AWR Technology Intelligent Drive System USER MANUAL v1.4
Contents
1. awaanika 25 5 cess ccadedeccsescdescaadecsossescdssceadedeccsesccescaadeccossesdesedes 30 5 1 MIGROSTEP DRIVE BOX kiu 30 5 2 FACTORY TESTS iis 33 6 TELESCOPE MECHANICAL CALIBRATIONS sssssssssee 34 71s STATUS MESSAGES 34 ERROR 34 kod WARNING MESSAGES ai 35 TA MIROS T P PR ORS AKILAANI 36 8 QUICK SETUP CHECKLIST ssssssssssee 37 9 REFERENCE STARS 2a ciceesscciiencsctecevstececeveceteceucescesevscececesccscecevscedesevccsccseecsedecescascssevcsedegevccsccseeccedesexcassesesccecessee 38 Intelligent Drive System USER MANUAL v1 4 Alan Buckman 15 January 2003 11 CONNECTORS ADVANCED DRIVE 39 A MARA ANO2. e Nudge the display brightness between 0 minimum and 15 The effect is seen straight away e Press C to cancel or E to enter 4 4 19 User Display Idle IDLE lt time gt UserDisplaySleep t e The idle time is the time after which the unit returns to Default screen after a keypress Nudge the sleep time between OFF and 99 minutes in increments of 5 seconds e Press C to cancel or E to enter 4 5 System Setup Menu The features here allow setup of the system for an observing session Mistakes made here will take longer to correct The internal clock should be checked the latitude and longitude of the observing site should be selected and the telescope needs calibrated with the stars 25 Intelligent Drive System USER MANUAL v1 4 Alan Buckman 15 January 2003 Setup RTC SITES CAL STATUS RTC submenu to set up time and date of internal clock SITES to select from one of four observing sites CAL to calibrate the telescope with the stars STATUS shows the last error message and allows REBOOT 4 5 1 Setup RTC DD MMMMMM YYYY HH MM SS SetupRTC MODIFY Universal Time is displayed e Press MODIFY to modify 4 5 2 Setup RTC etc There are 6 screens to cover setting up the real time clock SetupRTC Year is shown below DD MMMMMM YYYY HH MM SS FINE s SetupRTCYear 1 e Nudge the flashing value up or down The scrolling will wrap round e The ch
3. EU ae A N 10 30 BACKLASHICALIBRATION kii otto att en ated alah ae Sail ot mn col alah ce 11 3 7 PERIODIC ERROR CALIBRATION iii 11 3 829 CREEN SEL TINGS waa OE 13 3 9 DIRECTION BUTTONS mai UU UAE 13 RATES gn aa wi 13 2211 SLEM NG a IAE AMEKAA AKA Tae 13 3 12 TELESCOPES REQUIRING TUBE 5 00022 2 0 00 00000000000000000 1 14 oeab TIMU 14 2 TASER OUT PUM 14 15 2255 25 T ET A E E ET A EE AENA 15 a a eis as SH eS de een 15 4 INTELLIGENT HANDSET MENUS sssssssssee 16 4 1 MENU SCREEN INTRODUCTION 2 16 ASD DI EYANI E AA AA AAA aba SOA a oN eT NA SHAA LA Sa Weed aa ELIS a Veda LA SHU ONT Ue ete 16 ASS NORMAL 2 506 AA Na 17 4 4 USER PREFERENCES 7 555 a 20 A S 5200
4. Track Rate Adjust 4 RA 7 4 DEC 7 e Nudge the RA and DEC rates between 10 000 and 10 000 arc seconds per second relative to Sidereal rate The display shows the new rates and they are actioned immediately Adjusting DEC to very low values may cause the message VALUE CLIPPED to appear this is the lowest it will go e Press C to cancel E to enter 4 3 7 Normal Events lt num gt EVENTS STORED NormalEvents VIEW DUMP ERASE e This menu allows the user to view and manage captured events e The number of events recorded is shown There is a limit of 100 records e VIEW submenu only available if there are events to view e DUMP dump all events to the host port e ERASE erase all events Confirmation is sought 4 3 8 Normal Events View lt coord gt lt id gt DEC lt coord gt YY MM DD HH MM SS ss EVENT gt ERASE e Each event is viewed in the order it was were recorded with a unique tag in the top right corner of the screen 19 Intelligent Drive System USER MANUAL v1 4 Alan Buckman 15 January 2003 Nudge forwards or backwards to see other events e Press ERASE to erase only the event displayed Confirmation is sought 4 4 User Preferences Menu Main menu function The features here concern the user s preferences Mistakes made here are trivial and can be corrected easily User KEY BLEEP GUIDE DISP e KEY submenu for USER KEYS BLEEP submenu to s
5. 15 Intelligent Drive System USER MANUAL v1 4 Alan Buckman 15 January 2003 4 INTELLIGENT HANDSET MENUS 4 1 MENU Screen Introduction The screen is shown as it would appear with the exception of the grey lettering used to locate the words it does not print it is only viewable from within Word The four softkeys on the bottom line refer directly to the four function keys Where there is more than one screen available the rightmost softkey will show gt pressing this brings up the next screen until the first one is viewed again Static values are shown IN BLACK Dynamic values are shown IN MAGENTA Nudge values which are flashing are shown RED Enterable values which have a flashing cursor are shown IN BLUE To access top level menus the M button is used except in an entry screen where the screen must be exited first Pressing C escapes one level at a time without changing data the last press jumping back to the Default menu A screen with two dots lt gt above the F4 button means there are further options in that menu by pressing the F4 key At power up the DEFAULT menu screen is shown Press the lt M gt key to cycle around the top level MENU screens in the following order DEFAULT Section 4 2 Default screen Telescope co ordinates and adjust rates NORMAL Section 4 3 GOTO Events Drive Status USER Section 4 4 Key Bleep Guide Display SETUP Section 4 5 RTC Sites Star Calibration Status If the l
6. 2 3 DRIVEBOX MICROSTEP This provides two independent micro stepping frequency generators to drive RA and DEC axes according to programmed drive rates The power stage is configured to drive normal or high power stepper motors Drive waveforms have a base resolution of 1 microsecond Sidereal rate is typically 50 micro steps per second giving 0 3 arc seconds per step Fast slew up to 5 degrees per second are achievable depending on telescope geometry Acceleration and deceleration are necessary because of load inertia and are achieved by frequency ramping which is programmable Either or both the SIMPLE HANDSET and INTELLIGENT HANDSET can be connected Internal non volatile memory stores all programmed drive rates Virtual encoders provide a pulse every 64 micro steps equivalent to about 20 arc seconds with a 360 1 worm reduction 2 4 DRIVEBOX FREQUENCY GENERATOR This drivebox performs the same functions as the MICROSTEP unit but is optimised for stepper motors with gearboxes attached It has exactly the same input output facilities as the MICROSTEP unit It can be supplied with the hardware option ADVANCED to provide USER OUTPUTS etc Intelligent Drive System USER MANUAL v1 4 Alan Buckman 15 January 2003 exactly as per the MICROSTEP These systems are not capable of high slews at the most about 1 degree per second but are never the less usable with planetarium connection 2 5 DRIVEBOX ADVANCED OPTION A hardware
7. MOMENTARY the contacts are held in the active state only while the USER KEY is pressed When set to TOGGLE each press of the USER KEY changes the state of the contacts When set to PULSE the contacts are activated for a duration triggered by the pressing of the USER KEY In addition the active POLARITY of each USER OUTPUT can be set This means the relay can be normally on or normally off MOMENTARY operation might be used for focus motor control using two USER OUTPUTS to drive the focus in or out TOGGLE and PULSE operation might be used to control a dew heater map lamp dome movement or camera shutter etc 14 Intelligent Drive System USER MANUAL v1 4 Alan Buckman 15 January 2003 3 15 REAL TIME CLOCK See 4 5 1 Setup RTC The INTELLIGENT HANDSET contains a REAL TIME CLOCK which keeps UNIVERSAL TIME Setting the clock requires entering the DATE and TIME in GMT UK users can use the Speaking Clock dial 123 at time of writing and use the FINE facility to adjust typically within 50ms This accuracy is necessary when wanting to store accurate timings in occultation work It is very easy to get synchronism with an audible bleep source in the FINE mode When the INTELLIGENT HANDSET is not powered power is provided by a lithium battery which should last in excess of 10 years When the IH is powered even during SHUTDOWN a miniature oven keeps the quartz crystal at a constant temperature over the entire operating temperature range o
8. 5 1 gearbox to our 120Ncm motor allows about 200Ncm torque across the whole speed range of the stepper motor allowing large telescopes 16 Newtonian and upwards to be driven up to 0 5 degrees per second A small amount of backlash is introduced which is comparable to worm wheel backlash 2 7 HIGH VOLTAGE OPERATION A Microstep system can be supplied from the factory to operate the motors at much higher voltage than normal systems The advantage is a much flatter torque curve up to very high speeds Typically a 210Ncm motor can operate at 5 degrees per second when driven from a 40V 350 Watt power supply instead of 1 degree per second The disadvantage is the requirement to have a Resistor Dropper Box to supply no more than the phase current to the motors Most of the extra power from the power supply ends up as heat in this box 2 8 SIMPLE HANDSET The SIMPLE HANDSET connects directly to the MICROSTEP DRIVEBOX allowing basic movements at GUIDE CENTRE and SLEW speeds It can be used concurrently with or without the INTELLIGENT HANDSET Intelligent Drive System USER MANUAL v1 4 Alan Buckman 15 January 2003 2 9 POWER SUPPLIES Normally the complete system runs at the telescope with either PSU3 or PSU6 supplying 3 or 6 amps at 12V DC with the INTELLIGENT HANDSET powered from the drive box via the connecting cable The actual current required depends on the motor size and torque required The units PSU3 and PSU6 are mains powered
