Procedimiento Recomendado para recuperar el apuntado del RoboDIMM Meade Lx200.

Nota: algunos pasos no van a ser necesarios (e.g. Power cycle Tel, o abrir los clamps) si el error de pointing no es muy grande, o sea la estrella aparece en el campo del Finder.

1. Si tienes un lio con los procesos en el robodimm PC, puedes hacer un
   shutdown -r now
   Antes de salir toma nota del Siderial Time, para mejor elejir una estrella brillante cerca del cenit.
2. Salir a la torre y power cycle el Telescopio (es un paso importante si estas recuperando de un fallo de comunicacion/timeout con el Tel).
3. Alinear ambas ejes con sus marcas ROJAS (con los clamps abiertos. Despues los cierras "finger tight", no mas!)
4. Elegir una estrella de la lista del manual azul. Por ejemplo, si es dificil reconocer las constelaciones puedes usar Alkaid (!) que esta en la cola de la Ursa Major, disponible todo el anyo.
5. en el handset cambia de LANDSCAPE a POLAR, entrando en el menu "align"
6. ahora pulsa tecla 6 ("STAR") y te pide entrar el numero del catalogo de la estrella que vas a usar para alinear
7. Entra 140, pulso ENTER, me dice la magnitud y ahora pulso el boton GOTO
8. Alternativamente, puedes usar el catalogo del robodimm mismo para elegir una estrella brillante cerca del cenit, pero corres el riesgo de alinear sobre otra estrella. Identificando la constelacion no tiene perdida.
9. Pon el safety limit "override" en la caja blanca, por si acaso, pero estate listo para abrir un clamp por si el telescopio quiere "enterrarse" bajo el horizonte! Si hace esto, le permito "bobinar" hasta el fin y luego alineo a mano con la estrella.
10. Alinear la estrella en el finder usando el handset (o a mano si prefieres). Esto es literalmente "a pain in the neck" pero lo sigo prefiriendo al latoso "Snapper".
11. Una vez bien alineada con la cross-hair del finder, pulsar y sostener "ENTER" en el handset. Esto te avisa del syncro emitiendo un pitido y te lo dice en la pantallita.
12. Mejor repitir con otra estrella. Debe entrar a la primera en el campo del finder y cerca del centro. Sino, hay un "problema de fondo" y hay que llamar el "duty" :)
13. Vete para dentro y arranca el programa, en modo automatico, o sea normal: ./robodimm. Debes dejarlo completar el spiral search ("Mosaic") para que encuentre la estrella. La primera es la que mas tarda, despues hace un sync y la proxima estrella la encuentra enseguida. Sino, hay algun problema "de medio fondo" y puede que Carlos necesita ajustar el square wave (encoder) etc etc.

CONTENTS:

1. Shortcut to run RoboDIMM

2. Commands and Features in the GUI

3. Definitions of terms in the RoboDIMM software

4. Non-routine operation (for advanced students only!)

5. Normal Shutdown for RoboDIMM

6. Winter Procedures for RoboDIMM & Dome

7. Normal Startup of RoboDIMM

8. Observing tips - overcoming cloud and pointing problems

9. Error messages

10. Command line options for ./robodimm

Webcam link  

A shortcut to run RoboDIMM:

New Commands and Features:

Definitions:

The server is the program which manages connections to the robodimm PC, which are made by telnet or from the GUI (by entering a  command in the Command Prompt). These sessions are the only way to start/stop the robot or to send other individual commands. The window where the server is running also displays all messages on the status of the RoboDIMM instrument. The robot cannot work if these messages cannot be displayed (see below). The server is started by issuing ./robodimm in the directory /data/robodimm/robodimm/ and can only be exited by ^C

`The robot' schedules all tasks, including acquisition, slewing, exposures, calculations and database storage.  Once it is started using startrobot, the telescope tracking motors are activated and remain active until the stoprobot command is executed, even during daytime, and even if the server is exited. Tracking is the only hardware function not controlled by the robotic routine: it is only controlled by the start/stoprobot commands.

So it is dangerous to interrupt the server (^C or Hold-Screen on ./robodimm terminal) for a long time without first stopping the robot. This is because the Meade telescope will continue tracking and will keep running the tracking motors even after the telescope is touching the base plate! However, on 14 July 2003, 3 limit switches have been installed on the telescope to prevent tracking to low elevations. When the limit switches are activated, the telescope power is switched off and the user must go to the RoboDome to recover the telescope (see below) and 

Non-routine operation:

This section describes some consequences of operating outside of the routine stoprobot/startrobot, e.g. running the robot continuously (see next) but is also useful as background knowledge when solving problems.

The robot also switches tracking off automatically after sunrise, parking the telescope the same as a stoprobot command. The Status page of the GUI says "RoboDIM will stop in xx minutes" - this is the effective time before the robot will park the telescope and switch of tracking. Tracking is switched off by changing the telescope mode from 'Polar' to 'Land'(scape).

