130 likes | 321 Views
Merop Ciel & Espace meeting 11 & 12 november 2006. www.astrimage.org/merop. Merop : What is it ???. Enable to move telescopes (focus, moving) like a hand-controller Compatible LX200 (Meade Protocole)
E N D
MeropCiel & Espace meeting11 & 12 november 2006 www.astrimage.org/merop
Merop : What is it ??? • Enable to move telescopes (focus, moving) like a hand-controller • Compatible LX200 (Meade Protocole) • Analog joystick : 64 positions per axis to control the direction of movement and speedin a single gesture • Databases of important objects and customizable
History • Summer 2005: First thoughts on the project • September/October 2005 : Dévelopment • November 2005 : First prototype • December 2005 : Management of Messier objects, functional user interface • January 2006 : Management of the various modes of communication, 110 Messier objects and 250 reference stars • September 2006 : Stabilization of the software and the electronic database NGC functional • January 2007 : First order placed
Project developpment • Software developpment entirely axed on a database system • Depth mechanical design
Functionnalities • Displacement of the telescope by moving the joystick, configuration of the telescope • Customizing speeds on the joystick • Supports motors for focus • Supports protocol LX200 (Meade • GUI • Databases : • 110 Messier • 250 reference stars • 7840 NGC Objects • Wired communication mode (RS232) • Multilingual : English/French, possibility of adding other language
Future functionnalities • Date/Time • Sensors end race (Hub Merop) • Calculations of corrections: atmospheric refraction, precession, nutation • IC Catalog • Catalog of standard stars for astrophotography • Catalog of custom objects (500 objects)
Architecture • Avery simple architecture! • PIC 18F252 at 20MHz Microcontroller • Storage on 6 EEProm of 64Ko of databases : objects, GUI
Merop : simple use Merop One link Pic-Astro Mount PC
Le Hub Merop • Point central de l’interconnexion des équipements du télescope, il gère la communication entre: • Pic-Astro (Entraînement) • PC • HQF (Micro-Autofocuser) • Merop (Commande) • Roue à filtre
Le Hub Merop Merop Roue à filtres Hub Merop Pic-Astro Monture Motofocus PC
Ressources www.astrimage.org/merop
Cost of implementation • About 70 euros with a high quality housing • Allow about 30 euros for Hub Mérop • These costs will be reduced through the groupe orders Astrimage
Demonstration • Movements with joystick • Synchronisation • Goto • Declination inversion