Simulator Camera in Sky Survey mode - error connecting

[Andy Bulka]

I'm getting erratic connections to the Equipment / Simulator Camera - when it is configured to use Sky Survey. I either get:

• a successful connection
• an error “Unable to connect camera N.I.N.A. Simulator Camera” <--- MAIN PROBLEM
• sometimes taking minutes and often ending with the error "No imaging component suitable to complete this opertation was found"
• a complete freeze of NINA requiring me to use task manager to kill the NINA process.

If I configure NINA Simulator Camera to generate random noise, it always connects. However when I configure it to pull images from Sky Survey (what a great feature) it usually fails to connect (but sometimes does connect OK). My internet is solid and I have the EQMOD ASCOM Simulator Telescope connected and unparked before I attempt to connect the NINA camera simulator.

NINA version 2.3.2.9001 running on Windows 10 or Windows 11 (happens on all my machines).

To reproduce:

1. Connect the telescope: Equipment / Telescope / Connect EQMOD ASCOM Simulator
2. Configure the camera: Equipment / Camera / Setup NINA Simulator Camera to use “Sky Survey”
3. Connect the camera: Equipment / Camera / Connect NINA Simulator Camera
4. See the error.

The relevant bit out of the log:

2024-01-20T10:59:37.4971|INFO|TelescopeVM.cs|ChooseTelescope|504|Successfully connected Telescope. Id: EQMOD_SIM.Telescope Name: EQMOD ASCOM Simulator Driver Version: 1.0
2024-01-20T10:59:45.2557|ERROR|SimulatorCamera.cs|Connect|478|Failed to download image on connect
NINA.WPF.Base.Exceptions.SkySurveyUnavailableException: No imaging component suitable to complete this operation was found.
   at NINA.WPF.Base.SkySurvey.MosaicSkySurvey.<>c__DisplayClass1_0.<<GetImage>b__0>d.MoveNext() in C:\Projects\nina\NINA.Core.WPF\SkySurvey\MosaicSkySurvey.cs:line 45
--- End of stack trace from previous location where exception was thrown ---
   at System.Runtime.ExceptionServices.ExceptionDispatchInfo.Throw()
   at System.Runtime.CompilerServices.TaskAwaiter.HandleNonSuccessAndDebuggerNotification(Task task)
   at NINA.WPF.Base.SkySurvey.MosaicSkySurvey.<GetImage>d__1.MoveNext() in C:\Projects\nina\NINA.Core.WPF\SkySurvey\MosaicSkySurvey.cs:line 30
--- End of stack trace from previous location where exception was thrown ---
   at System.Runtime.ExceptionServices.ExceptionDispatchInfo.Throw()
   at System.Runtime.CompilerServices.TaskAwaiter.HandleNonSuccessAndDebuggerNotification(Task task)
   at NINA.WPF.Base.Model.Equipment.MyCamera.Simulator.SimulatorCamera.<DownloadExposure>d__172.MoveNext() in C:\Projects\nina\NINA.Core.WPF\Model\Equipment\MyCamera\Simulator\SimulatorCamera.cs:line 569
--- End of stack trace from previous location where exception was thrown ---
   at System.Runtime.ExceptionServices.ExceptionDispatchInfo.Throw()
   at System.Runtime.CompilerServices.TaskAwaiter.HandleNonSuccessAndDebuggerNotification(Task task)
   at NINA.WPF.Base.Model.Equipment.MyCamera.Simulator.SimulatorCamera.<>c__DisplayClass169_0.<<Connect>b__0>d.MoveNext() in C:\Projects\nina\NINA.Core.WPF\Model\Equipment\MyCamera\Simulator\SimulatorCamera.cs:line 475

Workaround

After connecting the telescope and attempting to connect the camera and getting the failure:

1. Imaging / Scope Control - slew a little bit E and a little bit N (must do both) or
2. Imaging / Manual Focus Targets - choose a star and slew to it

Now go back to Equipment / Camera / Connect NINA Simulator Camera - and try connecting again. Now it connects and you can take simulated images.

*Note: workaround 1 only works if you use the scope control controls inside NINA. Using the slew controls on EQMOD ASCOM Simulator and pressing E then N does not help NINA re the camera problem.

Possible root cause

Perhaps the NINA Camera Simulator in Sky Survey mode needs RA and DEC values from the telescope in order to start up, but reading those RA and DEC values from the EQMOD ASCOM Simulator fails until you actually slew in both RA and DEC from within NINA. Or perhaps the problem is in the EQMOD ASCOM Simulator not having valid RA and DEC values communicated to NINA on startup? I think this issue also happens with a real EQMOD ASCOM telescope (not just a simulator).

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[Stefan B]

you need to connect to the telescope first for it to connect.

[Stefan B]

and on some locatios in the sky the sky survey just doesn’t have an image available and then fails.

the simulator is mainly a debug tool and can have non-polished behavior.

[Andy Bulka]

I do connect the telescope first. And the telescope is pointing to a potential valid image. After doing the workaround the image comes down OK.

[Stefan B]

I just checked again, and I have fixed that issue a bit ago in the 3.0 version.