So if the robot is left running beyond sunrise, it correctly displays "parked" on the GUI (it doesn't do this after stoprobot command - a bug). Therefore there is no need to do a stoprobot before you leave. During the daytime the only task the active robot will carry out is to monitor the time until sunset, which it calculates approximately, and for which it needs to have a correct UT. The robot will then start searching for the first star automatically a few minutes before sunrise, without the need for a new startrobot command from the use. However, to do this, it needs the server to be running.

This is because the robot can't really take any action on the hardware (slewing, exposures) if no messages can be written to the terminal where the server (./robodimm) is running. So if Hold-Screen is on, or the server has been exited ( ^C), the robot's activity is interrupted.

If the Telescope is powered down while the server is running (e.g. spontaneously or after running into a saftey limit) then any further commands will be ignored and the server cannot be restarted untilt he telescope is powered up again. If you then re-start the server, the robot will continue from the point where it was interrupted, which may again cause the telescope to go into a safety limit. The best thing to do in power-down cases is to release the RA and Dec clamps, restart the server and send a stoprobot command. Then wait for the robot to say "telescope is parked" before parking it manually. Pointing will then have to be corrected because of the power doen..

If the robot has not been shut down, it will start acting on the hardware again as soon as ./robodimm is started again (unless it's between sunrise and sunset).

Closing down RoboDIMM in routine operation (see above):

This button in the GUI Command Prompt tab sends the "stoprobot" command, which parks the telescope and turns off tracking, after stopping the automatic monitoring processes as soon as it can. 

Ctrl-C is the currently the only way to exit the server and GUI programs AFTER a "stoprobot". Ctrl-C can also be used if you want to temporarily interrupt the robot. If you only Ctrl-C and restart the programs, the robot will resume working and send a warning email asking "did RoboDIMM crash?". However Ctrl-C does NOT stop the telescope from tracking.

The PARK button is ignored if the `robot' is running
It is only used in manual mode.

The Abort button  is also for manual operation.

Winter is coming! Please read the Bad Weather Procedures for RoboDIMM

Normal shutdown at the end of the night:

Press stoprobot button,
(or write the command in the dialog box in the GUI Command prompt page, or in the telnet session if you are not using the GUI). This command is now supposed to work as soon as the telescope finishes its current task, e.g. search mosaic.

Use park, in the case where the robot was not running. Stoprobot is supposed to send a park command, but you can send it another park command, just to confirm. 'Park' stops the telescope from tracking by putting it into LAND (-scape) mode.

Close dome completely using the red close buttons.
 

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Startup:

Opening the Dome:

In order to open the RoboDome, we first need :

1. The entry hatch to the Dome to be closed (interlocked with Dome Power)
2. The"DOME CONTROL" power key on the panel to be switched ON
3. The blue "SYSTEM RESET" button  to be pressed --> all LED indicators light up.

The CCD power supply is connected to mains by a programmable timer plug. Note you cannot run the robodimm program (see below) with the CCD switched off.

Observing tips

1. The robot task is in an apparently endless search loop. This can happen if clouds move in or pointing is bad. The robot simply starts a new Findtarget if the previous one did not locate the star. This can now be interrupted using the ABORT button.
2. If the telescope has been powered down, you will need to follow Carlos Martin's recovery procedure
   
3. Bad pointing. If the robot is not running,  you can send commands manually to improve the pointing:

goto saoXXX
findtarget	This does a spiral search out to 2000 arcsec and can take up to 20 minutes to complete.
centertarget	This gives output on the ./robodimm session showing the Centroid of the images.
If the x or y of these is outside the range 50~200 it may be too close to the edge. Then use
move ra dec	Where ra and dec are increments in arcsec (30-40 is a good number) in the + or - direction. I have found that Dec pointing errors are hte most common cause of bad pointing. Try a 'move 0 120' (+/-).
centertarget	To check if the Centroids are now closer to the centre. If they are use:
sync RA DEC	Where RA and DEC are the coords of the target you are pointing at according to the SAO catalogue. Enter these in format hh:mm:ss dd:mm:ss i.e. with a colon (dos puntos) delimiter.
startrobot	Should now return you to routine operation

However, if the pointing is so bad that Findtarget did not work, you will have to go to the tower and "help" the software to find its target. Use goto to get close to the star - you should now be able to see it in the the finder telescope field. Use the telescope Handset to centre the star in the finder (the 4 lefthand buttons select the speed, indicated by a LED). Now run Findtarget on the PC outside: it should locate the star after a few minutes. In fact, Carlos says you can move the telescope in this way while the robot is doing a Findtarget, but I think this is for the "advanced" user only!

If the star does not appear in the finder after a goto (e.g. after you have interrupted the robot; see point 3) then the "zeroset" is out. Release the clamps and park the telescope manually at the Hour Angle=0 and Dec=90 positions. Type "resume" into the telnet session and now try a goto. You should now be able to see the star in the finder. If not, check that the sidereal time is correct (=RA in the park position).

Error Messages