Problems as of 6/1/12

Another productive month has passed. We are at the point that all the systems are working together. The big push is in monitoring scheduled observations, RTS2 webgui, and finishing security.

The automatic focusing was sort of a dud in that it didn't work to fit our needs. We have decided to roll our own in hopes of having a best fitting focus at any given time.

Things are finally moving forward and the light is at the end of the tunnel.  This also means our issues list is a lot smaller.

OHH YEAH!

Software

• Add user friendly GUI to control primitive features of the system - Website in progress
• Nagios setup to point to new devices- BORAT online, other devices still need work - Later when stuff is working
• FWHM minima calculations - TESTING, thanks Wildo
• Focus Driver doesn't update status while focusing, always displays idle. 
• Change dome status to more unique name for easy find in FITS header.- DONE

Hardware

• Motion sensor wiring done, just need to connect each sensor via breadboard/connectors - In Progress
• Fan controller and Focuser in single box with single power supply - Done & Installed
• Boltwood sensor reporting clear skies as cloudy
• Extra PCIe serial card driver needs to be installed - DONE
• Fan need to be added to focuser/fan controller box - Ordered

 Security

• Motion detectors need to be wired in and fully tested
• Need some minor integration with IR+ZM+Lights work in combination
• Bluecherry Capture Card module causing kernel panics, need to grab new version and compile

Controling Devices With JSON

RTS2 has an XMLRPC which also supports JSON. This make it very easy to poll and control devices external of the driver. Here is a simple example of controlling the Tban fan controller based on temperature difference between inside the dome and the outside ambient temperature.

from rts2json import jsonProxy, createJsonServer 
import socket
import xmlrpclib
import json
import httplib

#connect to server
createJsonServer('localhost:8889','','')

#get temps from devices
externalTemp = jsonProxy().getValue('S0','TEMP_AMB')
internalTemp = jsonProxy().getValue('S2','DS1')

#calc the difference
diffTemp = internalTemp - externalTemp

#set the fan speed based on rules
if diffTemp < 0:
    jsonProxy().setValue('S2','MFanCon',0)

elif diffTemp > 7:
    jsonProxy().setValue('S2','MFanCon',3)

elif diffTemp > 4:
    jsonProxy().setValue('S2','MFanCon',2)

elif diffTemp > 0:
    jsonProxy().setValue('S2','MFanCon',1)

The rts2json is in the RTS2 repo. Simply connect via a JSON proxy and get and set values of devices. The script is set to a 15 minute cron and adjust fans speeds accordingly.

Problems of 3/26/2012

It has been a productive month. We are now at a point where the telescope systems are all working together. From this point on (unless something breaks) we should be able to perform observation tests and see how it all works together. The only hard part we are still having is pointing the telescope. Sometimes it seems to have a mind of its own.

Software

• Focus driver needs a little tweaking and testing - DONE
  
• Add user friendly GUI to control primitive features of the system - Website in progress - PARTIALLY COMPLETE
• TESTING and LOADS of it
• Nagios setup to point to new devices- BORAT online, other devices still need work
• Udev rules added to BORAT - DONE
  

Hardware

• Motion sensor wiring done, just need to connect each sensor via breadboard/connectors
• Weather sensor needs calibration
• New cable end for dome control cable - DONE
• Dome driver updated for new protocol - DONE
  
• Fan controller and Focuser in single box with single power supply - Waiting for shipment
  
• Cable rewire/Cable management, hellish mess right now - DONE
  

Security

• ZM also needs to be finished setting up - DONE
  
• ZM notification needs to be solved - DONE
  
• Motion detectors need to be wired in and fully tested
• Need some minor integration with IR+ZM+Lights work in combination
• Motion detection system needs some arduino code - DONE
  

Internet Speeds

We finally got around to gathering some ping information. This is important because we do want to control the telescope remotely and not just autonomously. So we would like to have low pings times as we gain other benefits too.


FYI the pings drops off at the end because the ping test server was off for a period of time.

First light....

Last Monday we finally got first images running through RTS2. The only missing part of the image acquisition is automatic focusing. Focuser still needs testing which we will probably get to end of this week.

Our Proof

Though this is quite a milestone there is still loads of work left to do. There are several software pieces that need work before BORAT can really achieve a primitive autonomous state.

Flood Lights

So far the surveillance/security system is coming along smoothly. We finished setting up a Bluecherry BC-H16480A capture card (16 ports!) and hooked up the flood lights. They're impressively bright and can be toggled with the web switch (I need to buy one of these for home).

Now, we just need to finish writing the Arduino driver to talk to RTS2 and hook it all up to the main building's security system. We need to figure out the logic and what constitutes an alarm or just a warning, as well as calibrate the PIR sensors.

Here's a pano view of the new floodlights:

Lee was moving around, but it still turned out OK

Dome in Motion

Lee closes up the dome after we finished some testing.