v0.29.0

This release of simtools, the simulation toolkit for the CTA Observatory, includes the following main changes:

Bugfixes

• Set correct env variable SIMTOOLS_SIM_TELARRAY_PATH in production image. (#2109)

New Features

• Add support for Gauss-Exponential pulse shape in illuminator simulations (previously only available for flashers).
  Add Lambertian angular distribution support for illuminators and allow to set the maximum angle when using Lambertian distribution. (#2092)

Maintenance

• Standardized dimensionless-unit handling via value_conversion.is_dimensionless_unit() / normalize_dimensionless_unit() and updated unit-conversion behavior/tests accordingly (#2092)
• Moved/centralized overwrite-time model-parameter validation to DataValidator.validate_model_parameter() and added schema helpers to fetch per-parameter type/unit by schema version.
  (#2092)
• Disable markdownlint in pre-commit because it is incompatible with the Node.js version used. Update pyproject.toml to reflect changes made by pyproject-fmt. (#2100)

Simulation model

• Update default simulation models version used in CI to v0.14.0. (#2108)

v0.28.0

This release of simtools, the simulation toolkit for the CTA Observatory, includes the following main changes:

API Changes

• Update command to run development container: use bash -lc (related to updates to git safedir). (#2091)

Bugfixes

• Fix direct-injection type flasher runs, which did not produce any calibration events.
  Fix bug in pedestal calculation setting: sim_telarray requires none (and not None) for the stars option. (#2029)
• Increase number of flasher photons for test cases from 1e5 to 1e6 to ensure light in MSTs. (#2045)
• Increase number of flasher photons for tests and use a new flag to overwrite the model parameter.
  Skip telescope position file when illuminator has default downward pointing (0, 0, -1). (#2052)
• Fix reference frame of photons obtained from sim_telarray ray tracing from pixel (rotated) to non-rotated camera frame. (#2054)
• Fixed camera-efficiency unit tests to write temporary outputs instead of modifying committed files in tests/resources. (#2067)
• Fixes a bug in CORSIKA starting grammage code accessing telescope_model instead of telescope_models. (#2076)
• Add matplotlib figure cleanup in camera plotting unit tests. (#2082)
• Fixed CI-only DB unit-test flakiness by hardening conftest.py database-test detection so DatabaseHandler is no longer accidentally globally mocked for tests/unit_tests/db/*. (#2089)

Documentation

• Add step-by-step guide to run productions in an HT Condor environment. (#2024)
• Add documentation on coordinate systems used in simtools. (#2051)
• Improve documentation on setting up a local model parameter database. (#2080)

New Features

• Add checks for simulation software executable paths and existence of corsika interaction paths.
  Remove unused general.is_exeucutable (which can be replaced by shutil.which). (#2030)

• Improve testing of simulation output files (CORSIKA, sim_telarray, light source simulations).
  Test now after the simulation the data, log, and metadata output for expected content.
  Allows to simplify integration tests, as most tests are already done when running the application.
  Add new keyword skip_integration_test to allow to skip temporarily certain tests. (#2035)

• Write log output to a log file to improve reproducibility (keeping the stream to stderr).
  The file can either be provided through the command line (via --log_file) or is
  generated automatically in output_path with the pattern application_label_%Y%m%dT%H%M%SZ.log. (#2039)

• Add simtools log file to grid output file tar package. (#2040)

• Improve simtools-plot-simtel-events and add functionality to plot a number
  of events for a given telescope (independent of event index). Plots are sorted
  by plot type for easier comparison.
  Minor optimization to plotting: i) solve issue with matplotlib warnings
  ii) read calibration telescope data which is not from first telescope iii) reduce aspect (#2041)

• Add functionality to plot tables in legacy sim_telarray format using the simtel table reader. (#2048)

• Add simulation of point sources at different cardinal directions and the possibility of reading them from a file.
  Improve PSF plotting. (#2054)

• Add functionality to simulate flasher events (full ray tracing) for several telescopes.
  For full simulations, there are now several options to select the telescopes to simulate:

  • simulate a single telescope: --telescopes MSTN-04
  • simulate several telescopes --telescopes MSTN-04 MSTN-05
  • simulate all telescopes in an array --layout_name alpha
    Recommended to use light_source_type: flat_fielding, which reads for a given telescopes the
    defined flasher name from the model parameter database.

