Hi!

Thanks, Eric, both for your suggestion and for acknowledging that it is weird

Just to be sure: I have a Losmandy G11. Ekos does not build a model on that, just syncs (if I got it right). Does that affect your advice?

Magnus

Ekos will give the sync points to the indi driver. Then the driver may or may not send them to the mount. In terms of mount model, Ekos only builds a list of points to send when booting the mount, but I'm not talking about this here. I was only referring to the fact that for each sync point sent, the mount becomes more efficient at pointing. My suggestion is to disable that feature to eliminate a parameter in the problem.

-Eric

OK, got it. Testing now.

But: what it does now, is plate solve and then slews to what it thinks is the correct position. But it does not take a new image there to check. It did that before, so I could see visually that the object was centred. Is this the correct behavior now, or is there another setting I might have shifted or should change?

Magnus

Hi!

I have another case here. Unfortunately, this one is with the "differential slew" disabled. I toggled that on and off, and was a bit worried by the fact that when checked, the solver did not take a final shot, validating the position. So I turned it off. And this happened.

This time, the mount did not fail to slew, it was not "caught" in the safety limit. But it went far away from the target (while I slept). We are trying to image the Cave Nebula here, Sh2-155. So here are some extracts from the log. My main question now, concerns that fact that it seems that the aligment process shifts the target position along the way. It starts out with the correct coordinates, but in the end, after a disastrous slew, suddenly has new coordinates. So my question: how can that happen?

I will continue to test with the "differential slew" checked, but post this anyway, as just another piece of the puzzle, perhaps. And I'm thinking, could this in any way be connected to the recent changes in the driver that Chris made, to solve the problem of pierside not following ASCOM standards? (which was extremely helpful for me)?

Here are some extracts from the log file, attached in its entirety:


We are starting the job:

Line 39462:
[2020-05-21T00:16:34.366 CEST INFO ][ org.kde.kstars.ekos.scheduler] - Executing Job "Sh2-155"
[2020-05-21T00:16:34.837 CEST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Losmandy Gemini : "[DEBUG] CMD: <:h?#> "
[2020-05-21T00:16:37.535 CEST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.ekos.scheduler] - Get next action...
[2020-05-21T00:16:37.536 CEST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.ekos.mount] - Slewing to RA= "22h 57m 52s" DEC= " 62° 44' 19\""
[2020-05-21T00:16:37.543 CEST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - ISD:Telescope sending coords RA: "22h 57m 52s" ( 22.9645 ) DE: " 62° 44' 19\"" ( 62.7386 )
[2020-05-21T00:16:37.549 CEST INFO ][ org.kde.kstars.ekos.scheduler] - "Job 'Sh2-155' is slewing to target."
[2020-05-21T00:16:37.555 CEST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.ekos.mount] - Mount status changed from "Tracking" to "Slewing"
[2020-05-21T00:16:37.556 CEST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Losmandy Gemini : "[DEBUG] RES: <0> "
[2020-05-21T00:16:37.557 CEST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Losmandy Gemini : "[DEBUG] CMD: <:Gv#> "
[2020-05-21T00:16:37.557 CEST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Losmandy Gemini : "[DEBUG] RES: <T> "
[2020-05-21T00:16:37.558 CEST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Losmandy Gemini : "[DEBUG] CMD: <:Gm#> "
[2020-05-21T00:16:37.558 CEST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Losmandy Gemini : "[DEBUG] RES: <W>, lst 15.102883, ha -0.778506, pierSide 0 "
[2020-05-21T00:16:37.632 CEST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.ekos.scheduler] - Mount State changed to 2


Now we have slewed to the target, and begin focusing and alignint. This is a bit messy – and I interrupted here, paused the scheduler to manage filter, but never interferred with the aligment (I think)

