Manual for the DOOCS camera server

there are several cameras that are watched if they have the correct rep rate and if not the server is restarted every 15 min. here is the list of these cameras [[https:~~/~~/ttfinfo.desy.de/FLASHWiki/Wiki.jsp?page=FlashCamerasToWatch~[~[image:url:http://hasfweb.desy.de/pub/TWiki/TWikiDocGraphics/external-link.gif~|~|width="13" height="12"~]~]>>url:https://ttfinfo.desy.de/FLASHWiki/Wiki.jsp?page=FlashCamerasToWatch||shape="rect"]]

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== Camera server general info ==

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[[info from the DOOCS pages~[~[image:url:http://hasfweb.desy.de/pub/TWiki/TWikiDocGraphics/external-link.gif~|~|width="13" height="12"~]~]>>url:https://ttfinfo.desy.de/FLASHWiki/Wiki.jsp?page=Camera%20server||shape="rect"]]

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For the (% class="twikiNewLink" %)CeYAG(%%) camera in the FL1 tunnel Gerhard implemented a feature that during a restart a camera_server.conf.default file is copied as conf file to always have the same settings. if one wants to change something permanently one has to edit the default file. e.g. cp /export/doocs/server/camera_server/camera_server.conf.default /export/doocs/server/camera_server/camera_server.conf

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== scaling the image / spectra ==

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== Spectra (line outs) and Gaussian fits ==

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== working with ROIs ==

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To create more ROIs one has to do the following:

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* Define in ENVIRONMENT file the environment variable "(% class="WYSIWYG_TT" %)export FLASH_CAM_ROI_NUM_ENV=xxx(%%)" . With xxx the maximum number of ROIS one needs in a camera controlled by the camera server. (The ENVIRONMENT file is under e.g. export/doocs/hasvuvblfw2/server/camera_server). after editing the ENVIRONMENT file one has to restart the cameraserver.

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* NOTE the file os owned by doocs adm. to edit it one can use (% class="twikiNewLink" %)WinSCP(%%) and log in as doocsadm.

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* now all cameras have maximum ROIs. if you need less for some cameras read below:

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* Set the required number of ROIs for every camera in the property ROIS.NUM in the configuration file. The way how it's done is the following. On the camera server re-start xxx number of ROIS will be created for every camera. But after reading the configuration file the non-required ROIS will removed for every camera separately according to ROIS.NUM.

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== saving images ==

The tool writes images of either bmp or an image depemdent format to the specified folder. The folder is on the computer on which the camera server is running (!) and the path starts from the camera server path (!)options

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The typical location of the camera server is /export/doocs/server/camera_server/. . if you put "./" in the field Camera Directory. the images in the camera_server directory. It is better to have a separate directory as subfolder like "CameraImages". on some computers this is already installed.

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Another aproach is to write the files to a home directory. One may put e.g. "/home/vuvfuser/CameraImages/" in the Camera Directory to save on the home directory.

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* aquire single images: just press "writing once"

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* aquire a defined number of images: put the number of images in the "count" field and press enter.

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* aquire many images. pressing the countinously writing button starts the writing and stops when you press the stop button or the harddisk is 95% full

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note that youor login has to have the permissions to write in the specified field!

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== Installing new cameras ==

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To install an additional camera to a DOOCS camera server perform the following steps:

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* Open the Jddd watchdog panel for the server ((% class="twikiNewLink" %)WatchdogOverview(%%).xml). goto camera server -> locations

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* right upper part is a button Divice control

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[[image:url:http://hasfweb.desy.de/pub/Setup/CameraServerManual/Clipboardadd_camera.jpg||alt="Clipboardadd_camera.jpg" width="455" height="408"]]

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** use action: add

** chose FCT code (812 in our case)

** add name

** press send

the you see the new camera in the location table. do ot forget to click "Cfg. restore" in the camer expert pannel onece everything looks o.k. with the camera ( otherwise the cameras may switch with their names ...)

