User`s Manual for the Adquisition and Guiding camera
Contents
1. Electronics port connected successfully Changing to guide field mode In guide field mode Changing to filter ND 4 Stages iniciated Reading Focus From file Communication server initializing 15 08 14 Console message level Log message level 10 Cancel Figure 5 Console dialogue 4 Minor errors 5 Steps inside blocks 6 Secondary messages 7 Working states debug mode 8 Received messages debug mode 9 Sent messages debug mode 3 5 Stages The Stages dialogue lets take the control of the electronic of the system Stages b e Motors Focus Guide fid jh j r Camera p Filters On Axis 7 Shutter allways opened Acquisition Open Y Guidefield auto search Slit View ND4 0 Restart electronics Guide Field cy A Figure 6 Stages dialogue Elements in this dialogue are disposed in function groups for a better iden tification Motors group With two control bars to set the position of focus and guide field Focus bar Bar with values from 100 to 100 With it the current camera focus position can be set Each camera has its own focus position and is conserved when mode is changed When software is closed the current position of focus in each mode are saved in a file in order to set the same focus position in the next execution of the software Guide field bar Bar with values from 100 to 1002. With it is set the position of the guiding field in Off Axis camera Camera group With this group the operation mode of the system is set Acquisition mode In this mode the field that covers the camera is the same field that covers the instrument Warning the AutoGuider system is vignetting Slit View mode The camera shows the image of the slit of the in stalled instrument Modo Guide Field The camera shows a field Off Axis for guiding out of the instrument field Filters On Axis group With this group a filter can be selected Not all the systems have all the possibilities of the electronics so the specific setting for each instrument defines what controls are available and disables in the dialogue the controls that are not available 3 6 Parameters In this dialogue are set some parameters for the proper working of the system It is possible to save it to the setting file to make changes permanent aa Ela Aggressiveness Factor En Yo Exposure time 10 0 5 Centering position X 536 Y 1 444 Mark size 5 px Window 50 px Save OK Figure 7 Parameters dialogue OK button Closes the window without any other effect in the system Save button Save the current parameters in the current setting file chosen at the initial selector see section 3 1 Aggressiveness Factor setting In this text box the value of the aggres siveness
3. automatically on each acquiring of the active camera TER 2 File View Marks Acquisition ie Iv Show marks Threshold 0 Apply Threshold Take continuous Move telescope Centre on Slit Set Slit Pos Stop Full frame image Exposure time 10 0 Dismiss Figure 4 Full frame dialogue When the cursor moves inside the display the image display in the main dialogue actualizes with the zoom of the zone around the position of the cursor in the image see section 3 2 Cut values set At the right of the image display you can find two text boxes where can be set the upper and lower cut values for the shown image Position and value text In this text are shown the instant position of the cursor over the image and the image value in this position Show marks selector when this selector is marked the follow marks Slit position mark and user marks are superimposed on the image When it is not marked none mark will be shown in the image Threshold set The threshold value can be modified for the automatically selection of the guiding star This is done by changing the value in the edit box and pressing the button Apply Threshold Take image button By clicking Take image button the system will ac quire an image with the active camera and will show it in the image display after this the system remains in Stand by state waiting for new commands Tak
4. with the new position of the slit see section 5 3 Stop button The Stop button of this dialogue has the same function of the Stop button in the main dialogue It stops any activity in the software letting the system in a stand by state Exposure time set With this text box the exposition time for the images taken with the current camera can be set When this value is modified the value of the equivalent text box in the Parameters changes to the same value see section 3 6 Information box In this text box will appear information on what is the system doing it will show instructions to interact with the system Dismiss Button This button closes Full frame dialogue none of the activities or states in the system will be affected 3 4 Console In this dialogue are shown the system information messages for the user Mes sages have an importance hierarchical criteria A selection of the highest level to show can be done for the text console and for the log file Different hierarchy levels are 0 Free 1 Free 2 Main errors 3 Blocks basic information Console initialized Console message level 5 Console message level 5 Log message level 10 Log message level 10 Reading configuration ASCOM Initialized Telescope port connected successfully UT 14 07 30 ST 22 06 36 9 ALFA 00 00 01 4 DELTA 37 13 48 RA 22 06 33 8 DEC 37 13 48 CASS 139 0