  Similar functionality for direction injection flasher simulations: the main difference is that
  in direct mode a single sim_telarray is written, while for full simulation there is one
  sim_telarray per telescope.

  (#2056)

• Add support for flasher intensity sequences as in a filter wheel in simtools-simulate-flasher. (#2062)

• Use telescope axes offsets in case of MSTs together with the illuminator. (#2077)

Maintenance

• Update author list. (#2019)

• Refactor visualization of flasher events to a more generic module (preparation for a long integration test). ([#2023](#202
  3))

• Reduce verbose debug messages:

  • remove success message from schema::validate_deprecation_and_version
  • remove No fix applied to corsika_starting_grammage. See issue #2025
  • remove calibration_model::__init__::Init CalibrationModel (very little information)
  • remove corsika_runner(l37)::__init__::Init CorsikaRunner (very little information)
  • remove simtel_config_writer(l815)::write_dummy_telescope_configuration_file::Writing InvalidTelescope telescope config file (duplicated)
    Add a filter to avoid passwords leaking into log output.

  (#2026)

• Ensure that all integration test configuration files are consistently lower case. (#2027)

• Update and replace flasher simulations test file. (#2033)

• Do not include mirror_reflection_random_angle in derivation of mirror alignment parameters. (#2034)

• Improve testing of simulation output files (CORSIKA, sim_telarray, light source simulations).
  Test now after the simulation the data, log, and metadata output for expected content.
  Allows to simplify integration tests, as most tests are already done when running the application. (#2035)

• Modify pre-commit codespell to pass on test files in resources directory. (#2037)

• Remove duplication between plot_pixel and camera modules. (#2046)

• Improve copilot instructions. (#2048)

• Update model parameter repository functionality to allow to update configuration_corsika parameters. (#2060)

• Remove dependency of unit tests on model-parameter database.
  Separate pytest fixture definitions for unit- and integration tests to increase robustness
  and avoid fixture leakage. (#2061)

• Parameter values that are a list of dictionaries are now shown in a separate table in the reports. (#2073)

• Change the reports for patch versions to only show differences between patch and minor versions. (#2074)

• Add illuminator name to output filenames. (#2078)

• Fix CI failure by setting safe Git directory to accommodate stricter ownership checks in newer Git versions. (#2085)

Simulation model

• Add new model parameters to describe:

  • number of photons emitted by flasher devices (flasher_photons and flasher_var_photons); used by light emission package
  • number of flasher photons at each pixel (flasher_photons_at_pixel and flasher_var_photons_at_pixel); used by flasher simulations of sim_telarray ("direct_injection")

  (#2043)

• Change default version for simulation model repository to v0.13.0. (#2083)

v0.27.1

This release of simtools, the simulation toolkit for the CTA Observatory, includes the following main changes:

Maintenance

• Change yaml indent to 2 to synchronize pre-commit settings and output settings throughout all simulation models repositories. (#2021)

v0.27.0

This release of simtools, the simulation toolkit for the CTA Observatory, includes the following main changes:

API Changes

• Changes to the setting of seeds for sim_telarray:

  • use sim_telarray_random_instrument_instances and sim_telarray_instrument_seed to generate a random seed file for the given number of configurations.
  • use sim_telarray_seed together with sim_telarray_instrument_seed to set both instrument (configuration) and simulation seeds. These parameters completely fix the seeds and should only be used for testing purposes.

  (#1982)

• Update naming of simtools-prod images to <simtools version>-corsika<corsika version>-<avx option>-simtel<sim_telarray version>. (#1984)

• CORSIKA interactions tables are not part of the CORSIKA7 container anymore and also not added to the simtools-dev container.
  CORSIKA tables are available from the new CTAO gitlab repository corsika7-interaction-tables. This includes QGSJet-II, QGSJet-III, EPOS, EGS4, etc tables.

  To install and use the interaction tables for both production and development:

  • clone that repository into a separate directory from simtools (recommend the example such that it is reachable from inside the simtools-dev container by /workdir/external/simpipe/simulation_software/corsika7-interaction-tables/interaction-tables/
  • ensure Git LFS is installed and, after cloning, run git lfs install (once per system) and git lfs pull in the cloned repository so that the actual interaction table files (and not only pointer files) are downloaded
  • Add a new env variable called SIMTOOLS_CORSIKA_INTERACTION_TABLE_PATH pointing to that path (see example in .env_table)

  Integration tests are cloning this repository and making the interaction tables available during testing.

