A wireless multi-astronomical telescope control system based on ASCOM communication protocol

Abstract

The application discloses a wireless multi-astronomical telescope control system based on an ASCOM communication protocol and belongs to the field of system control. The overall application is divided into three parts, namely, an ASCOM (astronomy common object model) standardization module, a server and a client. An ordinary user selects corresponding stars to control a telescope through the client, and a manager uses a server control software running on a PC to configure the telescope numbers controllable by the client and continuously receives control commands sent by the client, and sends control commands to star map software to move a corresponding group of telescopes to the selected stars.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The application belongs to the field of system control, in particular to a wireless multi-astronomical telescope control system based on ASCOM communication protocol. BACKGROUND

[0002] Astronomical observation has always been one of the important means for human beings to explore the mysteries of the universe. With the progress of society and the popularization of astronomical knowledge, more and more people have developed a strong interest in astronomy, and astronomical observatories have become an important place for people to learn about astronomical knowledge and gaze at the stars. However, the traditional telescope control method is one-to-one using a remote control to control, which is cumbersome and time-consuming. In order to attract more visitors and participants, astronomical observatories need to have multiple telescopes to cover a wider range of observation. By controlling multiple telescopes at the same time, different observation needs can be met, and a richer observation experience can be provided. By designing an automated telescope control system, observation efficiency can be greatly improved, and manpower and material resources can be saved. ASCOM protocol is a standardized interface protocol widely used in the field of astronomy, aiming to promote communication and interoperability between different astronomical devices. It allows astronomical devices (such as telescopes, cameras, positioners, etc.) to seamlessly connect and interact with astronomical software (such as astronomical observation control software, image processing software, etc.). Currently, some people have proposed remote control of astronomical telescopes based on ASCOM protocol and collaboration with other devices in astronomical observatories, aiming to solve the problem of long-term observation personnel in some high-altitude and cold areas.

[0003] Currently, it is mainly used for scientific research or other related academic research, meeting the professional and specialized needs of scientific researchers. The function is relatively complex and numerous, and is not user-friendly for ordinary people who do not have much or even no knowledge of the relevant professional knowledge. In addition, some existing technologies control some special devices, have poor flexibility and low scalability, cannot control multiple telescopes of different models at the same time, and cannot meet the different observation needs of multiple people at the same time.

[0004] With the development of society, more and more people are interested in astronomy and want to come to astronomical observatories for learning. At the same time, astronomical observatories have become a research and learning place for many students. In view of the large number of visitors to the observatory, the uneven professional knowledge of visitors, it is urgent to develop a control system that is easy to use, has strong scalability, and can control a group or multiple groups of astronomical telescopes at the same time to meet the different observation needs of different people. SUMMARY

[0005] In view of the above problems, the patent proposes an astronomical telescope control system based on the ASCOM communication protocol. The control system can not only be compatible with different models of astronomical telescopes, but also is easy to operate, can select multiple astronomical telescopes for control at the same time, and is suitable for astronomical observatory popular science bases with a large number of tourists.

[0006] The technical scheme of the present application is an astronomical telescope control system based on the ASCOM communication protocol, which comprises a field control box, a server and a client. Ordinary users can control the telescope by selecting corresponding celestial bodies on the client, while managers can configure the telescope numbers that can be controlled by the client using the server control software running on the PC, and continuously receive the control commands sent by the client, and send control commands to the star map software. The star map software transmits the control information to the field control box after calculation, and the field control box moves the corresponding telescope to the selected celestial body according to the command.

[0007] The field control box is composed of a microcontroller module and corresponding circuits. The microcontroller module includes WiFi, Bluetooth and UART. The field control box receives the control attributes and methods based on the ASCOM standard definition sent by the server, translates them into control commands of different models of astronomical telescopes, and sends them to the astronomical telescopes to realize control. At the same time, the field control box abstracts these different telescopes into a standard ASCOM device, so as to be discovered and connected by the upper star map software.