5. you have started the remote desktop and logged in you can find the icon to run the software AutoGuider 3 What dialogues can you find 3 1 Selector Choose Configuration ES Please Choose a configuration file CAFOS v Cancel Figure 2 Instrument selection dialogue The first dialogue shown when starting the software is an instrument selector which allows you to select which of the configuration files stored on the PC use The default selection will be the one used in the last run of the software 3 2 Main The main dialogue is the first you can see once the software set up is selected this dialogue is the only one that is essential for the operation of the AutoGuider other dialogues can be opened from main dialogue and they have more specifics functions or general information functions Eh AutoGuider EE File View Marks Acquisition High 1 Stop Low 0 Tel OK Elec OK Figure 3 Main dialogue In this dialogue you can find two buttons Start and Stop an image display with associated cut values a message line a process bar and two text that show the connection state with telescope and electronics Start Button Start guiding By clicking this button the automatic guiding Starts Initially the button colour is soft green While the initialization of the guiding the button turns yellow the system takes an image anal yses it looking for valid stars for guidi
6. 15 15 15 16 16 17 1 Outline The system is based on PC It has one or two cameras depending on telescope and instrument for imaging The optical control is done through electronic old system although a new compatible electronic have been developed The telescope control is done via serial port using the former system and is intended precisely to the connection of a system guided m Camera Hp Camera USB SU OV TELESCOPE C PC LAN m Electronics tecs RS422 RS232 E E A A Z Z Figure 1 Outline of the system Figure 1 is the outline of the system In it is possible to identify the com ponents mentioned above and how are they connected The communication between system modules is Ethernet network using a serial port server NPort for serial communication 2 Connection and start The operation of the Auto Guider is done through a remote desktop to the control PC of the system All the different systems have the same user and password to login User ag Password aGuiZer Each telescope and instrument have a different PC to connect 1 23m Telescope agl2 caha es 2 2m Telescope CAFOS and CAFE ag22 caha es 2 2m Telescope BUSCA agx caha es 3 5m Telescope ag35 caha es The PC for BUSCA in 2 2 telescope is the reserve for any breakdown PC in other instrument or telescope Once
7. C FOC b Without parameter returns back the current position of the camera focus If a parameter is sent with an integer value between 100 and 100 the system will set the focus position at the asked position and will answer with the focus position at the end of the execution POS POS c Without parameter returns back the current position of the guiding field If a parameter is sent with an integer value between 100 and 100 the system will set the guiding field at the asked position and will answer with the guiding field position at the end of the execution MG u u v v Move and guide command stop guiding moves the telescope an offset u u v v given in arcsecs and resumes the guiding in this position 8 Troubleshooting This section will include various tips and quick steps to solve common problems encountered in the use of the system To include more points to this section please refer to email nacho caha es with the problem detected 8 1 Frozen image Problem description Sometimes is not updated properly the image box of the Full frame dialogue and it remains frozen Cause For some reason the software does not update the image box Solution Reopen the dialogue by selecting Full frame option from View menu section 5 2 17
8. Calar Alto AutoGuider User Manual Jos Ignacio Vico nacho caha es Jes s Aceituno aceitun caha es October 18 2012 Contents 1 Outline 2 Connection and start 3 What dialogues can you find Bl Selectors arraia te o won gs who heed E A o ho ce hth ma D O AS oe 2 a O PD Gorge e te Sis F llframe ms EE ASA A BOE A 3A CONSOLES ur a qi gem p Ei ERS Rae oes A a ei DO AO DADOS ido na ae d o aig qo oh So a V Bad qa RE hata o jp By Ae a 3 6 ParametersS cm 6 And Nina ede A SR A Cap ete le eich a 3 1 Telescope 2 eb ee ee eb RR a ge de e BIO BIO carte tai 288 A Nel eed E Ao aes 4 Using the mouse Al heft buttons Go nor pe ead Bod Pee Re et Se de 4 2 Right Dutton o posta ee a ele a tes err ants eee RE OM aes 43 Middle Bitbon cs w A de eek ecu el Bee a Geeta Sate ES a Be 5 Menus dal Elements ooi ae fe bee eee BB A Fy sa Senge Beds View menis oa d tae e i BSR Cae ee ee at do Marks menti T 4 42 5 4 Stew eve Abed ba PA ee Be A d 5 4 Acquisition menu 2 0 ee 6 Operation 6 1 itializabion y 3 eia A amp alias amp QDO eet ee we oS 0 22 POCUS vta PG Boe Re BSS a ey ad 6 3 Normal operation 0 0 0200000 eee eee 64 Finaliza ie sos ADA a E A A oes A 00 Mark seed 84a ee ARES ae See eee E 7 Remote Operation Tal Protocols als pop ae de ASE EE IEE SE BO 8 Troubleshooting 8 1 Frozew image 00 22 4 LG PS ee hi ty TD 12 12 13 14 14 14 14 14
9. ain information about the telescope and gives a way to interact with it FR Telescope o E E Move Tlescope E EE JE E Telescope Data UT 14 07 30 S5T 22 06 36 9 ALFA 00 00 01 4 DELTA 37 13 48 RA 22 06 33 8 DEC 37 13 48 CA55 139 0 Refresh data Force Cass angle Force 0 0 Figure 8 Telescope dialogue It is divided into groups for better organization of its elements OK button Close the dialogue without any other effect on the system 10 Move Telescope group Moves the telescope the indicated amount of arc seconds in the edit box is possible to introduce decimal numbers in the direction given by each of the four directional buttons Telescope Data group Displays the information obtained in the last com munication This information can be refresh by clicking the Refresh Data button Force Cass angle group It allows to replace the cassegrain angle infor mation in the communication by the angle indicated in the edit box if Force selector is marked 3 8 Plot This dialogue shows graphs with guiding information r Plot 0 19 8 39 6 594 792 99 Time Centroid variations 0 198 396 594 792 99 Time Star intensity Intensity Cancel Figure 9 Plot dialogue The information consists of three different graphics fwhm Shows the fwhm in the horizontal and vertical cut of the guid