  (#1987)

Bugfixes

• Correct calculation of lateral photon densities for histograms generated from CORSIKA. (#1994)

Documentation

• Improve documentation on available container images. Add new page to users guide with most important available images. (#1953)
• Improve documentation for CORSIKA and related container images. (#1991)
• Add disclosure on using AI tools. (#1992)
• Improve documentation for integration tests with additional details on the different types of tests. (#2017)

New Features

• Implement gradient descent for the derivation of mirror_reflection_random_angle. Implement general tools for multiprocessing. (#1911)
• Rename simtools-calculate-incident-angles to simtools-derive-incident-angle, add histogram calculation and writing functionality and output metadata. (#1938)
• Add functionality to overwrite simulation model parameters from the command line using --overwrite_model_parameters. (#1960)
• Use DATDIR CORSIKA input file flag to point to directory with interaction table files. (#1970)
• Add EPOS as interaction model and include input flags to CORSIKA input file writer. (#1972)
• Simplified and consistent simtools, CORSIKA, and sim_telarray package tagging:
  i.e.,simtools-prod-<version>, simtools-dev-<version>, corsika7-<version>-<avx optimization>, sim_telarray-<version>. (#1975)
• Add random seed module to generate seeds based on numpy.SeedSequence.
  Add SimtelSeeds data class to hold and generate seeds for sim_telarray simulations. (#1982)
• Add CORSIKA v78050, see release notes (KIT gitlab; requires access). (#1983)
• Add sim_telarray, hessio, stdtools tagging using the CTAO gitlab release tags. (#1985)
• Change of the default interaction model from qgs3 to epos (this allows to avoid to download the Gigabyte large QGSJet tables). (#1987)
• Adds support for simulating arbitrary telescope layouts with CORSIKA (including “probe” telescopes for lateral density comparisons), and refactors overwrite-parameter handling to be read/validated once and reused across models. Expand functionality to generated regular arrays of telescopes with different shapes. (#1995)
• Add functionality to simtools-validate-camera-efficiency to print fraction of light below 290 nm (as required for B-TEL-0095).
  Introduce simple module describing the atmosphere. (#1998)
• Add git-lfs to simtools-prod containers. (#2001)

Maintenance

• Add search patterns in integration tests and fix bug when using an isotropic angular distribution in the illuminator simulations. (#1940)
• Unify execution of run scripts by consistently always use job_manage.submit().
  Improved _make_run_command for better readability. (#1977)
• Improve file management for light emission simulations (flasher/illuminators). Change of output file naming and directory tree. (#1981)
• Simplified setting of corsika_seeds and sim_telarray_seeds. (#1982)
• Solve sphinx errors after update to sphinx 9.10. (#1988)
• Add the ability to pass a label to RayTracing instead of using a cached label from the telescope model. (#1999)
• Ensure that model data writer is not changing the general output path for all other modules.
  Change and simplify model data writer API. (#2000)
• Reduce the number of unnecessary debug statements. (#2002)
• Improve model parameter overwrite function with an explicit flat_dict statement to avoid being flooded by warnings like WARNING::model_parameter(l519)::overwrite_parameters::Parameter MSTS-05 not found in model MSTS-12, cannot overwrite it. (note the error in the warning). (#2003)
• Add values for camera efficiency application to test against reference values. Add YAML-type output for validate_camera_efficiency. (#2017)

v0.26.0

This release of simtools, the simulation toolkit for the CTA Observatory, includes the following main changes:

API Changes

• Changes in the environment variables set in the .env file.

  Added explicit setting of the simulation software branches:

  • CORSIKA: e.g., SIMTOOLS_CORSIKA_PATH=/workdir/simulation_software/corsika7
  • sim_telarray: e.g., SIMTOOLS_SIMTEL_PATH=/workdir/simulation_software/sim_telarray

  Added explicit setting of the interaction models:

  • high-energy interaction model: e.g., SIMTOOLS_CORSIKA_HE_INTERACTION=qgs3
  • low-energy interaction model: e.g., SIMTOOLS_CORSIKA_LE_INTERACTION=urqmd

  For images generated before this change, it is enough to set one single variable:

  SIMTOOLS_SIMTEL_PATH=/workdir/sim_telarray/sim_telarray

  (#1917)