[0008] The server is composed of a telescope agent, a star map software and a control software,

[0009] The working process of the server and the client is as follows: the server discovers and connects all the telescopes, the server obtains all the clients in the local area network through broadcast search, the management personnel distributes the astronomical telescope numbers that can be controlled by different clients on the configuration window of the server control software, so that a specific client can only control a specific telescope or a group of telescopes. The client sends a request to the server to obtain a list of celestial bodies, and the server returns the list of celestial bodies to the client after checking the legality of the request. The client displays the obtained list of celestial bodies, the user selects a celestial body in the list of celestial bodies to obtain the picture of the celestial body, and sends a command to the server control software to move the telescope to the specified celestial body. Finally, the server control software sends a corresponding command to the star map software to realize the action of tracking the celestial body by the group of telescopes corresponding to the client.

[0010] Further, the instruction interaction between the server and the field control box is as follows:

[0011] S1: The service end sends UDP broadcast information, and the live control box returns the port number information to the service end after receiving the broadcast message, so as to prepare for the subsequent http protocol communication;

[0012] S2: The service end sends three http requests to the live control box returning the information, respectively accesses the "apiversions", "description" and "configureddevices" attributes of the ASCOM device, and respectively acquires the API version, device description, controlled device type and device name. After the three interactions, the discovery process of the ASCOM device is completed, and the service end abstracts a live control box into an ASCOM device. The discovered ASCOM device information is displayed on the service end, and the user selects the device to be controlled to establish a driver for the device.

[0013] S3: The service end connects according to the IP address and port number of the ASCOM device reserved in the previous discovery process. The service end sends an http message to access the "connect" attribute of the ASCOM device to be connected, and sends two http requests to access the "doesRefraction" and "EquatorialSystem" attributes after the ASCOM device responds, so as to acquire whether the controlled astronomical telescope applies atmospheric refraction to coordinates and uses an equatorial coordinate system. After the connection is successfully established, the service end sends two http requests to the ASCOM device every certain time, respectively accesses the "rightascension" and "declination" attributes of the ASCOM device, and acquires the right ascension and declination coordinates of the corresponding telescope.

[0014] Further, when the user wants to control the telescope to move, the user selects the position to be pointed on the service end and clicks the pointing button. The service end sends an http request to the ASCOM device to be controlled to access the "slewtocoordinatesasync" method, and sends the right ascension and declination coordinates of the target position to the ASCOM device. After receiving the request, the ASCOM device performs the telescope pointing operation, and returns a successful response to the service end after the telescope starts to point.

[0015] Further, the telescope agent is set on the service end. The telescope agent is developed based on the ASCOM protocol, and the state information of each ASCOM device is stored in the telescope agent. After the telescope agent is started, the telescope agent listens to the http control command sent by the star map. After listening to the command sent by the star map, the telescope agent queries the information of the ASCOM device corresponding to the command, first interacts with the star map end to obtain the latest information, then forwards the command to the corresponding ASCOM device, and waits for the ASCOM device to reply to update the state information.

[0016] Further, the communication method between the field control box and the astronomical telescope is that the field control box converts the http request of the server accessing the right ascension and declination position into corresponding serial port commands, the telescope returns the right ascension and declination coordinates of the pointing, and the field control box converts the same into the reply information in the http format and returns to the server; when the server sends a moving command, the field control box converts the same into corresponding serial port commands, sends the right ascension and declination coordinates of the pointing required to the telescope, and realizes the moving operation.

[0017] Further, the communication method between the server and the client is that the server scans the client equipment in the network through broadcasting the "scan" command, the client equipment returns the device name of the client after receiving the broadcast information; after receiving the broadcast of the server, the client can obtain the ip address of the server, and thereafter the client sends the "reqlist" command to the server to obtain the star list and sends the "goto+star name" command to control the telescope to point to the corresponding star.