9. 8 1 RTS CTS flow control hardware handshakes When the COMMS type has been set to LX200 the handset will then emulate in the industry standard protocol and the planetarium programme on the PC can be connected The planetarium can track the telescope or issue GOTO s to move the telescope The following programmes have been tested for compatibility THE SKY level IV version 5 SKYMAP PRO Version 5 EARTH CENTRED UNIVERSE Dos version 11 CONNECTORS ADVANCED DRIVE BOX 11 1 Power Input 4mm screw down Banana sockets allow use of 4mm fittings or plain wires This connector supplies power to the complete system at the telescope from the power source The input must be in the range 12 14V DC at up to 6 5 Amps depending on the motors connected Connect the RED terminal to the POSITIVE and the BLACK terminal to the NEGATIVE AN UNREGULATED DC SUPPLY CANNOT BE USED 11 2 and DEC Motors The motors connect via a 6 pin DIN in line connector with the following pinout pini COMMON pin2 02 pn3 Ql pin4 04 5 03 pin6 COMMON 2 11 3 Simple Handset A 9 pin D MALE PLUG connector for the AWR supplied simple handset providing adjust buttons and three speed settings at the handset This handset operates the Microstep box at the programmed rates for GUIDE CENTRE and SLEW only It can be used on its own or with the Intelligent Handset connected 39 Intelligent Drive System USER MANUAL v1 4 Alan Buckman 15 Jan
10. N 1 no handshakes Position pulses sent every 64 microsteps 14 REFERENCES Understanding Drive Systems Alan Buckman AWR Technology Understanding Position Errors Alan Buckman AWR Technology MICROSTEP Protocol AWR Technology latest version on the web site Handbook for Astronomers J B Sidgwick Chapter on setting an equatorial head Norton s Star Atlas and Handbook General reference book on astronomy Nn nr FB WO N British Astronomical Association Handbook Annual bright star positions 15 GLOSSARY EPOCH The date and time of the catalogued position of the star or of the 42 Intelligent Drive System USER MANUAL v1 4 Alan Buckman 15 January 2003 observation CENTRE RATE Select this speed option when you wish to centre a star in the eyepiece GUIDE RATE Select this speed option with guiding photographic exposures KING The normal drive rate A Sidereal telescope drive rate but which has a correction for refraction in the Earth s atmosphere It is the best compromise rate at 45 degrees in altitude and allows following a star for a long time before it drifts MOVE RATE Select this speed option when centering a star as seen in the finderscope OBSERVER s MERIDIAN The great circle from north point through the pole zenith and the south point This line separates the Eastern Hemisphere from the Western Hemisphere PRECESSION A gradual change in the coordinate frame of the sky with time du
11. User Bleeps Select the source for the BLEEPS function UserBleeps KEY EVENT WARN LOCK e KEY submenu EVENT submenu LOCK submenu e WARN submenu 4 4 7 User Bleeps Keypress BLEEP lt bleep gt UserBleepsKeypress BLEEP gt APPLY e Set the bleep associated with a keypress not the event key 21 Intelligent Drive System USER MANUAL v1 4 Alan Buckman 15 January 2003 OFF no bleep 1 SHORT 1 short bleep 2 SHORT 2 short bleeps 1 LONG 1 long bleep 2 LONG 2 long bleeps KEY 1 simulate pressing and releasing user key 1 KEY 2 simulate pressing and releasing user key 2 KEY 3 simulate pressing and releasing user key 3 e Press APPLY to apply the setting without leaving the screen e Press C to cancel E to enter 4 4 8 User Event Capture BLEEP lt bleep gt UserBleepsEvent BLEEP gt APPLY e Set the bleep associated with an EVENT keypress NONE no bleep 1 SHORT 1 short bleep 2 SHORT 2 short bleeps 1 LONG 1 long bleep 2 LONG 2 long bleeps KEY 1 simulate pressing and releasing user key 1 KEY 2 simulate pressing and releasing user key 2 KEY 3 simulate pressing and releasing user key 3 e Press APPLY to apply the setting without leaving the screen e Press C to cancel E to enter 4 4 9 User Bleeps Tracking Locked BLEEP lt bleep gt UserBl1eepsLocked BLEEP gt APPLY e Set the bleep assoc
12. around the sky Check the UP button moves the telescope towards the North Pole point If not then either re orient the telescope or change the SENSE in the FACTORY USTEP DEC menu Move the telescope to the calibration star Enter the star s coordinates and press CAL1 when it is centred Check the DEC sense is still correct To keep the calibration all further movements of the telescope should be under computer control Use GOTO to goto the second calibration star and press CAL2 when centred entering the star coordinates Take note of the polar alignment errors Adjust the orientation of the polar axis if required and then repeat CAL1 It is now ready for use A single calibration CAL1 can be done at any time if the coordinate accuracy deteriorates For telescopes requiring tube reversal at the Observer s Meridian MREV yes please make sure that the telescope is above the counterweight before doing a GOTO otherwise the telescope will start the RA going in the wrong direction Any GOTO can be aborted by pressing one of the direction keys Calibration is not lost Periodic error playback can be inhibited at any time by entering the SETUP CAL PER menu It can also be inhibited at any time for selecting MOVE adjust speed in the DEFAULT menu 37 Intelligent Drive System USER MANUAL v1 4 Alan Buckman 15 January 2003 9 REFERENCE STARS A catalogue of bright stars that can be used for calibration purposes ALPHERAT
13. of getting precise photographs in the presence of all forms of drive error mount mis alignment is to use a CCD camera with autoguiding facility These operate the four direction buttons remotely as a result of small changes in the position of the image 12 Intelligent Drive System USER MANUAL v1 4 Alan Buckman 15 January 2003 3 8 Screen Settings See 4 4 15 User Display Sky CO ORDINATES may be shown in RA DEC or ALT AZ formats The TIME can be selected as UT UNIVERSAL TIME the same as Greenwich Mean Time or LST LOCAL SIDEREAL TIME These information fields are displayed in the DEFAULT SCREEN which shows the most salient information The IDLE function switches the display back to this screen if the keypad has not been used for a time greater than the preset time The display used contains high contrast STN super twist nematic fluid and no BACKLIGHT is required in normal lighting conditions However the BACKLIGHT is variable over a 50 1 range in 15 steps from normal for dim indoor conditions down to a subtle glow for use on the darkest nights so as not to upset night vision Keyboard illumination is optimised for night use 3 9 Direction Buttons The UP DOWN LEFT RIGHT buttons on the Intelligent Handset move the telescope LEFT is also EAST and RIGHT is also WEST The UP button always moves UPWARDS to your local pole If the pole is crossed then the sense of the direction button is changed after the button is release
14. to a 9 pin D standard PC serial connector pinout is provided by an interface box product code SERIAL or the desk wall mounting base station product code IH BASE Both of these interfaces provide the power to use the Intelligent Handset away from the telescope 4 Intelligent Drive System USER MANUAL v1 4 Alan Buckman 15 January 2003 12 2 Drive Box An RJ45 8 8 connector provides a link to the DRIVE BOX The cable is wired straight through allowing off the shelf cables to be used Power of 12V DC from the drive box allows use of the Intelligent Handset at the telescope without any further power connectors 13 SPECIFICATION 13 1 Intelligent Handset Power requirement 12 14V DC at up to 200mA RTC oven when operational varies by less than 0 5 degrees C RTC oven set temperature in range 40 to 46 degrees C RTC factory adjustment to 0 02ppm accuracy RTC temperature coefficient less than 0 005ppm per degree Event time stamping to within 50ms Resolution of track rates adjustable to within 0 005 arc seconds per second but is related to gear reduction ratio Position resolution about 20 arc seconds but is related to gear reduction ratio Operating temperature range 10 to 30 degrees C Serial parameters for host 9600 8 N 1 RTS CTS handshake 13 2 Microstep Drive Box Power requirement 12 14V DC at up to 7 Amps depending on motor types Operating temperature range 10 to 30 degrees C Serial parameters 9600 8
15. ACTORY MENUS The features here are similar to Setup but of a more critical nature and observation is not possible during this mode Therefore it is accessed only by a backdoor key lt M gt when powering up the Intelligent Handset and cannot be exited other than by cycling the power These items set up gear reduction ratios on the telescope max slew and acceleration rates and would normally be done once and may be preset on purchase of the unit To access this mode keep the lt M gt key pressed whilst powering up the Intelligent Handset Factory USTEP DUMP STATUS e USTEP submenu to set up RA DEC division ratio s accelerations etc e DUMP dump all settings to the host serial port in a readable format e STATUS Shows the last error message with a facility to clear it Also possesses REBOOT the same as powering the unit OFF then ON again This is useful for entering the MAIN MENU system by holding the lt M gt key then pressing REBOOT COMMS Selection of HOST protocol type DEBUG is full diagnostic data flow between the handset and the drivebox LX200 emulation is a commonly used standard for planetarium protocols e DEF Puts default data in all the RAM variables EEPROM locations and starts RTC going This wipes out all previous settings Use with caution TESTS Enters a test sequence that tests the majority of the hardware within the Intelligent Handset See submenu below 5 1 Microstep Drive Box Facto
