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Alcor System OMEA Installation And User Manual

"all sky" camera
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OMEA "All Sky" Camera
Installation and user manual
June 20th, 2016 revision
© Alcor System
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  • Page 1 OMEA “All Sky” Camera Installation and user manual June 20th, 2016 revision © Alcor System...

  • Page 2: Table Of Contents

    Camera Features ..............................10 Camera optical settings ............................10 1.3.1 Fixed iris settings ............................10 1.3.2 Auto-iris ................................. 10 OMEA camera connections ........................... 11 1.4.1 Temperature sensor and humidity connector (#1) ..................12 1.4.2 Power connector and RS232 (#2)........................13 1.4.3 USB connector (#3) ............................
  • Page 3 Camera maintenance ..............................64 Sphere cleaning ..............................64 Camera internal desiccant replacement ....................... 65 Trouble shooting ................................65 Camera does not deliver images ........................... 65 Dew inside the dome ............................65 Product terms of use ..............................66 © Alcor System...

  • Page 4: Camera Installation

    Please do not install the camera near a pollution source (like a chimney). Give as much exposure as possible and avoid obstacles: • OMEA 1.3M field of view is 185 ° x 165 °, 1.8mm fisheye lens focal length provides a wide 8.9 arcmin per pixel on the sky. •...
  • Page 5 Please perform image capture tests before attaching the camera to the pole. The cables go straight from the camera bottom. If the cables shall be bent, respect what is shown on the picture (Fig. 2) © Alcor System...
  • Page 6 Three cables straight descent. Fig. 3 © Alcor System...
  • Page 7 Minimum cable radius curvature. Fig. 4 © Alcor System...
  • Page 8 In case of damage due to trials to attach cable to the wrong connector kind, warranty could be canceled. Key one of the three connectors (power connector). Fig. 5 © Alcor System...
  • Page 9 Push the connector straight Fig. 6 Then turn the connector’s collar in clockwise fashion Fig. 7 © Alcor System...

  • Page 10: Camera Features

    Camera Features The OMEA 1.3M camera features a Sony CCD ICX205AL anti-blooming detector providing a resolution of 1280 x 960 pixels. The OMEA 2.0M camera features a Sony CCD ICX274AL anti-blooming detector providing a resolution of 1600 x 1200 pixels. The gain is adjustable from 2.2 to 50 e-/ADU e-/ADU by software.

  • Page 11: Omea Camera Connections

    Entry of light for auto-iris system measurement Fig. 8 OMEA camera connections Connectors keying and different amount of pins are preventing connection errors. However, user must look at the number of connector pins at the end of the cord before connecting the camera, in order to avoid forcing the pins and damage the camera connector.

  • Page 12: Temperature Sensor And Humidity Connector (#1)

    It is a 5-pin connector. The probe located at the end of the cord will be placed preferably in the shade, as far as possible from the camera, and always with two set Ø4mm screws with the direction given in the next frame and horizontally. It put upside down, this can destroy the sensor and warranty will no apply. © Alcor System...

  • Page 13: Power Connector And Rs232 (#2)

    By a RS232 – USB converter (very moderate cost, FTDI,ATEN devices ) • By RS232 PCI card (Low cost device, not suitable for laptops) • By Serial to Ethernet (MOXA devices, http://www.moxa.com/product/nport_device_server_1.htm ) Product type is Nport. © Alcor System...
  • Page 14 The power supply is provided as 12V or 24V, 110V 60Hz and 220V 50Hz compliant. The current provided by the PSU is enough to power the camera and the dome heater. Three kind of plugs are provided on request: EU, US and UK type. © Alcor System...
  • Page 15 Under windows 7, it will appear as UC232R in device manager and driver must appear as follows after driver installation (can be another COM number port). Under Windows 8, ask windows device manager to update this device from internet, and driver will be installed automatically. © Alcor System...
  • Page 16 RS232 to USB link. RS232 to USB converter COM port under Device manager, Fig. 13 Fig. 14 warning it can be another number than COM24 The device manager properties for this COM port should be seen as follows once connected: © Alcor System...

  • Page 17: Usb Connector (#3)

    Fig. 15 1.4.3 USB connector (#3) This is tied up to a 6 pin connector. Please always connect the camera first and then connect to PC second. The cable that goes to the PC is 20m length. © Alcor System...