10. alogue described in section 3 3 If the software is in guiding state the display shows the environment of the guiding position A red crux marks the reference position of the guiding star a green crux marks the current position of the mass centre of the guiding star Messages line Under the image display we can find a text line that shows interactive information absolute position of the cursor when it is in the image display or the horizontal and vertical width of guiding star when guiding is active Process bar On the process bar it is shown the time evolution of the acqui sition exposure Communication Monitors there are two different monitors one monitor for the communication with telescope ans another one for the communication with optics control electronics Monitors consists in a text line with the state of the communication The text indicates if the communication is correct OK if there was a prompt error in communication No answer or if it has been impossible to establish the connection from the beginning Not conect These monitors can be helpful in the initial diagnosis of faults 3 3 Full frame Full frame dialogue shows the last acquired full frame by the active camera In this dialogue we can identify a display box where images are shown and a zone of buttons and text to interact with the system Image display Shows the last image acquired by the active camera This display is actualized
11. an isolated cloud or any other reason the Start button will turn to blue colour and no command will send to the telescope When the star apears again in the image and the software detects it the Start turn back to bright green and guiding continues automatically The main dialogue must always be opened close it would leave the system as if product is used the Exit option in File menu It is not necessary that the other dialogues are open for guiding but the user can keep them open to their tastes and interests 6 4 Finalize The guiding can be finished just by pressing the Stop button that can be found in main and Full frame dialogues The system will go to an idle state To finish the execution of the software it is necessary to select Exit option from File menu section 5 1 The software will also end its run closing the main dialogue section 3 2 Software needs to be closed properly so that all mechanical components are in their rest positions 6 5 Marks The software has a marking system so that the user can draw circles or crosses that serve as references for positioning objects mark positions in the field or any other utility that may be of their interest The configuration of the instruments with a slit or fiber in which position the object to be observed can have an associated file marks that displays the position of the slit or fiber To set up the position of the marks for a give
12. cross Draw a cross shaped mark on the place indicated by the user Draw circle Draw a circle shaped mark on the place indicated by the user Delete mark Eliminates the mark designated by the user Clear marks Removes all brands of the image box Load marks Recovers a previously saved file marks Save marks Saves in a file the current marks configuration of the image box in Ful frame dialogue 5 4 Acquisition menu Take one This option performs the same action as the Take image but ton in Full frame dialogue as described in section 3 3 Take continuous This option performs the same action as the Take con tinuous button in Full frame dialogue as described in section 3 3 Autofocus Auto focus function for the current camera Is necessary an approximate manual focusing and this function will make a fine adjust ment Is an experimental function and success is not assured unless the field distortion in the image is small 6 Operation 6 1 Initialization When software initializes the selection dialogue is displayed the set up selected by the last user is marked as default configuration Once is selected the proper set up the main dialogue is shown 6 2 Focus To focus the camera is necessary to open the Stages dialogue to set up the focus position It is also usefull to open the Full frame dialogue in order to have a better vi
13. e star Centroid variations Shows the error on the guidance found in each new acquisition Star intensity Shows the peak intensity of the guide star taking the max imum as 100 11 4 Using the mouse The mouse has different behaviour when used on image frames of the main dialogue described in section 3 2 and Full frame section 3 3 By moving the cursor over the image boxes information text boxes are ac tualized with the cursor position in the whole image and the value of the image in the pixel indicated by the cursor 4 1 Left button In Full frame dialogue when double click on left button over a star in the image box the guiding will start using this star as guiding star The guiding will not be done over just the point indicated by cursor but over the nearest centroid to the cursor selected point in this way displacements and guiding errors are avoid 4 2 Right button In the Full frame dialogue double click on right button is necessary with Move telescope Centre on Slit and Set Slit Pos buttons described in section 3 3 The information box at the bottom of the dialogue will give addi tional information 4 3 Middle button In Full frame dialogue the middle button is utilized to interact with the mark system through the menu commands described in section 5 3 The information box at the bottom of the dialogue will give additional information 5 Menus Bo