16. AWR Technology Intelligent Drive System USER MANUAL 1 4 AWR Technology The Old Bakehouse Albert Road DEAL Kent CT14 9RD Tel 44 0 1304 365918 Fax 44 0 1304 369737 SAFETY NOTICE Motor drive systems are inherently hazardous Even a small motor if coupled to a leadscrew gearbox or any other form of mechanism which provides a mechanical advantage can generate considerable force and could cause serious injury Incorrect operation can also cause damage to the motor or associated machinery COMPLIANCE CE MARK This system complies with and has been tested to meet the requirements of EMC directives 89 336 EEC as amended by 92 31 EEC and 93 68 EEC Low Voltage Directive LVD 73 23 YEAR 2000 This system meets the requirements of BSI DISC PD2000 1 1998 A Definition of Year 2000 Conformance Requirements WARNING In use the motors and Drive Box get warm They do not rise to an unsafe temperature ORIGIN Designed and manufactured in the UK by AWR Technology Intelligent Drive System USER MANUAL v1 4 Alan Buckman 15 January 2003 Contents 1 REVISION HISTORY iiccccvccscsscsscscbishsvavassesseceicosetcbspeesdelagesencsigessesecheset0usgeestelagecosvbsgessbsescsevslesgeosdulagecuscbiguessesseteess 5 De INTRODUCTION PENRE OEE E OE IOE OEO 5 2 1 REQUIREMENTS OF TELESCOPE MOUNT ssssseccccecccesseecceccusseeecccecccceeesuuseeeececsuuneeeccccesesesesauasseeecceessseeceeeesseuaaesss 5 22 INTELLIGENT
17. HANDSET PAAU E Oa a a 6 23 DRIVEBOX MICR OS TEP nunaa a Qe seve a ea 6 2 4 DRIVEBOX FREQUENCY 00202 2 00000000000000000000000 000004 6 2 5 DRIVEBOX ADVANCED aa 7 2 6 Iha 7 2 kaakaa 7 2 8 51 bags Sane eab aoa Dede 7 2 9 POWER SUPPEIES ka kahama hakai dh 8 210 STEPLOADERS 55 ANUAI Ua 8 2 11 MISCELLANEOUS HARDWARE 55 5 8 3 INTELLIGENT HANDSET OPERATION AND 1 1 1 1 1 4 0 9 3 1 INSTALLATION OF TELESCOPE PARAMETERS ssccccccsesccccssececcececcccusecescuseceseusecsseuseseseuseseseueecessucecessusecsssuessseuseseseues 9 3 2 OPERATION IN THE PRESENCE OF 00 2000 41 9 3 3 5 5 9 3 4 CO ORDINATE CALIBRATION WITH THE SKY SIMPLE 10 3 3 TWO STAR CALIBRATION
18. M OTOR O 5 5 11 4 TO INTELLIGENT HANDSET 1 1 2 1 4 1 0 0 12 2 20000000000 000000144 000000001 sia 11 5 REMOTE GUIDING INPUT 9 PIN 11 6 CCD TTL AUTOGUIDING INPUT 11 7 USER INPUT AND IE De A Do DI m C el BAY eee a eee ee eae 12 CONNECTORS INTELLIGENT 020 3 4 13 1 INTELLIGENT 5 anna wn 42 13 2 MICROSTEP DRIVE 2 42 177 LINTELEIGENT HANDSET 32362450 43 2 44 18 TELESCOPE PARAMETERS INTELLIGENT 2 45 Intelligent Drive System USER MANUAL v1 4 Alan Buckman 15 January 2003 1 Revision History 7 March 1999 v0 1 1 PCB Iss B Transfer from MMI spec v1 4 KA WA 26 November 1999 Iss C v1 0 Addition of Planetarium features 28 October 2000 Iss C v1 2 1 Inclusion of two star calibration 5 April 2002 Iss C v1 3 Inclusion of Backlash compensation 15 Janua
19. Press C to cancel or E to enter 4 4 13 User Guide Rates Centre CENTRE x UserGuideCentre 4 t APPLY e Nudge the GUIDE rates between 1 50x and 5 00x e Press APPLY to apply the setting without leaving the screen e Press C to cancel or E to enter 4 4 14 User Guide Rates Move MOVE x UserGuideMove 4 1 APPLY e Nudge the MOVE rates between 5x and 50x It is not possible to set bigger than SLEW rate e Press APPLY to apply the setting without leaving the screen e Press C to cancel or E to enter 4 4 15 User Display UserDisplay SKY TIME LIGHT IDLE e SKY submenu to select co ordinate system RA DEC or ALT AZ e TIME submenu to select time system to use e LIGHT submenu to change display backlight conditions e IDLE submenu to set time before menu s are exited automatically if no further key presses 24 Intelligent Drive System USER MANUAL v1 4 Alan Buckman 15 January 2003 4 4 16 User Display Sky SKYPOS lt skypos gt UserDisplaySkypos RA DEC 7 e Select the sky position format either RA DEC or ALT AZ e Press C to cancel or E to enter 4 4 17 User Display Time TIME lt time gt UserDisplayTime UT LST e Select the time either UT Universal Time or LST Local Sidereal Time to display in the main screen e Press C to cancel or E to enter 4 4 18 User Display Backlight BACKLIGHT UserDisplayBacklight 4 t
20. SER MANUAL v1 4 Alan Buckman 15 January 2003 RATIO submenu to set total reduction ratio to primary axis DEC SENSE submenu to set sense of the DEC motor rotation SLEW submenu to set maximum slew rate ACCEL submenu to set maximum acceleration rate MSTEPS Adjusts the microsteps per full step generated electronically Default 64 BLSH adjusts the amount of backlash in arcseconds for the DEC axis 5 1 3 Other Microstep calibration XFRE lt re gt lt old gt FactoryUstepxXtal Enter the microstep crystal frequency If a non integer number is required use F1 to enter a decimal point The normal factory shipped value is 4915200 To start the entry again after a mistake press C To cancel press C once or twice To enter press E 5 2 Factory Tests This allows the unit to self test as much as possible It tests the internal operation of the major internal functions of the handset Each test may be executed or skipped The tests requiring a loopback connector cannot be performed except at the factory To skip a test press NEXT To execute a test press TEST The result of the test PASS or FAIL with a message is presented to the user To cancel press For more information see the factory test specification Note that the FLASH test destroys the flash contents This should NOT BE DONE if you have an object data base in the flash memory 33 Intelligent Drive System USER MANUAL v1 4 Ala
21. W Fix adjust rate at the one in LOWER CASE when direction buttons used next e To access the menus press the lt M gt button Each press brings up a different menu Pressing lt C gt will always return you to this menu screen 4 3 Normal Menu The features here will be suited to normal actions required when observing Normal OBJ DRIVE EVENT SHDN OBJ submenu to select all GOTO actions DRIVE submenu to select normal DRIVE RATES solar lunar sidereal or user defined EVENT submenu to review stored events time and dated when the lt Ev gt key is pressed SHDN Store telescope position and shut down the electronics The oven remains running To restore power remove the power connector and re apply power 4 3 1 Normal GOTO The features here will be suited to normal actions required when observing NormalGoto OBJ e OBJ submenu to select OBJECTS e MREV To actuate the TUBE REVERSAL procedure on telescopes requiring this This function is not shown if MREV is selected as OFF in the FACTORY SETUP 17 Intelligent Drive System USER MANUAL v1 4 Alan Buckman 15 January 2003 4 3 2 Normal GOTO Object RA lt coord gt NormalGotoObject h m 5 Enter position using the softkeys to enter the appropriate tokens e Press C to back track or finally escape e Press E to enter the coordinate entry continues with the Declination RA lt coord gt DEC lt coord gt NormalGotoObj
22. Z SCHEDAR DENEB KAITOS HAMAL ALGOL ALDEBARAN RIGEL BETELGEUSE CANOPUS SIRIUS CASTOR PROCYON REGULUS DUBHE SPICA ALKAID ARCTURUS ANTARES RASALHAGUE VEGA ALTAIR DENEB SADALMELIK FOMALHAUT MARKAB Alpha And Alpha Cas Beta Cet Alpha Ari Beta Per Alpha Tau Beta Ori Alpha Ori Alpha Car Alpha CMa Alpha Gem Alpha CMi Gamma Vel Alpha Leo Alpha UMa Alpha Vir Eta UMa Alpha Boo Alpha Sco Alpha Oph Alpha Lyr Alpha Aql Alpha Cyg Alpha Aqr Alpha PsA Alpha Peg ND DUN UN A NY DOD 5 13 08 40 43 07 08 35 14 55 23 45 34 39 09 08 03 25 47 15 29 34 36 50 41 05 57 04 23 30 35 10 10 55 32 10 57 09 36 18 32 22 44 11 32 40 24 56 56 47 26 47 39 45 38 EPOCH 2000 0 29 56 17 23 40 16 7 52 16 31 5 47 11 61 11 49 19 26 12 38 8 45 29 15 05 32 59 27 57 30 12 24 41 42 53 13 20 58 45 09 18 10 25 33 47 52 16 19 37 12 26 15 12 45 21 33 06 26 44 58 18 30 12 02 03 41 48 57 55 36 01 06 49 11 20 19 Mag 2 06 2529 2 04 2 00 2 10 v 0 85 0 12 0 40 v 0 72 1 46 1 95 0 38 1 78 1 35 1 79 0 98 1 86 0 04 0 96 2 08 0 03 0 77 1 25 2 96 1 16 2 49 Intelligent Drive System USER MANUAL v1 4 Alan Buckman 15 January 2003 10 HOST PC PROTOCOL The physical signalling parameters for communicating to a host computer are as follows 9600 N
23. anges take immediate effect e Changes to the minutes field clears the seconds field e Press NEXT to go to the next modify screen e Press C to cancel or E to enter 4 5 3 Setup RTC Fine DD MMMMMM YYYY HH MM SS FINE s SetupRTCFine J 1 final screen is for fine adjusting hundredths of second A bleep sounds of the same interval and duration as the talking clock Nudge the flashing value up or down The scrolling will wrap round The changes take immediate effect 26 Intelligent Drive System USER MANUAL v1 4 Alan Buckman 15 January 2003 e Press NEXT to go to the next modify screen e Press C to cancel or E to enter 4 5 4 Setup Sites This screen shows the stored coordinates for the selected site A B C D The latitude is shown as N or S degrees The longitude is shown as E or W degrees To select a new site press the appropriate key Enter the Latitude and Longitude of up to four sites At latitude 51 degrees a distance of 300m in position error E W is 15 arc seconds and 1 second of time so in order to get an accurate LST the longitude must be entered to better than 15 arc seconds precision The longitude is entered with a ve sign if it is East press the lt gt before the figures LAT lt coord gt LONG lt coord gt Sites Site A B D e The currently selected site is shown e Select the new site and go to sub menu If the co ordinates are correct th
