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.