Stepper Motor Control - Part 3

Contents

Troubleshooting SMCs

Restarting Antenna Process

First restart the antenna process to reopen the communication link between the antenna computer and the SMCs:

UIP> ANTENNA /RESTART /NOSYNCHRONIZE
Deleting process WEATHER_LOG
Deleting process Tau monitor
Deleting process ACQ_CLIENT
Deleting process ANT_MCP
Restarting ANT_MCP...
Restarting ACQ_CLIENT...
Restarting Tau monitor and WEATHER_LOG...
UIP>

Then issue the FOCUS command and the LO command (with the /FORCE option) and see if there appears any error message like "SMC3 not responding" on the status display:

UIP> FOCUS
UIP> LO 12CO2-1 /FORCE
Do you want to move the sidecab mirrors? [N]Y
Initiating movement of the sidecab mirrors
Pausing to switch LO matrix and downconverter
UIP>

Checking Semaphores

Run the program showsems on the antenna computer to list the status of counting semaphores for the SMCs. The values of /sem_smc1, /sem_smc2 and /sem_smc3 should be one:

hau$ showsems
/sem_smc1:      1
/sem_smc2:      1
/sem_smc3:      1
     ...snip...
hau$

If not, first check if there is any smc program running or if the UIP is executing the FOCUS, LO or any other command which may change the status of the secondary mirror, receiver mirrors or instrument rotators. If the smc program is already running, then stop it. Do not send any UIP command.

If any one of those three semaphores is still zero or negative, use the program rmsems to delete it. The smc program explained below will create a new one automatically:

hau$ showsems
/sem_smc1:      1
/sem_smc2:      0
/sem_smc3:      1
     ...snip...
hau$ rmsems /sem_smc2
hau$ showsems
/sem_smc1:      1
/sem_smc2:      does not exist
/sem_smc3:      1
     ...snip...
hau$

Checking SMCs

Run the program smc for the SMC you are having a problem and check if it is responding:

hau$ smc1
Opening SMC1... done
smc1> status
Motor 1: status =         74 = armed complete homed
Motor 2: status =         74 = armed complete homed
Motor 3: status =         10 = armed complete
Motor 4: status =         74 = armed complete homed
smc1> exit
hau$

If the smc program hangs, you have to reset the SMC and home the motors as explained here, or you may have to power-cycle the SMCs and home all the motors as explained in the next section.

Restarting Antenna Process

If the SMC is responding, restart the antenna process once again as explained above.

Setting Up SMCs

The following is a procedure to set up the SMCs for normal telescope operations:

  1. Power-cycle SMCs
  2. Reset semaphores
  3. Software-reset SMCs and load macros
  4. Home receiver mirrors
  5. Home secondary mirror
  6. Restart antenna process

More information about SMCs and related software can be found here.

Power-cycling SMCs

Power-cycle the SMCs in the receiver room. Wait for one minute before turning the power on.

Resetting semaphores

Run the program showsems on the antenna computer to list the status of counting semaphores for the SMCs. The values of /sem_smc1, /sem_smc2 and /sem_smc3 should be one:

hau$ showsems
/sem_smc1:      1
/sem_smc2:      1
/sem_smc3:      1
     ...snip...
hau$

If not, first check if there is any smc program running or if the UIP is executing the FOCUS, LO or any other command which may change the status of the secondary mirror, receiver mirrors or instrument rotators. If the smc program is already running, then stop it. Do not send any UIP command.

If any one of those three semaphores is still zero or negative, use the program rmsems to delete it. The smc program explained below will create a new one automatically:

hau$ showsems
/sem_smc1:      1
/sem_smc2:      0
/sem_smc3:      1
     ...snip...
hau$ rmsems /sem_smc2
hau$ showsems
/sem_smc1:      1
/sem_smc2:      does not exist
/sem_smc3:      1
     ...snip...
hau$

Software-resetting SMCs and loading macros

Run the program smc on the antenna computer to reset the SMCs and load macros necessary for telescope operations:

hau$ smc1
Opening SMC1... done
smc1> reset
Resetting SMC1... done
smc1> load
Loading macros to SMC1... done
smc1> exit
hau$ smc2
Opening SMC2... done
smc2> reset
Resetting SMC2... done
smc2> load
Loading macros to SMC2... done
smc2> exit
hau$ smc3
Opening SMC3... done
smc3> reset
Resetting SMC3... done
smc3> load
Loading macros to SMC3... done
smc3> exit
hau$

If the reset command hangs, type ^C, restart the smc program, then try the reset command again:

hau$ smc1
Opening SMC1... done
smc1> reset
Resetting SMC1... ^C
hau$ smc1
Opening SMC1... done
smc1> reset
Resetting SMC1... done
smc1>

If the reset command still hangs after several retries, you have to power-cycle the SMCs again.

Homing Receiver Mirrors

Home the receiver mirrors by running the shell script sidecab.home on hau:

hau$ sidecab.home
Opening SMC2... done
Resetting SMC2... done
Loading macros to SMC2... done
Homing motor #1 of SMC2... done
Homing motor #2 of SMC2... done
Homing motor #3 of SMC2... done
Homing motor #4 of SMC2... done
Homing motor #5 of SMC2... done
     ...snip...
Opening SMC1... done
Resetting SMC1... done
Loading macros to SMC1... done
Homing motor #1 of SMC1... done
Homing motor #2 of SMC1... done
     ...snip...
hau$

Homing Secondary Mirror

Home the secondary mirror by running the shell script secondary.home on hau:

hau$ secondary.home
Opening SMC3... done
Resetting SMC3... done
Loading macros to SMC3... done
Homing motor #1 of SMC3... done
Homing motor #2 of SMC3... done
Homing motor #3 of SMC3... done
Homing motor #4 of SMC3... done
     ...snip...
hau$

Restarting antenna process

First reestablish the connection to the antenna computer and restart the necessary programs:

UIP> ANTENNA /RESTART /NOSYNCHRONIZE
Deleting process WEATHER_LOG
Deleting process Tau monitor
Deleting process ACQ_CLIENT
Deleting process ANT_MCP
Restarting ANT_MCP...
Restarting ACQ_CLIENT...
Restarting Tau monitor and WEATHER_LOG...
UIP>

Then try the FOCUS command and the LO command and make sure you do not get any error messages on the status display:

UIP> FOCUS
UIP> ZA 44
UIP> LO 12CO2-1 /FORCE
Do you want to move the sidecab mirrors? [N]Y
Initiating movement of the sidecab mirrors
Pausing to switch LO matrix and downconverter
UIP>