24. ash amounts for the two motors are entered in the FACTORY USTEP RA BLSH screen and similarly for DEC It is best to determine these amounts with a star and a crosshair eyepiece working at high power It is also likely that the backlash amount varies depending on which portion of the worm wheel is involved For the RA set the backlash amount for the worst part of the wheel It does not matter that the motor actually overcompensates backlash on the better parts of the wheel and so moves the telescope The RA movement involves two backlashes so it cancels out For the DEC set the backlash to the BEST part of the wheel as it must not move the telescope when performed 3 7 Periodic Error Calibration This function is used to remove small periodic errors in a worm wheel During calibration all RA keypresses are recorded and during playback this trace is repeated with accuracies of better than 0 1 seconds The data is kept permanently even during power down 11 Intelligent Drive System USER MANUAL v1 4 Alan Buckman 15 January 2003 The Intelligent Handset can be configured to operate with a TIMED period for the worm rotation period or can operate with a hardware INDEX pulse generated physically by the worm rotation Programming must be done at the GUIDE rate and playback can only be done at the same adjust speed It can however be programmed for rates other than sidereal A cross hair eyepiece at about 400x magnification is ideal to keep t
25. ction either POS or NEG Absolute directions have been avoided as they cause confusion If the direction is wrong simply choose the other e Press APPLY to apply the setting without leaving the screen The direction change is immediately performed e Press C to cancel or E to enter 31 Intelligent Drive System USER MANUAL v1 4 Alan Buckman 15 January 2003 5 1 1 3 Factory Ustep Slew SLEW 5 FactoryUstepRaS1ew DOWN UP APPLY e Nudge the SLEW rates between 0 01 s and 5 00 s e Press APPLY to apply the setting without leaving the screen e Press C to cancel or E to enter 5 1 1 4 Factory Ustep Accel ACCEL H 1 ms FactoryUstepRaAccel DOWN UP APPLY Nudge the maximum ACCEL rate between 100Hz 0 1s and 3000Hz 0 1s Note the acceleration per second is ten times the entered figure e Press APPLY to apply the setting without leaving the screen Make sure you press E to enter it if you are happy with it e Press C to cancel or E to enter 5 1 1 5 Factory RA Mstep Steps MSTEPS lt steps gt lt old gt FactoryUstepSteps e Enter the number of microsteps in a full step e To start the entry again after a mistake press C e cancel press once twice To enter press E 5 1 2 Microstep setup FactoryUstepDec RATIO SLEW ACCEL Alter all of these settings in the same way that the RA is done 32 Intelligent Drive System U
26. d position substantially To help you there is a list of reference stars with their 2000 0 positions See section 9 To calibrate select your reference star and approach it from the SOUTH FOLLOWING direction see note on backlash section 3 2 Then calibrate with that star centred in a high power eyepiece Check the DEC sense after calibration to check they are correct 3 5 Two star Calibration The technique engineered by AWR Technology is to calculate and show the azimuth and elevation error in the polar axis so the user can correct the polar alignment A simple two star procedure minimises the time needed and takes out the gross alignment problems for portable telescopes We have taken this approach because the best way to follow an object accurately is to drive in one axis only If there is any declination drift then corrections will result in field rotation To achieve very accurate GOTO s a simple calibration such as this may not be sufficient but AWR are committed to improving the accuracy by further calibrations for smaller instrumental effects and releasing by software upgrades Disentangling smaller errors and compensating for each one is quite complex but there is an article on our web site explaining broadly how this is done There are many factors affecting the accuracy of calibration the largest error is usually the polar alignment However when aligning on stars for calibration the calibration stars have to be brought exactl
27. d to make this always true This works for both Northern and Southern hemisphere operation When performing a GOTO pressing a direction button will abort the GOTO 3 10 GUIDE Rates See 4 4 11 User Guide Rates These are completely under your control and are settable in these menus It is suggestd that the GUIDE should be set about 30 to 50 of Sidereal CENTRE should be about 2x sidereal dor centering with an eyepiece MOVE should be about 32x for centering using the finderscope and SLEW as fast as possible without the telescope stalling at any orientation If very low SLEW rates have been set it may be necessary to lower the MOVE rate until the warning message VALUE CLIPPED goes away 3 11 SLEWING During FACTORY SETUP the SLEW speed is set for the maximum attainable without stalling the motors The motor load is comprised of three parts friction imbalance and inertia The maximum SLEW speed depends on the friction and imbalance and the maximum ACCLERATION depends on the usable torque remaining after accounting for the three loads Although a large high quality telescope may be easy to move by hand low friction and good balance it is still likely to have a large inertia due to its mass and hence a lower acceleration rate applicable The effect of ACCELERATION is to delay the response to direction commands and is observable both when the key is pressed and also when it is released To avoid overshooting targets or even o
28. e to the wobbling of the Earth s rotational axis The catalogue position of a star of different EPOCH must be PRECESSED to the current EPOCH before use 16 GUARANTEE AND SERVICE The products manufactured by AWR Technology are guaranteed for a period of 1 year against faulty workmanship or materials In the event of a fault please try to work out under what conditions it has appeared and then phone for advice Various items of test equipment and methods are available for diagnosing faults Do not send back goods without getting in touch with us first AWR TECHNOLOGY Tel 44 0 01304 136918 The Old Bakehouse Fax 44 0 01304 369737 Albert Road DEAL Kent CT14 9RD e mail awr tech dial pipex com 17 FIRMWARE UPDATES The guarantee is not invalidated if the box has to be opened on the instruction of AWR Technology to install new firmware or upgrade database devices 17 1 Intelligent Handset Programme memory is contained in 28 pin device IC9 which is in a socket The object database is contained in a 32 pin device IC17 which is in a socket Both of these devices are within the Intelligent Handset Read all the instructions below If you do not feel able to do this then contact AWR for advice To gain access 1 Remove power and undo the eight screws on the rear of the handset 43 Intelligent Drive System USER MANUAL v1 4 Alan Buckman 15 January 2003 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Separate the case
29. e for the correction to take place This is one revolution of the worm at the speed used for the main drive Normally this would be the star tracking rate KING and is calculated by the number of seconds in a KING day divided by the worm reduction ratio Use 86188 seconds in a day So for 180 tooth worm enter 478 8 seconds Another simple way of inhibiting the playback of the recording is to set the adjust speed in the default screen to CENTRE It will start up again when GUIDE is selected when the P reappears on the display The only function that will uncalibrate a periodic error recording is by doing another recording OR pressing ABORT when in the PERIODIC CAL screen at any time Even doing a default FACTORY DEF will not uncalibrate the periodic error The periodic error correcting facility can only do so much and is relying on the mount to be repeatable from worm revolution to worm revolution This may be true over the segment of the worm normally used but may not be true after doing long GOTO s There may also be a loading effect in that a larger telescope load such as when a camera is added may change the size of the periodic error to be adjusted As a general rule the periodic error should be calibrated with as near to the exact conditions as to be used for the photography that is to follow It cannot take out non periodic errors which could be small jumps caused by the worm wheel from with tooth to tooth variations One way
30. ect e Enter DEC position using the softkeys to enter the appropriate tokens e Press C to back track or finally escape e Press E to finish entering the coordinate Then the coordinate is checked for being above the horizon and the system moves the scope to the position If the coordinate is below the USER horizon then it will display the message BELOW HORIZON and go back to re entering the RA coordinate 4 3 3 Normal Drive Rates lt rate gt RA lt rate gt s DEC lt rate gt Ss NormalDrive KING SOLR LUNR TRACK e The screen shows the selected drive rate e Select a new rate to drive immediately at that rate It will continue driving at this rate until changed e With the exception of King go to fine adjust sub menu 4 3 4 Normal Drive Rates Solar RA lt rate gt s NormalDriveSolar t RA J e Nudge the RA rate between 14 500 and 15 500 arc seconds per second absolute the display shows the new rate and it is actioned immediately e Press C to cancel E to enter 18 Intelligent Drive System USER MANUAL v1 4 Alan Buckman 15 January 2003 4 3 5 Normal Drive Rates Lunar RA lt rate gt s Lunar Rate Adjust 4 RA 1 e Nudge the RA rate between 14 500 and 15 500 arc seconds per second absolute the display shows the new rate and it is actioned immediately e Press C to cancel E to enter 4 3 6 Normal Drive Rates Track lt rate gt Ss DEC lt rate gt Ss
