Sounds like there is a lot of work needed around how the scheduler works with the rest of Ekos.

I find it annoying that while the scheduler loads without INDI, you need to load a sequence into it to prepare a workflow, which needs the CCD module to build one, so you have to start INDI anyway to generate your sequence (I'm sure that more organised people have their common sequences already filed somewhere on their file system).

Any news on this? I am looking for this also.

I think the option to re-align at the beginning of each schedule sequence is a good step forward. The feature itself to re-align after guiding failure turned out to be awfully complex, since many actions lead to guiding failures where we do not want to re-align (e.g. slewing or focusing). We need to carefully narrow the failures down to capturing, and this is not that easy. Therefore I layed this feature aside in favour of hunting for bugs.
Wolfgang

Hi,
How about an option to realign based on the output image? Ie after a user difined number of capture the mount can take the latest exposure , plate solve and compare it to a preset coordinate or image. If it is not aligned then the mount slew to target then continue to take photo. For this kind of auto aligment we can set the threshold bigger than in the alignment module (a couple hundered of arcsec to account for dithering) .
Would that be easier and working more reliable? If working correctly, we can have a processs running on background keep monitoring the output exposure to see if the aligment is correct. I've lost a dozen of good sky night on a failure of guiding/ mount stuck etc.

Indeed, very good idea!

The ´problem that we are currently facing is, that EKOS is full of quality checks, and each feature makes sense. But the complexity of them interacting is difficult to cover with tests and therefore brings the risk of regressions. Therefore we need to be careful with introducing new features.

As long as we do not have this feature, I warmly recommend the recently introduced option "Force Re-alignment before Starting Each Job". I for example have two standard jobs - one LLLRGB and one LL - and have them repeated for 15 respectively 30 times with 6min frames. That means if something goes wrong, it gets corrected latest after roughly half an hour.

Wolfgang

Is the new "force re alignment before starting each job" incorporated into the stable build? I am using kstars 3.4.3 and could not seems to find the option anywhere. Also i am using a OSC so I do not generally split my exposure into LRGB segment. But if I split my capture like imaged below does that mean after about 5 exposure the mount gets realigned?

Hi
Use the scheduler:


No need to stack jobs one per line. Use the Scheduler 'Repeat for ...' option.
HTH and clear skies,
Steve

Please be aware, you need to use the scheduler. The screenshot that you posted is from the capture module. Splitting in the capture module makes no sense (at least for this feature), there will be no alignment between single sequences in the capture module.

You need to setup like this:


Hint: with this setup, you will have one re-alignment between each capture. If you increase the number of frames in the capture sequence, you will reduce the frequency of re-alignments.

HTH
Wolfgang

Thank you. To be honest, i have never ever used the scheduler. But I think I will try this tonight. Thanks again.

I do not seem to find the option aforementioned.
I am using kstar 3.4.3 and indi 1.8.5. Am I missing something here? If my ekos does not have this.option, If I check the align box in the steps of sequence would It realign before each job anyway?

Try the nightly or build the git.
Cheers

So even without the force realign option I can still make it realign after each job with this option right?