Chimera Configuration

Introduction

For real world use, chimera needs to be configured for the subset of devices that comprise the Observatory you are driving. This encompasses:

  • configuration of the server;
  • description of the controllers;
  • definition of the instruments;

The configuration file

All these components are configured in one file, located under a directory .chimera under your homedir; these are automatically generated for you the first time chimera is run, if they don’t already exist.

The file syntax is very simple: it uses YAML, a very common format. Here is the default one:

chimera:
  host: 127.0.0.1
  port: 7666

site:
  name: CTIO
  latitude: "-70:48:20.48"
  longitude: "-30:10:04.31"
  altitude: 2187
  flat_alt: 80
  flat_az : 10

telescope:
  name: fake
  type: FakeTelescope
  
camera:
  name: fake
  type: FakeCamera
  use_dss: True
  filters: "U B V R I"
  
focuser:
  name: fake
  type: FakeFocuser
    
dome:
  name: fake
  type: FakeDome
  mode: track
  telescope: /FakeTelescope/fake

weatherstation:
  type: FakeWeatherStation
  name: fake

controller:
  - type: Autofocus
    name: fake
    camera: /FakeCamera/fake
    filterwheel: /FakeFilterWheel/fake

  - type: ImageServer
    name: fake
    httpd: True
    autoload: False

Configuration syntax

  • Each section header goes in a line of its own, no spaces before nor after;
  • Each subitem goes in a new line, indented; no blank lines in between;
  • If a main item has more than one subitem, they are falgged by prepending a “- ” to each.

With these rules in mind, lets examine the example above.

Server configuration

chimera:
    host: 127.0.0.1
    port: 7666

The server (the host where you ran the chimera script), is identified by the section header; it is followed by indented parameters host and port, indicating the network address:port of the server (remember chimera has distributed capabilities).

Site configuration

site:
    name: CTIO
    latitude: "-30:10:4.31"
    longitude: "-70:48:20.48"
    altitude: 2212
    flat_alt: 80
    flat_az : 10

This section describes your observatory’s geolocation and the position for dome flats. Note the site coordinates are quoted.

Instruments configuration

Every defined instrument carries a number of configuration options; please refer to the Advanced Chimera Configuration section for details.

Controllers Configuration

The controller section is slightly different in the sense that it allows for subsections; the same syntax rules apply. Once again, for a detailed description of options, see the Advanced Chimera Configuration section.