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This page reports the Frequently Asked Questions concering encountered during the RCS implementation activities.

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Table of content

RPW data

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general questions

Which standards applied to the RPW data?

The standards for Solar Orbiter science data are defined in https://issues.cosmos.esa.int/solarorbiterwiki/display/SOSP/Metadata+Definition+for+Solar+Orbiter+Science+Data.

Especially, this document provides the conventions in terms of file format, naming and data versioning.

All RPW science data must comply these standards.

N.B. Solar Orbiter science data standards partially rely on the ISTP/IACG CDF guidelines (see https://spdf.gsfc.nasa.gov/sp_use_of_cdf.html).

Where can I find Solar Orbiter SPICE kernels?

All SOC-provided Solar Orbiter SPICE kernels retrieved by the ROC are made available in https://rpw.lesia.obspm.fr/roc/data/private/solo/esa/soc/spice/ (restricted access).

For more details about:

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The CDF generation principle for RPW is described here.

For more information about the CDF and skeleton/master mechanism, visit http://cdf.gsfc.nasa.gov/.

How to

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generate a skeleton or master CDF

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file from an Excel format file?

The mechanism to deliver skeleton CDF to the ROC is presented in the "ROC Engineering Guidelines for External Users" (REGU) document (see ROC-GEN-SYS-NTT-00019-LES, available in ROC Documents).

In summary:

• Skeleton CDFs must be delivered as a skeleton table in the ASCII format
• Skeleton CDFs must be "pushed" by teams in the "SOLO/RPW/CDF/Skeleton" folder of the ROC "DataPool" Git respository (https://gitlab.obspm.fr/ROC/DataPool)
• Skeleton CDFs can be only "pushed" by teams in the "rcs" branch of the ROC "DataPool" Git respository

How to generate a skeleton or master CDF file from an Excel format file?

The MASER4PY Python package allows to generate skeleton table or Master CDF from an Excel 2007 format file (.xlsx).

More details can be found in https://pypi.org/project/maser4py/.

MASER4PY Python package allows to generate skeleton table or Master CDF from an Excel 2007 format file (.xlsx).

More details can be found in https://pypi.org/project/maser4py/.

How to check RPW CDF compliance against Solar Orbiter data standards?

There is no ESA-provided software to check CDF compliance against ESAC Solar Orbiter data standards (SOL-SGS-TN-0009).

However the ROC has started to develop a light Python program to check RPW/Solar Orbiter data compliance.

A first version of this tool can be found in https://gitlab.obspm.fr/ROC/DataPool/-/blob/master/SOLO/RPW/CDF/Tools/check_rpw_l1l2.py (restricted access).

The program must be run under Python 3.6+ and requires spacepy module. Enter 'python check_rpw_l1l2.py –help' to display help message.

How to check RPW CDF compliance against NASA ISTP/SPDF data standards?

The NASA-provided software SKTeditor (https://spdf.gsfc.nasa.gov/skteditor/) can be used  to check compliance of CDF file against NASA ISTP/SPDF data standards.

An instance of the SKTeditor is installed in the roc2-dev.obspm.fr server to run CDF check using the dedicated command line interface (see "How to run the NASA SKTeditor CLI  in the roc2-dev.obspm.fr sever?")

How to run the NASA SKTeditor CLI in the roc2-dev.obspm.fr server?

From a terminal logged in roc2-dev.obspm.fr server:

First set up the environment by entering:

source /usr/local/lib/cdf/current/bin/definitions.B

export CLASSPATH=.:${CDF_JAVA}/classes/cdfjava.jar:${CDF_JAVA}/cdftools/CDFToolsDriver.jar:${CDF_JAVA}/cdfml/cdfml.jar:"$CLASSPATH"

export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=.:${CDF_JAVA}/lib:${CDF_LIB}:"$LD_LIBRARY_PATH"

export CLASSPATH=/usr/local/cdf/skteditor:"$CLASSPATH"

N.B.

• Instructions above can also be inserted into a .bashrc file to be run at start
• Instructions above are given assuming a BASH shell user, but other shells can also be used (see CDF install manual for more details).

Then, to check the compliance of a given <cdf_filename>, enter:

java -cp /usr/local/lib/cdf/skteditor/spdfjavaClasses.jar gsfc.spdf.istp.tools.CDFCheck <cdf_filename>

RCS software and product delivery

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questions

How a RCS software must be delivered to

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ROC?

