[490] | 1 | INDI Robofocus Driver README.robofocus |
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| 2 | 2006-10-02, Markus Wildi |
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| 3 | |
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| 4 | |
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| 5 | 1) Development environment: |
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| 6 | |
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| 7 | I used INDI v 0.4 and kstars 1.2. on PIII 800 MHz running Linux 2.6.16.5-default. |
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| 8 | |
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| 9 | 2) Known bugs: |
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| 10 | |
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| 11 | There no bugs known. |
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| 12 | |
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| 13 | The RoboFocus micro controller does not check if a setting is out of the interval |
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| 14 | 0 ... ca. 65000. After a position is out of limits it does not respond to any |
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| 15 | command and must be turned off and on. |
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| 16 | |
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| 17 | 3) Feedback: markus.wildi_AT_datacomm_dot_ch |
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| 18 | |
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| 19 | 4) ToDo: |
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| 20 | |
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| 21 | Make it completely complying with the INDI standard properties. |
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| 22 | Add Temperature compensation. |
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| 23 | |
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| 24 | 5) Status: |
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| 25 | |
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| 26 | All commands listed in Appendix I of the RoboFocus manual are implemented. |
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| 27 | |
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| 28 | 6) Before you start: |
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| 29 | |
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| 30 | Read at first the RoboFocus manual at least chapter 3. Operation of RoboFocus |
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| 31 | including the description of the RoboFocus Control Program (RFCP) and Appendix I |
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| 32 | Software Commands. |
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| 33 | |
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| 34 | Directions are given as positive or negative numbers. |
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| 35 | |
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| 36 | 7) Recommended approach: |
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| 37 | |
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| 38 | Use the default settings for duty cycle, step delay and motor steps per tick |
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| 39 | (a tick is a counter increment by one). Set the back lash correction only to a |
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| 40 | non zero value in case you measured it. |
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| 41 | |
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| 42 | RoboFocus is a slow device and sometimes the position needs to be read out |
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| 43 | separately. That needs additional time. If the LED indicator became green again |
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| 44 | of given property the robofocus driver resumed normal operation regardless what |
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| 45 | happened before. |
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| 46 | |
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| 47 | |
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| 48 | 8) Features |
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| 49 | |
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| 50 | Robofocus driver provides the following features: absolute and relative movement, |
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| 51 | resetting the counter to a given position, maximum and minimum travel, |
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| 52 | backlash compensation, duty cycle, step delay, number of motor steps per |
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| 53 | counter increment (tick), the read out of the built in temperature sensor |
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| 54 | and the four output lines used to control the remote power modules (optional |
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| 55 | accessories). |
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| 56 | |
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| 57 | The settings of the RoboFocus device are polled and displayed in the corresponding |
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| 58 | fields. |
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| 59 | |
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| 60 | |
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| 61 | Connection tab |
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| 62 | |
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| 63 | Port: Set the name of the RS 232 port. The speed is fixed to 9600 baud. |
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| 64 | |
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| 65 | Power: set the four digital outputs (used for optional RoboFocus accessory) |
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| 66 | |
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| 67 | Temperature: read out of the built in temperature sensor (not a real useful |
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| 68 | device) |
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| 69 | |
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| 70 | Settings: the settings step delay and motor steps per tick determine how fast the |
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| 71 | stepper motor turns. The duty cycle is can be set to zero for a main mirror focuser |
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| 72 | setup and to a decent value for a rack and pinion focuser. Read the RoboFocus manual. |
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| 73 | |
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| 74 | Motion tab |
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| 75 | |
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| 76 | Extrema: the movement of the focuser and the position setting can be limited. |
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| 77 | |
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| 78 | Maximum travel: (to me the RoboFocus documentation is unclear.) |
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| 79 | |
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| 80 | Set register Position: set the counter to the value given in the input field. |
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| 81 | |
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| 82 | Set register Backlash: define the amount of ticks. If the back lash correction and |
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| 83 | the absolute or relative movement have opposite signs RoboFocus will move into the |
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| 84 | negative direction of the main movement at the end. |
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| 85 | |
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| 86 | Movement: set it currently to IGNORE (this is a ToDo) |
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| 87 | |
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| 88 | Position: shows the actual position. |
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| 89 | |
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| 90 | Speed, Timer: ignore them (this is a ToDo) |
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| 91 | |
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| 92 | Absolute goto: the focuser moves to the absolute position. |
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| 93 | Relative goto: the focuser moves the defined ticks (negative or positive). |
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| 94 | |
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