• Change in naming of simtools docker images:

  • CORSIKA image is called e.g. ghcr.io/gammasim/corsika7:0.26.0-78010-avx512f
  • sim_telarray image is called e.g. ghcr.io/gammasim/sim_telarray:0.26.0-<sim_telarray version>
  • simtools-dev image is called e.g. ghcr.io/gammasim/simtools-dev:latest (safe to use the latest tag here)
  • simtools-prod image is called e.g. ghcr.io/gammasim/simtools-prod:0.26.0-corsika<corsika version>-<avx flag>-simtel<sim_telarray version>

  (#1954)

• Changed path to sim_telarray to SIMTOOLS_SIM_TELARRAY_PATH (from SIMTOOLS_SIMTEL_PATH). Requires changes by the users to their .env files. (#1957)

New Features

• Add integration tests for newly added flasher types MSFx-NectarCam, MSFx-FlashCam, LSFN-design, LSFS-design. (#1817)

• Improve handling of model parameters with output schema definition: introduce a legacy model parameter handler. (#1910)

• Allow output of flasher angular distribution tables for Lambertian distribution. (#1916)

• Refactoring the image building process (CORSIKA/sim_telarray/simtools):

  • separate images for CORSIKA and sim_telarray
  • simtools image combined both plus adds for the development image the QGSJet tables
  • main directory changed to /workdir/simulation_software/ with e.g.
    • /workdir/simulation_software/corsika
    • /workdir/simulation_software/sim_telarray
  • simulation software packages pulled from git repositories
    • CORSIKA7 from KIT gitlab and CORSIKA build configuration from CTAO gitlab
    • sim_telarray, hessio, and stdtools from CTAO gitlab
  • new build process for CORSIKA7 using coconut and configuration files

  (#1917)

• • Introduce central settings module for configuration args, db_config, and path definitions.
  • Use new settings.config``for simtel_pathusage through all modules.
  • Introduce corsika_path and corsika_he_interaction , corsika_le_interaction settings to indicate CORSIKA installation path and interaction models.
  • Ensure backwards compatibility to legacy simtools images for paths and build opts configuration files.

  (#1921)

• Allow to fill and plot simulated event distributions from both CORSIKA and sim_telarray output files.
  Add simple plotting application simtools-plot-simulated-event-distributions. (#1934)

• Use adjustText for the labels in the array layout plot to avoid overlapping labels. (#1937)

• Improved functionality to plot Cherenkov photon distributions read from CORSIKA IACT files:

  • allow to compare distributions from different files
  • additional 1D and 2D distributions with improved plotting
  • several bug fixes in relation of weighting and density calculation

  This includes a complete refactoring of the class with focus on plotting.

  (#1939)

• Add building workflow for simtools-prod image.
  Update docker files and building workflows for CORSIKA, sim_telarray, and simtools.
  Simplify package naming. (#1954)

• Add integration test run to updated production image building. Reuse existing integration tests and simplify building steps. (#1955)

• Improved version and build info handling:

  • simtools application prints at startup now the simtools, database, CORSIKA, and sim_telarray versions
  • simtools applications output full build information for log level DEBUG
  • added two new command line options:
    • --build_info to print detailed build information of the application
    • --export_build_info EXPORT_BUILD_INFO export build information to file (json or yaml format)
  • removed applications simtools-print-version (above functionality replaces it)
  • Changed path to sim_telarray to SIMTOOLS_SIM_TELARRAY_PATH (from SIMTOOLS_SIMTEL_PATH). This is consistent with the naming of the simulation software packages and the schema values.

  (#1957)

Maintenance

• Integrate the new unified flasher pulse shape parameter flasher_pulse_shape (now a 3-element list [shape, width_ns, exp_decay_ns]). (#1900)
• Allow test_generate_production_grid.py::test_convert_altaz_to_radec_and_coordinates to xfail due to intermittent network issues. (#1914)
• Add logfile pattern checks for full flasher simulations, update integration test files and add a pulse shape mapping. (#1924)
• Replace db_config by settings.config.db_config throughout all modules. (#1927)
• Moved simtel_io_event_* modules to sim_events submodule and renamed eventio_handler to file_info.
  Updated imports and class names across dependent modules to reflect generalized event file handling. (#1936)
• Add ERA (Found commented-out code) to ruff configuration (used with precommit). (#1942)
• Add PERF settings to ruff (used by pre-commit) for improved maintainability. (#1943)
• Update pylint configuration to be more aligned with SonarQ requirements. (#1944)
• Move and rename application simtools-write-array-element-positions-to-repository to simtools-maintain-simulation-model-write-array-element-positions.
  Add integration and unit tests. (#1958)
• Minor code quality improvements reported by GitHub Code QL. (#1959)
• Fixed failing unit tests for test_visualize by adding missing plt.close(). (#1967)

