Planner

Role

The Planner module orchestrates a multi-target astrophotography session. It executes a list of planning lines, delegating slewing to the Navigator module and acquisition to the Sequencer module in turn. For each target it automatically loads a sequencer profile.

Planner module screenshot Planner module screenshot

Required devices

DeviceRole
GPSObserver geographic coordinates and time

Planning structure

A planning is made up of several lines. Each line defines:

ColumnDescription
ObjectTarget name
RARight ascension of the target (J2000)
DECDeclination of the target (J2000)
ProfileSequencer profile to load for this target
ProgressCompletion status of the current line

Lines are executed in order. They can be added manually or sent from the Navigator via the Add to planner action.

Parameters

Slave modules

ParameterDescription
Sequencer instanceName of the Sequencer module instance to drive
Navigator instanceName of the Navigator module instance to drive

Algorithm

Start

  1. Check INDI connection and slave modules
  2. Mark all lines as Queued
  3. Start the first line

Line execution

For each line of the planning:

  1. The Planner sets the Navigator’s target (RA, DEC, name)
  2. It loads the requested sequence profile into the Sequencer and sets the matching object name
  3. It triggers the Navigator’s Go to target action
  4. It waits for centering to complete (Navigator success event)
  5. It triggers the Sequencer’s Start sequence action
  6. It monitors acquisition progress and waits for the sequence to finish
  7. The line is marked Finished and the next line starts

Planning complete

When all lines have been processed, the global progress reaches 100 % and the module stops.

Progress

IndicatorDescription
Global progressNumber of lines processed out of the total
Per-line progressCurrent acquisition progress, relayed from the Sequencer

Actions

ActionDescription
StartStarts executing the planning from the first line
StopStops the current planning