[0018] The present application has the following advantages:

[0019] High expansibility: the ASCOM standardized interface protocol is used, the command differences of different types of astronomical telescopes are shielded, and thus the operating system can control different types of astronomical telescopes at the same time.

[0020] High flexibility and convenience: the control system uses wireless communication, eliminates the limitation of traditional wired connection, and makes the equipment more flexible to arrange and move, and the user does not need to worry about wiring and connection problems, and the user can control the telescope during the movement of the client.

[0021] Simplification and expansion of functions are realized: the functions of the Stellarium star map software are complex and diverse, and direct operation may have certain difficulties; the control software extracts the command data and simplifies the same into button operation, improves the usability, and forms a complete communication relationship with the Stellarium star map software and the client, and on this basis, the use function expansion such as on-demand management and grouping management is realized.

[0022] The control method can control multiple astronomical telescopes at the same time, reduces the management cost, and reduces the operation time. The control software binds the telescope number required to be operated, and realizes one-time moving of multiple astronomical telescopes. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0023] Figure 1 The overall architecture of the multi-telescope control system proposed in the present application.

[0024] Figure 2 It is the basic working process of the ASCOM standard drive module.

[0025] Figure 3 The basic workflow of client and server interaction. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0026] Figure 1 The overall architecture of the multi-telescope control method proposed for the patent. The system is divided into three parts, ASCOM (astronomy common object model) standardized module, server and client. Ordinary users in the client select the corresponding celestial body to control the telescope, while the management personnel in the server use the server control software running on the PC to configure the telescope number that can be controlled by the client and continuously receive the control commands sent by the client, and send control commands to the star map software to move the corresponding group of telescopes to the selected celestial body. The specific technical description will be described in detail below.

[0027] 1. ASCOM standardized module

[0028] The basic workflow of the ASCOM standard driver module of the patent is shown in Figure 2 Each astronomical telescope is equipped with a field control box, which continuously receives the control attributes and methods based on the ASCOM standard definition sent by the PC server, translates them into control commands for different types of astronomical telescopes, and sends them to the astronomical telescope to realize its control. At the same time, the field control box abstracts these different telescopes into standard ASCOM devices to be discovered and connected by the upper star map software.

[0029] The field control box is composed of a microcontroller module and corresponding circuits, among which the microcontroller module selects a device with rich peripheral interfaces, including WiFi, Bluetooth, UART, etc., and adopts advanced power management technology to support multiple low-power modes, which can prolong the battery life and is suitable for low-power applications that need to run for a long time, meeting the basic requirements of the control system. The field control box communicates with the astronomical telescope through the serial port, and communicates with the server using wireless local area network.

[0030] 2. Server

[0031] The server is composed of telescope agent, Stellarium software and control software. Stellarium is an open-source astronomical simulation software with intuitive user interface, which makes it easy for users who are not familiar with astronomy. In addition, Stellarium contains a large amount of celestial data, including thousands of stars, planets, satellites, comets, etc. Stellarium contains ASCOM driver, which can search, discover and connect to ASCOM devices using the same standard, and control them to point the corresponding astronomical telescope to the selected celestial body. In general, Stellarium is a powerful and easy-to-use astronomy software suitable for a wide range of users such as astronomy enthusiasts and educators. Based on the above advantages, we choose Stellarium software as the terminal for the server to interact with the astronomical telescope.

[0032] However, Stellarium software has some disadvantages, such as: the maximum number of astronomical telescopes connected at a time is nine, and it cannot control multiple astronomical telescopes to move at the same time. Its scalability and convenience cannot meet the demand. In addition, when the number of connected ASCOM devices is too large, the software may freeze or even become unusable. Therefore, we designed the corresponding control software and telescope agent to improve the scalability and convenience of the system.

