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There were five ways used throughout the Polar Mission to command TIDE including single commands, command procedures (PROC), command activities(ACT), command macros (MAC), and command micros (MIC). Requests to use these command sequences were emailed to the Science Planning and Operations Facility (SPOF) using real-time command (RTC) files or instrument command request list (RQL) files. RTCs and RQLs are pseudo-fits format files with a specific formatted fits header followed by the requested commanding. RTCs were sent from the SPOF to the Project Operations and Control Center (POCC) where they were used in real-time commanding usually monitored by the TIDE ground operations in Huntsville, Alabama. RQLs were used by the SPOF to build the daily Polar stored command table that was sent to the spacecraft prior to the start of each day.
The command procedures (PROCs) are scripts used by the POCC to command TIDE and PSI. They are stored at the POCC. Requests to use them are from RTCs. The most common use of PROCs was to activate and ramp TIDE high voltage. They were also used for all PSI commanding.
All of the RQL, RTC, ACT, MAC, and MIC files created for TIDE and used during the Polar mission are on the archive in /archive/tide_docs/CommandFiles. They are in the rql/yyyy, rtc/yyyy, act/yyyy, mac/yyyy, and mic/yyyy subdirectories where yyyy is the year the command file was created and first used. All TIDE command filenames start with tid. The filename format for RQLs is tiddoy.rql where doy is the day-of-year. For the other command file types, the filename is a maximum of twelve letters, the last 9 characters are a very brief description of what is in the command file. The filename extension is the command file type. The filenames on the archive are all lowercase for ease in typing them. The processing at GSFC converted them to uppercase. Whenever a command file was emailed to the SPOF, it was processed and a validation report was emailed back. The validation emails are in /archive/tide_docs/CommandFiles/valid_rpt.
The command mnemonics used in the PROC, ACT, RTC, and RQL files to command TIDE and PSI are in Commands. Also see /archive/tide_docs/CommandFiles/information/Command.list.
TIDE command micros (MIC) are binary files containing a series of 40-bit serial commands that replace information in RAM memory. Serial command formats are discussed in the TIDE Flight Software Requirments Document. The first command tells how many serial commands there are and the start location in RAM memory where they are to be placed. TIDE macros (MAC) are similar to the micros only they are a text version of the hex serial commands. They were usually used to transmit energy sweep tables.
The command activities (ACTs) are routinely used sequences of commands, procedures, and data uploads. Activities were used throughout the mission to turn off and on the STOP/START MCPs during radiation belt passes. They were also use to create the background checks.
Routine daily commanding was done through command request lists (RQLs). An RQL was created for each day when TIDE high voltage was on. The high voltage was off during Polar spacecraft maneuvers. RQLs usually consisted of the commands to execute (EXEC) the radiation belt activities and every even number day-of-year, the command activity to execute the background check. The RQLs were created using IDL procedures that used the 70-day working orbit files to determine the times for the radiation belt passes and the background checks. The IDL command software is in /archive/tide_docs/CommandFiles/software. Instructions for running the software are in create_rqls.txt in /archive/tide_docs/old_docs.
The real-time command (RTC) files were created manually (usually by copying a previous one and modifying if for the planned commanding) and used by the POCC along with TIDE ground operations to perform commanding during real-time Polar spacecraft contacts. They were typically used to turn TIDE off in preparation for Polar Spacecraft maneuvers and to turn TIDE on and ramp high voltage after maneuvers. They were used for all PSI commanding and the loading of all software patches. The software used to monitor the spacecraft in real-time is a very old version of the processing software. It is discussed in Realtime Monitoring and in /archive/tide_docs/old_docs/near_realtime.txt. The realtime monitoring software is in /archive/tide_docs/CommandFiles/realtime.
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Last Updated: September 2008