The eXtreme Wavefront Control Toolkit: High-Contrast Imaging Instrument Control for Ground and Space-Based Coronagraphs

The XWCTk is an instrument control software system developed for MagAO-X, an extreme adaptive optics (ExAO) instrument. It builds on the ImageStreamIO (ISIO), MILK, and CACAO low-latency image processing and high-dimensional control tool chain, with instrument control managed via the Instrument Neutral Distributed Interface (INDI). The application framework provides configuration, logging, and distributed IPC through both INDI and low-latency ISIO communications.

On MagAO-X, every detector can act as a wavefront sensor capable of commanding three separate deformable mirrors, and the system uses a distributed control architecture across multiple computers. Implemented algorithms include neural networks for nonlinear wavefront reconstruction at over 3 kHz, and distributed Raspberry Pis are used for accelerometer data acquisition with low-latency streaming to the real-time computers for sensor fusion. A core design principle is that all data can be saved continuously, including full-rate wavefront sensor images, DM commands, and science data; a custom lossless compression system sustains high data rates to disk. A Python interface supports scripting, experimentation, and non-real-time tasks, and remote operations (e.g., from Tucson, Arizona when the instrument is at LCO in Chile) are routine.

The XWCTk is under continuous development for MagAO-X and will be adapted for GMagAO-X, the planned first-light ExAO coronagraph for the Giant Magellan Telescope. As the baseline for a space-based high-contrast imaging instrument, ongoing work focuses on automation for robust operation in flight.