Schedule Commands

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EOVSA Schedule Commands

This page documents the **Schedule Commands** used by the EOVSA Monitor & Control system to operate antennas, front-end electronics, digital control modules, frequency synthesizers, and safety monitors.

General Notes

Antenna List Syntax (Optional)

All Schedule commands accept an optional **antenna list** specifying where the command should be sent.

Accepted syntaxes: 

COMMAND ant1 ant2 ant3
COMMAND ant1-3
COMMAND subarray1
COMMAND subarray2

If no antenna list is provided, the command is sent to **all antennas currently in subarray1**, unless explicitly noted otherwise.

Commands Handled Directly by ACC

Command Execution Control

ABORT
Aborts all commands sent to ACC but not yet executed.

Pointing Offsets

CLEAROFF [antennalist]
Clears all Az/El or RA/Dec offsets.

Digital Control Module (DCM) Commands

DCM Operating Mode

DCMAUTO-OFF [antennalist]
Sets DCM modules to manual attenuation mode, allowing DCMATTN commands to be applied.
DCMAUTO-ON [antennalist]
Sets DCM modules to automatic attenuation mode, ignoring DCMATTN and applying offsets via the DCMOFFSET mechanism.

Manual DCM Attenuation

DCMATTN HPOLattn VPOLattn [antennalist]
Sets HPOL and VPOL attenuations for the listed DCM modules.
Applied on the next second boundary.

Warning: Executed only when DCM modules are in manual mode.

DCM Offset Attenuation (Testing / DPP Interaction)

DCMOFFSET inc1 inc2 … inc50
Defines up to 50 attenuation offset increments to be cycled once per second.
If fewer than 50 values are provided, the sequence is repeated.
Intended only for testing.

Warning: Executed only when DCM modules are in automatic mode.

Binary message format (DPP → ACC):

  • TCP/IP port: TCP.dpp.port (default 6344, defined in ACC.ini)
  • Payload: 50 × 32-bit signed integers (I32)
DCMOFFSET-CLEAR
Clears the current list of 50 DCM offset attenuations.

Warning: This clears offsets for all DCM modules.

DCM Base Attenuation Tables

DCMTABLE [antennalist] filename
Uploads a DCM base attenuation table to the listed antennas.

Table requirements:

  • 30 columns × 50 rows
  • Adjacent column pairs represent HPOL/VPOL
  • File location: c:\parm\
  • Default filename: DCM.txt

Timeout behavior is controlled by the DCM/table_timeout key in ACC.ini.

Attenuation formula: 

DCM_atten[pol,slot] =
    DCM_base_atten[pol,slot] + DCM_offset[broadcasted]

DPP Offset Interaction

DPPOFFSET-ON
Applies DPP-recommended offset attenuations while allowing manual DCMOFFSET.
Default behavior after ACC reboot or emergency reset.
DPPOFFSET-OFF
Ignores DPP recommendations but allows manual DCMOFFSET.

Front-End Module (FEM) Commands

Initialization and AGC

FEM-INIT
Initializes FEM base attenuations from:
c:\ni-rt\startup\acc.ini
FEMAUTO-ON [antennalist]
Enables AGC mode (equivalent to AGC 1).
FEMAUTO-OFF [antennalist]
Disables AGC mode (equivalent to AGC 0).

Manual FEM Attenuation

FEMATTN hlevel vlevel [antennalist]
Selects FEM attenuation levels, applied on the next second boundary.
  • Attenuation table: c:\parm\FEMATTN.txt
  • Level saved in crio.ini and restored on reboot
  • May be overridden if AGC is active

Attenuation calculation: 

HPOL = HPOL_BASE + FEMATTN(level)
VPOL = VPOL_BASE + FEMATTN(level)

Base Attenuator Settings

HATTN first second [antennalist]
Sets HPOL base attenuators (first and second stage).
Updates both acc.ini and crio.ini.
VATTN first second [antennalist]
Same as HATTN, for VPOL.

Frequency and LO Control

Frequency Sequences

FSEQ-FILE filename
Uploads frequency sequence file from c:\parm\.
FSEQ-INIT
Initializes synthesizer using the [LO Configuration] section of acc.ini.
FSEQ-ON / FSEQ-OFF
Starts or stops the tuning sequence.
FSEQ-SCRIPT filename
Sends synthesizer commands line-by-line from script file.

