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Raspberry Pi and Astronomy


Gina

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Did this myself abt two weeks ago.

Installed ubuntu mate, ok.

Had trouble getting the ppa connected, which I tried through the desktop and from a shell (command window). Had to try it a couple of times before it installed ok.

After that, getting the server to run was a breeze.

Am now able to control my scope through an eqdir cable. So far, only tried Pixinsight as a client.

Did a short write up:

http://wimvberlo.blogspot.se/2016/08/first-experience-with-indi-on-raspberry.html?m=1

Maybe this is of interest to you.

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Which image capture app are you using Wim and anyone else?  Please.  Any suggestions as to which is best?  I gather Ekos can take care of all the scheduling and filter wheel control etc.  I'm looking forward to checking all this out - looks awesome and as good as any of the expensive Windows software.

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I've been experimenting with INDI and Raspberry Pi3 as well, trying to remove the reliance on Windows and USB and the need to keep my laptop outside. 

I have a HEQ5 Pro and have successfully used the EQMOD Connector. I'm having a few issues with the ATIK314L+. My other two components my SharpSky Focuser does not have a LINUX Driver and I also need a driver for my Altair Astro GPCAM.

I think the INDI setup is really good it's platform agnostic and uses IP instead of USB/ASCOM but the lack of drivers is what is stalling me. There is a Windows Wrapper for ASCOM called WINDI which works but it still means that I have to have the laptop outside.

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No image capture app for me. My old pentax won't connect to a computer any more. It has allways been very glitchy, but gave up completely early this year. I even have to remove the sd card to copy images to my computer. I use the synscan as intervalometer.

Previously I have dabbled with pentax remote assistant and pk-tether, but mainly standalone. The synscan solution works, but I would like a little more flexibility.

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Now have the micro SD cards and clearing stuff off my astro laptop as that has an SD card slot where I can write the OS onto the micro SD card.  Copying 19GB of images to my desktop via WiFi - two and a half hours.  Maybe I should connect by cable and get 1Gb/s.  I don't think I can be running "n" as I read that can do 600mbps.  Is that really true?

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Been checking network settings.  Both router and laptop are "n" but link is running at 72mbps.  Desktop is CAT5e wired to router and has a 1Gbps speed.

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Zip file transferred, unpacked with 7-zip and written to micro SD card with Win32 Disk imager :)   Next to set up a Raspberry Pi 3, insert micro SD card and power up.  But I'm having a break first :D

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First boot of a RPi is always I hassle with hdmi and other cables. I usually set up wifi on mine, so I can use PuTTY from my laptop to communicate with the RPi. Then, if necessary, I use windows remote Desktop to access the RPi desktop.

But of course, this may require yet more software to be downloaded = yet more waiting time. :hiding:

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Set up several things :)  WiFi set up and working and using it now.  Typing this on RPi 3 keyboard and using Firefox :)   I'll say something - these micro SD cards are too darn small - I keep mislaying them :D  Anyway... next job is to install Indi libraries.  So far so good :)

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With Raspbian you can edit a config file in default partition of the sdcard and enter the wireless setup info. Doing that way you can just access the pi via ssh. Don't know if you can do this with Mate.

 

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4 hours ago, Gina said:

Now have the micro SD cards and clearing stuff off my astro laptop as that has an SD card slot where I can write the OS onto the micro SD card.  Copying 19GB of images to my desktop via WiFi - two and a half hours.  Maybe I should connect by cable and get 1Gb/s.  I don't think I can be running "n" as I read that can do 600mbps.  Is that really true?

It is true ... in theory.  I've never seen mine run above 300 even with perfect coverage.

What I did find with my RPi3 was: my normal WiFi network is only 5GHz (2.4 is not as good).  So I had to setup a few additional Access Points at 2.4 GHz (PRi3 only runs at 2.4).  Initially I had those 2.4GHz Access Points set to 802.11n with 802.11b/g compatibility and I could only get 20MHz channels which limited max speed to 75.  So I reconfigured the 2.4 Access Points to be 802.11n only and got wide channels and then speed went up to 150 Mbps.  But those speed measurements are from my laptop NOT my RPi3.  Higher speeds need more antennae and I doubt the RPi3 has a lot of antennae - which will means the higher speeds will not be achievable.

I suspect that getting a higher speed to your RPi3 will be useful if you are imaging as the image download time will load the network (particularly on e.g. DSLR megapixels).  As previously mentioned there are things you can do to get round that limit (e.g. local image storage on the RPi and "Rapid Guide" (or whatever it was called)) - but I've not tried any of that so am just repeating what I've read.

(At least that is my understanding and my observations).

Ian

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54 minutes ago, Gina said:

 too darn small - I keep mislaying them :D

Mine dont need me to mislay them, they do it all by themselves.

