VDIFPacker — Troubleshooting
No data written to disk
Cause: Recording has not been started via the message queue, or output_type does not
include "disk".
Resolution: Check that mq_control matches the queue name used by the Field System
Interface. Verify output_type in the active configuration via ?sensor-value current-config.
UDP frames not received by jive5ab
Cause: udp.dest_ip does not point to the jive5ab host, or jive5ab is not listening on
udp.dest_port.
Resolution: Confirm udp.dest_ip and udp.dest_port in the configuration. On the
jive5ab host verify the service is running and listening:
ss -ulnp | grep 4991
recording-state stuck at recording after observation ends
Cause: The Field System Interface did not send a stop message to the POSIX queue, or the queue name is mismatched.
Resolution: Check that mq_control in the vdif_packer config matches
mq_control_name in the Field System Interface config. Restart the pipeline to clear the
queue.
High heap drop rate
Cause: The vdif_packer binary cannot keep up with the input data rate, or the DADA
ring buffer is too small.
Resolution: Check CPU pinning and reduce nfft or naccumulate to lower processing
load. Verify that no other process is competing for the input NIC.
vdif-channel-mean sensor shows unexpected values
Cause: The DDC output levels are outside the expected range (e.g., due to ADC clipping or incorrect attenuation).
Resolution: Check the DBBC attenuator settings via the Field System Interface. Adjust
digitizer_threshold if automatic level control is enabled.
Log locations
Log |
Location |
|---|---|
Container stdout |
|
vdif_packer binary output |
included in container stdout |
Signal level monitoring |
Grafana → visualizations panel |
Waterfall spectrogram |
Grafana → waterfall panel |