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The Kingsland Roll-off Roof Controller is a flexible and configurable design that is suitable for a variety of different roof-control scenarios. The controller is supplied with an ASCOM-compatible driver. The driver has been tested with ACP 4.1 and POTH.

A program to automate the opening and closing of AstroHaven clamshell observatories. The program is a console application that takes a single command line parameter, "Open" or "Close". The clamshell is controlled using the serial interface and will be either fully opened or fully closed.

 

This program is ideally suited for use with unattended imaging sessions, for example with CCDAutoPilot. A batch file suitable for use with CCDAutoPilot is included.

SyD Product Registration Services provides a set of tools for software authors who want to distribute their for-profit software as ShareWare. Using an easy-to-use API, the managed product can be evaluated for a period of time, after which the user must register to gain an unlock code.
For a real-world example of this system in action, download our DarkManager product. Other users of thsi system include CCD AutoPilot (CCDWare).
The system is flexible and configurable yet easy to use. At a minimum, a product may be protected with a default configuration in just two lines of code! With a small amount of additional effort, the developer can configure the evaluation type (limited time and/or limited uses), the evaluation period, how aggressively the user is reminded to register and whether the product will work after the evaluation period expires. There is also a set of dialogs that can be displayed at will, to inform the user of disabled features, and providing the user a chance to register.
The system uses advanced encryption, obfuscation and anti-tamper techniques to make it difficult for an end user to circumvent the evaluation restrictions, so you can distribute your applications with confidence. Of course no system is completely hacker-proof and there can be no cast iron guarantees, but the usual ploys such as turning back the system date are completely futile.
The system includes a simple key-generator application and a user-control which can be used to construct your own custom key generation method (for example, on an eCommerce web site or as part of an Access database application).

Tha ASCOM .net Developer Framework is a set of .net assemblies designed initially to make it easier for .net application developers to work with legacy ASCOM driver components. The framework also serves as a vehicle for defining ASCOM interface specifications in code and lays down an architecture for evolving ASCOM into the .net arena.

 

While this is very much a work-in-progress, it is more than just wrapper classes. It is an architecture that can help ASCOM evolve as .net becomes more widely adopted. I also define exception classes for ASCOM devices and have structured everything very carefully so that the framework can act as a bridge between COM drivers and drivers implemented purely as .net assemblies. There is a DriverFactory class that is used to load the driver and hides the implementation details of how this is done, so that the application need not be aware of how the driver is implemented (late-bound COM or .net assembly using reflection). The application itself creates the Interface, not a class. All device operations are done against Interfaces.

 

The framework also provides a set of common controls for ASCOM applications. Currently there is a chooser control that can be embedded into WinForms applications, but there is also built-in support for the original COM Chooser component if a pop-up dialog is preferred.

 

The framework is free, open-source and is fully documented. The documentation is available online as is the actual download and a couple of simple example applications in C# and VB.Net

 

Developer documentation can be found here: http://syd.tigranetworks.co.uk/ASCOMdotNet/1.00.004/NDoc/index.html

The ASCOM DomeAPI plug-in development was sponsored by Technical Innovations in support of their Digital DomeWorks observatory automation system.

The Digital DomeWorks driver development was sponsored by Technical Innovations in support of their Digital Domeworks observatory automation system.

 

There are two drivers available. One provides an ASCOM interface and the other provides a plug-in for Software Bisque's AutomaDome product.

 

The drivers are free and open-source and were developed using the very latest Microsoft .net development tools.

DarkManager is a utility for creating and maintaining a reduction frame library for use with astronomical CCD cameras. Currently, it can automate the acquisition and management of both dark and bias frames, using CCDSoft version 5 and a supported CCD camera. This allows the reduction frame library to be built while the telescope is idle, perhaps during the day or while the owner is asleep.

For a discussion of the merits of maintaining a reduction frame library, please refer to the product description pages.

DarkManager was designed specifically to support an emerging methodology for CCD imaging. Traditionally, dark and bias frames were collected on-the-night, which was time consuming and wasted valuable imaging time and meant that only relatively small numbers of frames could be used. Some advanced imagers are now using a technique involving a large library of reduction frames and statistical methods for combining the frames. The library can be built during daylight hours or scope 'down time', reducing wasted time. DarkManager is designed to automate this process, allowng the user to specify which frames they would like their library to contain. DarkManager then controls the camera to acquire the necessary frames automatically. Once the library is built, DarkManager has features to assist with managing the reduction frames, which may number in hundreds or thousands.

The ultimate goal is to automate the entire process of acquiring the frames, combining them to make master frames, and to allow the whole thing to be scheduled so that reduction frames are automatically built on noghts when the observatory is not used.

The ASCOM FocusAPI plug-in works with Software Bisque's CCDSoft product and enables ASCOM Focus drivers to be used in CCDSoft.

 

CCDSoft is unable to use an ASCOM driver out-of-the-box, because it does not implement the ASCOM interface. However, SOftware Bisque has its own proprietary interface known as "FocusAPI". This product acts as a FocusAPI plug-in driver and translates the FocusAPI calls to the corresponding ASCOM calls.

ASCOM Telescope driver (Telescope V1 standard) that supports the Takahashi Temma range of mounts.

 

As far as we are aware, this was the first ASCOM driver implemented completely in a .net language, blazing the trail for future enhancements to the ASCOM platform.