meade_mountd interfaces with the mount over RS232 and exposes a
coherent telescope control interface via Pyro.
tel is a commandline utility for controlling the telescope.
Configuration is read from json files that are installed by default to /etc/mountd.
A configuration file is specified when launching the server, and the tel frontend will search this location when launched.
{
"daemon": "warwick_telescope", # Run the server as this daemon. Daemon types are registered in `rockit.common.daemons`.
"log_name": "meaded@warwick", # The name to use when writing messages to the observatory log.
"control_machines": ["WarwickTCS"], # Machine names that are allowed to control (rather than just query) state. Machine names are registered in `rockit.common.IP`.
"serial_port": "/dev/mount", # Serial FIFO for communicating with the mount
"serial_baud": 9600, # Serial baud rate
"serial_timeout": 3, # Serial comms timeout
"latitude": 52.376861, # Site latitude in degrees.
"longitude": -1.583861, # Site longitude in degrees.
"altitude": 94, # Site altitude in metres.
"initialize_timeout": 120, # Maximum time to connect and configure the mount (in seconds)
"slew_timeout": 90, # Maximum time to slew from any position to any other position (in seconds)
"slew_loop delay": 0.25, # Interval to poll the mount status while slewing (in seconds)
"idle_loop_delay": 1, # Interval to poll the mount status while not slewing (in seconds)
"ha_soft_limits": [-82, 82], # Allowed hour angle range in degrees
"dec_soft_limits": [-20, 85], # Allowed declination range in degrees
"park_positions": {
"zenith": { # Positions that can be used with 'tel park'.
"desc": "pointing directly up", # Description reported by 'tel park'.
"alt": 90, # Altitude in degrees.
"az": 0 # Azimuth in degrees.
}
}
}The automated packaging scripts will push 3 RPM packages to the observatory package repository:
| Package | Description |
|---|---|
| rockit-meade-server | Contains the meade_mountd server and systemd service file. |
| rockit-meade-client | Contains the tel commandline utility for controlling the telescope server. |
| rockit-meade-data-warwick | Contains the json configuration for the Windmill Hill telescope. |
| python3-rockit-meade | Contains the python module with shared code. |
After installing packages, the systemd service should be enabled:
sudo systemctl enable --now meade_mountd@<config>
where config is the name of the json file for the appropriate telescope.
Now open a port in the firewall:
sudo firewall-cmd --zone=public --add-port=<port>/tcp --permanent
sudo firewall-cmd --reload
where port is the port defined in rockit.common.daemons for the daemon specified in the config.
New RPM packages are automatically created and pushed to the package repository for each push to the master branch.
These can be upgraded locally using the standard system update procedure:
sudo yum clean expire-cache
sudo yum update
The daemon should then be restarted to use the newly installed code:
sudo systemctl restart meade_mountd@<config>
The server and client can be run directly from a git clone:
./meade_mountd warwick.json
MOUNTD_CONFIG_PATH=./warwick.json ./tel status