Equipment Setup

ARIS manages eight device types across your imaging rig. This page covers how to register hardware, build rig profiles, manage INDI drivers, and connect to your backend.

Supported Device Types

Camera

The primary imaging sensor. ARIS exposes all settings reported by your camera driver:

• Exposure — integration time from sub-second snapshots to multi-minute captures.
• Gain — sensor amplification. Higher values brighten the image at the cost of more noise.
• Offset — black level pedestal. Match this to the gain table published by your camera manufacturer.
• Binning — pixel grouping (1x1 through 4x4). Higher binning increases signal per pixel and reduces download time.
• Cooling — target temperature, cooler on/off, and live power percentage readout for TEC-equipped cameras.
• USB Bandwidth — throttle the data transfer rate to prevent bus contention when multiple devices share a hub.
• Readout Mode — select between sensor modes (e.g., low-noise vs. high-speed) if your camera supports them.

Mount

Motorized equatorial or alt-az mount. ARIS controls:

• GoTo — slew to any sky coordinate or named target.
• Tracking — sidereal, lunar, solar, or custom tracking rates.
• Parking — park and unpark the mount at a defined home position.
• Meridian Flip — automated pier side change with configurable limits, pause-before-flip, and post-flip re-centering.
• Slew Rates — adjustable speed for manual nudge controls (1x through max).

Caution

ARIS sends motion commands to physical hardware. Always verify that your mount is balanced and clear of obstructions before issuing GoTo or slew commands.

Focuser

Electronic focuser for precise focus control:

• Position Control — move to an absolute step position or nudge in/out by a relative amount.
• Temperature Compensation — automatic focus adjustment based on temperature drift. ARIS tracks the temperature coefficient and applies corrections between exposures.
• Backlash Compensation — configurable backlash value to ensure repeatable positioning when reversing direction.

Filter Wheel

Motorized filter carousel:

• Filter Selection — choose a filter by name or slot number.
• Automated Changes — sequences and the flat wizard switch filters automatically according to your imaging plan.

Rotator

Field de-rotator or camera angle control:

• Field Rotation — rotate to a specific position angle in degrees.
• Cable Wrap Protection — set minimum and maximum rotation limits to prevent cable tangling. ARIS enforces these limits for all rotation commands.
• Calibration Offset — apply a fixed offset so that 0 degrees corresponds to your preferred orientation (e.g., north up after a plate solve).

Guider

Guide camera and autoguiding control:

• Guide Camera — separate imaging sensor used for tracking corrections.
• Calibration — measures how guide pulses translate to star movement on both axes. Run calibration once per session or after changing equipment orientation.
• Autoguiding — continuous tracking corrections based on guide star drift. ARIS displays live error graphs and correction history.

Cover / Flat Panel

Motorized lens cover and electroluminescent flat panel:

• Brightness Training — ARIS learns your panel’s brightness range by measuring ADU values at multiple levels.
• Flat Wizard — automatically determines the correct brightness and exposure for each filter to hit a target ADU.
• ADU Calibration — per-filter brightness and exposure presets are saved to your equipment profile for repeatable flat frames.

Tip

Run the flat wizard once for each filter in your wheel. ARIS saves the results so subsequent flat sessions use the calibrated values automatically.

Power Box

Switchable DC power distribution and dew control:

• DC Switch Control — turn individual power ports on and off. Label each port with the connected device name for clarity.
• Dew Heaters — set heater power percentage for each channel. ARIS can display ambient and dew point telemetry if your power box provides it.
• USB Power Groups — control USB port power independently. Useful for resetting a misbehaving device without power-cycling the entire rig.

Equipment Inventory

The inventory system tracks your individual hardware units so ARIS can identify them across sessions and rigs.

Registering a Device

Go to Settings > Equipment Inventory and tap Add Device. Fill in:

• Manufacturer — the brand (e.g., ZWO, Celestron, Pegasus).
• Model — the specific product (e.g., ASI2600MC Pro, AM5, Pocket Powerbox Advance).
• Serial Number — optional but recommended. Helps distinguish identical units.
• Nickname — a short label you choose (e.g., “Main Cam”, “Guide Scope EAF”).

Rig Combos

A rig combo is a named combination of inventory devices that image together. For example, your main imaging train might be:

AM5 mount + ASI2600MC Pro + EFW 7x36mm + EAF Pro + ASI220MM guide cam

Creating a rig combo lets ARIS associate calibration data (darks, flats, focus offsets, guide calibration) with that specific hardware combination. When you swap a component, create a new combo so calibration data stays matched to the correct hardware.

Hardware Fingerprinting

When ARIS connects to a device, it reads identifying properties from the driver (vendor ID, product ID, serial string, firmware version). This fingerprint is matched against your inventory automatically, so ARIS can recognize your devices even if you connect from a different backend or the USB port order changes.

Note

Fingerprinting works best when your devices report unique serial numbers. If two identical devices lack serial numbers, ARIS will ask you to confirm which inventory entry to assign.

INDI Driver Management

ARIS connects to equipment through INDI drivers running on your backend (typically a Raspberry Pi or Linux machine).

Discovering Available Drivers

When you connect to a backend, ARIS queries the full catalog of INDI drivers installed on that system. The driver list is organized by device type (camera, mount, focuser, etc.) and shows:

• Driver name — the INDI driver identifier (e.g., indi_asi_ccd, indi_lx200am5).
• Label — the human-readable name (e.g., “ZWO CCD”, “LX200 AM5”).
• Version — the installed driver version.

Loading and Unloading Drivers at Runtime

ARIS supports FIFO-based runtime driver management. You do not need to restart the INDI server to add or remove devices:

• Load a driver — select a driver from the catalog and tap Load. The driver starts immediately and its devices become available for connection.
• Unload a driver — select a running driver and tap Unload. The driver stops and its devices disconnect cleanly.

This is especially useful when you add a device mid-session (e.g., plugging in a USB power box after the session has started).

Saving Driver Configurations

Once you have the right set of drivers loaded, save the configuration to your equipment profile. The next time you apply that profile, ARIS will automatically load the same drivers without manual selection.

Tip

If you run the same equipment every session, save your driver configuration once and forget about it. ARIS handles driver loading automatically on connect.

Connection Flow

Connecting ARIS to your equipment follows a consistent sequence:

1. Enter host and port — type the IP address and port of your INDI backend (e.g., 192.168.1.100:7624), or select a backend discovered via mDNS.

2. HTTP API + WebSocket — ARIS establishes an HTTP connection for commands and a WebSocket for real-time telemetry. Both connections go to the same backend address.

3. Query available devices — ARIS reads the list of devices from the INDI server and displays them grouped by type.

4. Connect individually — tap each device to connect it, or apply an equipment profile to connect all devices in one step.

5. Fingerprint auto-match — as each device connects, ARIS reads its hardware fingerprint and matches it to your inventory. If a match is found, the device inherits its nickname, calibration data, and saved settings automatically.

Caution

ARIS communicates with your backend over your local network. For stable sessions, use a reliable Wi-Fi connection (preferably 5 GHz) or a wired Ethernet link between your backend and your router.

Equipment Profiles

Equipment profiles tie everything together. A profile stores:

• The backend address and INDI driver configuration.
• Which inventory devices are assigned to each role (main camera, guide camera, mount, etc.).
• Per-device settings (gain, offset, cooling target, backlash, filter names).
• The rig combo for calibration data association.

Profiles sync across all your devices via your ARIS account. Create one profile per physical rig configuration, and switch between them from the Connection screen.