  • Page 18: Software

    Connect the camera to the USB port of your PC where it needs to work with. In the Windows device Manager form , the camera should appear with an icon tagged exclamation point on a yellow background. Lists of Windows’ devices Fig. 16 The driver must be downloaded here: http://www.alcor-system.com/common/allSky/sw/icwdmuvccamtis.en_US.zip © Alcor System...
  • Page 19 The form appears in the right to accept the installation of an unsigned driver, click “Continue Anyway”. Do not disconnect the camera during this phase. Fig. 18 Fig. 19 After camera driver is installed, into the device manager, the yellow exclamation point will disappear and provides the actual name of the camera. © Alcor System...

  • Page 20: Installing The Camera Activex Interface

    More recent drivers can be found here: http://www.theimagingsource.com/support/downloads-for-windows/ Installing the camera ActiveX interface Click icvb6runtimesetup.exe. Installation of this interface is essential; otherwise the control software will not work and will not detect any camera. It can be downloaded here: http://www.alcor-system.com/common/allSky/sw/icvb6runtimesetup.zip © Alcor System...
  • Page 21 Once installed, it is possible to control the correct installation by checking out "C: \ Program Files \ Common Files" under the 32-bit operating systems and under "C: \ Program Files (x86) \ Common Files" under the 64-bit operating systems. The directories "IC Imaging Control 3" and "IC Imaging Control 3.0" should appear. © Alcor System...

  • Page 22: Installing The Xvid Codec Video Compression

    Installing the XVID Codec video compression This codec, free of rights, can compress the video created by the software, while maintaining a high quality image. It can be downloaded here: http://www.alcor-system.com/common/allSky/sw/Xvid-1.2.2-07062009.exe Click Xvid-1.2.07062009.exe Fig. 25 Installation is fairly trivial and fast: © Alcor System...
  • Page 23 This is the software used to control the camera, click on "setup.exe" Fig. 28 The dot NET 3.0 platform is required; if this is missing to your system, please get it here. http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?displaylang=en&id=31 Installation is quick and trivial. © Alcor System...
  • Page 24 Fig. 29 Fig. 30 The software creates an icon to your desktop. We must double-click it to start the camera control software. Fig. 31 Fig. 32 - Software installations are now completed - © Alcor System...

  • Page 25: Using The Camera Software Control

    It is easy to check the menu "Misc. / TIS drivers" Fig. 33 Fig. 34 The ActiveX interface installation is also visible by the presence of the file ICImagingControl.ocx. At first launch, the software is configured on a camera simulation mode. © Alcor System...
  • Page 26 To establish the link to the proper camera, follow the menu of the figure ( Fig. 35) Fig. 36 Select "TIS IMAGING SOURCE Camera" Fig. 37 Then the "Camera setup" button © Alcor System...
  • Page 27 Once the camera is selected ("Device Name" field), the software takes care of defining all parameters, by himself: • Video format • The image frame rate (fps frame rate), it will be always set to the lowest. • Disables all automatic gain, exposure time ... © Alcor System...
  • Page 28 But it can be restored by the control panel. The color balance used to remove a color trend, such as the orange color that affects sky background due to light pollution at night. Fig. 39 © Alcor System...
  • Page 29 Fig. 40 It is possible to disable / enable the white color balance automatically far day time image recording or night time. © Alcor System...
  • Page 30 Fig. 41 © Alcor System...
  • Page 31 Fig. 42 white color balance is enabled; orange color due to light pollution is eliminated. Fig. 43 © Alcor System...

  • Page 32: Storage Of Files Produced By The Camera Control Software

    For example, under Windows XP: "C: \ Documents and Settings \ [username] \ My Documents \ SKYWATCH" with [username] = Name by which you connect on Windows XP. Fig. 44 Under Windows 7 or Vista : "C: \ Users \ [username] \ My Documents \ SKYWATCH" Fig. 45 © Alcor System...
  • Page 33 This is for debugging purposes. A new file is created each time you startup the camera control software. The log file is enabled into the main’s software setup panel. Just enable it in case of issues, because log file can make large files. © Alcor System...