31. elect the way the events keys bleep GUIDE submenu to allow changing the rates DISP submenu display customising coordinate and time types 4 4 1 User User Keys UserKeys U1 U2 e U1 submenu U2 submenu e U3 submenu 4 4 2 User User Keys U1 TOUCH lt touch gt lt time gt POLARITY lt pol gt UserKeysU1 TOUCH e POLAR submenu polarity of the output e TOUCH submenu way the key works when pressed 4 4 3 User User Keys U1 Touch TOUCH lt touch gt TIME lt time gt UserKeysU1 Touch TOUCH gt 4 TIME t 20 Intelligent Drive System USER MANUAL v1 4 Alan Buckman 15 January 2003 e Choose the touch for U1 OFF User output is inactive MOMENTARY Momentary the output is active only while the key is pressed TOGGLE Toggle the output is toggled by each keypress between active and inactive e PULSE Pulse the output is active for a pulse TIME When this is selected the TIME is displayed with its softkeys e Press C to cancel E to enter 4 4 4 User User Keys U1 Polarity POLARITY lt pol gt UserKeysU1Polarity LOW HIGH APPLY Choose the polarity of the active high level for U1 either HIGH or LOW e Press APPLY to apply the setting without leaving the screen e Press C to cancel or E to enter 4 4 5 User User Keys U2 and U3 Uses the same menu functions and operations as per user key U1 4 4 6
32. en press lt E gt to ENTER 4 5 5 Setup Sites Site A LAT lt coord gt LONG lt coord gt SetupSitesSiteA MODIFY e This first screen shows the site details e Press MODIFY to enter new details see next screen or C to exit LAT lt coord gt SetupSitesSiteA e Enter the latitude and press E e Use the softkeys to enter appropriate tokens e To correct mistakes press C to back track LAT lt coord gt LONG lt coord gt SetupSitesSiteA Enter the longitude and press E to enter Longitudes EAST are entered as ve using the key first 27 Intelligent Drive System USER MANUAL v1 4 Alan Buckman 15 January 2003 e Use the softkeys to enter appropriate tokens e To correct mistakes press to back track e Press E to enter the finished coordinate It will return to the previous menu 4 5 6 Setup Sites Sites B C D Go through the procedure used for SITE A except choosing the appropriate site letter 4 5 7 Setup Cal Use the TWO STAR calibration procedure to effect POLAR ALIGNMENT of the telescope mounting Alternatively use the drift method of an object in the eyepiece Follow the procedure contained in many text books Once polar aligned use CAL calibration to re align the coordinate frames Centre a star whose coordinates at the current EPOCH are known and should be above 45 degrees in altitude at calibration to reduce errors from other sources Check that the dec
33. eplacing this device Read all the instructions below If you do not feel able to do this then contact AWR for advice To gain access 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Remove power and undo external connectors Undo the four box screws at each end Slide the pcb s towards the serial connector end about 2 inches enough to expose the 40 pin IC Note that pin 1 of the IC is close to the long edge of the pcb Using a flat bladed screwdriver carefully lever the IC out of the socket working from both ends Place the new IC on the socket check it is the right way round move it gently to locate the legs in the holes Pin 1 of the replacement IC is marked When both sides of legs appear to be located then press gently Examine the legs to make sure they have gone in the holes and not bent outwards or underneath Look edge on between the socket and the IC to check this Give the IC a final squeeze to make sure it is home Re assemble by sliding the pcb s back in Check that no wires get trapped when the end plates are screwed back on 10 Place the old processor in the carry tube tape up and return to AWR Technology in a small Jiffy bag 44 Intelligent Drive System USER MANUAL v1 4 Alan Buckman 15 January 2003 18 TELESCOPE PARAMETERS INTELLIGENT DRIVE IH Serial Number Date of Purchase Telescope size and type USTEP XFREQ WORM secs MREV RA USTEP DEC RATIO RATIO RA reduction ra
34. error in the pole in degrees ve move polar axis to LOWER elevation e Maz Azimuth error in the pole in degrees ve move polar leg CLOCKWISE e COEFF A confidence figure If less than 0 5 choose a different pair of calibration stars wider apart 4 5 10 Setup PER MECH INDEX INHIBIT Setup Periodic Error MECH INHIB WORM CAL e MECH Toggles between YES and NO YES is for hardware index pulse generation and NO is for TIMED e INHIBIT Toggles between YES and NO for selecting if the playback is active or inhibited e WORM Is for entering the period the function is to work over e CAL Enters the calibration of the cycle BEEPS at start of a cycle All RA key presses are recorded and it BEEPS at the end If there is any resultant RA drift it is shown as a number of seconds You can ABORT at any time or accept the result after the calibration EXIT 4 5 11 Setup Status Shows the last error message with a facility to clear it lt message gt IH us SetupStatus CLEAR REBOOT e Software version of Intelligent Handset e us Software version of Drive Box CLEAR to clear the last message The complete list of error messages in given in section 7 REBOOT is the same as powering the unit OFF then ON again This is useful for entering the FACTORY MENU by holding the lt M gt key then pressing REBOOT 29 Intelligent Drive System USER MANUAL v1 4 Alan Buckman 15 January 2003 5 F
35. f the IH The effective temperature coefficient of the crystal is much reduced to maintain low RTC error rates The oven reaches the working temperature within a few minutes 3 16 Event recording See 4 3 7 Normal Events When the EVENT key is pressed the IH stores an event containing the date time and sky position in non volatile memory Typically it takes 30ms to detect a key press and there is an additional REACTION TIME which varies between users Subtracting these small errors from the recorded event time gives the correct time for the event if the internal clock is set accurately Up to 100 events may be stored each tagged with a unique 16 bit ID Events can be reviewed and downloaded for later analysis at any time It is possible to delete individual events or all the events at once if the store is becoming full This function is useful in occultation timing work It is no longer necessary to use a tape recorder for identification purposes as the object s position is recorded and can be referenced later The function can also be used to record the start time and end time of observing a particular object such as when drawing Jupiter The stored data can be dumped to the HOST port in order to be stored on a computer 3 17 POWER DOWN At the end of the session use SHDN This stops the drives then stores the virtual encoders before turning off Correct operation maintaining calibration can then be resumed at next power up
36. halves noting there is a connector between the keyboard and the main pcb Note the orientation of both of these IC s is the same Pin is to the right with a notch on that end of the IC or the socket Using an IC puller supplied locate the ends under the IC but not the socket and pull gently Make sure the IC comes out evenly Place the new IC on the socket check it is the right way round move it gently to locate the legs in the holes Pin 1 of the replacement IC is marked When both sides of legs appear to be located then press gently Examine the legs to make sure they have gone in the holes and not bent outwards or underneath Look edge on between the socket and the IC to check this Give the IC a final squeeze to make sure it is home Re assemble by locating the keyboard socket onto the 10 pin connector making sure that all the pins locate correctly Press the case halves together and power up and check that the display messages appear correct and the keyboard operates Then replace the case screws Place the old device in the carry tube tape up and return with the IC puller to AWR Technology in a small Jiffy bag 10 Software installation may need action on the keyboard to complete for installation of new variables Instructions for any software installation will be sent with the upgrade pack 17 2 Microstep Drive Box Programme memory is contained in a 40 pin device which is in a socket Firmware upgrade involves r
37. having an IEC input connector on the mains line side These units need to be operated indoors protected preferably by an RCD unit When the IH is not powered it will maintain nominal time keeping but the crystal oven cannot run hence the timekeeping accuracy will be reduced A special adapter is avalable to operate the IUNTELLIGENT HANDSET without connection to the DRIVEBOX 2 10 STEPLOADERS For advanced users the STEPLOADERS allow configuration MICROSTEP DRIVEBOX without the INTELLIGENT HANDSET The firmware version is auto detected and the relevant protocol selected to allow uploading and downloading of all programmable values in text file format There are command line DOS and Win9x versions 2 11 MISCELLANEOUS HARDWARE ACCESSORIES There is a LIGHTS BOX available that fits between the Microstep drive box and the Intelligent Handset that shows you what is physically happening with the virtual encoder clock and direction lines for RA and DEC axes There is a DOCKING STATION to power the Intelligent Handset away from the telescope This also has the serial connector conversion 9 pin D style to allow a laplink cable to connect to a host computer Catalogue code 5 An alternative host computer cable is available 9 pin D to 6 pin RJ11 catalogue code SERIAL supplied as a 1 8 metre lead Further autoguider adapters are available please enquire Intelligent Drive System USER MANUAL v1 4 Alan Buckman 15 Janua
