simcado.commands module¶

class simcado.commands.UserCommands(filename=None, sim_data_dir=None)[source]¶

Bases: object

An extended dictionary with the parameters needed for running a simulation

A UserCommands object contains a dictionary which holds all the keywords from the default.config file. It also has attributes which represent the frequently used variables, i.e. pix_res, lam_bin_edges, exptime, etc

<UserCommands>.cmds is a dictionary that holds all the variables the user may wish to change. It also has some set variables like <UserCommands>.pix_res that can be accessed directly, instead of from the dictionary.

UserCommands is imported directly into the simcado package and is accessable from the main package - simcado.UserCommands

If UserCommands is called without any arguments, the default values for MICADO and the E-ELT are used.

Parameters

filenamestr, optional: path to the user’s .config file

See also

simcado.detector.Detector
simcado.optics.OpticalTrain

Examples

By default UserCommands contains the parameters needed to generate the MICADO optical train:

>>> import simcado
>>> my_cmds = simcado.UserCommands()

To list the keywords that are available:

>>> my_cmds.keys()
...

The UserCommands object also contains smaller dictionaries for each category of keywords - e.g. for the keywords describing the instrument:

>>> my_cmds.inst
...

Attributes

Internal dictionaries
cmdsdict (collections.OrderedDict): the dictionary which holds all the keyword-value pairs needed for running a simualtion
obsdict (collections.OrderedDict): parameters about the observation
simdict (collections.OrderedDict): parameters about the simualtion
atmodict (collections.OrderedDict): parameters about the atmosphere
scopedict (collections.OrderedDict): parameters about the telescope
instdict (collections.OrderedDict): parameters about the instrument
fpadict (collections.OrderedDict): parameters about the detector array (FPA - Focal Plane Array)
hxrgdict (collections.OrderedDict): parameters about the chip noise (HxRG - HAWAII 4RG chip series)
Attributes pertaining to the purely spectral data sets (e.g. transmission
curves, stellar spectra, etc)
lamnp.ndarray: a vector containing the centres of the wavelength bins used when resampling the spectra or transmission curves
lam_resfloat: [um] the resolution of the lam
Attributes pertaining to the binning in spectral space for which different
PSFs need to be used
lam_psf_resfloat: [um] the spectal “distance” between layers - i.e. width of the bins
lam_bin_edgesarray-like: [um] the edge of the spectral bin for each layer
lam_bin_centersarray-like: [um] the centres of the spectral bin for each layer
Attributes pertaining to the binning in the spatial plane
pix_resfloat: [arcsec] the internal (oversampled) spatial resolution of the simulation
fpa_resfloat: [arcsec] the field of view of the individual pixels on the detector
General attributes
verbosebool: Flag for printing intermediate results to the screen (default=True)
exptimefloat: [s] exposure time of a single DIT
diameterfloat: [m] outer diamter of the primary aperture (i.e. M1)
areafloat: [m^2] effective area of the primary aperture (i.e. M1)
filterstr: [BVRIzYJHKKs,user] filter used for the observation

Methods

update(new_dict)	updates the current `UserCommands` object from another dict-like object
keys()	returns the keys in the `UserCommands.cmds` dictionary
values()	returns the values in the `UserCommands.cmds` dictionary

keys(self)[source]¶: Return the keys in the UserCommands.cmds dictionary

update(self, new_dict)[source]¶

Update multiple entries of a UserCommands dictionary

update(new_dict) takes either a normal python dict object or a UserCommands object. Only keywords that match those in the UserCommands object will be updated. Misspelled keywords raise an error.

To update single items in the dictionary, it is recommended to simply call the key and update the value - i.e <UserCommands>[key] = value.

Parameters

new_dictdict, UserCommands

Raises

KeyError: If a parameter is not found in self.cmds.

See also

UserCommands

Examples

View the default commands

>>> import simcado
>>> my_cmds = simcado.UserCommands()
>>> print(my_cmds.cmds)

Change a single command

>>> my_cmds["OBS_DIT"] = 60

Change a series of commands at once

>>> new_cmds = {"OBS_DIT" : 60 , "OBS_NDIT" : 10}
>>> my_cmds.update(new_cmds)

values(self)[source]¶: Return the values in the UserCommands.cmds dictionary

writeto(self, filename='commands.config')[source]¶

Write all the key-value commands to an ASCII file on disk

Parameters

filenamestr: file path for where the file should be saved

simcado.commands.dump_defaults(filename=None, selection='freq')[source]¶

Dump the frequent.config file to a path specified by the user

Parameters

filenamestr, optional: path or filename where the .config file is to be saved
selectionstr, optional: [“freq”, “all”] amount of keywords to save. “freq” only prints the most frequently used keywords. “all” prints all of them

simcado.commands.dump_chip_layout(path=None)[source]¶

Dump the FPA_chip_layout.dat file to a path specified by the user

Parameters

pathstr, optional: path where the chip layout file is to be saved

simcado.commands.dump_mirror_config(path=None, what='scope')[source]¶

Dump the EC_mirrors_scope.tbl or the EC_mirrors_ao.tbl to disk

Parameters

pathstr, optional: path where the mirror configuration file is to be saved
whatstr, optional: [“scope”, “ao”] dump the mirror configuration for either the telescope or the AO module

simcado.commands.read_config(config_file)[source]¶

Read in a SimCADO configuration file

The configuration file is in SExtractor format:: ‘PARAMETER Value # Comment’

Parameters

config_filestr: the filename of the .config file

Returns

config_dictdict (collections.OrderedDict): A dictionary with keys ‘PARAMETER’ and values ‘Value’.

Notes

The values of the dictionary are strings and will have to be converted to the appropriate data type as they are needed.

simcado.commands.update_config(config_file, config_dict)[source]¶

Update a SimCADO configuration dictionary

A configuration file in the SExtractor format:

'PARAMETER    Value    # Comment'

an existing configuration dictionary.

Parameters

config_filestr: the filename of the .config file

Returns

config_dictdict: A dictionary with keys ‘PARAMETER’ and values ‘Value’.

Notes

the values of the dictionary are strings and will have to be converted to the appropriate data type as they are needed.