RE: Alignment mode for AreaDetectors?

[Mark Rivers via Tech-talk <tech-talk at aps.anl.gov>]

Hi Nino,

 

In principle that mode could be implemented in ADEiger.  It would effectively be the same as setting TriggerMode=InternalSeries, NumImages=1, NumTriggers=1, and setting Acquire=1 as soon as the previous image is complete. 

 

The only issue is the performance.  This is the output of camonitor on the Acquire PV when I do that manually on an Eiger2S 1M with AcquireTime=0.01 seconds.

 

corvette:~>camonitor -tci 13EIG2:cam1:Acquire

13EIG2:cam1:Acquire                          (   +7.574912) Acquire

13EIG2:cam1:Acquire                          (   +0.775277) Done

 

13EIG2:cam1:Acquire                          (   +1.491137) Acquire

13EIG2:cam1:Acquire                          (   +0.789318) Done

 

13EIG2:cam1:Acquire                          (   +1.194118) Acquire

13EIG2:cam1:Acquire                          (   +0.807242) Done

 

13EIG2:cam1:Acquire                          (   +0.530099) Acquire

13EIG2:cam1:Acquire                          (   +0.798572) Done

 

13EIG2:cam1:Acquire                          (   +0.623805) Acquire

13EIG2:cam1:Acquire                          (   +0.780007) Done

 

So it takes about 0.8 seconds to acquire a single frame even with a very short acquire time.  If this is done instead with a large value of NumImages and setting Acquire=1 only once then the update rate is basically limited by the AcquireTime.

 

Mark

 

From: Miceli, Antonino <amiceli at anl.gov>
Sent: Thursday, May 12, 2022 12:27 PM
To: Mark Rivers <rivers at cars.uchicago.edu>
Cc: tech-talk at aps.anl.gov
Subject: Re: Alignment mode for AreaDetectors?

 

Hi Mark and Mark, 

 

I think the issue is that former users of the Pilatus really used the Alignment frequently and now are using the Eiger which is slightly different.

 

I think what they really like is the ability to leave alignment running for a very long time (~hours) without having to make NumImages very large. 

 

Nino

 

---

From: Tech-talk <tech-talk-bounces at aps.anl.gov> on behalf of Mark Rivers via Tech-talk <tech-talk at aps.anl.gov>
Sent: Thursday, May 12, 2022 12:12 PM
To: Miceli, Antonino <amiceli at anl.gov>
Cc: tech-talk at aps.anl.gov <tech-talk at aps.anl.gov>
Subject: RE: Alignment mode for AreaDetectors?

 

Hi Nino,

 

Ø  The Pilatus detector had a popular mode called alignment which came with the detector SDK; essentially this mode would overwrite to the same file and continue until the stop button was pressed. 

 

That mode is not part of the SDK, it was something I created in the ADPilatus driver.  All it does is to set NumImages=1 and to tell camserver to keep writing to the same file called “alignment.tif”.  It reads back the data from alignment.tif and does callbacks to all registered plugins, just as for regular data collection mode.

 

Ø  Is there a clean/easy way to emulate this for other areadetectors? (I know I can disable all the file writing plugins.)

 

There is no need to disable the file writing plugins, although you would probably want to disable AutoSave in each file plugin if that is enabled.  But that is no different than the ADPilatus in alignment mode: if AutoSave is enabled for a file plugin when using the ADPilatus driver then files will be written even in alignment mode.

 

Perhaps I am not understanding the question.  What is it that works for you with the ADPilatus in alignment mode that does not work with other detectors, and which detector in particular are you asking about? As Mark E. said if you are using a driver that always writes files then you can just disable auto-increment to avoid creating many files.

 

Mark

 

 

From: Tech-talk <tech-talk-bounces at aps.anl.gov> On Behalf Of Miceli, Antonino via Tech-talk
Sent: Thursday, May 12, 2022 11:31 AM
To: tech-talk at aps.anl.gov >> EPICS Tech Talk <tech-talk at aps.anl.gov>
Subject: Alignment mode for AreaDetectors?

 

Hi, 

 

The Pilatus detector had a popular mode called alignment which came with the detector SDK; essentially this mode would overwrite to the same file and continue until the stop button was pressed. 

 

Is there a clean/easy way to emulate this for other areadetectors? (I know I can disable all the file writing plugins.)

 

Thanks, 

Nino