DiSQ: a software solution to facilitate the verification of the SKA-Mid dish structures

Under construction in the Karoo desert is the first of 133 radio telescope dishes that will join the existing 64 from MeerKAT to make up the mid-frequency half of the Square Kilometre Array Observatory (SKAO). Erecting the dish is merely the first stage of a long and rigorous process this and the following 132 antennas must undergo before they are able to produce reliable scientific data. The next step is verification and validation (V&V) where mechanical engineers from the South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (SARAO) will work under complex conditions performing V&V activities. As part of these activities data must be read from, and commands sent to, the dish structure controller; a programmable logic controller (PLC) based control system exposed via an Open Platform Communications Unified Architecture (OPC-UA) server interface. In comes the Dish Structure Qualification software (DiSQ), a collection of tools designed to expose the OPC-UA server in an intuitive, user-friendly manner via a Python API and an engineering GUI to facilitate and expedite the V&V.