A Design of an Imaging Control Software System Based on the RTS2 and EPICS

The Experimental Physics and Industrial Control System (EPICS) is a software development framework for distributed control systems to operate large experimental equipments. It is also used for developing control systems of astronomical equipments such as telescopes and CCD cameras. The RTS2 is a remote-observatory control (software) system working under a Linux environment. In this paper we present the design and implementation of an imaging control software system using the RTS2 and EPICS. In our control system the RTS2 is used to control observation processes and the EPICS is used to control imaging devices. An EPICS toolkit named AreaDetector provides the functions for imaging-device control and data acquisition. In order to make the EPICS/IOC (Input/Output Controller) and the RTS2 work together in our system, we have designed an interface between the AreaDetector and RTS2. The interface is for mapping commands or statuses. Our test shows that the AreaDetector is suitable for control of imaging devices, and the EPICS/IOC can be integrated with the RTS2 system due to the extension with the interface of the RTS2. Our system is also successful in controlling an Andor camera. Overall, our imaging control software designed based on the RTS2 and EPICS is effective.