Simulation model

• Change default simulation models version to 0.12.0. (#1918)

v0.25.0

This release of simtools, the simulation toolkit for the CTA Observatory, includes the following main changes:

Bugfixes

• Bugfix in comparison of sim-telarray configuration files: ignore system dependent metadata values. (#1873)
• Fix thread-safe singleton check in mongo_db. Add {"maxIdleTimeMS": 10000} to close idle connections after 10s. Add debugging tool for connections. (#1899)
• Fix simulation model production table upload: full updates tables need not to search through the model history. This led to the addition of deprecated parameters back into the production. (#1913)

New Features

• Add pulse shape table writer for light emission flasher simulations. (#1851)
• Add CORSIKA executable compiled with CURVED option to docker images (corsika-curved). (#1859)
• Improve array plotting with more custom configuration options. (#1860, #1862)
• Add tests for certain strings in the CORSIKA and sim_telarray log files. (#1882)
• Verify that the request and actually simulated number of events is identical for CORSIKA and sim_telarray simulations. (#1883)
• Add tests that certain strings do not appear in the CORSIKA and sim_telarray log file (see also PR #1882) (#1885)
• Added functionality to plot mirrors and implemented auto plotting of mirrors for the reports. (#1886)
• Add test to verify that number of CORSIKA events is consistent with requested number of events. (#1890)
• Add application for pulse shape parameter derivation and move existing functionality there. (#1894)
• Add possibility to run sim_telarray only using an existing CORSIKA file with simtools-simulate-prod. (#1896)

Maintenance

• Refactor simtools-validate-file-using-schema and improve unit testing of code. (#1857)
• Introducing a new psf optimizer class and improving exception handling. (#1864)
• Update model version to ensure reproducibility if given as MAJOR.MINOR. Revert testing to exact semver version. (#1870)
• Improve description of submit_array_layouts. Fix model parameter writing of instrument for site parameters. (#1872)
• Introducing a data class and capping maximum learning rate in PSF optimization modules. (#1875)
• Remove unused command line parameter data_directory from simtools-simulate-prod. (#1891)
• Remove unused command line parameter number_of_runs from simtools-simulate-prod. Simulate always a single run number. (#1893)
• Introduce consistent naming for pedestal runs and output files: always start with pedestal... (e.g., pedestals_dark). (#1904)
• Suppress mongoDB connection close debug message in unit test. (#1906)
• Documentation is now generated for each push. Deployment changed to either the release of a version, merge to main, or manual trigger. (#1907)
• Update ignore pattern for log file inspector to ignore warnings on getpwuid obtained in AIV environment. (#1912)

Simulation model

• Merge all flasher pulse shape parameters (shape, width, exp decay) into a single parameter flasher_pulse_shape. (#1895)

v0.24.0

This release of simtools, the simulation toolkit for the CTA Observatory, includes the following main changes:

Bugfixes

• Bugfix in validation of generated sim_telarray configuration: missing assert on the outcome of the tests (tests always passed, even with differences). (#1856)
• Fixed array trigger file generation to properly combine non-hardstereo telescopes. Previously, each telescope type generated separate trigger lines, preventing software stereo triggers between different telescope types (e.g., SST+MST). Now hardstereo lines remain separate while non-hardstereo telescopes are combined into a single line, enabling cross-telescope-type triggering. (#1863)

New Features

• Add new simulation model parameter transit_time_random. (#1808)
• Implement version check for model parameters for any software type. (#1842)
• Add possibility to define new base models taking into account the correct history of models for simtools-maintain-simulation-model-add-production. (#1844)
• Add possibility to change model parameters from command line using the --overwrite_model_parameters command line parameter. (#1850)

Maintenance

• Change source of simulation model database in CI to 'main' branch of simulation model repository.
  Tests against the latest release versions for simtools release candidates (1.2.3-rc).
  Allow to configure simulation model repository branches for manually triggered workflows. (#1846)
• Review and update all XPASS unit tests. (#1855)