38. he star on the crosshair during programming A GUIDE RATE of 10 sidereal will be sufficient to cope with periodic errors up to 2 arc minutes All RA button presses are stored and become the playback trace at the start of every cycle When the period is complete the beeps and tells you if there is any residual drift in RA There is an INHIBIT function to stop the trace playing back There is also a method of starting the playback again at the correct point in between the worm INDEX pulse points that is in mid cycle when the scope starts tracking again after GOTO by setting the adjust speed to CENTRE and then to GUIDE when in the default screen The recorded data is stored in EEPROM and so is permanent The rotation point of the worm in its cycle is also kept during power down so that it can be re acquired at power up If the worm period is TIMED that is there is no hardware to generate an INDEX pulse from the worm rotation then it is important to use the SHDN function The motors stop rotating and then you can turn off the power Then there will be no rotation at power up until the Intelligent Handset re programmes the drive box for the sidereal rate tracking Otherwise synchronisation will be gradually lost and reprogramming of the periodic error will be required At POWER UP the Intelligent Handset MUST be connected so that ALL encoder counts generated by the DRIVE BOX will be captured Without INDEX PULSE hardware you have to enter the tim
39. iated with the tracking being locked NONE no bleep 22 Intelligent Drive System USER MANUAL v1 4 Alan Buckman 15 January 2003 1 SHORT 1 short bleep 2 SHORT 2 short bleeps 1 LONG 1 long bleep 2 LONG 2 long bleeps KEY 1 simulate pressing and releasing user key 1 KEY 2 simulate pressing and releasing user key 2 KEY 3 simulate pressing and releasing user key 3 e Press APPLY to apply the setting without leaving the screen e Press C to cancel E to enter 4 4 10 User Bleeps Warning BLEEP lt bleep gt UserBleepsWarning BLEEP gt APPLY e Set the bleep associated with a warning being issued NONE no bleep 1 SHORT 1 short bleep 2 SHORT 2 short bleeps 1 LONG 1 long bleep 2 LONG 2 long bleeps KEY 1 simulate pressing and releasing user key 1 KEY 2 simulate pressing and releasing user key 2 KEY 3 simulate pressing and releasing user key 3 e Press APPLY to apply the setting without leaving the screen e Press C to cancel E to enter 4 4 11 User Guide Rates GUIDE MOVE x CENTRE x UserGuide GUIDE CNTR MOVE e GUIDE submenu e CNTR submenu e MOVE submenu 23 Intelligent Drive System USER MANUAL v1 4 Alan Buckman 15 January 2003 4 4 12 User Guide Rates Guide GUIDE UserGuideGuide 4 t APPLY e Nudge the GUIDE rates between 5 and 50 e Press APPLY to apply the setting without leaving the screen e
40. in degrees ve result move the polar axis to LOWER elevation The third line shown is the COEFF is a divisor in the equations If it is less than 1 then we are magnifying the numbers and the accuracy will degrade If it is less than 0 5 then a different pair of reference stars should be used The movements of the polar axis are indicated for observers in the Northern Hemisphere 6 Having moved the mount re acquire the second star and use it as CAL1 Check the accuracy of the procedure by using a GOTO to the first star If it is not quite central then you can re acquire and return to the second CAL procedure as OBJ B to see how big the errors are 3 6 Backlash Calibration The software compensates backlash by a programmable amount in either axis and is used when either motor changes rotation direction The knowledge of the rotation direction is stored in the drive box so that the telescope can be used just with the Simple Handset and it will operate backlash When the Intelligent Handset is used the coordinates are also compensated so the true pointing position is always shown The internal software to achieve this got very complicated as the UP button has been arranged to always move the telescope towards your local POLE In German Equatorial Types where the telescope can go over the pole between Eastern and Western hemispheres the motor sense is reversed so complicating backlash as far as the coordinate readout is concerned The backl
41. lination buttons work with the correct sense If not then reverse the sense in the FACTORY MENU before proceeding SetupCal CAL1 CAL2 e CALI enter position details for CALIBRATION object A The scope position and time are recorded as the button is pressed and calibration is automatic e CAL2 enter position details for second CALIBRATION object enter the Periodic error calibration and setup menu s 4 5 8 Setup Cal 1 RA lt coord gt SetupCalObjectA h m 5 e Enter RA press e Use the softkeys to enter appropriate tokens e Press C to back track and finally escape RA lt coord gt DEC lt coord gt SetupCalObjectA e Enter DEC and press E e Use the softkeys to enter appropriate tokens e Press C to back track and finally escape 28 Intelligent Drive System USER MANUAL v1 4 Alan Buckman 15 January 2003 4 5 9 Setup Cal 2 After moving the telescope to centre on the second Cal object enter the coordinates as per Cal A Then you are presented with a screen showing the error in the setting of the polar axis Either accept it or move the polar axis to compensate for the error and repeat Cal A and Cal B To save time re acquire the last object and do Cal A on it then GOTO the first object and do Cal B You can leave the calibration screen in between each object COEFF Mel Ma ACCEPT ACCEPT to proceed out of this screen e Mel Elevation
42. n Buckman 15 January 2003 6 Telescope Mechanical Calibrations Issue 1 4 software has two star calibration backlash and periodic error calibrations Further refinements are possible and may be added at a later date 7 STATUS messages 7 1 Fatal Errors fatal error occurs when some hardware component fails All operation is halted and the must be powered down and up if you want to try again The IH may work if you try again but in any case you should contact AWR for a diagnosis and fix 34 Intelligent Drive System USER MANUAL v1 4 Alan Buckman 15 January 2003 7 2 Warning Messages Warning messages are issued if a failure occurs that is recoverable or more commonly for information If a warning persists and you don t understand it contact AWR USTEP CONNECT microstep drivebox has been None connected USTEP DISCONNECT microstep drivebox has been None disconnected HOST CONNECT The serial host device has been None connected HOST DISCONNECT The serial host device has been None disconnected USTEP TIMEOUT The microstep drivebox failed to Power down and up if necessary reply in time and try again USTEP COMMS ERROR The microstep drivebox gave an Power down and up if necessary unrecognised response and try again EVENTS STORE FULL There is no more room in the Delete some events and try again events store HOST BUFFER The serial host device transmit None OVERFLOW buffer overfl
43. n series with limit switches to provide the emergency stop facility from the handset on one of the USER buttons The microswitches should be placed mechanically so they can provide a failsafe if the telescope happens to drive to a position that could cause damage Once a limit switch has been actuated it is necessary to free the switch or override it with a pushbutton in order to drive the telescope away from the obstruction 15 pin D DB15 FEMALE SOCKET pin 1 RLY3 NO pin 2 RLY3 NC pin 3 RLY3 pin 4 RLY2 NO pin 5 RLY2 NC pin 6 RLY2 COM pin 7 RLY1 NO pin 8 RLY1 NC pin 9 STOP VE pin 10 STOP VE pin 11 SUPPLY GND pin 12 SUPPLY GND pin 13 SUPPLY 12V pin 14 SUPPLY 12V pin 15 RLY1 11 8 INDEX Pulse This input connects to the RA INDEX PULSE hardware attached to the RA Slow Motion axis of the telescope It provides a reference point for the periodic error correction algorithm to work This connector is an RJ11 4 6 connector For telescopes with friction drive the periodic error may be coming in on a different axis and this can be catered for by positioning the INDEX PULSE hardware around this axis 12 CONNECTORS INTELLIGENT HANDSET 12 1 Host An RJ11 6 6 connector provides a link to the host computer normally a PC However it is a serial link and can fit to any host computer that supports this transfer mechanism The pinout is special with the facility to provide power at 12V DC as well as the serial connections An interface
44. option ADVANCED MICROSTEP provides three USER OUTPUT relays for control of auxiliary apparatus such as dome movements DC focus motor camera shutter filter wheel etc These are operated by using the three USER keys on the INTELLIGENT HANDSET Also included is an input for LIMIT SWITCHES to stop the telescope driving into a pier for example and an INDEX PULSE input for future use CCD autoguiding inputs are catered for with two connectors These are for the ST4 type interface with a 9 pin D connector and the ST7 PICTOR style with RJ12 telephone style input 2 6 MOTORS Torque available depends to a large extent on the size of motor Motors are chosen to be loaded to 20 while tracking for optimum positional accuracy with the full torque available for fast movements The small motor rated at 50Ncm is adequate for small telescopes supplying up to 20Ncm torque in microstep mode The larger motors 120Ncm 210Ncm can supply up to 50Ncm 80Ncm torque Micro stepping is the technique of dividing each full step into micro steps by using opposing torques to hold the motor armature between steps At 20 loading there is a 7 17 micro step lag from the ideal depending on the micro step phase When unloaded there is an error of 4 micro steps These effects can be seen to have the same effect as backlash and periodic error With a 360 tooth worm these errors correspond to a peak positional variation no more than 6 arc seconds Attaching a
