This is an old revision of the document!
Overview
Legacy TCS only allows remote telescope communication and control through a serial port on the main TCS computer. In order to allow network communication and control of the telescope we have built software called Telcom to convert tcp/ip sockets to serial communication. To make sure this software is up and running on the BOK telescope you can check the website http://bokpop.as.arizona.edu and look for the table marked telemetry. This webpage queries the telcom server about once a second.
Request syntax
Legacy TCS makes 14 pieces of information available. The syntax for for getting these values from telcom is
<TELESCOPE ID> TCS <REF NUM> REQUEST <KEYWORD> For Example: BOK TCS 123 REQUEST RA
The telcom server will return: <BOK> TCS <REF NUM> <RETURN VALUE> For Example: BOK TCS 123 214412.79
| Description | Key Word | return synax |
|---|---|---|
| Motion Status | MOT | 0=No motion 1=RA Motion 2=Dec Motion 3=RA and Dec Motion |
| Right Ascension | RA | [hhmmss.ss] |
| Declination | DEC | [+/-ddmmss.ss] |
| Hour Angle | HA | [+/-hh:mm:ss.ss] |
| Secant z (Air Mass) | SECZ | |
| Error state | ERROR | [E] ( a number or letter representing serial error state ) |
| Epoch | EQ | D[YYYY.YYY] |
| Julian Date | JD | [DDDDDDD.D] |
| Universal Time | UT | [hh:mm:ss.s] |
| IIS position | IIS | [DDD.D] angle in degrees |
| Local Sidereal Time | ST | [hh:mm:ss.ss] |
| Elevation Angle | EL | [DD.D] |
| Azimuth Angle | AZ | [DDD.D] |
| Dome positoin | DOME | [DDD.D] this position is relative to the telescope azimuth. To get absolute dome position add this angle to the telescope azimuth. |
| WOBBLE | WOBBLE | ??? |
ALL keyword
If you want to get multiple pieces of data from the telcom server you can use the ALL keyword. This will give a string containing all the telemetry data described above.