14. e continuous button By clicking Take continuous button the sys tem will acquire images in a continuous way showing each image in the image display once is acquired The continuous acquisition of images stops when the guiding begins or when Stop button is clicked in this dialogue or the main dialogue section 3 2 Move telescope button Move telescope button let you send controlled movements of the telescope Once is clicked the system ask for setting the origin point of the movement with a double click on the right button of the mouse after this ask for the setting of the destiny point with the same button of the mouse The system will move the telescope in the way that the part of the image in the origin point will appear in the point set as origin point Centre on Slit button Centre on Slit button moves the telescope to get the part of the image set as origin with a double click on the right button of the mouse in the position set as slit position in the setting file The setting of the slit position can be done with Set Slit Pos button Set Slit Pos button The slit position can be changed in the setting file with the Set Slit Pos button When the Set Slit Pos button is clicked the system ask for the position of the slit in the image with a right but ton double click of the mouse Once the position is selected the system overwrites the setting file and generates a new marks file
15. enu Form this menu can be selected the palettes applied to the images taken by cameras different system dialogues can be opened too from this menu Palette Select the options for the palette to display images Med3 Takes threshold less once standard deviation as minimum and threshold plus three times standard deviation as maximum Med5 Takes threshold less once standard deviation as minimum and threshold plus five times standard deviation as maximum Med9 Takes threshold less once standard deviation as minimum and threshold plus nine times standard deviation as maximum Min Max Takes as maximum and minimum the actual maximum and minimum of the image User Def Takes the values introduced by user in text boxes near images Show plot Opens Show plot dialogue described in section 3 8 Parameters Opens Parameters dialogue described in section 3 6 Console Opens Console dialogue described in section 3 4 Stages Opens Stages dialog described in section 3 5 13 Full frame Opens Full frame dialogue described in section 3 3 Telescope Opens Telescope dialogue described in section 3 7 5 3 Marks menu In marks menu are all the commands related to the marks system The new marks will have the size indicated by Mark size parameter in parameters dialogue described in section 3 6 Draw
16. factor can be set The aggressiveness factor is the factor in which is decreased the calculated guiding correction movement of the telescope is expressed as a percentage of the total The goal of the aggressiveness factor is to avoid the overshoot in corrections In case of overshoot as oscillations with increasing amplitude this factor must be decreased Exposure time In this text box the exposure time for the images taken by the current camera can be set By the value in this text box the value in the equivalent text box in Full frame dialogue is modified too see section 3 3 Centering position set In those text boxes can be set the coordinates of the centre of the slit The coordinates of the centre of the slit is the point of the image in the Full frame where the selected start is sent when is clicked the button Centre on Slit in this dialogue The values can be set writing them directly in the text boxes or through the action of the Set Slit Pos button in the Full frame dialogue see section 3 3 Mark size set In this text box can be set the size of the marks placed by users over the image of the Full frame dialogue The explanations about the marks system in the software can be found in section 6 5 of this manual Statistical Window size In this text box can be set the size of the window used for make the statistical computing 3 7 Telescope This dialogue allows to obt
17. ist of available command is GON Begins the automatic guiding It has the same effect of clicking the start button in main or full frame dialogues GOFF Finishes any activity of the system and let it in a stand by state It has the same effect of clicking the stop button in main or full frame dialogues ST Returns back the state of the system The format of the state string is OAA BB AA Returns the current operation mode of the system GF Guide Field mode AF Acquisition mode SF Slit view mode BB returns the state of the system ST The system is in stand by status GU The system is guiding FO The system is focusing TI The system is taking images IN The system is in indeterminate status SF Sets the system in slit view mode It has the same effect of selecting Slit View mode in Camera group of Stages dialogue GF Sets the system in guide field mode It has the same effect of selecting Guide Field mode in Camera group of Stages dialogue 16 AF Sets the system in acquisition mode It has the same effect of selecting Acquisition mode in Camera group of Stages dialogue FIL FIL a Without parameter returns back the current filter set in the system If a parameter is sent with value 1 2 or 3 the system will set the asked filter and will answer with the filter at the end of the execution FO
