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ST4 and guiding with ASCOM

Charles
 

Hi everyone,

There is always a lot of discussion about the need of an ST4 Port.
I spend the last days with testing the guiding correction to TeenAstro, I would like to share my experiences.
  1. General limitation of the ASCOM pulse guiding:
    • the ASCOM pulse guiding guide each axis one after the other
    • it is a design limitation of the TelescopeV3 interface
  2. Guiding with Teenastro ASCOM driver over USB
    • Connexion is very fast
  3. Guiding with Teenastro ASCOM driver over Ethernet
    • Connexion is not very fast
  4. Guiding with device HUB ASCOM driver over USB
    • Connexion is not really fast
  5. Guiding with ST4
    • both axis can be corrected at the same time!!!
So the best for astrophotography is to use the guider relay or to use TeenAstro directly connected to One imaging software like MaximDL
the worst is to use the device HUB connected to many software.

Charles
Armando Beneduce
 

Just an idea: what about making two drivers available, one for connection over USB and another one for connection over Ethernet?
The guiding software could be connected by COM and the other ASCOM clients by Ethernet...
It could be a good workaround if Ethernet connection is stable.
The best solution is an ASCOM server, without relying on the ASCOM Device hub.
As for the ASCOM limitation about simultaneous corrections on Ra and Dec, a request to update the interface could be made.
I mean to point out that some guider relays are still not able to provide simultaneous corrections and, in any case, phd doesn't offer this feature. I already asked for it in the past.

Clear Skies
Armando Beneduce
Jean-Marc Dillon
 

Hi Charles,

Sorry but my English is not perfect…

So that’s ST4 (= guider relay ???) or teenastro directly the best isn’t it ?

Thanks


Jmarc 

Le 4 mars 2023 à 20:40, Charles <charleslemaire37@...> a écrit :

Hi everyone,

There is always a lot of discussion about the need of an ST4 Port.
I spend the last days with testing the guiding correction to TeenAstro, I would like to share my experiences.
  1. General limitation of the ASCOM pulse guiding:
    • the ASCOM pulse guiding guide each axis one after the other
    • it is a design limitation of the TelescopeV3 interface
  2. Guiding with Teenastro ASCOM driver over USB
    • Connexion is very fast
  3. Guiding with Teenastro ASCOM driver over Ethernet
    • Connexion is not very fast
  4. Guiding with device HUB ASCOM driver over USB
    • Connexion is not really fast
  5. Guiding with ST4
    • both axis can be corrected at the same time!!!
So the best for astrophotography is to use the guider relay or to use TeenAstro directly connected to One imaging software like MaximDL
the worst is to use the device HUB connected to many software.

Charles
Charles
 

This is indeed an interesting Idea.
As you are also active in developping are you interested to work with me on a Ascom server then we could control the Focuser and the telescop from the server
Charles
Charles
 

Hi Jean-Marc,

Most probably yes, the more you avoid the use of the ASCOM device hub the better it is.

Charles
Jean-Marc Dillon
 

👍
Thanks 

Jmarc 

Le 5 mars 2023 à 16:29, Charles <charleslemaire37@...> a écrit :

Hi Jean-Marc,

Most probably yes, the more you avoid the use of the ASCOM device hub the better it is.

Charles

Armando Beneduce
 

Hi Charles,

I can contribute in my spare time.

As for simultaneous guiding on RA and Dec, I just checked and there is no limitation at all by ASCOM interface: according to current ITelescopeV3 documentation, PulseGuide method should return immediately if the hardware is capable of back-to-back moves e.g. dual-axis moves.
So I think we could start to improve ASCOM guiding too.
Obviously the guiding software should call IsPulseGuiding to poll guiding status just one time before going to call PulseGuide on Ra&Dec. Anyway phd is open source too...

Clear Skies
Armando Beneduce
Armando Beneduce
 

Hi Charles,

while evaluating to develop the ASCOM server I built a second driver to reserve serial connection to the guiding client and to allow simultaneous connection by Ethernet (WiFi) to all the other clients.
It could be a temporary workaround to avoid the ASCOM Device Hub and get better guiding by ASCOM.
I just tested it at home and it seems to work reliably.

You find the driver at the following address:
http://astrophotohobby.altervista.org/TeenAstroWiFi_Setup.exe

It's substantially a copy of the original driver, except for the IDs and it can be set only to work by Ethernet.
It doesn't interfere with the original driver that is still required (and meant to be used just by the guiding software) and that should be set to use COM port.

I'd appreciate a feedback to know if it can be preferred as a temporary solution: I don't know if WiFi commands can still make (serial) guiding worse.

Clear Skies
Armando Beneduce
Charles
 
Edited

Hi Armando
 
Many thanks for the effort. It is probably better if we develop an ASCOM server as we will need it anyway.

Le sam. 18 mars 2023, 17:11, Armando Beneduce via groups.io <armando_unina=yahoo.it@groups.io> a écrit :

Hi Charles,

while evaluating to develop the ASCOM server I built a second driver to reserve serial connection to the guiding client and to allow simultaneous connection by Ethernet (WiFi) to all the other clients.
It could be a temporary workaround to avoid the ASCOM Device Hub and get better guiding by ASCOM.
I just tested it at home and it seems to work reliably.

You find the driver at the following address:
http://astrophotohobby.altervista.org/TeenAstroWiFi_Setup.exe

It's substantially a copy of the original driver, except for the IDs and it can be set only to work by Ethernet.
It doesn't interfere with the original driver that is still required (and meant to be used just by the guiding software) and that should be set to use COM port.

I'd appreciate a feedback to know if it can be preferred as a temporary solution: I don't know if WiFi commands can still make (serial) guiding worse.

Clear Skies
Armando Beneduce

 

 

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