Line 39965
[2020-05-21T00:17:52.295 CEST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Losmandy Gemini : "[DEBUG] CMD: <:Gv#> "
[2020-05-21T00:17:52.296 CEST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Losmandy Gemini : "[DEBUG] RES: <T> "
[2020-05-21T00:17:52.299 CEST INFO ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Losmandy Gemini : "[INFO] Slew is complete. Tracking... "
[2020-05-21T00:17:52.307 CEST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Losmandy Gemini : "[DEBUG] CMD: <:Gm#> "
[2020-05-21T00:17:52.320 CEST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Losmandy Gemini : "[DEBUG] RES: <E>, lst 15.123713, ha -7.840454, pierSide 0 "
[2020-05-21T00:17:52.398 CEST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.ekos.scheduler] - Mount State changed to 2
[2020-05-21T00:17:52.398 CEST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.ekos.scheduler] - Slewing stage...
[2020-05-21T00:17:52.401 CEST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.ekos.mount] - Mount status changed from "Slewing" to "Tracking"
[2020-05-21T00:17:52.402 CEST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.ekos.scheduler] - Mount State changed to 3
[2020-05-21T00:17:52.402 CEST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.ekos.scheduler] - Slewing stage...
[2020-05-21T00:17:52.403 CEST INFO ][ org.kde.kstars.ekos.scheduler] - "Job 'Sh2-155' slew is complete."


Focusing complete, aligning:
Line 41053
[2020-05-21T00:21:45.806 CEST INFO ][ org.kde.kstars.ekos.scheduler] - "Job 'Sh2-155' focusing is complete."
[2020-05-21T00:21:45.813 CEST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.ekos.scheduler] - Get next action...
[2020-05-21T00:21:45.822 CEST INFO ][ org.kde.kstars.ekos.align] - "Capturing image..."
[2020-05-21T00:21:45.830 CEST INFO ][ org.kde.kstars.ekos.scheduler] - "Job 'Sh2-155' is capturing and plate solving."
[2020-05-21T00:21:45.891 CEST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.ekos.scheduler] - Align State "In Progress"
[2020-05-21T00:21:45.896 CEST INFO ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Atik 383L : "[INFO] Taking a 20 seconds frame... "
[2020-05-21T00:21:46.266 CEST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Losmandy Gemini : "[DEBUG] CMD: <:h?#> "
[2020-05-21T00:21:46.267 CEST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Losmandy Gemini : "[DEBUG] RES: <0> "
[2020-05-21T00:21:46.267 CEST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Losmandy Gemini : "[DEBUG] CMD: <:Gv#> "
[2020-05-21T00:21:46.268 CEST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Losmandy Gemini : "[DEBUG] RES: <T> "
[2020-05-21T00:21:46.274 CEST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Losmandy Gemini : "[DEBUG] CMD: <:Gm#> "
[2020-05-21T00:21:46.274 CEST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Losmandy Gemini : "[DEBUG] RES: <E>, lst 15.188883, ha -7.775283, pierSide 0 "

Fails, and I manually interrups, shifting filter.

Aligning again. Note that here the target coordinates are correct.
Line 43260
[2020-05-21T00:31:10.597 CEST INFO ][ org.kde.kstars.ekos.align] - "Solution coordinates: RA (22h 58m 00s) DEC ( 62° 47' 09\") Telescope Coordinates: RA (22h 57m 50s) DEC ( 62° 44' 19\")"
[2020-05-21T00:31:10.601 CEST INFO ][ org.kde.kstars.ekos.align] - "Target is within 00° 03' 46\" degrees of solution coordinates."
[2020-05-21T00:31:10.649 CEST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - ISD:Telescope: Syncing...
[2020-05-21T00:31:10.653 CEST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - ISD:Telescope sending coords RA: "22h 58m 00s" ( 22.9669 ) DE: " 62° 47' 09\"" ( 62.7858 )
[2020-05-21T00:31:10.654 CEST INFO ][ org.kde.kstars.ekos.align] - "Syncing to RA (22h 58m 00s) DEC ( 62° 47' 09\")"
[2020-05-21T00:31:10.661 CEST INFO ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Atik 383L : "[INFO] CCD FOV rotation updated to -98.8856 degrees. "
[2020-05-21T00:31:10.662 CEST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.ekos.scheduler] - Align State "Syncing"
[2020-05-21T00:31:10.746 CEST INFO ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Losmandy Gemini : "[INFO] Synchronization successful. "
[2020-05-21T00:31:10.748 CEST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - ISD:Telescope: TRACK
[2020-05-21T00:31:10.753 CEST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - ISD:Telescope sending coords RA: "22h 57m 51s" ( 22.9642 ) DE: " 62° 44' 19\"" ( 62.7386 )
[2020-05-21T00:31:10.754 CEST INFO ][ org.kde.kstars.ekos.align] - "Slewing to target coordinates: RA (22h 57m 51s) DEC ( 62° 44' 19\")."
[2020-05-21T00:31:10.756 CEST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.ekos.scheduler] - Align State "Slewing"
[2020-05-21T00:31:10.843 CEST INFO ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Losmandy Gemini : "[INFO] Slewing to RA: 22:57:51 - DEC: 62:44:19 "
[2020-05-21T00:31:11.418 CEST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.ekos.mount] - Mount status changed from "Tracking" to "Slewing"
[2020-05-21T00:31:11.420 CEST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.ekos.scheduler] - Mount State changed to 2
[2020-05-21T00:31:11.515 CEST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Losmandy Gemini : "[DEBUG] CMD: <:h?#> "
[2020-05-21T00:31:11.516 CEST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Losmandy Gemini : "[DEBUG] RES: <0> "
[2020-05-21T00:31:11.516 CEST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Losmandy Gemini : "[DEBUG] CMD: <:Gv#> "
[2020-05-21T00:31:11.518 CEST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Losmandy Gemini : "[DEBUG] RES: <S> "
[2020-05-21T00:31:11.518 CEST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Losmandy Gemini : "[DEBUG] CMD: <:Gv#> "
[2020-05-21T00:31:11.520 CEST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Losmandy Gemini : "[DEBUG] RES: <S> "
[2020-05-21T00:31:11.525 CEST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Losmandy Gemini : "[DEBUG] CMD: <:Gm#> "
[2020-05-21T00:31:11.556 CEST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Losmandy Gemini : "[DEBUG] RES: <E>, lst 15.346328, ha -7.620339, pierSide 0 "
[2020-05-21T00:31:12.527 CEST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Losmandy Gemini : "[DEBUG] CMD: <:Gv#> "
[2020-05-21T00:31:12.527 CEST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Losmandy Gemini : "[DEBUG] RES: <S> "
[2020-05-21T00:31:12.534 CEST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Losmandy Gemini : "[DEBUG] CMD: <:Gm#> "
[2020-05-21T00:31:12.534 CEST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Losmandy Gemini : "[DEBUG] RES: <E>, lst 15.346608, ha -7.591170, pierSide 0 "

