A panoply of new software tools has accompanied the rapid instrument construction schedule at UCO/Lick Observatory (PFCAM to Lick in 1997, ESI to Keck in 1999, DEIMOS to Keck in 2000). These Tcl/Tk-based tools maintain and interact with a relational database of instrument characteristics. They assist software design, generate thousands of lines of code, documentation, and configuration files, facilitate motor-control calibration, permit fully-automated remote testing and evaluation of performance, aid user-interface design, produce diagrams, and serve as a communications nexus between software and hardware teams. The toolkit has greatly reduced the amount of effort required from many UCO/Lick technicians, and has set new standards for quality and performance of the resulting instruments. We present here an overview of these tools and their outputs.
In 1996 at ADASS we reported initial results of employing a relational database as an integral component of an instrument development project. The initial software scheme at Keck Observatory had been modelled using FITS keywords as a metaphor for instrument control. UCO/Lick had already delivered the HIRES spectrograph to Keck with a keyword-based control system, but the code contained numerous tedious, repetitive, and fragile sections. Our goal was to reduce the effort required for subsequent instruments, and at the same time to increase their reliability.
As we analyzed the usage of the control system keywords we recognized patterns which led us to enlarge the scope of the effort far beyond the initial FITS-inspired goal. It became possible to model how the smallest bits of information participated in the many data flows inherent in the construction and operation of a large, automated optical instrument. Drawing from linguistics and genetics the work became known as the Memes Project.