[0033] The control software is developed based on the remote control function of Stellarium software, which can connect multiple telescopes of multiple servers for observation at the same time, breaking through the upper limit of Stellarium software in controlling telescopes. The main interface is simple and has telescope selection and celestial body selection functions, and there is also a server connection status display to help users better understand the current server usage. The configuration options of the control software include server configuration and activation, telescope renaming, celestial body list addition, client user authorization and software registration, which ensure the completeness of the functions and also retain the simplicity and usability of the interface.

[0034] The control software sends the remote control commands to Stellarium software in the form of TCP communication to interact with the software, realizing functions such as celestial body name acquisition and telescope movement control.

[0035] As for the configuration function, first of all, the enablement selection of the server, by enabling the server and inputting the corresponding IP and port number, the target server can be connected, and after the connection is successful, the telescope corresponding to the server can be controlled; the telescope renaming function can allow the user to input the name of the telescope in the corresponding number box, which is convenient for identification; the celestial body list maintenance allows the user to input the celestial body to be observed to manage the observable celestial body list of the main interface; the authorization management function realizes the configuration of the telescope number that the client software can control; the registration function ensures the management of the authorization, registration and use of the control software, and the unregistered control software is allowed to be used for a certain period of time, and after the expiration, the unregistered program will be automatically disabled.

[0036] If the star map software is simply used to control the ASCOM device wirelessly, when the number of connected devices is too large, due to the time delay of wireless transmission, the server star map will be lagged, and even cannot be used. In order to solve the problem, a telescope agent is designed on the computer side as a message transfer station. The star map sends a command to the telescope agent, after receiving the command, the telescope agent first interacts with the star map software to update the corresponding message, and then the telescope agent forwards the command to the ASCOM device to update the state, so that the star map software can interact quickly, and will not cause lag due to the time delay of reply.

[0037] The telescope agent is developed based on the ASCOM protocol, and the state information of each ASCOM device, such as the right ascension and declination coordinate information, can be stored in the telescope agent. After the telescope agent is started, it constantly listens to the http control command sent by the star map in the network segment, such as the right ascension and declination coordinate command or the command for controlling the movement of the telescope. After listening, the middleware queries the information of the ASCOM device corresponding to the command, first interacts with the star map software to update the latest information stored in the telescope agent, then forwards the command to the corresponding ASCOM device, and waits for the ASCOM device to reply to update the state information.

[0038] 3、Client

[0039] To improve its convenience, the control method develops a set of client control software. Its basic workflow is: the server gets all the clients in the local area network range through broadcast search, the administrator can assign the astronomical telescope number that different clients can control in the configuration window on the server control software, so that a specific client can only control a specific one or a group of telescopes; the client can send a request to the server to obtain the star list, the server returns the star list to the client after checking the legality of the request; the client displays the obtained star list on the main interface, the user can obtain the picture of the star by checking the star in the star list, click the specific button to send the command to the server control software to move the telescope to the specified star, finally the server control software sends the corresponding command to the star map software to realize the action of tracking the star by the group of telescopes corresponding to the client.

[0040] The communication protocol is as follows:

[0041]

