I know it sounds weird, but my imaging desperately needs more failure!
What I really mean is that I want the SCHEDULER to KNOW when something has failed, so it can restart a job.
Very often (like almost every night) when I use the Scheduler, something goes wrong. For me the most common problem is passing clouds that cause a temporary break in guiding. The internal guider tries and tries to re-start and after some minutes a new guide star appears. The guider latches onto that and drags the mount to a new position, then guides there. Or the focuser fails (again because of passing clouds). Or a meridian flip lands on the wrong position. Whatever.
The upshot is that I then get hours and hours of very nice subs of the wrong sky position. (see example below of consecutive subs of PK_164+31.1)
I know there's already discussion about enabling more low-level failure (e.g., in the Guider, Focus, and Capture modules). This is good, because a low-level failure can then cause a message to be passed up to the Scheduler to restart a job. If the job includes Align and Focus then the target will be recentered and refocused and the rest of the night saved.
But given the FANTASTIC image analysis already available in Ekos (especially since the integration of StellarSolver and the Analyze module), it should be VERY EASY for the Scheduler itself to detect failure at this higher meta-level!
In maybe 2 seconds following a capture, the Analyze/Schedule modules should be able to detect a badly out-of-focus, clouded, or misaligned sub. This detection should then trigger a FAILURE and a RESTART of the job. Alignment, Focusing, and Guiding would appropriately then SAVE THE REST OF THE NIGHT rather than mindlessly churning out dozens or hundreds of bad subs.
PLEASE consider USING the existing functionality of StellarSolver and the Analyze module in the Scheduler to get imaging back on track when low-level processes fail.
I understand and endorse the idea that failure should also be detected by the focus and guide modules, but the Scheduler should have the last word, calling a job failed even if no failure is reported at the lower-level.
Finally, THANKS for all the amazing hard work on this community project!
Scott