LO Hardware Control

LO1A-REBOOT
Power-cycles the LO1A synthesizer via the PDU.
LO1B-REBOOT
Not implemented.
LO1A-WRITE command
Sends a raw command to the LO1A synthesizer.
LO1B-WRITE command
Sends a raw command to the LO1B synthesizer.

Service and Subarrays

Service Mode

SERVICE [add|del|in|out] [antennalist]
Updates the list of antennas placed into service mode.
Default list is ant1-15.
The service list is stored in acc.ini.

Aliases:

  • add ≡ in
  • del ≡ out

After updating the service list, antennas are removed from subarrays and driven to the service position.

Warning: Once in service position, antennas should be placed in local mode.

Subarrays

SUBARRAY1 antennalist
Assigns antennas to subarray1 (excluding SERVICE list).
SUBARRAY2 antennalist
Assigns antennas to subarray2.
Antennas must not already be in subarray1.

Note: Since Dec 03, 2015, LO switching is no longer automatic. Use explicit commands: 

SUBARRAY1_SWITCH
SUBARRAY2_SWITCH

Synchronization

SYNC [antennalist]
Restarts the real-time executable on listed cRIOs.

Note: If no antenna list is provided, all cRIOs are restarted.

Tracking and Motion Tables

TRACKTABLE filename [antennalist]
Uploads a tracking table from c:\parm\.
TRAJ-FILE filename [antennalist]
Uploads a trajectory table from c:\parm\.
UNLISTEDCOMMAND [antennalist]
Forwards the command directly to cRIOs for local execution.

Commands Handled by cRIOs

These commands are forwarded by ACC to the specified antenna list, or to all antennas in subarray1 if no list is provided.

AGC and Offsets

AGC active [low [high [samples]]]
Controls the AGC loop.
Parameters are saved in crio.ini.
AZELOFF azoff eloff
Sets Azimuth and Elevation offsets.
RADECOFF raoff decoff
Sets RA and Declination offsets.

Motion and Control

POSITION az el
Requests an explicit Az/El position.
TRACK
Sets antenna to tracking mode.
STOP
Immediately stops antenna motion.
STOW
Stows the antenna.
DRIVE-RESET
Resets the antenna controller.
RESTART
Reboots the cRIO.

Noise Diode

ND-ON / ND-OFF
Enables or disables the local noise diode.

TEC (Thermal Control)

TEC-LOG
Dumps TEC registers to c:\tec.txt.
TEC-INIT
Initializes TEC registers using hard-coded defaults.
TEC$BC
Reboots the TEC controller.
TEC$SC
Clears the TEC error status.

Trajectory Execution

TRAJ-ON / TRAJ-OFF
Starts or stops trajectory execution.

Safety Monitors

BRIGHTSCRAM

BSCRAM-ON / BSCRAM-OFF
Enables or disables the monitor.
BSCRAM-CLEAR
Clears the active state.
BSCRAM-SET
Forces the active state.
BSCRAM-WAIT seconds
Sets clearing delay.
BSCRAM-STOW
Sets operation mode to stow when active.
BSCRAM-OFFSET
Sets operation mode to apply offsets.
BSCRAM-AZELOFF azoff eloff
Sets offsets used in OFFSET mode (defaults: AZ=0°, EL=10°).

WINDSCRAM

WSCRAM-ON / WSCRAM-OFF
Enables or disables the monitor.
WSCRAM-LIMIT value
Sets wind speed threshold.
WSCRAM-WAIT seconds
Sets polling interval.

Diagnostics and Registers

UpdateElevationDiagnostics 1
Updates elevation trip registers.
UpdateAzimuthDiagnostics 1
Updates azimuth trip registers.

Low-Level Register Access

REGWRITE address value [antennalist]
Writes a value to a specific controller register (new antennas only).

Example: 

REGWRITE 23386 2 ANT6

Equivalent symbolic command: 

RUNMODE 2 ANT6

This is commonly used to enter velocity mode to safely drive an antenna off a hard limit.

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