The Research On Scientific Camera Imaging And Testing Software For Astronomical Observation

Scientific cameras have become an indispensable instrument for modem optical telescopes in modern astronomical observation.As the apertures of the telescopes become larger and larger,the size of the cameras is getting larger and larger,ranging from single-chip CCD or CMOS cameras with small effective photosensitive area to large mosaic scientific cameras.The requirements for camera imaging control have also increased as the control system of the astronomical telescope becomes more and more automated.The camera imaging software ought to complete imaging configuration and manipulation of the camera and needs to have a robust and scalable architecture.In addition,the camera imaging software should be capable of supporting remote control.In response to the above requirements,this paper has designed and implemented a set of camera imaging softwares based on a variety of CCD and CMOS cameras developed in the laboratory,which has been well integrated into the telescope control system and the scientific CCD controller automated test system.This paper first introduces the basic concept of astronomical imaging system and the trend in the development of telescope control system.The requirements of imaging software are analyzed based on the current situation of camera imaging softwares at home and abroad.The camera imaging software needs ease of use,robustness,compatibility,scalability,and cross-platform features.Furthermore,the camera imaging software ought to support remote control for easy integration into astronomical telescope control systems and automated test systems for scientific cameras.The camera imaging software is hierarchically designed for ease of integration and use,including the imaging SDK for further development and the imaging application for users to directly use.The imaging SDK provides an API of basic functions that can operate the camera while the imaging application completes the user-oriented functions based on the SDK.After introducing the scientific camera hardware,this paper analyzes and gives the functional requirements of the imaging SDK.The imaging SDK and the camera communicate reliably through the USB bulk transfer mode,and a strict functional instruction format is designed at the protocol level to provide communication between the camera and the host computer,which can complete the transmission of instructions and image data.In order to be compatible with different models of cameras that have various functions,the imaging SDK follows the the ideas of obj ect-oriented design.The cameras are abstracted into multiple classes.The inheritance and polymorphism characteristics between the classes are heavily adopted to ensure the compatibility and scalability of the camera imaging software.CMake is introduced for build management,which can automate the process of publishing documents and running unit tests.Through the full performance test of the imaging SDK,it can be proved that it meets the requirements of high performance and high reliability.Imaging applications for camera imaging software include a WPF-based Windows application and an AreaDetector-based Linux application.This paper implements a powerful graphical interface for the Windows application,which integrates image processing functions and can analyze FITS images.The Linux application provides remote control function based on AreaDetector that can be easily integrated into the astronomical telescope observation and control system.Based on the requirements of the guiding system of quantum communication experimental telescope,this paper uses RTS2 and AreaDetector to realize the guiding control of the telescope astronomical imaging system.The guiding system effectively complements the tracking accuracy of the telescope in the actual tests at the observatory,and proves the reliability of camera imaging software.For the requirements of automated test of scientific camera CCD controller,the automation test software of CCD controller is designed based on camera imaging software,and the Qt-based automation test software of CCD controller is implemented on the embedded system.The test software consists of three parts:the Qt client,the AreaDetector-based camera imaging software,and the CCD controller test SDK,where the Qt client is used to draw the user interface and control the test flow.Through the cooperation of the CCD controller test SDK and the AreaDetector imaging software,the automated functions and performance test of the CCD controller is completed.The main work of this paper is as follows:1.The framework of camera imaging software is designed,which can adapt to various models of scientific camera with good compatibility and scalability;2.The performance test for the camera imaging SDK is completed,which performs well in the transmission rate test,resource occupancy test and stability test;The camera imaging software under Windows system is implemented,and the analysis and processing function of FITS image are added;3.The camera imaging software based on AreaDetector is completed,and the guiding system of the astronomical imaging system of the quantum communication experimental telescope is realized in combination with the RTS2.The performance meets requirements at the observatory;4.The overall architecture of the automation test software of CCD controller is designed.The test SDK of the automation test software of CCD controller is implemented on the embedded system,and the Qt-based test client program is implemented.