David's Astronomy Pages Notes - Session 613.2  (2018-06-13, Observatory Commissioning)

Notes (S613)

Notes Main

Home Page

Notes (S614.1)

	Session Aims & Highlights
	Operational Issues
	- Critical Issues (0),  Major Issues (0),  Minor Issues (1),  Small Defects (1),  Continuous Improvement (0)
	Stress Test
	No images from this session  >>

Session Aims & Highlights (2018-06-13)

Main Aims

This was a daytime session to continue formal commissioning of the new Dome Observatory including :

1. Stress Test.  Perform a Thorough Stress Test of the Observatory System to check stability of the software/hardware
   (this follows the occurance of major problems during the last two nightime sessions involving poor communication with automatic disconnection of the Telescope (TheSky6 Error Code=213) and an attempted fix of the issue involving the addition of a registry DWORD for AutoTerminateErrCnt  (HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\SoftwareBisque\TheSky\TELESCOPE) and relief of pressure from the cable protector that may have been affecting the RS-232 Cable Communications )
   
2. System Stability. Continue checking stability of POTH.Hub (Telescope + Dome) & Observatory Control Software

Equipment & Software

•  12" LX200 and ST-10XME
•  CCDApp2, TheSky6, CCDSoft 5, POTH Hub

Highlights

• Stress Test. Observatory given a thorough System Stress Test (Hardware & Software).  This was done by auto-executing a 2 hour long Observing Plan involving 74 targets under close to full live conditions (i.e using live scope slewing, slaved dome rotation and CCD camera imaging,  but with the dome shutter closed and without high precision target centering using plate solution of locating images).  Stress Test successfully completed with no major issues (and specifically there were no repetition of the '213' telescope communication error).
• System Stability.  A number of fixes implemented in attempt toresolve the showstopping TheSky6 Error Code=213 problem
    a) Registry entry for AutoTerminateErrCnt added to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\SoftwareBisque\TheSky\TELESCOPE
    b) Cabling between Computer and Telescope checked
    c) Pressure on cable by a recently introduced cable protector relieved

Back to Top

Operational Issues (2018-06-13)

• Critical Issues (0)
• Major Issues (0)
• Minor Issues (1)
• Small Defects (1)
• Continuous Improvement (0)

[ Prev | Next ]

Critical Issues

• None

Major Issues

• None

Minor Issues

• Observatory Control Program (CCDApp2) unable to load/run a second Observatory Plan after completing the first. Bug fixed.
  Fixed (CCDApp2/AstroMain)

Small Defects

• Monitoring Flags for Weather (Rain, Clarity, Light) showing Green instead of Red or White.  Flags in Observatory Control Program (CCDApp2) showing Green with value = 0 whilst AllSky/Weather Computer is offline (terminal hard disk failure) and not sending any data (Screen Capture, Fig 1). Bug fixed.
  Fixed (CCDApp2/AstroMain)

Continuous Improvement

• None

[ Prev | Next ]

Back to Top

System Stress Test (2018-06-13)

Observatory was given a thorough System Stress Test (Hardware & Software).  This was done by auto-executing a full Observing Plan under close to real conditions using live scope slewing, slaved dome rotation and CCD camera imaging,  but with the dome shutter closed, without high precision target centering using plate solution of locating images and with exposures shortened to 1s using a testing override.

An Observing plan for a long December night was built and executed (a future date had to be used otherwise the executor program would skip the targets as they were seen to be in the past).  Of the 74 scheduled targets

- 61 targets were successfully acquired (with live telescope & dome slewing and CCD imaging)

- 10 targets failed (as per design) as they were below the horizon at the time of execution or their airmass was outwith the permitted threshold

- 3 targets failed (as per design) as they had Declinations which were outwith the permitted threshold (this is a safety measure to protect observatory equipment and stop the CCD camera from hitting the LX200's fork base & control panel.

The stress test took 2 hours to run during which the system operated without problems, and importantly without any repetion of the earlier scope communication problem (Error Code 213).  Whilst there is no guarantee that the '213' problem wouldn't reappear during  future sessions,  things at least appear hopeful for now and there is confidence to resume night-time testing & commissioning.

Observing Plan executed during stress test 2018-06-13

Back to Top