  • Page 34: Camera Exposure Time And Gain

    The directory is used from noon to noon. For instance images created from 12:00 on May 10th 2010 till May 11th, 2010 at 11:59 will all be stored inside 2010_05_10 subdirectory. Camera exposure time and gain The software features two modes: © Alcor System...

  • Page 35: Manual Mode

    Important: when defining the maximum gain, it is possible to go up to 1023, but it is recommended to stop from 700 to 900 (depending on the observing place and light pollution) in order to limit noise and increase dynamic. OMEA 2.0M must be set with maximum gain of 200. 3.3.3 Bayer pattern reconstruction (color camera only) The raw image from color camera is a black and white, this is called Bayer pattern image.

  • Page 36: Image Hot Pixel Removal Using Dark Frame Image

    The image quality is highly degraded, the image is filled with colorful hot pixels altering image rendition. It is therefore essential to correct these hot pixels using an “dark" master frame, and possibly complete the task with a list of pixels to fix. © Alcor System...
  • Page 37 With correction of "dark" and hot pixels Fig. 52 Fig. 51 Without correction of "dark" and hot pixels With correction of "dark" and hot pixels The software performs hot pixels fixing in three ways: By subtracting a master dark frame. © Alcor System...
  • Page 38 This dark frame subtraction is performed through an optimization algorithm of the coefficient to be applied to the master dark frame image. If many files are present, the software will select the master dark frame that provides a result that is closest to 1.0. Fig. 54 © Alcor System...

  • Page 39: Achieving Master Dark Frame

    It contains a list of hot pixels to repair/fix. 3.4.1 Achieving master dark frame The files located into DarkFrames folder, whose fundamental purpose has been presented above, may, in some cases no longer be adapted to the current image shooting conditions (due to seasonal temperature © Alcor System...
  • Page 40 A feature has been implemented to achieve a master dark frame, and also can compute a list of hot pixels too. Press the "Dark frame recording mode" and check "Do median stack of" say 5 to 11 "darks". © Alcor System...
  • Page 41 Fig. 59 The resulting files are placed in the proper directories and are immediately ready for use. Once the task is complete, click on "Normal mode" Enable the following features by checking the following boxes: © Alcor System...

  • Page 42: Residual Hot Pixels Repair/Fix

    Despite the subtraction by a master dark frame, and the repair of hot pixels based on a list of coordinates, some hot pixels are still variable (appear and disappear from one frame to another). To remove these last hot pixels that can’t be removed previously, the next checkbox shall be enabled: © Alcor System...
  • Page 43 To test this feature use a moonless night, and be careful not to remove some stars of the picture by setting a too low maximum gap and too high standard deviation ! You can see how these fixed pixels are spread over the image, by enabling the following checkbox. Fig. 64 © Alcor System...

  • Page 44: Setting The Overlay Grid

    But once set, this will be set forever (expect the camera is being moved or rotated). In the Control Panel, set the location, latitude and longitude, altitude, and the country. © Alcor System...
  • Page 45 Get to "Enable grid display" and "Show Main object" (Check “Only horizon”) • Find the star that passes nearby zenith and move the cross indicating zenith towards it. • Change “X center” and “Y center” figures so that the cross position matches with the star. © Alcor System...
  • Page 46 Star passing nearby zenith (Deneb) and zenith marker Fig. 69 • Once the zenith marker found, you have to set the "north position" to have the grid (circle and star’s name) matching with star position. The grid scale can be changed also. © Alcor System...

  • Page 47: Cyanogen Boldwood Or Sentinel Cloud Sensors Link With Camera Control Software

    The amount of information depends on the system that is measuring cloud cover. It will be the most complete using Sentinel Shelyak system (wind direction and zenith magnitude per second squared). group information to provide to connect with cloud sensor system control software. Fig. 70 © Alcor System...

  • Page 48: Magnitude Per Square Second Display Image Mode

    The software allows the calculation of radiometric magnitude per square second across the sky. It works on color and monochrome cameras. In case of color image, only green pixels will be considered (50%). To do so, you have to open this tab: Tab used to set magnitude image mode display Fig. 72 © Alcor System...
  • Page 49 Median filtering is performed to remove most of the stars. The image pixels are expressed in magnitude per square second, a false-color palette is applied and a color scale indicates the color to magnitude correlation. © Alcor System...

