR Driver modifications

The DCR kernel driver command sequence to the hardware has been updated. Users and operators will not note any operational differences.

Antenna Characterization PFM model Loading

The Antenna Characterization Manager now loads in the same PFM model as is being used by the Antenna. Previously, when the Antenna Characterization Manager was re-started it would come up with the Default_DC model loaded, and the operator would have to reselect the pfm model in the Antenna CLEO screen to reset it to agree with the Antenna. This is no longer necessary.

Linux Sampler Driver modifications

Improvements in the sampler driver have been made so that data streams restart faster. This was done to support other improvements in monitoring in the Grail client.

Grail sampler stream management improvements

A problem in Grail allowed samplers to be read without updating. The most common symptom to this problem had been that Dynamic Corrections stopped updating. This has now been fixed.

Observing API Improvements

A series of improvements have been made to the Observing API (turtle) to make it easier to use and more robust. See the Observing API Release Notes.

Astrid

The Astrid splash has been revised to feature a radio image, rather than an optical image. The new image is shown below:

Known Issues

LO1 Manager Loss of External Reference (remains from last cycle)

• A fix that was originally attempted for PO#941, "Add LO1 Warning for Loss of External Reference," was backed out of in early January. At that time Roger was working in the lab to determine the correct behavior of the LO1 under these circumstances. As a result, the LO1 Manager will not set up the synthesizers to force to external reference. The SDD and Electronics have designed a solution, which is awaiting implementation. The user will NOT see an error if there is a loss in the 10 Mhz reference signal on LO1.

Power Supply 5 in Motor Rack (remains from last cycle)

• Power supply 5 in the Motor Rack has a hardware problem. It always shows failed and the logs are not written.

IFManager connection failure messages from dependent child managers (remains from last cycle)

• During version changes, several child managers of managers with IFManager dependencies reported RPC connection errors with the IFManager. In every case, it was just one of the child managers of each manager reporting the problem.