RCC dome encoder workaround
Since the lightning strike/overcurrent, several key systems at Piszkéstető are temporarily not operational, including the dome encoder. This means the dome cannot be controlled with the regular commands, or cannot be set to auto mode with rcc dome auto. To circumvent this, a webcam looking at the dome slit has been installed on the side of the telescope and the following method has been devised.
Setting up the ccdsh instances
Camera control
One of the two main differences is that now we need to ccdsh instances to operate both the telescope and the camera. The first instance is stared with the --no-startup switch:
tibor@m6:~$ ccdsh --no-startup
For the spectrograph camera, the following modules have to be loaded:
CCD> module mod_fli_camera.so --device 172.31.171.98:8853
CCD> module mod_dummy_filter.so
For the SI camera, it is probably easier to create and source a custom ccdsh file which contains the following (i.e., everything from the original file but the line which initializes the autofocus, since that does not work in --no-startup:
module mod_sicamera.so module mod_ace_filter.so define filter 1 B "Bessel B" define filter 2 V "Bessel V" define filter 3 R "Bessel R" define filter 4 I "Bessel I" define filter 5 C "Clear" define filter 6 u "Sloan u" define filter 7 g "Sloan g" define filter 8 r "Sloan r" define filter 9 i "Sloan i" define filter 10 z "Sloan z" define filter 11 E "Empty"
There is such a file at m6:/data/kriskovics/load-ace-sicamera-temp.ccdsh.
The cameras can be controlled from this ccdsh instance.
Everything else
We also need another, regular instance (i.e., started without the --no-startup switch) to control the telescope as usual, and the dome with low-level criorcc commands. Start and use it as a regular ccdsh, just keep in mind that the commands rcc dome auto and set dome azimuth=n are currently not working.
The autofocuses can also be initiated with the following commands from the ccdsh instance used to control the telescope:
spectrograph: rcc autofocus 0.00323 80.794
SI camera: rcc autofocus 0.00342455 79.8158
Dome control
In order to operate the dome, we need to access the stream from the webcam mounted on the side of the telescope on the following address: rtsp://kodkod:futomacska@10.10.101.69:554/stream1, or for a lower resolution stream (recommended): rtsp://kodkod:futomacska@10.10.101.69:554/stream2. This address can be accessed with most of the modern video players, e.g. vlc, or with the following command from a terminal (not on m6!):
tibor@leves:~$ ffplay rtsp://kodkod:futomacska@10.10.101.69:554/stream2. Note that this requires ffmpeg which is available in the repos of every linux distro.
The stream should look like this:
This camera can be used to position the slit over the telescope using the following commands (from the regular ccdsh instance which we use to control the telescope):
criorcc -d 1: moves the dome clockwise
criorcc -d -1: moves the dome counter-clockwise
These commands are going to rotate the dome until the stop command is given: criorrc -d 0. Take into account that the dome of course does not stop instantaneously. During the observation, the observer has to pay attention to the position of the dome and adjust it manually with the commands above. Also note that the dome positions on the PRCC state site are incorrect.