The mechanism to deliver RCS software to the ROC is presented in the "ROC Engineering Guidelines for External Users" (REGU) document (see ROC-GEN-SYS-NTT-00019-LES, available in ROC Documents).

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• RCS software must be delivered with at least the source code and the executable "ready-to-be-used" on the roc-dev server. The executable can be a script or a binary file.
• RCS software must be delivered with the up-to-date documentation (user manual, software specification and design)
  
• RCS software must be delivered with the up-to-date descriptor file (see RCS ICD for more details, available in ROC Documents)
• RCS software must be "pushed" on the "master" branch of the dedicated project in the https://gitlab.obspm.fr/ROC/RCS group. There is one project by RCS
• Every RCS software delivered must be tagged on Git with a version (use "git tag" command for this)
• The ROC team must be informed each time a new version of the software is "pushed"

How can I deliver my RCS test data package to ROC ?

The RCS test data package is required by the ROC Team to check that a given version of the RCS works as expected. Every version of the RCS software must hence be delivered with its test data package.

The RCS test data package must be delivered using the sftp-lesia.obspm.fr server. Table below gives for each team the user account and target folder to be used to deliver the test data package.

How can I deliver my RPW calibration table (RCT) file to ROC ?

The RPW calibration table (RCT) files must be delivered as CDF files in the dedicated SFTP server at LESIA. Table below gives for each team the user account and target folder to be used to deliver the calibration table files.

How to deliver a CDF skeletons file to ROC?

The mechanism to deliver CDF skeletons to the ROC is presented in the "ROC Engineering Guidelines for External Users" (REGU) document (see ROC-GEN-SYS-NTT-00019-LES, available in ROC Documents).

In summary:

• CDF skeletons must be delivered as a skeleton table in the ASCII format
• CDF skeletons must be "pushed" by teams in the "SOLO/RPW/CDF/Skeleton" folder of the ROC "DataPool" Git respository (https://gitlab.obspm.fr/ROC/DataPool)
• CDF skeletons can be only "pushed" by teams in the "rcs" branch of the ROC "DataPool" Git respository

How to deliver RPW L3 CDF files to ROC?

RPW L3 CDF files are not generated by the ROC at LESIA, but they must be delivered to the ROC which will be in charge of validating the files, sharing them in the RPW private/public data servers and deliverying them to Solar Orbiter Archive (SOAR).

There are few rules to follow when deliverying files:

• Make sure that RPW L3 CDF files are compliant with RPW/Solar Orbiter data standards (add link)
• L3 CDF files must be dropped in the dedicated folder in the ROC SFTP server at LESIA (contact ROC team for details)
• The descriptor field of the CDF filename must be appended with the "-cdag" suffix (e.g., "solo_L3_rpw-tnr-fp-cdag_20230102_V01.cdf")

If one these rules are not fullfiled, then the ROC will reject the delivery of RPW L3 CDF files.

What is the software environment used by the ROC at LESIA to run RCS?

Information about the ROC software environment can be found in Software environment

RCS-ROC interface-related questions

What is the descriptor file?

The descriptor file (or descriptor) is JSON format file used by the ROC pipelines to identify and call the RCS in an autonomous way.

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RCS issue management questions

Where I can submit issues in case of problems with RPW files produced by ROC?

Any issue related to a given RCS RPW data produced by ROC (i.e., L1/HK/L1R/L2/ANC, etc.) must be submitted using the dedicated issue tracking interface management board in the RCS project on the "ROC/RCS" gitlab groupgitlab projects.

The table below lists the URLs of the issue tracking interface board for each RCS:

Issues related to L1/HK must be assigned to Xavier Bonnin. 
Issues related to L1R/L2 must be assigned to Quynh Nhu Nguyen.

Full list of all issues can be read in https://gitlab.obspm.fr/groups/ROC/RCS/-/issues.

How can I access to the RCS issue

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management board?

The access is restricted and must be requested to roc.support sympa mailing list (i.e., roc dot support at sympa dot obspm dot fr).

RPW Calibration Tables-related questions

How can I deliver my RPW Calibration Table (RCT) file?

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The latest issue of the REGU is available in the ROC Documents page.

Miscellaneous questions

Where I can find the list of acronyms relative to the ROC project?

The list of acronyms are available here: Acronyms and Definitions

How can I use maser4py program on the roc2-dev.obspm.fr server?

The maser4py is installed on the roc2-dev.obspm.fr server.

To load it, run the command:

source /opt/roc/virtualenvs/maser4py/bin/activate

To check if the program works you can enter:

maser --version

Which will return the version of the program.

To get help:

maser --help