The NOAO KOSMOS Data Handling System

TL;DR

The paper details the implementation of the NOAO KOSMOS Data Handling System, focusing on its software architecture, data flow, and support for specific CCD detectors used in high-efficiency imaging spectrographs at major telescopes.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive description of the KOSMOS DHS software design, integration with existing systems, and operational procedures for data acquisition and processing.

Findings

Successful deployment at Mayall and Blanco telescopes.

Effective support for e2v 2Kx4K CCD detectors.

Robust data and metadata flow through the system.

Abstract

KOSMOS and COSMOS are twin high-efficiency imaging spectrographs that have been deployed as NOAO facility instruments for the Mayall 4-meter telescope on Kitt Peak in Arizona and for the Blanco telescope on Cerro Tololo in Chile, respectively. The NOAO Data Handling System (DHS) has seen aggressive use over several years at both the Blanco and Mayall telescopes with NEWFIRM (the NOAO Extremely Wide-Field Infrared Imager) and the Mosaic-1.1 wide-field optical imager. Both of these instruments also rely on the Monsoon array controller and related software, and on instrument-specific versions of the NOAO Observation Control System (NOCS). NOCS, Monsoon and DHS are thus a well-tested software suite that was adopted by the KOSMOS project. This document describes the specifics of the KOSMOS implementation of DHS, in particular in support of the original two-amplifier e2v 2Kx4K CCD detectors with which the instruments were commissioned. The emphasis will be on the general layout of the DHS software components and the flow of data and metadata through the system as received from Monsoon and the NOCS. Instructions will be provided for retrieving and building the software, and for taking simulated and actual exposures.