18. n configuration should be done by the Set Slit Pos button in the Full frame dialogue as described in section 3 3 Users can make their own mark save them to a file or retrieve previously saved marks The mark files have the extension mark The mark file as sociated with a configuration will have the name of the configuration with the extension mark 15 All possible actions that can be done with marks are described in section 5 3 of this manual 7 Remote Operation There is the possibility of controlling the system remotely This remote control works for the basic operation but it is enough for a full observation 7 1 Protocol The connection to the system is implemented through a socket connection The used port can be set in the set up file By default the selected port is 900 The communication protocol is a polled dialogue in ASCII characters The client connects the system and send commands commands are processed by the system and an answer is returned back to the client to confirm the execution of the command or warning about any error in the system The answer is standard for all commands the system returns a 1 character if there was any error in the execution of the command followed by a string with information about the error If execution of the command is successful the system returns a O character followed by a string with information about the execution of the command if it is necessary The l
19. ng and if it finds some begins the automatic guiding in the selected star In case there is no valid star for guiding the system will move the camera field and repeat the image ac quisition until a valid star is founded this movement will be done only if it is possible is in Guide Field mode and is allowed to move and is checked Guidefield auto search in Stages dialogue described in sec tion 3 5 If it cannot find any star above the whole field the system will open the Full frame dialogue described in section 3 3 and will ask you for a manual selection of the guiding star the manual selection can ever be done in the Full frame dialogue During guiding the Start button turns light green If the reference guiding star is lost the button turns blue and no corrections are send to telescope until the start is founded again and guiding continues in normal way Stop Button Stops all the actions the system is doing When this button is clicked the guiding or the imaging acquiring is stopped The system goes ina stand by status waiting for any new command Image display Depending on the state of the software and other opened dia logues the display will show different images In the start of the execution it shows the full reduced last acquisition If the Full frame dialogue is opened the display shows a zoom of the environment of the pointer over the full frame display in the Full frame di
20. sion of the captured image It is necessary to select the working mode in the Camera group of the Stages dialogue Clicking Take continuous button in Full frame dialogue or in Acquisition menu Take continuous option a continuous capture of images is shown in the image box of the Full frame dialogue Then focus 14 position must be changed in the focus bar of the Stages dialogue until the image is properly focused The response time of the mechanics of the focus is on the order of seconds and it is necessary to wait for his positioning If the focus position seems to be erratic it is necessary to wait until it stabilizes 6 3 Normal operation Once the camera is focused it is possible to begin the automatic selection of the guiding star by clicking Start button in the main dialogue or to do a manual selection of the guiding start double clicking with the left button of the mouse over the selected start in the image box of the Full frame dialogue see mouse using in section 4 Then guiding must begin and the Start button of the main dialogue tuns to a bright green colour During guiding with each new image capture the environment of the guiding star is shown in the image box of the main dialogue A green crux marks the position of the star in the image and a red crux marks the position over the guiding is done In case the star is not visible segment movement in telescope dome
21. th main dialogue section 3 2 and Full frame dialogue section 3 3 have the same menu Tanto el di logo principal secci n 3 2 como el di logo Full frame secci n 3 3 cuentan con el mismo men de comandos The full outline of the dialogue menu can be found in figure 10 5 1 File menu From this menu can be selected commands related to file processing and main program functions Load Image In this menu you can load a previously saved image with this software Selecting this option opens a dialogue box to select the image to load Save Image In this menu you can save the current image to a file The images are saved in standard FITS format and can be retrieved using the Load Image option described above 12 File View Marks Acquisition Draw cross Draw circle Load Image eee ee Save Image Delete mark Exit Clear marks Load marks Save marks Palette Show plot Med3 p Take one Parameters Med5 Take continuous Console Med9 Autofocus Stages Min Max Full frame User Def Telescope Figure 10 Schema of menus Exit Option to exit and close the system Leaving the system correctly all elements of this are placed in positions of rest and retreat of the optical path of the instrument for that reason should always exit the system properly In case of an erroneous output of the system is advisable to re start to exit it correctly 5 2 View m
Download Pdf Manuals
Related Search