Simulation model

• Change default simulation models database version to 0.11.0. (#1852)

v0.23.0

This release of simtools, the simulation toolkit for the CTA Observatory, includes the following main changes:

Bugfixes

• Bugfix in comparing model versions in integration tests to decide which tests should run.
  Bugfix in getting model parameter values with units for the case of value-unit pairs consisting of lists with None entries. (#1805)
• Fix a bug where hard stereo trigger was set every time the hard_stereo key existed in dictionary, rather than checking its value. Now it only sets hardstereo if the value is True. (#1813)
• Bugfix packing model files: model version was not taken into account correctly. (#1818)
• Bugfix in preparing sim_telarray command for shower simulations: power-law configuration (used to fill histograms) set at the wrong place. (#1825)
• Bugfix in writing sim_telarray configuration option: "-C show=all" should be last in command. (#1828)

New Features

• Add new CORSKIA / sim_telarray image build for:

  • CORSIKA 7.8010
  • Bernloehr package 1.70
  • sim_telarray 250903

  Improved downloading script and handling of QGSJet tables.

  (#1824)

• Fill telescope design types into sim_telarray metadata field for camera_config_variant and optics_config_variant. (#1826)

• Allow to highlight or grey out telescopes in layout plotting application. (#1829)

• Allow to provide integers in scientific notation in yaml configuration files. Currently only implemented for the --number_of_photons argument of calculate_incident_angles.py. (#1837)

Maintenance

• Add application control functionality for all simtools applications. (#1809)
• Adding --all_model_versions flag for calibration and software report generation. (#1815)
• Replace superlinter in linter CI. Add toml linter and shellcheck to precommit. (#1838)
• Update one function used in the tests to comply with version 2.x of pyeventio. (#1840)

v0.22.0

This release of simtools, the simulation toolkit for the CTA Observatory, includes the following main changes:

Bugfixes

• Fix integration tests after introducing the usage of major.minor model versions for tests. (#1777)
• Use correct sign for flasher distance calculation with flasher z coordinate pointing towards camera. (#1784)

Documentation

• Improve documentation on DB upload. (#1775)

New Features

• Add software version range validation. Introduce software version for updated or new flasher simulation model parameters. (#1763)
• Implement simulation models production table and model parameter update using the simtools-maintain-simulation-model-add-production application. (#1765)
• Schema for info.yml files used in simulation models. (#1790)
• Add flat-fielding devices for all telescope types. (#1798)
• Add new application simtools-db-upload-model-repository for simplified upload of repository data to the database. (#1801)
• Add flasher exponential decay pulse shape parameter. (#1802)

Maintenance

• Linked parameter plots to parameter comparison reports. (#1661)
• Added CLI argument to flexibly change PSF containment percentage as needed. (#1766)
• Remove 'LATEST' options when setting the DB_SIMULATION_MODEL_VERSION configuration option (require explicit setting of the DB version). (#1785)
• Introduce a simpler naming for the database (CTAO-Simulation-Model instead of CTAO-Simulation-ModelParameters). (#1787)
• Remove use_plain_output option and generalize output direction generation. (#1792)
• Simplify generation of production image and remove outdated build-corsika-simtelarray target. (#1794)
• Increase robustness for unit and integration tests when cloning remote Git repositories. Add a 3x retry. (#1796)
• Split CORSIKA/sim_telarray and simtools images into two. (#1797)
• Change minimum python version requirement to 3.12 (following CTAO recommendation). (#1799)
• Remove 'instrument:type' and 'instrument:site' in model parameter schema files. (#1803)

v0.21.0

This release of simtools, the simulation toolkit for the CTA Observatory, includes the following main changes:

Bugfixes

• Fix output file error when running application simtools-print-version. (#1774)
• Bugfix in configuring hard-stereo array triggers (hard_stereo should be hardstereo in array_trigger.dat). (#1780)

New Features

• Implemented gradient descent minimisation for psf parameter optimisation, KS statistic as a sanity check, and monte carlo error on the simulated psf. (#1717)
• Add functionality to work with delta-type production tables of the simulation model for patch updates. (#1758)
• Automatic retrieval of the latest patch version for the simulation model.
  Allow --model_version=6.0 being resolved to the newest version. (#1768)