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Observing Result |
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Dome & Scope Slewing Performance | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Slew/Centering Performance | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Guiding Performance | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sky Conditions (Locate Frames) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Night Sky Summary Plot Top axis: Sky Brightness at Zenith (in ADU/s) Lefthand axis: Local Time (hh LT). Righthand axis: Sun Altitude (degs) |
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Actual Weather vs Pre-Session Weather Forecast |
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Session Event Log | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Session Alerts | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Issue
Problem with Dome Slew to Target 1/6 (SS
Cyg) - either an actual problem with the slew or a slew monitoring/reporting
problem.
Description
A 'Dome Discrepency' alert was issued at 01:09:27 "Difference between
Telescope Az and Dome Az is > 8 deg (GCVS SS Cyg)" and the ObsPic on
Current Session page showed the dome apparently not aligned with the
telescope and apparently still 'slewing'. The Report file showed the message
"Az: 171.8° (Dome) ALERT. 99.7° difference from Scope Az"
, followed a few moments later by "Dome Az. 157.5° (vs. Scope Az. 72.1°,
Delta Az. 85.4°)"
The session's slew table reports that the
dome slew to SS Cyg at 01:08 took 12s to slew from Az 203.1° to Az 171.8°
(an angle of 31.3°) at an anomously high speed of 2.57°, whilst the scope
slew took 32s to slew from Az 208.6° to Az 72.1°. (overall slew time 32s).
The following dome slew to BL Lac at 01:18 was reported to have started from
Az. 76.0°.
Analysis
The changing Dome Az (from 203.1° to Az
171.8°, then to 157.5° and then to destination Az of ~ 76° suggests that
scope was still slewing after the Scope/Dome Slew monitor had assessed that
the slew had been completed, and was physically normal.
Centering
operations, and in particular Locate Frame 1 that followed directly after
the slew operations, were normal (dome had evidently arrived at the required
slaved location for SS Cyg target). This confirms that the dome slew
was physically normal.
It would seem that the problem lies in the slew monitoring routine which has somehow failed to identify the correct end of dome slew. This would be due to a flaw in the routine's logic or a glitch in the data being sent to the client from the Pulsar Dome driver.
Example Time Line associated with a normal slew
01:27:05.28 Client commands TheSky6.Telescope.SlewToRaDec
(Asynchronous) to slew to NGC 4088
(Scope at
Az: 73.1°, Scope needs to move to Az 292.9°, Dome at Az 75.0°, Dome needs to
move to Az 289.8°)
01:27:05.32 Dome commanded to Slew To Azimuth 289.7°
(Here DH is clearly
commanding the dome to slew to the appropriate destination Az)
01:27:05.39 Dome slewing started Az 75.0° (Dome.Slewing = True)
01:27:08.34 Scope slewing started Az: 73.1°
(Scope.Slewing = True)
01:27:52.75 Scope slew finished Az: 292.8°
(Scope.Slewing = False)
01:28:20.27 Dome slewing
finished, Az 289.8° (Dome.Slewing = False)
This
timeline is consistent with that expected from a ‘Best Way’ configuration.
The scope and dome are sent slew commands at the same time. The Dome
Slew is clearly given the destination Az. 289.7°, and this occurs even
before the scope is perceived to have actually started to move.
Time Line associated with anomalous slew (SS Cyg, 01:08)
01:08:48.65 Client commands TheSky6.Telescope.SlewToRaDec
(Asynchronous) to slew to SS Cyg
or this is a significantly
delayed command to slew to destination Az)
The Dome-Scope Configuration used in the Observatory is shown in the
following diagram, along with the data flow paths associated with a slew to
target
This a "Best Way" configuration and would normaly see both the telescope and the slaved dome being sent a slew command froom DeviceHub at the same time when a slew is initiated by DH or by an Ascom client connected to DH.Telescope (and Dome.Slaved = True). This should mean that both devices should begin to slew directly to their new target position within a few 10ths of a second of each other. Both devices should move directly to their new destination in a single move.
Whilst most of slews requests (initiated from AstroMain via TheSky6/TeleApI/DH.Telescope show this expected behaviour, in at least the one anomalous slew case documented above this behaviour obviously didn't occur. Instead the dome 'followed' the scope movement, didn't occur in a single move and caused the dome azimuth to not arrive at the appropriate destination azimuth until some time after the scope has finished its slew.
Conclusion
It would seem that Scope-Dome system works as intended for most of the time, but at least in one case documented it didn't. The hypothesis to explain this anomaly is as follows :-
Actions
Document Slew Anomaly (SS Cyg) and forward description of the problem and
hypothesis to the author of the DeviceHub program for review/comment.
Modify AstroMain to handle the slew behaviour that occured for the slew to
SS Cyg.
Update 2022-06-03
Whilst reviewing the
Dome Slew Monitoring code in the SlewTheSkyScope() routine it was found that
a 20s cutoff had been added 2022-05-10 (in response to MI, S995 2022-03-25)
in the code for reset SlewStopped Flag if dome is slewing again.
Because the resumed dome slew to Az 75° only happened after 23s the
opportunity to lower the SlewStoppedFlag and bDomeCompleted flags was lost,
with the consequence that slew monitoring was exited before dome was in the
correct position for the target. This is fixed in AstroMain 3.51.13.
Update 2022-06-04
For further diagnosis of this
issue it is critical that DeviceHub ActivityLog is running and captures Dome
& Scope Commands at the time of a similar event. DH will be setup at
start and end of each new session to capture ActivityLog message from each
session in order to have information on the commands & any exceptions
relevant to a future instance of this issue.
Session S1016 and S1017
both had one instance of an anomalous dome slew where the dome slew stopped
part way from the slew to Target., but didn't effect the follow-on operation
as Scope/Dome slew monitoring ended at appropriate point. In both
cases the Anomalous Slew was associated with slew to Focus Field target as
the beginning of the session. After turning-on Slaving the dome began still
slewing towards the telescope which was sitting close to its startup
position (Az ~180°). This slew was still underway when Scope was
commanded to slew to the Focus Field target. In S017 an attempt was
made to abort this already active dome slew before commanding the slew to
Focus Field, but process didn't wait longer enough for the dome to be
confirmed as no longer slewing.
Update 2022-06-05
AstroMain 3.51.15 version built
with updated fixes for this issue.
Update 2022-06-09
New version of DeviceHub installed
(DeviceHub
6.6.0.11) which contains a fix for an issue with DH's dome slewing
interruption that may have caused the anomalous dome slew seen during slew
to SS Cyg (01:08).
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This Web Page: | Notes - Session 1014 (2022-05-31) |
Last Updated : | 2024-03-22 |
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