Merop Ciel & Espace meeting 11 & 12 november 2006 .

Merop

Ciel & Espace meeting

11 & 12 november 2006

www.astrimage.org/merop

http://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


HistorySummer 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


FunctionnalitiesDisplacement of the telescope by moving the joystick, configuration

of the telescope Customizing speeds on the joystick Supports motors for focus Supports protocol LX200 (Meade GUIDatabases :

110 Messier250 reference stars7840 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

Pic-Astro

Merop

Mount

PC

One link


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

Motofocus

Pic-Astro

Hub Merop

Merop

Roue à filtres

Monture

PC


Ressourceswww.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

Merop Ciel & Espace meeting 11 & 12 november 2006 .

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Transcript of Merop Ciel & Espace meeting 11 & 12 november 2006 .