Request for multi camera support

[Former user]

Hi In order for this app to distinguish itself from Voyager, maxim, SGP, CCDCiel and the like, I'd really like to see a model where one mount can support multiple scopes with filterwheel/rotator and camera each, where one is selectable as the guide camera (allows for OAG or separate guidescope) and the app can manage to coordinate exposures between each camera or all cameras. summarising Feature 1 - object model for mount to support multiple scopes, each with a camera, rotator, filter wheel, heater, focuser, flip-flat and target list Feature 2 - Scripted exposures or target lists to allow the user to specify which cameras to manage for exposures, synchronising across cameras if need be for meridian flips and auto-solves to avoid doing either in the middle of exposures on the other cameras.
Feature 3 - internal dome model - you cant just page out to another dome hub because the ability to turn the dome tracking on and off is an API feature of the app not the hub. Feature 4 - internal guiding rather than paging out to PhD. You've got that already - great. Feature 5 - modularity and simplicity - don;t page óut to all these other apps and test with the ASCOM REST apis and devices and consider expanding to INDI apis too.

Personally I'm looking to replace Maxim with something that can manage these cameras and scopes, it would be even better if it could handle multiple scopes concurrently but thats a real wish..

What are your thoughts ? Mike

[Stefan B]

Hi Mike,

thank you for your input and thoughts.

Currently it is not planned to have multiple equipment profiles handled in one app. There are already some advancements to synchronize multiple instances of N.I.N.A. in the current beta. It is possible to open multiple instances of the application, each with a different profile and then connect to a synchronized dither service. This will then handle dither synchronization. This is currently limited to dithering only, but is thought to be enhanced for meridian flips etc by our contributor Darkarchon.

Dome control would be a nice addition, but without actual hardware this is not possible to properly implement, as there are always some quirks with drivers. It may come, but is not on the near future priority list for me. Internal guiding is not on the list of priorities. Regarding INDI, I have already had a rough look at it, but no advancements yet. It is planned to be able to talk to the INDI server api in the future however.

Regards, Stefan

[Dale Ghent]

Hi Mike, thanks for your thoughts. It would be very helpful if they were each separated out into their own issues so that any progress on them can be better tracked without the proverbial wires getting crossed.

1. NINA supports running multiple instances expressly for supporting multiple imaging cameras (say, in a side-by-side setup). @rootdarkarchon can add some more detail to how that works, as he's currently finishing up synchronized dithering across multiple running instances.

2. As explained in (1), multiple cameras are, for right now, following the multiple instance model.

3. Dome management isn't yet a feature of NINA, and isn't planned for the immediate future unless someone wishes to spend time implementing it (and preferably someone who has an actual dome system, as none of the current developers possess one.) Same goes for ASCOM switches. How automation for domes and switches will fit into the sequences is something that needs some vision and consideration.

4. No plans to roll our own guiding - PHD is quite good at this already, is free, and well-tested in that task. Short of some very convincing technical need, I think the prevailing sentiment is that there is not a need to reinvent the wheel here.

5. I'm not sure what you mean by "don't page out to all these other apps". The only external app that NINA directly interacts with is PHD. Can you explain what you mean by that? INDI connectivity is certainly a possibility, especially now that the long-awaited Windows clients are coming to fruition, including a basic C# client.

[Stefan B]

issue #87 for dome control. multi camera is available with multiple instances. instances dither can be synced. meridian flip and slewing will be added in the future to that. internal guiding is not planned.