The C1:IFO-STATE variable is actually a bunch (16 to be precise) of bits, and the byte they form (2 bytes) converted to decimal is what is written to the EPICS channel. It was reported on the call today that the nominal value of the variable when the IMC is locked was "8", while it has become "10" today. In fact, this has nothing to do with the IMC. You can see that the "PMC locked" bit is set in Attachment #1. This is done in the AutoLock.sh PMC autolocker script, which was run a few days ago. Nominally, I just lock the PMC by moving some sliders, and I neglect to set/unset this bit.
Basically, there is no anomalous behavior. This is not to say that the situation cannot be improved. Indeed, we should get rid of the obsolete states (e.g. FSS Locked, MZ locked), and add some other states like "PRMI locked". While there is nothing wrong with setting these bits at the end of execution of some script, a better way would be to configure the EPICS record to automatically set / unset itself based on some diagnostic channels. For example, the "PMC locked" bit should be set if (i) the PMC REFL is < 0.1 AND (ii) PMC TRANS is >0.65 (the exact thresholds are up for debate). Then we are truly recording the state of the IFO and not relying on some script to write to the bit (I haven't thoguht through if there are some edge cases where we need an unreasonable number of diagnostic channels to determine if we are in a certain state or not). |