D scan

this is a page to list feature requests, bugs and give usage examples for d_scan.

d_scan is the next version of c_scan, this version has an important additional feature over c_scan - the ability to nest actions within actions. this allows for some additional functionality which was hard or impossible to achieve with c_scan. Additionally, there is a move to simplify the actions by having single actions for specific tasks, e.g 'scope' or 'scan' where d_scan handles the differences between different hardware without the need of user intervention. this is currently complete for the main scopes found in the labs, and is in progress for scanning actions.

There is a new data format and automatic naming system to make data handling simpler. For scope data a .m metadata file is saved with the data with all the scope settings and data parameters.

Feature requests

• force saving of meta data at end of scan (current file exist checks requires user intervention at end of scan)
• display in webcam action not working on bib for some reason
• scope to switch to summed mode if averaging is on, then switch back to continuous at end.
• general scan option, with hardware type select
• mirror_pbp action to have restore option (currently leaves at last point of scan, this might not be trivial as needs to probe dac card, for current output voltage)

Completed tasks

• save scope mode (seg, RT etc) and number of avgs, number of segs to scope meta data file
• check if files exist - request permission to overwrite, action option to turn off checking
• save option to force saving in actions for live data plotting options for long scans, check the different scan types to check option present.

Completed Actions List

• webcam
• mirror_pbp
• apt_scan
• pi_scan
• scope
• a2d
• d2a
• count
• delay

Action options / examples

     action webcam 
         camera 1              //camera ID no
         resolution 1280 720   // resolution to open camera with
         grab                  // saves a frame from the camera
         display               // displays a frame from the camera 
     end 

     action scope 
         channels F1,F3       // use name of channel you want separated by commas
         ip 128.243.74.74     // IP address of scope
         filename   str       // uses str for filename overrides automatic naming system
     end

     action a2d 
         channel 0           // channel to grab
         range 2             // this is card specific voltage range use comedi test to find ranges ./usr/bin/comedi_test
         n_samples 1         // samples to grab
         sample_rate 10000   // sample rate for ADC
     end

     action d2a_phidget      // action for phidget d2a
          channel 0          // channel on d2a
          pbp_scan 2 4 0.05  // output V range and step
     end     

     action mirror_pbp       // mirror scan point by point
         axis 0 -1 1 .1      // axis number, start, stop, increment
         tell_pos 2          // report position
         save                // force save data at the end of this loop (useful for live processing scripts)
     end

     action apt_scan
         axis 0              // axis to move
         scan -1 1 0.5       // start stop inc
         restore             // return to original position at end
         save                // force save data at the end of this loop (useful for live processing scripts)
     end

     action count
          count 10           //loops until it get to count value
     end

     action delay
          delay 1            // time to wait in seconds, useful to help with timings if you need to make sure stages have stopped before grabbing data
     end