And watch out if your RPi has a spring-loaded microSD slot, one slip of the fingernail and your card shoots 5ft across the room, I know cos I measured it some considerable time later when I found it :( (yep, I think it was grinning when it un-hid itself out of the carpet ! )

What I really really want - is to know how to write the contents on the label ?

 

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Ian, I'm not using a DSLR but the ASI1600MM-Cool is 16Mpx which is much the same (or worse) with 32MB per image.  One advantage of DSO imaging is the relatively long image capture time in minutes so a download time of several seconds is not a problem.

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I think any you take out of the RPi want putting in a small envelope or paper bag that you can write on.  And it takes a very small gremlin sitting on a card to make it disappear!!! :(

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Slowly getting there :)  Have Indi installed on RPi 3.

Next steps :-

  1. Sort out remote connection over WiFi
  2. Decide which computer to use indoors to control everything
  3. Decide which software to install - probably Ekos but if I get PixInsight for processing maybe that unless I can find something else for processing.
  4. Install software on computer
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To recap :-  Firstly I want to get mount control working from RPi 3.  I gather the HitecAstro USB to serial adapter works with Indi.  I want to run software on a computer indoors (or maybe warm room as second choice) to choose a DSO and point the imaging rig (mount) at it.  The connection will want to be WiFi as I don't currently have CAT5e cable run to the observatory.  I want to reduce the number of cables as much as possible anyway.  I've been reading lots of stuff and there seems to be several ways of doing this and I'm getting confused.  Seems pretty common these days :(

I can't guarantee that the mount is set up accurately so plate solving is another requirement.  I used to do this last time I was imaging properly two years ago with AstroTortilla.  I gather Ekos/Indi has this facility.  I have a laptop running Linux Mint latest version and also a desktop PC which I can update.  I think either of these should be suitable.  I also have the latest Ubuntu on USB memory stick and Ubuntu MATE downloaded and installed on one of my RPi 3s - the other has Raspbian.  Both are working fine with HDMI monitor, keyboard and trackball and connected to my router via WiFi.

Thus I need to set up an RPi 3 as server and indoor PC as client and I want the simplest yet reliable way of doing this.

I can set up indoors to try all this using my NEQ6 mount on tripod in the living room and avoiding traipsing back and forth between house and observatory.  Once it's all working I can take the RPi 3 out to the obsy and connect it to my EQ8.

This will suffice as my first stage of "Linuxification" - I can use the Win7 laptop in warm room for image capture using APT to control the imaging run and capture subs.  Just as a temporary measure, of course.  I control the warm room laptop from indoors with TeamViewer, controlling the imaging run, remote focussing and filter change.  APT for imaging, Artemis Capture for filter wheel and my home grown software for focussing.  These apps seem to run flawlessly (famous last words! :D) unlike CdC and EQMOD ASCOM which have frequently crashed!

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That was rather a long post for a summary!  So far it looks like :-

  1. RPi 3 connected to mount with HitecAstro USB-to-serial adapter plugged into USB port on RPi 3
  2. Indi server on RPi 3 - can use either Ubuntu MATE or Raspbian
  3. Ekos on Linux Mint (or other Linux distro) on laptop or desktop.
  4. I want to control the RPi 3 over WiFi as a headless system

I wonder if someone could give me a simple explanation of how to proceed, please.  I'm quite happy to copy and paste command lines.

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I haven't decapitated my RPi yet (ok, run it headless), but I don't use the desktop anyway.

I use PuTTY to remotely connect to the RPi command line interface

After starting the indi server (so far only the eqdir_telescope driver), I connect through PI. The PI indi client is still very primitive, as I understand it. It basically assumes an aligned mount (such as a permanent pier setup). I've so far only tested to control mount movements.

To connect, the client needs the ip address and port of the server/host. Once it is connected, the device controller needs to know about the mount, such as position (long/lat), time, standard values for slew speeds, etc. (Note that elevation needs to be set, before longitude and latitude, for some reason)

Mount control functions very much like a hand controller. There is also the possibility to do an (online) object search and use goto, giving a limitless database. I haven't tested this in the field yet, only gone through the motions in my living room.

If you want to control an ASI camera, you will need to have an indi driver for it on an ARM device (RPi processor), or compile from source. There is a driver that has been tested on the ASI120MM and -MC. I haven't seen a reference for test of temperature control on a cooled camera.

http://www.indilib.org/devices/ccds/zwo-optics-asi-cameras.html

PI_indi_dev_ctrl.png

PI_ind_mount_ctrl.png  PI_indi_cam_client.png

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Maybe the software isn't yet ready on the RPi for mount control then.  I could use a laptop instead of the RPi 3 if this will work better.  There is no particular reason why I shouldn't use two laptops in the warm room - one running Linux and the other windows.  The Linux laptop is currently running Mint and the other Win7.  ATM I just want to get some imaging in when the weather lets me and not have a constantly crashing computer!

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