Release Notes

Summary

This release 4 of the IFW includes the following products:

ICS Framework Product	Repository/Waf project	Product version	RPM version
Application Framework	rad	4.0.0	elt-rad-4.0.0
Test Runner Framework	etr	3.1.1	elt-etr-3.1.1
Sequencer	seq	3.0.0	elt-seq-3.0.0
Data Display Tool	ddt	0.2.0 (beta)	elt-ddt-0.2.0
Camera Control Framework	ifw-ccf	2.0.0	elt-ifw-ccf-2.0.0
Observation Coordination Framework (daq)	ifw-daq	2.0.0	elt-ifw-daq-2.0.0
Observation Coordination Framework (sup)	ifw-sup	2.0.0	ifw-sup-2.0.0
Function Control Framework	ifw-fcf	4.0.0	elt-ifw-fcf-4.0.0
Online Data Processing	ifw-odp	4.0.0	ifw-odp-4.0.0
Miscellaneous Core Libraries	ifw-core	4.0.0	elt-ifw-core-4.0.0
RTMS Tools	ifw-rtmstools	0.1.1	elt-ifw-rtmstools-0.1.0

The links to the components release in Gitlab are :

• ifw-core release

• ifw-rtmstools release

• ifw-fcf release

• ifw-sup release

• ifw-daq release

• ifw-odp release

• ifw-ccf release

• ifw-ll release (fcf controllers)

• rad release

• etr release

• seq release

Note

Repository for Binaries:

We have moved our binaries to GIT Large File Storage (LFS). This includes but is not limited to PLC compiled libraries, PLC modules and other utilities (binaries for Windows).

What is the scope of this version?

Version 4 gives an important step toward the completion of the original scope of the IFW. The IFW version 4 has started with the integration to the CII services by having various components upgraded to the CII config-ng service. This integration will continue in the future versions of the ICS Framework according to the availability of the CII services. With the inclusion of DPM, the IFW now can generate the final FITS images ready to be sent to the archive system.

What is new in this release?

• Data Product Manager (DPM)

• Generic asynchronous shell

• Integration to CII Config Service (FCF and CCF).

• IFW High Level project has been broken down in several GIT projects.

• Rtms tools package including a gateway between RTMS and DDT.

• IFW binaries and libraries renamed to comply with ELT naming conventions.

• FCF PLC libraries to help emulating the send and receive of CCS data via MUDPI.

• Alpha version of the Cryogenic Toolkit PLC library.

Besides the above new components, additional changes are present in this version:

• IFW has been ported to the CII new config service (config-ng).

• Sequencer now supports OB parameters and logging.

• CCF Python library and asynchronous shell has been added.

• CCF RTMS Publisher has been added.

• FCF GUIs now supports Qt style sheets.

• FCF shell has been refactored to use the generic asynchronous shell and coroutines.

• FCF Lamp engineering GUI has been added.

• SUP shell has been refactored to use the generic asynchronous shell and coroutines.

For a more detailed list of changes, please refer to the individual component release notes.

Some of the third party products and middleware solutions used by the ICS Framework are:

• Qt Framework for developing GUIs.

• ZeroMQ for implementing request/reply and publish/subscribe message patterns.

• Google Proto Buffers for serialization/deserialization.

• Softing OPC-UA toolkit for communication to the PLCs

• FreeOpcUa toolkit for implementing OPCUA servers in Python.

• Google Tests and Mockup libraries for unit tests.

• Robot Framework for integration tests.

• Nomad/Consul for software deployment.

• JSON format for setup serialization. The Development Environment includes libraries in C++ (nlohmann) and Python (json) to work with JSON format.

Development Environment

• The Development Environment has been upgraded to CentOS 8 v3.9.

For a detail release notes of the Development Environment, please visit here

Instrument Specifics Packages

To facilitate the development and integration, the IFW is now delivered as a set of additional RPMs to be installed on top of the Development Environment. This saves developers from retrieving, building and installing the IFW by their own. The additional RPMs are not part of the Development Environment since this is specific for instruments and therefore its installation shall be done on demand.

Components

Rapid Application Development (RAD)

The is an application framework that enables the development of event-driven applications for the ELT, based on call-backs or state machines.

For details, see the rad user manual.

Extensible Test Runner (ETR)

The component etr is included in the release to support running integration tests. The following features are available:

• Run Robot Framework tests with the robot plugin.

• Request test resources with the resources plugin.

• Modify template files with Jinja2 template engine and the jinja2 plugin.

• Deploy software with Nomad with the nomad plugin (experimental support).

For details see the etr user manual.

Sequencer

The component seq is included in the release to support the implementation of engineering scripts. The following features are available:

• Sequencer Engine

• Sequencer API

• Sequencer CLI

• Sequencer GUI (experimental)

For details see the seq user manual.

Function Control Framework (FCF)

Device Manager

Supported Devices

• Shutters

  • Configuration parameters: initial state (open, closed), timeout for HW operations, signal logic, and more.

  • Close/Open control.

• Lamps

  • Configuration parameters: initial state (On, Off), timeout for HW operations, signal logic, and more.

  • On/Off control.

  • Intensity control.

  • Automatic switch off after a timeout.

• Motors

  • Configuration parameters: maximum velocity, axis type, initialisation sequence, timeouts, SW limits, backlash compensation, usage of brakes, named positions, and more.

  • Move in absolute encoders and user units.

  • Move using named positions.

  • Move in relative encoders.

  • Move in speed.

• Sensors

  • Monitor a list of engineering variables.

  • Values are not continuously read from the LCS but updated on data change.

• Derotators

  • Five operation modes: engineering, stationary, sky, elevation and user defined.

  • Tracking computation is based on slalib running in the PLC.

• ADCs

  • Two operation modes: off and automatic.

  • Multi-axis support.

  • Tracking computation is based on slalib running in the PLC.

• Piezos

  • Two operation modes: position and automatic.

  • Supports up to three axes.

  • Move in bits and userunits.

• Actuators

  • Generic On/Off control.

Device Simulators

FCF provides a set of simulators to all supported devices. The simulators have been implemented in Python based on the FreeOpcUa toolkit and the “rad/scxml4py” engine.

Engineering Graphical Interfaces

The Device Manager includes two graphical applications, see fcf_gui_ref.

Warning

These two applications shall be considered just as a prototype implementations. Their design (color scheme, layout and in general their look&feel) may change in the future according to the development of ELT widget libraries and standards for graphical interfaces.

• FCF GUI (fcfGui): Engineering interface for the control and monitoring of Device Manager and devices under its control.

• Motor GUI (pymotgui): Engineering interface for the control and monitoring of a single motor device, implemented in Python.

PLC Libraries

PLC Libraries are now available in GIT and can be retrieved from the ifw-resource repository. Note that this repository uses the LFS (Large File Storage) Git extension. All libraries are located in the same directory. This simplifies the installation of the libraries in the TwinCAT IDE.

The PLC source code can be retrieved from: https://gitlab.eso.org/ifw/ifw-ll/-/releases/v4.0.0

All libraries have been created with TwinCAT 3.1.4024.25.

Required TwinCAT 3.1 build is 4024.25 or higher.

Required OPC UA Server version is 3.3.16.0 or higher.

Known Incompatibilities

The porting to the CII config-ng introduced backward incompatibilities. All applications shall update their configurations to adapt ot the new YAML format required by CII config-ng. This is needed for FCF and CCF based applications.