Methods of Constructing New CCD Classes in the RTS2

CCDs are among the most commonly used instruments on astronomical telescopes and are also important parts of autonomous control systems of astronomical telescopes. With emerging needs of automatic observations using astronomical telescopes and the rapid development of relevant technologies, the open-source RTS2 has become one of the software systems that are relatively more noticed in the field of automatic observations. However, the RTS2 supports rather limited types of CCDs, and its control-interface convention is rather fixed. The original settings of classes in the RTS2 are not sufficient to incorporate special CCD devices (such as the 32 CCDs of the LAMOST and some CCD devices for selecting observation sites). Based on our thorough analysis of the RTS2 source codes, we investigate methods of constructing new CCD classes from the original Camera class. The methods are mainly about extensions of parameters, commands, and protocols. The methods are applied to the control of the CCDs on the LAMOST telescope and achieve rather effective results. The work of this paper provides rather valuable references for incorporating other types of equipments on astronomical telescopes into the RTS2.