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[[image:url:http://hasfweb.desy.de/pub/Setup/CameraServerManual/screenshot.png||alt="screenshot.png" width="1490" height="950"]]

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1. First you'll have to open the camera location overview from the watchdog panel

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1*. Enable the camera you wanna edit. If the check mark can't be enabled, you can't talk to the camera.

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1. Open the Camera Control Panel and switch to the "Expert View"

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1. Make sure the "Cfg Restore" checkbox is set. This will make the camera server associate the camera-id with this server location. So after a reboot/restart this location controls the same camera.

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1. Switch to continuous acquisition

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1. Setup the trigger as needed

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1. Enable rate-limiting in case you don't have a trigger

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1. Start acquisition; if the frame number increases, you did everything right

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== Renaming cameras ==

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While the camera is running one can go to the WD -> locations -> properties ... and then change the NAME to the desired one (NO SPACE CARACTERS IN THE NAME !!!) and press enter ... thats it

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== special topics ==

==== Background subtraction: ====

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* it is important that the values for negative offset are 0. otherwise the substraction does not work (experimental finding by Stefan ...) . For the Basler A311 cameras the mode has to be 5 . for mode 7 the Background substraction does not work... (no resources left)

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* For Basler ethernet camera's the offset needs to be zero in anycase, otherwise the server will crash. Also note, you have to make a reference image, that you have to stop/start the image aquisition before you can enable the background-substraction in jddd.

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==== Power Over Ethernet ====

==== Triggering ====

* it is important for the ace cameras that the trigger is 7 µs long. when it was accidentally switched to 0.7 µs the a311 were still triggering while the ace were NOT !!

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* [[BLCamTrigOverview>>doc:FLASHUSER.jddd-linked help pages.FLASH beamline camera docu.Docu of the BL camera trigger system based on MTCA.WebHome]]

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==== Restarting Servers ====

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* Starting with DOOCS release 18.10.6 the watchdog-server provides a new feature called PRE_START. This lets the watchdog-server check if the actual server directory contains a PRE_START script. If this script is present, it will be executed before the actual server start command.

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* Restarting the server through the watchdog will make a call to the doocs script:(% class="code" %)

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(((

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doocs [re]start camera_server no_pre_start

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))).

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* Calling (% class="WYSIWYG_TT" %)//doocs start camera_server// (%%)will include the

PRE_START

{{/code}}// //script, which is by default set to (% class="WYSIWYG_TT" %)///export/doocs/server/script/reload_CAMERA_Server// (%%).

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* You can also use the (% class="WYSIWYG_TT" %)//!restart!//(%%)button from watchdog server overview. This will execute (% class="WYSIWYG_TT" %)///export/doocs/server/script/reload_CAMERA_server //(%%)directly.

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* The (% class="WYSIWYG_TT" %)//reload_CAMERA_server s//(%%)cript will usually:

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** Stop capturing on all cameras (optional)

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** Stop the camera_server

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** Unload the device drivers (optional)

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** Restore a default configuration (optional)

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** Start the camera_server

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== FAQs ==

1. //How can I save some images?// you can save images of the camera locally on the computer you are running jddd by clicking the right mouse button and use "save as png..."

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1. //How can I save many images?// goto camera "control" -> "Write images" - a new window opens. With this you can save images (set best to BMP) with timestamp to the computer on which the camera server is running !! (hasftunnelcam1). here the directory in which it safes is : hasftunnelcam1: /export/doocs/server/camera_server/images (if you have the standard setting "./images/" in the directory field). you can get the images with e.g. (% class="twikiNewLink" %)WinSCP(%%). See also help in the "write images" window for more info.

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1. //No images are shown / no update - what to do?// Check if the camera is on (right upper part: Images. the checkbox should be green). If not activate the check box. if this is on but the frames are not counting the trigger might be off. you can check this going to

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1. //The cameraserver is unavailable - what to do? See Restarting Server

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== Troubleshooting ==

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