Running Andor Newton Camera

Slow Full-Frame Tuning vs. Full Vertical Binning 120Hz

Many experiments like to tune the position of the beam with a slow full-frame image then run fast 120Hz data acquisition in "full vertical binning" (FVB) mode.  To do this, we recommend that users use the IOC's "python viewer" for the full-frame tuning (without running the DAQ) then switch to FVB for 120Hz operation.  Steps:

• start the appropriate IOC panels (see below for command) on tmo-daq or rix-daq
• end the DAQ run if one is in progress
• click stop in the IOC window to stop the Andor (in the "Image Collection" area in the middle-right of the main panel)
• switch to full-frame (a.k.a. "Image") mode (in the middle of the "detail" sub panel)
• click start in the IOC window to start the Andor in full-frame (a.k.a. "image") mode.  ensure the triggering event-code and trigger width is set appropriately (typically event code 120 when beam is going to the soft X-ray line).
• tune beam position
• when done tuning click "stop" in the "Image Collection" area in the middle-right of the main panel
• in the middle of the "detail" sub panel set "Readout Mode" to "FVB" (full-vertical binning)
• click start in the IOC window to start the Andor in FVB mode
• start a DAQ run

Screen shots of a working Andor.  The first image is the main panel, and the second image is a "detail" subpanel.  It is accessed from the lower box labelled "NewtonD0940P" on the middle-left of the main panel:

Starting the IOC Panels:

• TMO: /cds/group/pcds/epics/ioc/common/andorCam/R0.4.0/children/build/iocBoot/ioc-tmo-andor1/edm-ioc-tmo-andor1.cmd
• RIX: /cds/group/pcds/epics/ioc/common/andorCam/R0.4.0/children/build/iocBoot/ioc-rix-dir-andor/edm-ioc-rix-dir-andor.cmd

Thoughts from Dan Damiani on running the Newton Camera:

• Camera "Software Development Kit" (SDK) manual can be found here: Andor CCD
• Do not set the exposure time to 5 ms: 2ms is the max exposure time for 120 hz, it takes 5+ ms for the readout so you are dropping every other event (with autocorrect at 120Hz).  A too-large setting will be seen in the main IOC panel with the "sync status" oscillating between locked/unlocked.
• Also they have the evr delay set to zero, but with a large enough window that might be okay
  • Looks like the last time they ran the VLS at SXR the evr delay was 0.00085 s and the width was 1e-5 seconds
• The IOC shutter settings do not matter: they are only to control an external shutter (which we don't have in TMO)
• you can also try to experiment with toggling TMO:VLS:CAM:01:AndorKeepClean to see what effect that has (use Stop-Acquire before changing this setting).  use the pvget/pvput commands to modify the value.
• use the "python viewer" at the top of the IOC screen to view images.  the edm viewer is broken.
• we recommend tuning the full-frame image without running the DAQ using the python-viewer, then putting the camera into Full Vertical Binning (FVB) mode using the IOC window for 120Hz line-out running
• the event code set in the IOC window should match the event code used in the DAQ readout group (in the "timing" system configuration).
• ioc "autosave" files can be found here: /cds/data/iocData/ioc-tmo-andor1/autosave/. (you can look at the various autoSettings.sav* files)

• As far as I can tell there are only a few PVs that actually matter for the temp:
  TMO:VLS:CAM:01:Temperature_RBV # readback of the actual setpoint temp. I am not sure this one works
TMO:VLS:CAM:01:Temperature # get/put the temperature setpoint (edited) 

  # turn on/off the cooling
  TMO:VLS:CAM:01:AndorCooler
  # readback the on/off state
  TMO:VLS:CAM:01:AndorCooler_RBV
  # string "status" message about the cooling state
  TMO:VLS:CAM:01:AndorTempStatus_RBV
• TMO:VLS:CAM:01:TemperatureActual is supposedly the temperature readback

A picture of the IOC screens when the camera is working in full-frame mode: