Devices
AILA standardizes device components used across observatories, telescopes, and scientific instruments. Each device belongs to a well-defined category and serves a specific operational or observational role.
Most device types have an associated model class that describes their hardware capabilities—such as dimensions, sensitivity, movement range, or control characteristics. These models are referenced by individual devices to inherit default specifications and enable updates when shared model definitions are improved.
Each device also has a corresponding state class, which records real-time telemetry and control feedback. This state is monitored by the telescope control system to ensure devices are within safe operating limits before an observation is dispatched. These states are used for automated decision-making and system health checks.
Device List
- Antenna – Collects radio signals with gain, aperture, and polarization properties.
- Camera – CCD or CMOS sensor with pixel size, array dimensions, cooling, and readout properties.
- Enclosure – Dome or roll-off roof enclosure with rotation and shutter state tracking.
- Filter Wheel – Mechanism for selecting optical filters via rotation of discrete filter trays.
- Filter – Optical element defined by central wavelength, bandwidth, and shape.
- Focuser – Device that adjusts the optical path length to maintain focus, with precise control over position and support for temperature compensation in some models.
- Instrument Rotator – Rotates the field of view to align camera axes with celestial coordinates.
- Mount – Equatorial or alt-azimuth mount with tracking, slewing, and safety constraints.
- Optical Tube (OTA) – Optical assembly (e.g., refractor or reflector) characterized by aperture, focal length, and throughput.
- Receiver – Amplifies and digitizes radio signals; may split signals into polarization channels.
- Receiver Channel – Individual output stream from a receiver, with defined polarization and offset properties.
- Radio Backend – Performs FFTs, channelization, or time-domain analysis of received signals.
- Weather Sensor – Monitors wind, temperature, humidity, and sky/cloud conditions; supports programmable observing constraints.
Device Schema (Abstract Base)
Properties
| Name | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| id | Integer |
The unique identifier for the device. |
| uid | UUID |
No description |
| device_type | Enum(enclosure, ota, camera, focuser, instrument_rotator, filter_wheel, mount, weather_sensor, antenna, receiver, radio_backend) |
The type of the device. |
| model_id | Integer (Optional) |
No description |
| telescope_id | Integer (Optional) |
No description |
| observatory_id | Integer (Optional) |
No description |
| owner_id | Integer |
The organization or user which owns the device. |
| name | String(Unbounded) (Optional) |
The name of the device. |
| serial_number | String(100) (Optional) |
No description |
| image_id | UUID (Optional) |
No description |
| is_deleted | Boolean |
No description |
Relationships
| Relationship Name | Type |
|---|---|
| model | DeviceModel |
| owner | Entity |
| telescope | Telescope |
| observatory | Observatory |
| image | File |
| log | DeviceLogEntry |
| operational_constraint_actions | OperationalConstraintAction |
Subclasses
| Name | device_type |
|---|---|
Antenna |
antenna |
Focuser |
focuser |
Camera |
camera |
Enclosure |
enclosure |
FilterWheel |
filter_wheel |
InstrumentRotator |
instrument_rotator |
Mount |
mount |
Ota |
ota |
RadioBackend |
radio_backend |
Receiver |
receiver |
WeatherSensor |
weather_sensor |