# High-contrast Imager for Complex Aperture Telescopes (HiCAT): 6. Software Control Infrastructure and Calibration

## TL;DR

This paper describes the development of a comprehensive software control and calibration infrastructure for the HiCAT testbed, enabling automated high-contrast imaging experiments crucial for future space telescopes aiming to detect Earth-like exoplanets.

## Contribution

It introduces a novel software framework that supports continuous integration, automated operation, calibration, and simulation for high-contrast imaging testbeds.

## Key findings

- Automated 24/7 operation with safety monitoring
- Calibration suite for performance tracking
- Testbed simulator for software development

## Abstract

High contrast imaging using coronagraphy is one of the main avenues to enable the search for life on extrasolar Earth analogs. The HiCAT testbed aims to demonstrate coronagraphy and wavefront control for segmented on-axis space telescopes as envisioned for a future large UV optical IR mission (LUVOIR). Our software infrastructure enables 24/7 automated operation of high-contrast imaging experiments while monitoring for safe operating parameters, along with graceful shutdown processes for unsafe conditions or unexpected errors. The infrastructure also includes a calibration suite that can run nightly to catch regressions and track optical performance changes over time, and a testbed simulator to support software development and testing, as well as optical modeling necessary for high-contrast algorithms. This paper presents a design and implementation of testbed control software to leverage continuous integration whether the testbed is available or not.