45. owed DRIVE BUFFER The microstep drive serial transmit Power down and up if necessary OVERFLOW buffer overflowed and try again OVERRIDE ACTIVE The mechanical override has Determine the cause fix the activated to avoid damage to the problem and recalibrate the telescope telescope OVERRIDE RELEASED The mechanical override has now None released GOTO ABORTED The user aborted the GOTO COORD The entered coordinate for GOTO None UNREACHABLE is below the horizon MERIDIAN CROSSED The meridian has been crossed and At a convenient time perform a the tube should be reversed meridian reversal VALUE CLIPPED The scrolling of the data has gone Change values until message does outside the range possible not appear 35 Intelligent Drive System USER MANUAL v1 4 Alan Buckman 15 January 2003 7 3 Microstep Errors All these are generated by the microstep drivebox and interpreted by the They do not halt operation though they vary in seriousness USTEP UNKNOWN ERR Contact AWR USTEP WATCHDOG T O A watchdog timeout reset Contact AWR occurred USTEP EE CRC ERR The EEPROM contents and Contact AWR CRC do not match USTEP EVENT BUFF O F The event buffer overflowed Power down and up if necessary and try again USTEP EE VERIFY ERR The EEPROM failed to Contact AWR program USTEP EE OTHER ERR The EEPROM failed Contact AWR USTEP MCLR RESET A hardware reset occurred Contact AWR USTEP BROWNOUT A brownout re
46. round the RA axis than it should You will need to stop the motion immediately by pressing a direction button The GOTO is aborted Drive the telescope manually with the slew buttons to get it into the correct hemisphere then perform the GOTO 3 13 GOTO function There are always two routes when working out which way to go to get to a new coordinate position The direct route involving perhaps large RA moves and a route involving driving the telescope over the pole The shortest route is chosen unless it is superseded by the requirements of tube reversal due to the mounting type Once the route has been chosen the will first apply SLEW then MOVE then CENTRE rates to get the telescope to the new position in the shortest possible time There will be a bleep when it has got there The movement can be aborted at any time by pressing a direction button useful in case of driving into an obstruction If you suspect the route being taken for the GOTO may cause problems with driving into an obstruction or wrapping cables around the pillar then abort the GOTO Move the telescope manually by pressing the slew buttons until you are in the correct hemisphere then try again 3 14 USER OUTPUTS See 4 4 1 User User Keys The USER OUTPUTS function controls three changeover relay contacts available on the MICROSTEP DRIVEBOX using three USER KEYS on the INTELLIGENT HANDSET They can be programmed for MOMENTARY TOGGLE or PULSE action When set to
47. ry 2003 3 INTELLIGENT HANDSET OPERATION AND SETUP This section describes in broad terms what is possible and should help the user get the best out of the system Where possible the relevant section number and title are given A quick guide is given in section 8 A recommended general purpose astronomy reference book is Norton s A diagram of the complete system set up is shown on the previous page 3 1 Installation of telescope parameters See 5 FACTORY MENUS Parameters relating to the physical telescope hardware are entered at the factory and will not need changing unless there is an un anticipated problem such as stalling or incorrect motor direction The correct figures must be filled in for all menus to do with USTEP XFREQ MSTEPS RA and DEC functions The MREV function must be YES to select reversal detection at OBSERVER s MERIDIAN The RATIO field is the multiplication of the following factors Telescope reduction ratio Gearbox ratio and Motor steps per rev When everything is working correctly note down the details in Section 78 for future reference The correct numbers are installed when the RA coordinate stays put guiding at KING rate 15 degrees move in RA corresponds to 1 hour coordinate change and 10 degrees DEC move should move the DEC coordinate by 10 degrees 3 2 Operation in the presence of Backlash For accurate use with the coordinate readout you must be aware of the effects of backlash and how to ob
48. ry 2003 Iss C v1 4 Inclusion of Periodic error calibration The latest edition of this HANDBOOK in pdf format will be posted on our web site Please contact us with errors omissions etc A full software version history is on our website http www awr tech dial pipex com ih awr tech dial pipex com 2 INTRODUCTION Technical astronomy terms are UPPER CASE and appear in the glossary The INTELLIGENT DRIVE SYSTEM brings unparalleled system performance and smart features previously only found on a few dedicated computerised telescope systems to owners of many types of telescopes Readouts programmability and menu options allow the most advanced operations to be carried out easily At the heart of the system is the MICROSTEP DRIVEBOX generating step rates to within 0 005 arc seconds per second and returning position information to the INTELLIGENT HANDSET every second to maintain a display of telescope position within 20 arc seconds Direct stepper motor drive to the slow motion shafts without intervening gearboxes removes a major source of backlash Versions of the system using micro stepping achieve up to 5 degrees a second slewing making GOTO functions a joy to use 2 1 Requirements of Telescope Mount RA and DEC slow motion controls are required with reduction ratios 144 1 and upwards There should be enough space for the motors a minimum of 60mm x 60mm x 75mm length for the smaller motor and up to 125mm length for larger motor
49. ryUstep RA DEC e RA submenu DEC submenu Sets Microstep base crystal frequency e MREV Submenu to select if the telescope requires Meridian Reversal This should be set to YES if the telescope is on a German Equatorial mount or Modified English mount or other mount requiring tube reversal near the Observer s Meridian 30 Intelligent Drive System USER MANUAL v1 4 Alan Buckman 15 January 2003 5 1 1 RA Microstep setup FactoryUstepRa RATIO SLEW ACCEL e RATIO submenu for total reduction ratio to primary axis RA DIR submenu to set sense of the RA motor rotation e SLEW submenu to set maximum slew rate e ACCEL submenu to set maximum acceleration rate MSTEPS Adjusts the microsteps per full step generated electronically Default 64 BLSH Adjust the arcseconds of backlash required for the RA axis 5 1 1 1 Factory Ustep Ratio RA lt ratio gt lt old gt FactoryUstepRaRatio e Enter the mechanical transfer ratio This is the product of the wormwheel or friction drive ratio the number of full motor steps and the motor gearbox if used If a non integer number is required use F1 to enter a decimal point e To start the entry again after a mistake press C To cancel press once or twice e To enter press 5 1 1 2 Factory Ustep RA Direction DIRECTION lt dir gt FactoryUstepRaDir POS NEG APPLY e Select the motor sense dire
50. s There is also a cable from the back of the motor There is an upper limit on the torque we can drive For further details of the influence of mechanical errors on pointing accuracy see reference 1 Intelligent Drive System USER MANUAL v1 4 Alan Buckman 15 January 2003 2 2 INTELLIGENT HANDSET Features e Position readout co ordinates RA and DEC or ALT AZ e Sidereal and Universal time displays e Resolution of measured co ordinates of the order of 20 arc seconds e Real Time Clock RTC with crystal oven to maintain a temperature coefficient less than 0 005ppm C when powered and a backup battery to maintain nominal time otherwise e User programming of guide 30 centre 2x move 32x and slew 1000x rates e Selection and programming of King fixed Solar Lunar Track 2 axis rates Programming resolution is 0 005 arc seconds per second e Event timing function 100 events accuracy 50115 e GOTO function with manually entered co ordinates selecting the shortest route e Tube reversal procedure for telescope mounts requiring it e Northern and Southern hemisphere operation e Programmable USER OUTPUTS and BLEEP on events e System setup for RTC SITES one or two STAR CALIBRATION e Calibration for backlash on both axes and periodic error correction RA e Industry standard planetarium connection with remote operation possible e Back lit keyboard and display Operation 10 C to 30 C CE Marked
51. set occurred Check the power supply or RESET battery Power down and up and try again USTEP DIVIDE BY ZERO Arithmetic error due to Check all settings and try incorrect configuration again USTEP DIVIDE O F Arithmetic error due to Check all settings and try incorrect configuration again USTEP SERIAL O R The serial receive buffer Power down and up if necessary overran and try again USTEP SERIAL RX ERR Serial receive error Power down and up if necessary and try again USTEP PROTOCOL ERR Incorrect protocol from IH Power down and up if necessary and try again 36 Intelligent Drive System USER MANUAL v1 4 Alan Buckman 15 January 2003 8 QUICK SETUP CHECKLIST Connect the motors drivebox and Intelligent Handset together This is especially important if periodic error has been calibrated Check the accuracy of the on board clock with key presses MENU MENU RTC and adjust if necessary Select the Site for the observing session Enter site coordinates if not done Check the balance of the telescope by undoing the RA and DEC drive axis locks Note this must be done at several positions to balance the tube radially and axially for Declination and Polar axes If it is a portable telescope then carry out rough polar alignment The better this initial setting the less time it will take for the two star alignment procedure Lock the drives You can now use any direction keys and slewing speed to move the telescope