Claims

1. An astronomical telescope control system based on the ASCOM communications protocol, the system comprising: On-site control box, server, client; Ordinary users control the telescope by selecting corresponding celestial bodies on the client, while managers configure the telescope numbers that the client can control using the server control software running on the PC and continuously receive control commands sent by the client, and send control commands to the star map software, which will calculate and transmit control information to the on-site control box, which will move the corresponding telescope to the selected celestial body according to the command; The on-site control box is composed of a microcontroller module and corresponding circuits; the microcontroller module includes WiFi, Bluetooth, and UART; the on-site control box receives control attributes and methods sent by the server based on the ASCOM standard definition, translates them into control commands for different types of astronomical telescopes, and sends them to the astronomical telescopes to control them, while the on-site control box abstracts these different telescopes into a standard ASCOM device to be discovered and connected by the upper-layer star map software; The server is composed of a telescope agent, star map software, and control software, The workflow of the server and client is as follows: the server discovers and connects all telescopes, the server obtains all clients within the local area network through broadcast search, the manager assigns the astronomical telescope numbers that different clients can control in the configuration window of the server control software, so that a specific client can only control a specific telescope or group of telescopes; the client sends a request to the server to obtain a list of celestial bodies, the server returns the list of celestial bodies to the client after checking the legality of the request; the client displays the obtained list of celestial bodies, the user selects a celestial body in the list to obtain the picture of the celestial body, and sends a command to the server control software to move the telescope to the specified celestial body, and finally the server control software sends a corresponding command to the star map software to realize the action of tracking the celestial body by the group of telescopes corresponding to the client; The specific method of instruction interaction between the server and the on-site control box is as follows: S1: the server sends a UDP broadcast message, and the on-site control box returns the port number information to the server after receiving the broadcast message, which is prepared for subsequent http protocol communication; S2: the server sends three http requests to the on-site control box that returns the information, respectively accessing the "apiversions", "description", and "configureddevices" attributes of the ASCOM device to obtain the API version, device description, controlled device type, and device name; after the three interactions are completed, the discovery process of the ASCOM device is completed, and the server abstracts an on-site control box into an ASCOM device; the discovered ASCOM device information is displayed on the server, and the user selects the device to be controlled to establish a driver for it; S3: The server connects according to the IP address and port number of the ASCOM device reserved in the previous discovery process, and sends an http request to access the "connect" attribute of the ASCOM device required for connection. After the ASCOM device responds, the server sends two http requests to access the "doesRefraction" and "EquatorialSystem" attributes to obtain whether the controlled astronomical telescope applies atmospheric refraction to coordinates and the equatorial coordinate system used. After the connection is successfully established, the server sends two http requests to the ASCOM device at regular intervals to access the "rightascension" and "declination" attributes of the ASCOM device to obtain the coordinates of the corresponding telescope pointing.

2. An astronomical telescope control system based on the ASCOM communication protocol according to claim 1, characterized in that, When the user wants to control the telescope to move, the server selects the position to be pointed to and clicks the pointing button. The server sends an http request to the ASCOM device to be controlled to access the "slewtocoordinatesasync" method, and sends the right ascension and declination coordinates of the target position to the ASCOM device. After receiving the request, the ASCOM device performs telescope pointing operation, and returns a success response to the server after the telescope starts pointing.

3. An astronomical telescope control system based on ASCOM communication protocol as claimed in claim 1, wherein, The server sets up a telescope agent based on the ASCOM protocol. The telescope agent stores the state information of each ASCOM device. After the telescope agent starts, it listens to the http control commands sent by the star map. After listening to the command sent by the star map, the telescope agent queries the information of the ASCOM device corresponding to the command, first interacts with the star map to obtain the latest information stored, then forwards the command to the corresponding ASCOM device, and waits for the ASCOM device to reply to update the state information.

4. An astronomical telescope control system based on ASCOM communication protocol as claimed in claim 1, wherein, The communication method between the field control box and the astronomical telescope is as follows: the field control box converts the http request of the server to access the right ascension and declination position into a corresponding serial port command, the telescope replies to the right ascension and declination coordinates it points to, and the field control box converts it into http format reply information and replies to the server; when the server sends a moving command, the field control box converts it into a corresponding serial port command and sends the right ascension and declination coordinates it needs to point to the telescope to realize moving operation.

5. An astronomical telescope control system based on ASCOM communication protocol as claimed in claim 1 wherein, The communication method between the server and the client is as follows: the server scans the client devices in the network by broadcasting the "scan" command. After receiving the broadcast information, the client device replies with the device name of the client. After receiving the broadcast from the server, the client can obtain the IP address of the server. Thereafter, the client sends the "reqlist" command to the server to obtain the star list and sends the "goto+star name" command to control the telescope to point to the corresponding star.

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