|
DAS
3.1.6 - 18/09/2017
|
The DAS application was developed for the complete management of the SPATRAM Spectrometer.
Nevertheless DAS can control some similar DOAS Spectrometer, namely:
Moreover DAS can handle the MIGE (Multiple Input Geometry Equipment) : the optical device allowing for the measurements of scattered radiation along directions different from the zenith one.
The DAS MAIN Graphic User Interface allows for the monitoring and the control of the status of the equipment (OMU, ECU, CCD Sensor, temperatures, stepper motors activity, data back-up, MIGE device (optional) etc). DAS lets the operator to perform measurements and it is also possible make measurements in Automatic and Unattended Mode by means of ASCII files (with extension .PRG) containing keywords recognized by DAS (PRG Commands).
DAS can also be used in a PC not connected to the instrument in order to:
More detail can be found in the Execution modes section
The software is implemented in ANSI C standard with the support of the multi-platform MGUI (Morello Graphic User Interface) library.
The multiplatform features allows the program to run on computers equipped with Win9x, Win2000, WinXp. The compatibility with Vista/Windows7 (32 & 64) and Linux OSs has to be tested
The code is compiled with the Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0.
The CCD sensor is managed with the dclrefman
The stepper motors, providing for the positioning of the mechanical and optics devices, are handled by the AMS2 (Advanced Micro Stepping) Controller. These lasts interact with the PC trough one serial port by means of the WSC32 Libraries.
The program can be installed with the Automatic Setup or configured by the user. In this last case the Manual Setup has to be applied.
The main fatures of this program are:
Introduction
This manual presents and explain the operation modes and use of the DAS program utilized in order to perform the spectral measurements with the different instruments DAS can manage.
PC Configuration
In order to have the DAS program full operational, some drivers has to be installed on the PC contained in the ECU of the equipment, namely:
Starting from DAS version 3.1.6, for the instruments equipped with FDL-PCI interface (LIS, TROPOGAS, spatramptechman, GASCODNG1, GASCODNG2, GASCODNG3), the drivers of the CCD Camera nedd to be updated even if already present in the PC.
The more trustfull way to do that need some mechanical operations:
Now the OS will ask for the driver of the FDL-PCI and operate as reported in the FDL-PCI section
It is possible to execute the program in different modes depending on the arguments furnished to the executable:
The program can be launched:
After the installation the program has to be executed the first time in the Demo mode in order to set the correct parameters for the utilized equipment. If the program is installed with automatic setup you can choose the link DAS Demo in the Program Bar; otherwise a shortcut to the DAS program has to be created with the 'DEMO' argument.
At the first execution (even in demo mode) DAS can encounter some problems, mainly due to the absence of some drivers for the installed device (Before DAS Execution), or for the configuration files not present in the appropriate folders or with wrong format. Please refer to page DAS System Files for a detailed explanation of the file format, possible problems and how to solve them.
The main features of the DAS gui are presented and explained in detail. The procedures and actions under each widget are shown.
DAS loads GUIs depending on the argument given to the executable DAS.exe leading to different execution modes.
Arguments:
the output files created by DAS are:
Introduction
The software is implemented in ANSI C standard with the support of the multi-platform MGUI (Morello Graphic User Interface) library. The multiplatform features allows the program to run on computers equipped with Win9x, Win2000, WinXp and in the future also on Linux OS.
The code is compiled with the Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0.
This section will try to present and to explain the programming philosophy and the main functions implemented in the DAS program.
At the beginning of this project one of the main problem was the choice of the programming language to be utilized to manage all the devices in the instrument.
After some doubts the ANSI C Standard was chosen mainly because it is an 'open' language, that allows for the complete and clear control of the Operating System used (Windows :-( ), of the devices (as parallel, serial port and PC104 bus).Moreover any kind of function or procedure can be developed and it can be linked with other modules (executables programs) written in other languages.
Another powerful tool of the C language is the use of 'pointers' that allows for the fastest execution of the instructions and the possibility to use 'structures' as collection of variables of different types.
The Graphical User Interface (GUI) library that should be used was the other point of discussion: in fact the GUI of the Visual C/C++ (the windows API - Application Programming Interfaces) are developed only for the windows environment. Since some of the instruments managed by the DAS will be installed in remote sites (Arctic and/or Antarctica), and since Microsoft Windows doesn't ensure a complete stability of working for long periods, it is foreseen that DAS should be translate also for Linux OS. Mainly for this last reason, for the simplicity (even if only apparent) of usage and for the multiplatform feature, the choice fell on the MGUI (Morello Graphic User Interface) library.
The first BETA release of the DAS was a Control Panel displaying the activity of the CCD Camera and the movements of the stepper motors of the instrument. The code implemented code was limited to the basic functions of management of the devices (positioning of the input mirror, of the grating, of the filter wheel and the capabilty of obtaining spectral measurements. The Visual C/C++ IDE (allowing for the identification of the resources of the project) was composed of 10 files (including sources, headers and library files).
After the identification of a possible PHD work to be carried on with this activity, the possibility , thanks to national and international founded project and the perspective to build a "Network" of this equipments, the devloping of the DAS became more important and more functions and tools were implemented.
Some numbers for DAS current release (3.1.6):
DAS starts with the MGUIMain procedure, performing sequentially several actions as loading and setting of operational parameters namely:
Then the argument is checked in order to set the execution mode (ChkExeMode) and build the appropriate GUI (BuildShell)
| Argument | Execution Mode | GUI | Code |
| MASTER | TEMPORIZED | DAS MAIN Graphic User Interface | RunFULL |
| SZAPRG | SZAMODE | DAS MAIN Graphic User Interface | RunFULL |
| 'filename'.PRG | PRGGFILE | DAS MAIN Graphic User Interface | RunFULL |
| 'filename'.LOG | LOGMODE | LOG Mode | RunLogMode |
| OFFLINEPLOT | OFFLINEPLOT | Off Line Plot | RunOLP |
| HELP | HELP | ||
| MANUAL | DAS MAIN Graphic User Interface | RunFULL | |
| DOAS | DOASMODE | DOAS Mode | MDCreateDOAS_MainSh |
| TESTAMS | TESTAMS | DAS MAIN Graphic User Interface | RunFULL |
| TESTAD | TESTAD | DAS MAIN Graphic User Interface | RunFULL |
| TESTCCD | TESTCCD | DAS MAIN Graphic User Interface | RunFULL |
| DEMO | DBDEMO | DAS MAIN Graphic User Interface | RunFULL |
As can be seen from the previous table the RunFULL procedure is the most used one.
In particular for Execution Modes = TEMPORIZED, PRGGFILE, MANUAL, SZAPRG The main actions of RunFULL are:
The LaunchBackTask procedure init the main tasks in background allowing for:
Depending on the executions mode and the presence of the AD Converter the task for
In addition other very important tasks are initiated:
This last task (Task_AutoEx) calls the D_AutoExecution function that depending on the execution modes perform the automatic measurements.
DAS boot correctly if the system files are all present in the specified folders. If the archive are not there or if they contains errors the user is adviced. for a full explanation of what happen when one or more of the system file are missing, please see the DAS System Files page.
In addition, depending on the type of instrument, as well as on the execution modes different windows are shown at the DAS Boot