52. t to GUIDE on the Intelligent or Simple Handset otherwise the telescope will take off when the autoguider corrects STAR2000 output requires a different arrangement contact AWR 11 7 USER Input and Output A 15 pin connector containing three relay outputs controlled by U1 U2 U3 power connections and an override stop input RELAYS MAXIMUM SWITCHING VOLTAGE ON RELAYS IS 50V AC or DC THEY CANNOT BE USED TO SWITCH MAINS MAXIMUM SWITCHING CURRENT IS 1 AMP NON INDUCTIVE 40 Intelligent Drive System USER MANUAL v1 4 Alan Buckman 15 January 2003 Three relays are provided to make uses of USER buttons U1 U2 U3 on the Intelligent Handset For each relay the COMMON COM NORMALLY OPEN NO and NORMALLY CLOSED NC wires are brought out to a 15 pin D connector These can be used for many purposes including operation of DOME motor FOCUS motor control FILTER WHEEL selection EMERGENCY STOP etc Power supplies GND and 12V are also brought to this connector to allow different configuration and energising of external circuits by use of the relays The 12V supply is fused at 1 Amp OVERRIDE STOP A pair of inputs on the same connector that are used to connect to microswitches which can be placed at strategic positions to limit the telescope movement All switches should be wired in series and should be NORMALLY CLOSED NC When any one breaks the circuit the Override Stop will come into effect Note one of the relays can be wired i
53. t M gt key is pressed whilst the powers up then the following menu is shown FACTORY Section 5 Telescope set ups Dump Status Reboot Defaults Test The FACTORY menu can be accessed from the main menu screens by getting into the STATUS screen When there hold down lt M gt and press REBOOT The IH will then do a warm start into the FACTORY menu There is also an option in the FACTORY menu to REBOOT into the main menus 4 2 Default This is the screen shown when no menus are active The function keys change the adjust speed when the UP DOWN LEFT or RIGHT buttons are pressed next The adjust speed selected is rewritten on the display in lower case when the appropriate function key is used Settings for coordinates and time options are entered in User Display Section 4 4 15 In addition the guide rate and site number are also displayed Only the softkeys are shown below 16 Intelligent Drive System USER MANUAL v1 4 Alan Buckman 15 January 2003 lt coords gt KING lt coords gt lt time gt Site A GUIDE CNTR MOVE slew e The co ordinates are shown in either RA DEC or ALT AZ as selected by the user UserDisplaySkypos e The time is shown in either Universal UT or Local Sidereal time LST as selected by the user UserDisplayTime FLAGS end of row 2 P means that periodic error PLAYBACK is in operation and is the calibration status which can be E W e ADJUST GUIDE CENTRE MOVE SLE
54. tain accuracy The drives on both axes will have backlash to a greater or lesser extent A motor driving a friction wheel reduction system may appear to have no backlash but to get torque out of the motor it needs to have an angular offset from its unloaded position When the direction is changed the direction of the offset changes and the overall effect appears as backlash Most gearboxes have about 2 degrees of backlash and worm wheels can have considerable backlash meshing end float etc To overcome these mechanical problems all you have to do is approach each object with the motors always turning in the same direction If you start out SOUTH and EAST from the object then you will press the UP and FAST button in order to approach the object with the CENTRE speed rate selected If you do this on all objects then the coordinate readout will not be subject to the backlash error This works everywhere on the same side of the OBSERVER S MERIDIAN except when you go over the pole the DEC motor sense then reverses and then the opposite polarity DEC button will give you the same motor movement direction 3 3 At the start of the session The first check is to make sure the Declination buttons are working the correct way round If the sense is wrong you can either jump into the FACTORY menu USTEP DEC SENSE and change it or you can move the telescope on its slipping clutches until it is in a quadrant where the buttons work correctly The UP b
55. tio Gearbox Motor steps per rev DEC reduction ratio Gearbox Motor steps per rev SLEW deg 5 SLEW deg s ACCEL Hz 0 1s ACCEL Hz 0 1s DIR sense DIR sense MSTEPS MSTEPS BLSH BLSH SITE A LOCATION Latitude Longitude SITE B LOCATION Latitude Longitude SITE C LOCATION Latitude Longitude SITE D LOCATION Latitude Longitude 45
56. uary 2003 11 4 To Intelligent Handset An RJ45 8 8 connector provides a link to the Intelligent Handset The 8 way cable is wired straight through allowing off the shelf patch cords to be used A special lead can be connected straight to a PC serial port The MICROSTEP PROTOCOL should be used for low level programming through this interface The pinout is as follows pinl pins pin 2 Tx LINE from drivebox pin 6 pin 3 pin 7 pin 4 Rx LINE into drivebox pin 8 GND Pin 1 of this connector is at top left when looking into the socket 11 5 Remote Guiding Input 9 pin This input is used by autoguiders that have relay outputs such as the SBIG ST4 CCD camera Each direction button uses a pair of wires that are normally open circuit and closed when the remote switch is made If this input is to be used for guiding then the adjust speed should be set to GUIDE on the Intelligent or Simple Handset otherwise the telescope will take off at the speed rate set when the autoguider corrects 9 pin D DB9 MALE PLUG pin 1 FAST pin 2 SLOW pin 3 UP pin 4 DOWN pin 5 N C pin 6 FAST pin 7 SLOW pin 8 UP pin 9 DOWN 11 6 CCD TTL Autoguiding Input This input is provided for recent Autoguiders such as SBIG ST7 and ST8 Meade Pictor etc To maintain isolation the signals are opto coupled to provide the direction push buttons It is a standard RJ11 6 6 connector pinout If this input is to be used for guiding then the adjust speed should be se
57. utton should always move the telescope to your local pole Then drive or move the telescope to your first reference star for calibration Intelligent Drive System USER MANUAL v1 4 Alan Buckman 15 January 2003 3 4 Co ordinate calibration with the sky Simple Calibration Do please carry out POLAR ALIGNMENT before any star calibration TWO STAR calibration procedure can be used You can operate the Telescope using the Intelligent Handset or Simple Handset to move the telescope to the positions in the sky required to polar align To correct in AZIMUTH null the DEC drift in a star positioned close to the Observer s Meridian near DEC 0 degrees To correct in ALTITUDE null the DEC drift in a star in the East or West about 45 degrees in altitude There are many descriptions in reference books of how to do this more precisely see Sidgwick for example In order for the Intelligent Handset to work properly it needs to be calibrated with the sky The easiest way to do this is to do a few basic checks then calibrate against a star of known position either in the Eastern or Western Hemisphere Stars near the pole should be avoided because there is a large error in the RA position the most accurate calibration will be for stars near declination zero degrees A high power eyepiece with cross hairs will be needed to calibrate to within 20 arc seconds The co ordinate entered must also be for Epoch of the calibration as Precession can change the catalogue
58. verdriving the telescope tube remember to release the key in advance when manually SLEWING Until the telescope has stopped there will be no advantage in pressing another direction button If you find that you need to stop a SLEW from a GOTO command then all you have to do is press one of the direction buttons The IH will bleep and the slew will abort Note that the correct 13 Intelligent Drive System USER MANUAL v1 4 Alan Buckman 15 January 2003 coordinate readout is available all the time as it is measuring what is actually happening to the motors and not based on commands issued 3 12 Telescopes requiring TUBE REVERSAL Owners of German Equatorial mounts or Modified English mounts will need to select REVERSAL at OBSERVER S MERIDIAN in the Factory Menu This means that the Intelligent Handset will perform GOTO s in the correct direction when crossing from Eastern to Western hemisphere vice versa It will also warn you if the Observer s Meridian has been crossed Then you can carry out an automatic reversal procedure under manual control using the function key MREV in the OBJECT screen With these types of telescopes it is important to keep the telescope tube in the hemisphere so that the balance weight end of the DEC axis is closer to the ground than the telescope end of the DEC axis This is essential for GOTO s to be performed in the correct manner otherwise the telescope will start moving in the opposite direction a
59. y to the centre of the field and illuminated cross hairs help in doing this Without cross hairs a high power eyepiece must be used but reduced accuracy may result The second biggest problem can be backlash but this procedure will work provided you creep up on each star from the same direction ie approach your calibration star from the SOUTH FOLLOWING direction PROCEDURE 1 Two stars should be selected as calibration stars One should be near the celestial equator close to the Central Meridian ie due South for observers in the Northern hemisphere The second star should be in the same Eastern or Western hemisphere at least 60 degrees different in declination and at least 4 hours different in right ascension Do not use stars within 5 degrees of the pole The wider apart the stars the better the measurement There should be NO TUBE REVERSAL between the calibration points this adds an unnecessary error 10 Intelligent Drive System USER MANUAL v1 4 Alan Buckman 15 January 2003 2 Roughly align the polar axis or leave it alone if it is observatory mounted 3 Calibrate as usual on the first star CAL1 4 Drive the telescope to the second star by a GOTO or using the SLEW buttons 5 When the second star is at the centre return to the CAL screen and press CAL2 and enter its co ordinates The screen will then display the errors in the pole Maz AZIMUTH ERROR in degrees ve result move the mount CLOCKWISE Mel ELEVATION ERROR
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