Goes on to slew. And it slews far off. And I am not interrupting here.

Line 43680 – finished slewing. Now we are very far from the object, as seen by the hour angle. How does the solver handle this?

[2020-05-21T00:32:31.423 CEST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.ekos.mount] - Mount status changed from "Slewing" to "Tracking"
[2020-05-21T00:32:31.425 CEST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.ekos.scheduler] - Mount State changed to 3
[2020-05-21T00:32:32.361 CEST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Losmandy Gemini : "[DEBUG] CMD: <:Gm#> "
[2020-05-21T00:32:32.371 CEST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Losmandy Gemini : "[DEBUG] RES: <W>, lst 15.368843, ha 1.131343, pierSide 0 "
[2020-05-21T00:32:32.888 CEST INFO ][ org.kde.kstars.ekos.align] - "Capturing image..."
[2020-05-21T00:32:32.896 CEST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.ekos.scheduler] - Align State "In Progress"
[2020-05-21T00:32:32.940 CEST INFO ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Atik 383L : "[INFO] Taking a 20 seconds frame... "
[2020-05-21T00:32:33.013 CEST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - processBLOB() mode 2
[2020-05-21T00:32:33.016 CEST INFO ][ org.kde.kstars.fits] - Reading FITS file buffer
[2020-05-21T00:32:33.368 CEST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Losmandy Gemini : "[DEBUG] CMD: <:Gm#> "
[2020-05-21T00:32:33.374 CEST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Losmandy Gemini : "[DEBUG] RES: <W>, lst 15.369124, ha 1.131346, pierSide 0 "
[2020-05-21T00:32:34.376 CEST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Losmandy Gemini : "[DEBUG] CMD: <:Gm#> "
[2020-05-21T00:32:34.387 CEST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Losmandy Gemini : "[DEBUG] RES: <W>, lst 15.369405, ha 1.131349, pierSide 0 "
[2020-05-21T00:32:35.420 CEST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Losmandy Gemini : "[DEBUG] CMD: <:Gm#> "
[2020-05-21T00:32:35.420 CEST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Losmandy Gemini : "[DEBUG] RES: <W>, lst 15.369685, ha 1.130519, pierSide 0 "
[2020-05-21T00:32:36.420 CEST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.ekos.mount] - Mount status changed from "Tracking" t


Now solver suddenly has changed target position!

