Hi,

The iOptron GEM45 comes with an iPolar scope for polar alignment. I have played around with it and it is a simple HID device that is supported by the V4L2 driver. In the debug messages I see

V4L2 CCD : "[INFO] For future autodetection of pixel size, please report the following: Reported Name: iOptron iPolar: iOptron iPolar, Common Name (Eg: NexImage 10), Pixel Size to the following thread: bit.ly/2S1Vxjq "

which points to this thread . However, I will add the info to the v4l2driver.cpp source file myself and will file a pull request and that is not what this question is about.

Ekos allows for up to two telescopes and in this case I have three: the main imaging camera, the guiding camera and the iPolar scope. This means that I cannot create one profile that can take images with the main camera and telescope, guide with the guide camera and telescope and do the polar alignment with the iPolar scope, right? Or is there a way to enter the focal length of the lens so that the polar alignment routine can calculate the FOV? Or is this implicit in video device? Any pointers to using only one profile are very welcome.

And if this indeed is not possible then I will create two profiles: one for polar alignment and one for imaging.


Thanks, Wouter

I discussed this offline with Jasem and he told me that any profile can have at most 2 telescopes. So I will stick with two profiles: one for polar alignment and one for imaging.

With respect to the pixel size of the iPolar camera: pull request created!


Wouter

Wouter, I asked the same question here:

www.indilib.org/forum/general/5972-polem...er-issues.html#45505

It would be great if it were possible to add a third telescope for polar alignment, but I also found no way around creating a second profile.

Anyway, that is pointless now, as my PoleMaster is no longer being recognized due to what I suspect are persistent QHY driver issues.

Yeah I know there have been more requests, including yours Jo. Jasem told me it is quite complicated to make this change in Ekos though so I am afriad it will be some time before the change comes if ever.

I actually thought about it and I have a proposal. Right now the CCD camera has a switch between PRIMARY and GUIDE scopes. I think this switch should go away. CCD camera snoops ACTIVE_TELESCOPE (more accurately ACTIVE_MOUNT) for location, and it also snoop the Primary/Guide properties (focal length & aperture).

It can be updated so that it still snoops PRIMARY_TELESCOPE on startup to fill any initial. However, we introduce a new property TELESCOPE_INFO in INDI::CCD that has:
+ Name
+ Focal Length
+ Aperture

This can be written over by the user (and saved in config) or set by client. Again, by default, it would load PRIMARY_TELESCOPE from ACTIVE_TELESCOPE, so clients do not need to do anything.

So in Ekos, it used to already switch between PRIMARY and GUIDE scope switches. After this change, and after establishing a new profile, we ask the user to assign each camera to a telescope. Ekos would try to intelligently assign them by itself, but the user can configure this and it would be used for this profile on subsequent runs. The choice would be the following:

+ Primary: always use PRIMARY_TELESCOPE info, whatever they are.
+ Guide: always use GUIDE_TELESCOPE info, whatever they are
+ List of Telescopes in KStars: This is a list of telescope entries in KStars that the user can select from and always set the value from them to it.

So in your case, you would define a fake telescope called iOptron whose properties combined with iPolar specs result in the expected FOV. When iPolar driver is started, INDI::CCD would by default try to snoop PRIMARY_TELESCOPE info from ACTIVE_TELESCOPE and fill it out, but Ekos would also set the information after connection with the CCD to set the correct telescope info.

Ok, any thoughts?

My understanding is that the driver is started whenever Ekos is being started and disconnected upon exit from Ekos. Is this correct?

For the polar alignment camera, would it not be sufficient to predefine that camera and then just call it up from the list of telescopes you are proposing when the Polar Alignment tab is being activated?

Obviously, this may not be practical, as I am lacking a detailed understanding of how Ekos is structured.

Getting rid of the switch that defines primary telescope and guide scope for alignment and polar alignment is a great idea, not the least because I often forget to make that selection and then end up with the solver struggling because it had been fed the wrong FOV.

Thanks for considering these changes!

Jo

In practise I don’t think anyone ever changes the association of a camera with a telescope while Ekos is running, so actually fixing this association would be a huge improvement, IMHO. And devices like iPolar or a DSLR with a fixed lens essentially are a camera and a telescope combination (or a telescope can be seen as an improved lens) so it would make perfect sense to associate a telescope with a camera and call it iPolar or so.


Wouter

on first connection there would be an "optional" dialog to associate each camera with telescope. Then this dialog would always be accessible in the various modules in case the user would change something, and the changes are saved per-profile.

We are going to leave v3.3.8 now for a quick bugfix and hopefully this can make it for 3.3.9

That would be fantastic!

I'm in the process of researching for a new mount. I'm thinking about the iOptron GEM28 mount and when deciding between versions I've found this "unfinished" thread. Which is the current state of the iPolar system? Could it be used on Ekos?

By the way, if somebody has any comment about the GEM28 mount, now it will be a good moment to put them here .

Thanks!

iPolar can be used as a standalone camera, but not as the main purporpose like polar align, like the Polemaster.
I have a CEM70 with iPolar that is useless at this moment. Seems that iOptron build only the Windows version of its iPolar align software

I don't understand this. If the camera can be used as a standalone one, you can use it on the PAA, isn't it? What do I miss?