Problem with scheduler when including flat frames in sequence

[Jasem Mutlaq]

Hello Patrick,

The good news is that I found the issue and fixed it in my branch.
I'll submit an MR later this week to include this fix.

--
Best Regards,
Jasem Mutlaq


On Fri, Aug 20, 2021 at 11:57 AM Patrick Molenaar
<pr_molenaar at hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> Hi,
>
> Yesterday I was experimenting with the scheduler and noticed that when I add a series of flat frames to the sequence and run that sequence from the scheduler, then the sequence will end up in an endless loop taking flat frames.
>
> Reproduction scenario:
>
> I have a setup with synscan mount, canon dslr and zwo cdd as guidescope.
>
> My mount started out in parked mode.
> First I created a sequence with some light frames, followed by some dark frames, finishing with some flat frames. The flat frames use the automatic mode (time 1.0 second, ADU set to 450 with a max ADU of 4096).
> I created a schedule with object NGC 7000 and the loaded the just created sequence.
> I have the schedule stared ASAP, disable the twighlight check and unpark my mount on start, and park my mount on end. The schedule should run till the sequence is completed. Because I was testing on a cloudy evening, I disabled, focus, aligning and guide.
> I have saved this sequence to a file.
> Now I restart kstars (just to start of clean) and go to ekos.
> Then I load the saved schedule and click the start button.
> The schedule starts to run, connecting to my setup, moving the mount into position and start the sequence. The lights and darks went ok. Then it started on the flats. That also looked ok, it determined the optimal exposure and took all the flats.
>
> However at this point I would expect the sequence to end, as all frames are taken. But instead it restarts taking the flat frames.
> I waited to see what happened, but it kept looping the flat frames over and over again. I had to manually abort the schedule to stop it.
>
> To check that it really is the flat frames that cause the problem, I created a sequence with just light and dark frames. When I run that the whole schedule is run as expected. It unparks the mount, moves into position, takes the lights and darks, then parks the mount again and disconnects my setup.
>
> Is this a know problem, or did I miss something in the settings?
>
> Kind regards,
>
> Patrick