David's Astronomy - Notes 2021-03-13 (S0869)

Issue: End of Session reporting shows more close dome requests are being made than are necessary

Description. End of session reporting show there were 6 close dome requests (3 Completed). This may or may not be a reoccurance of the issue where Pulsar Dome doesn't respond to a Close Dome request even though it is received by Pulsar Driver (as shown by Pulsar ASCOM Trace Log). Alternatively it may be an accounting issue only. S866 has 3 close requests (1 completed) , S867 session had 4 close requests (4 completed). S868 session had 2 close requests (2 completed), S870 session had 9 close requests (5 completed).

Analysis. 'Close Dome Requests' is an end of session reporting of the variable Dome.nCloseShutterCommands, whilst ('Completed') is an end of session reporting of the variable Dome.nShutterCloseCompleted.

nCloseShutterCommands is incremented by 1 in the Dome.CloseShutter() routine after its starts the CloseShutterTask thread (started by calling the CloseShutterByThread() routine).

Straightaway it would seem that the Dome.CloseShutter is being called more than once each time the Shutter requires closing..

Separate to nCloseShutterCommands counterd there is a CloseShutterAttempts counter for recording the number of repeat close shutter attempts for a given Dome Closure. CloseShutterTask (thread) makes up to 3 attempts to initiate shutter closing with each attempt separated by 6 secs (Note: bCloseShutterTaskRunning = True whilst CloseShutterTask is active)

End of Session reporting shows more

For dome closure at 03:33 it seems that CloseShutter() routine is called 3 times at 03:33:41.09 (T0) , 03:33:41.13 (T+0.04s) & 03:33:45.89 (T+4.8s), with Closing Dome message coming at 03:33:50.86 (T+9.77s)

First call to Dome.CloseShutter is clearly made from Obs.Manager's SetState_Suspended() routine.

03:33:41.07 | Observatory Manager Change State Info | Session Suspended 03:33:41.09 | Debug Trace Suspending Info | Calling Dome.CloseShutter 03:33:41.09 | Observatory Manager Close Dome Info | Sending CloseShutter command to Dome (Attempt 1) 03:33:41.10 | Debug Trace Suspending Info | Back from Dome.CloseShutter 03:33:41.10 | Debug Trace Shutter Closing Info | Calling objDome.CloseShutter (attempt 1) 03:33:41.13 | Observatory Manager Close Dome Info | Sending CloseShutter command to Dome (Attempt 2) 03:33:41.14 | Debug Trace Shutter Closing Info | Calling objDome.CloseShutter (attempt 1) 03:33:41.52 | Debug Trace Shutter Closing Info | Back from objDome.CloseShutter (attempt 1) 03:33:41.55 | Debug Trace Shutter Closing Info | Back from objDome.CloseShutter (attempt 1) 03:33:45.89 | Observatory Manager Close Dome Info | Sending CloseShutter command to Dome (Attempt 2) 03:33:45.90 | Debug Trace Shutter Closing Info | Calling objDome.CloseShutter (attempt 1) 03:33:46.31 | Debug Trace Shutter Closing Info | Back from objDome.CloseShutter (attempt 1) 03:33:50.86 | Observatory Manager Close Dome Info | Closing Dome 03:34:30.86 | Observatory Manager Close Dome Info | Dome is Closed (45s)

An issue is that the CloseShutterAttempts counter is used by both Obs.Manager and the CloseShutterTask and usage of the counter is getting mixed up.
Proposal is to separate the counter inside CloseShutterTask () from that used by Obs.Manager.
- CloseShutterAttempts is set to 0 in SetState_Suspended()
- CloseShutterAttempts is incremented by 1 in CloseShutter()
- CloseShutterAttempts is set to 0 in CloseShutterByThread
- CloseShutterAttempts is set to 0 in CloseShutterTask
- CloseShutterAttempts is incremented by 1 in CloseShutterTask (directly after setting to 0, so equivalent of setting it to 1)
- CloseShutterAttempts is incremented by 1 in CloseShutterTask by each further attempt if required (up to 3 attempts)

CloseShutterByThread () doesn't check that CloseShutterTaskThread is already executing for launching it (therefore more than one thread could be running at same time !) if CloseShutter()( routine is being called twice within 0.04s.

For Dome Closure at 04:13:06 the CloseShutter() routine is called 2 times at 04:13:06.60 (T0) , 04:13:06.64 (T+0.04s). Closing Dome message comes at 04:13:11.38 (T+4.78s)

Actions

Prevent more than one CloseShutterTaskThread running at same time
Add variable 'CloseShutterAttemptTime' to record the last time when the objDome.CloseShutter was called.


	Session Aims & Highlights
	- Observing Result - Night Summary Plot - Session Event Log

	Operational Issues
	- Critical Issues (0), Major Issues (0), Minor Issues (6), Continuous Improvement (6)

	Images from 2021-03-13 >> [ Local Files >> ]

	Investigation - Multiple Dome Closure Commands

This Web Page:	Notes - Session 869 (2021-03-13)
Last Updated :	2024-09-30
Site Owner :	David Richards
Home Page :	David's Astronomy Web Site

David's Astronomy Pages
Notes - Session 869 (2021-03-13)

Session Aims & Highlights (2021-03-13)

Operational Issues (2021-03-13 S869)

Investigation - Multiple Dome Closure Commands

David's Astronomy Pages Notes - Session 869 (2021-03-13)

Session Aims & Highlights (2021-03-13)

Operational Issues (2021-03-13 S869)

Investigation - Multiple Dome Closure Commands

David's Astronomy Pages
Notes - Session 869 (2021-03-13)