  • Page 50: Telescope Control Software Link

    2000 RA/DEC coming from the telescope current position. Current telescope position merged to the last all Sky image Fig. 75 © Alcor System...

  • Page 51: Star Count For Cloud Coverage Estimation

    During the night, the software is able to extract stars, and count them up. Thresholds can be applied to define what is regarded as clear skies, or mid overcast skies. The software output this data either into a text file, or uses a COM interface that can be used by other any software. © Alcor System...
  • Page 52 Fig. 77 Star extracted are plotted into the image. © Alcor System...

  • Page 53: Sphere Condensation Heater Management

    Use the menu "Options / Heating Control" from the camera software main’s menu. Fig. 78 This window appears to let you selecting the RS2323 serial port number, then click to "- Connect -" Fig. 79 Once connected, the following window appears: © Alcor System...
  • Page 54 The red curve provides outdoor temperature, light blue curve is dew point, and purple indicates the status of heating: no heating when the plot is overlapping the X axis, and heating is enabled when it is up. © Alcor System...
  • Page 55 Heating plot (as purple) warning there is not unit bound to it Fig. 81 The tab "% RH" provides access to humidity plot expressed as % RH (Relative Humidity). Outdoor temperature and humidity is measured by the external probe, and is used to trigger the dome heating. © Alcor System...
  • Page 56 20% RH. Relative humidity plot, the orange arrow shows the inner humidity level of the camera. Here close to zero on a Fig. 83 brand new camera with fresh desiccant. © Alcor System...
  • Page 57 Humidity sensor calibration is also possible (gain/offset). When the sphere heating runs, a small red LED will light up. LED indicating that sphere heating is enabled Fig. 85 Finally, it is possible to transfer these plots to website for remote control. © Alcor System...

  • Page 58: Weather Measurement Module

    A weather module can be attached to the camera (optional). It consist in an external box that is attached to the camera and includes: • Measurement of the ambient temperature • Measurement of the ambient relative humidity • Measurement of the Pressure (Mbar) • Measurement of the wind speed • Measurement of the wind direction © Alcor System...
  • Page 59 There is a small hole underneath the box to sense the atmospheric pressure. It is better to put the box and the RH/Temp sensor in permanent shadow, protected from direct SUN rays. © Alcor System...
  • Page 60 The wind sensor must be installed into a mast that is at least 5 m from the ground (10m is better). A system to clamp the wind sensors to the mast is provided. Orientate the wind direction to the north, and put the sensor horizontally. © Alcor System...

  • Page 61: Sensors Software Management

    Wind-sensor orientation Fig. 89 Sensors software management Click “Options/Dome Heating control/ CCD cooling / Weather cond.” It will bring up the usual sensor panels with plots. Select the appropriate COM port. Menu Fig. 90 © Alcor System...
  • Page 62 Temperature from the different sensor of the camera. Red is external temperature, brown is internal camera Fig. 91 temperature, green is weather box internal temperature, and cyan is the dew point temperature. © Alcor System...
  • Page 63 Also, the measurement can be corrected from some drift induced by temperature changes inside the weather box. The formula used is: Wind_speed= (Raw_wind_speed - (InternalBoxTemperature - 20.0)*Correction_factor) - Offset Wind direction plot Fig. 93 © Alcor System...

  • Page 64: Camera Maintenance

    The acrylic sphere outer and inner surface can be cleaned with water, then with a Kleenex moistened with washer fluid dedicated for window cleaning. The 8 screws can be removed to detach the sphere from the rest of the camera. Attention must be paid on these topics: © Alcor System...

  • Page 65: Camera Internal Desiccant Replacement

    This may happen after several year of operation, if the internal desiccant is exhausted. Please check the internal humidity figure. It should be less than 20%, above 60% dew can form easily. To replace the internal desiccant, please contact us to get the procedure. © Alcor System...

  • Page 66: Product Terms Of Use

    Use of this product involving people's lives is the responsibility of the user and in no way ALCOR SYSTEM will be held liable for injuries to persons or property theft as the use of this camera described in this manual.

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