Line 43903
[2020-05-21T00:33:28.766 CEST INFO ][ org.kde.kstars.ekos.align] - "Solver iteration #1"
[2020-05-21T00:33:28.784 CEST INFO ][ org.kde.kstars.ekos.align] - "Starting solver..."
[2020-05-21T00:33:28.789 CEST INFO ][ org.kde.kstars.ekos.align] - "/opt/astap/astap -r 30 -speed auto -f /tmp/fitsttNJlr.fits -o /tmp/solution"
[2020-05-21T00:33:28.912 CEST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Losmandy Gemini : "[DEBUG] CMD: <:Gm#> "
[2020-05-21T00:33:28.914 CEST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Losmandy Gemini : "[DEBUG] RES: <W>, lst 15.384595, ha 0.639873, pierSide 0 "
[2020-05-21T00:33:29.919 CEST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Losmandy Gemini : "[DEBUG] CMD: <:Gm#> "
[2020-05-21T00:33:29.921 CEST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Losmandy Gemini : "[DEBUG] RES: <W>, lst 15.384876, ha 0.640154, pierSide 0 "
[2020-05-21T00:33:30.150 CEST INFO ][ org.kde.kstars.ekos.align] - "Solver completed in 1 second."
[2020-05-21T00:33:30.153 CEST INFO ][ org.kde.kstars.ekos.align] - "Solver RA (221.24291) DEC (62.85979) Orientation (-98.34907) Pixel Scale (2.84378)"
[2020-05-21T00:33:30.187 CEST INFO ][ org.kde.kstars.ekos.align] - "Solution coordinates: RA (14h 45m 26s) DEC ( 62° 46' 41\") Telescope Coordinates: RA (14h 44m 41s) DEC ( 62° 44' 19\")"
[2020-05-21T00:33:30.191 CEST INFO ][ org.kde.kstars.ekos.align] - "Target is within 00° 11' 36\" degrees of solution coordinates."



Magnus

Same here, I was wondering if they could be related to Chris recent changes... you can revert to the previous driver from GIT (need to recompile against an older commit). Will ask Chris also to check if this could be related.

EDIT: so it looks like Chris changes were related to Side of Pier. Do you have in the logging level of the driver SCOPE debug? this would make it more verbose and get the RA/DE reading which are missing from the log now.

Hi!

I had another disastrous slew tonight, this time with the differential alignment option checked. Solver issues a slight slew and says alignment is successful, while the mount slews more than 90 degrees to the safety limit. THe job where this happes start at line 43979. It slews, then a long focusing sequence. THen solver starts in line 46685.

Log attached.

Magnus

I had another problem, but perhaps related and compounded by a failure to complete the meridian flip the next night:
indilib.org/forum/ekos/7010-ekos-enters-...r-parking.html#54165
This also occurred only after Chris' changes that allow you northerly folks to image below the NCP.
Failure to flip is definitely a huge problem for everyone, irrespective of the latitude we are living at.
Jo

I can see a solve reported ay #46743 giving an error of 6' 34" then differential slew to "12h 22m 47s" ( 12.3797 ) DE: " 04° 27' 56\"" ( 4.46567 )
The slew continues for some time and the hour angle changes from 1.65 to 11.968 see #47187 There's no evidence that a pier side change was requested, and no evidence of what the mount position now is.
Then at #47229 the mount status changes to slewing and the Ha starts reducing rapidly.
There's no indication that Ekos started this slew and it appears to think it should be acquiring an image, guising and imaging is started.
And at #47519 the log stops. The uncommanded slew is still running.

It would have helped a lot if there was some mount information in the log, or if the Gemini driver would report the position. It doesn't even seem to show any commands related to reading the position from the mount.

Hi!

Thanks for having a look at it Chris!! THe slew that you are looking at there, did not "end". It ran into the safety limit, and there I extracted the log and manually stopped the process.

As for more info: what can I do? I've got driver log turned on for the mount in the Ekos log window as well as in the Indi window. What more settings should I turn on?

Magnus

I was talking about two slews, the first to a Ha of 11.968, then the mount stops, acquisition starts and an uncommanded slew starts which looks as if it's going back to where it started.

There's nothing from the EKOS mount, That would at least shw if EKOS is doing anything. Otherwise maybe the Gemini driver author should be a little less mean with log information.

Hi!

Yes, I see the start of the second slew, #47229. I have no clue to what started this. There are stuff about "Mount State" changing around this - anything related?

I've got Mount checked in Ekos, verbose, to file. Anything else I can do to produce more data?

Magnus

Looks like Scope verbose debug is turned off by your configuration. Please turn it on in Options, then Save Configuration.