New Feature : Support for ASCOM Cover/Calibrator devices

[admin]

Hi folks,

hope that those who were at the eclipse had a successful day (looking forward to seeing photos). Now that everything is back to normal, I've released a new update for SharpCap (4.1.12025) and I've included some new stuff that I have held back for the last couple of weeks to avoid any risk of introducing new bugs in the run up to the eclipse.

The big new thing is support for ASCOM cover/calibrator devices - that is controlling a telescope cover that can be moved into place or out of the way. The cover may have a built in flat illumination light too, allowing it to be used to create flat frames. I think in theory you can have a controllable light without the motor movement, but I'm not sure how useful that is...

The sort of devices I'm talking about include

Altinak Flip Flat - https://optecinc.us/products/19050
Wanderer Cover - https://www.wandererastro.com/en/col.jsp?id=130
Deep Sky Dad Motorized Flat Panels - https://shop.deepskydad.com/product-cat ... at-panels/

WandererCover.jpg (72.25 KiB) Viewed 1283 times

and others... Thanks to Ian at Altair Astro for lending me a WandererCover to help with development.

So, how does SharpCap support these devices?

Firstly, you will need to make sure you have the ASCOM driver for your device installed. You can then go to the bottom of the Hardware settings in SharpCap and find a new section allowing you to select the driver for your Cover/Calibrator...

Screenshot 2024-04-09 193317.png (10.95 KiB) Viewed 1284 times

If you haven't done this already, use the 'Properties' button to adjust the setup for your device to ensure it connects correctly. You can also set the default illumination brightness to use if your device has a light function. If this adjustment is unavailble, press the 'Change' button, which will connect to the device to check that it has a light and work out what the maximum brightness is.

Once you have the settings adjusted correctly, press OK to close the settings and open a camera.

You should now see the new controls to use your cover/calibrator device in the 'Scope Controls' section on the right...

Screenshot 2024-04-09 193956.png (5.98 KiB) Viewed 1284 times

As usual, there is a checkbox to connect/disconnect the hardware and then buttons to allow you to open/close the panel and turn the light on or off. The brightness can also be adjusted if that is supported by your panel.

This obviously gives you a manual way to take control of your cover/calibrator from within SharpCap, but the support goes further than that...

Flat Frame Capture

Capturing flat frames from the 'Capture' menu now supports using cover/calibrator devices to simplify the process.

Screenshot 2024-04-09 194341.png (34.97 KiB) Viewed 1284 times

You can see that there are three new elements in the 'Capture Flat' window as highlighted above...

* A 'Use Cover/Calibrator' button. Pressing this will shut the cover if it is open and turn on the illumination. If this button is used then whatever actions it took will be undone when the flat capture is complete (ie if it closed the cover, the cover will re-open when capture is complete)

* An 'Auto Adjust Gain/Exposure' button. This will be present for everyone and will attempt to auto set gain and exposure to get good flat field illumination levels (maximum brightness near 70 to 80%, as little as possible below 10% or above 90%).

* An option to close the cover for capturing dark flats. If illumination is switched on, it will be switched off for dark flat capture (but kept on for bias capture).

Dark Capture

Capturing dark frames from the 'Capture' menu also supports using a cover/calibrator to block light from reaching the camera - if using this approach you should check that the cover fits well and blocks out all light (SharpCap will turn off the illumination function of the cover/calibrator - if it has one).

Screenshot 2024-04-09 195015.png (25.66 KiB) Viewed 1284 times

There is a single new checkbox added to allow you to choose whether to use your cover in this way when capturing darks.

As for flat frame capture, SharpCap will undo any changes made to the cover/calibrator state at the end of dark capture - ie. if SharpCap closed the cover to capture darks, it will re-open it again at the end of the dark capture process.

Deep Sky Sequence Planner

The deep sky sequence planner also now includes support for using a cover/calibrator as part of the planned sequence.

Screenshot 2024-04-09 195337.png (49.94 KiB) Viewed 1284 times

You can request SharpCap open the cover at the start of the sequence and close it at the end, and also specify whether the cover should be used for dark capture and/or the calibrator function should be used for flat capture.

Note that there is currently no support for cover/calibrator devices in the Solar System Sequence Planner.

Sequence Editor

For those who use SharpCap's advanced sequence editing capabilities, there are a series of new steps to allow control of cover/calibrator devices.

Screenshot 2024-04-09 195639.png (19.94 KiB) Viewed 1284 times

Hopefully, these steps are largely self-explanatory.


As always, feedback welcome. I have only been able to test with one cover device and the ASCOM simulator, so it's possible that tweaks may be required to properly support other devices.

thanks,

Robin

[sonata31]

Hello Robin
I just tried SharpCap with an Optec Alnitak
Once connected, the buttons remain grayed out

Optec Alnitak.png (38.9 KiB) Viewed 402 times

Thanks for your help
Louis Joly

[admin]

Hi,

thanks for the report - I think I just need to tweak the way that the buttons are enabled/disabled to allow for the 'unknown' position.

The calibrator appearing in the 'NotReady' state is a bit worrying though - according to the ASCOM documentation, that state is supposed to be transient - it means that the light is responding to an on/off command or the brightness is stabilising - I don't think it should stay in that state or start in it

I will allow SharpCap to enable the light on button when the calibrator is in the 'NotReady' state, as I think that will make it usable, but really it seems the ASCOM driver isn't quite doing the right thing here.

cheers,

Robin

[sonata31]

Hello RTobin

alnitak-error1.png (339.56 KiB) Viewed 184 times

Louis

[sonata31]

Hello Robin
I would like to point out that it works perfectly with N.I.N.A.
Louis

[admin]

Hi,

were you trying to switch the light on or off? I guess so, since the 30s timeout applies to those operations. SharpCap is expecting the light to enter the correct state within 30s of the command being issued.

If you are switching on, the calibrator should go to the 'Ready' state, if switching off, it should go to the 'Off' state. Which caused the error above? We have already spotted that the ASCOM driver for your Altinak device seems to use the 'NotReady' state in place of 'Off', so it may be another effect of that issue.

cheers,

Robin

[sonata31]

When I click [ON] the control panel becomes

alnitak-error2.png (43.12 KiB) Viewed 172 times

And I got the above error message
Louis