Multi-Rig Array

The Multi-Rig Array lets you manage multiple imaging rigs from a single ARIS interface. Each rig appears as a card on the Home screen, showing live status, equipment details, and a thumbnail of the latest capture. You can switch between rigs instantly and monitor the entire array at a glance.

Adding a Rig

Tap the Add Rig card on the Home screen to connect a new rig. Two options appear:

• Connect to Agent — Enter the IP address and port of a running ARIS agent (for example, a Raspberry Pi on your local network). ARIS establishes a WebSocket connection and begins streaming telemetry.
• Launch Simulator — Start a simulated rig for testing and exploration. The simulator mimics a full equipment stack with mount, camera, focuser, and filter wheel so you can practice workflows without real hardware.

Tip

You can mix real and simulated rigs in the same session. This is useful for testing sequencing plans before running them on live equipment.

Rig Cards

Each connected rig is represented by a card on the Home screen. The card surfaces key information at a glance.

Status Indicator

A colored dot in the corner of the card shows the rig’s state:

• Green (pulsing) — Active rig. This is the rig currently receiving your commands. The dot animates with a gentle pulse to distinguish it from idle rigs.
• Green (solid) — Connected and idle. The rig is online but not the active target.
• Yellow — Connecting or recovering from a dropped connection.
• Red — Disconnected or unreachable.

Card Content

The rig card displays:

• Rig name — A user-assigned label (e.g., “Wide Field Rig”, “Narrow Band Rig”).
• Adapter badge — Shows the connection type: Agent (live hardware) or Simulator.
• Active badge — Appears on the currently active rig to make it obvious which rig receives commands.
• Equipment specs — Telescope and camera summary from the rig’s equipment profile.
• Device stats — Live telemetry from connected devices. Mount RA/Dec coordinates, camera sensor temperature, cooler power, and focuser position appear here when available.
• Imaging preview — A small thumbnail of the most recent captured or stacked frame.
• Telescope widget — A miniature 3D representation of the telescope and mount, reflecting the current pointing direction.

Switching Between Rigs

Tap any rig card to make it the active rig. The previously active rig becomes inactive, and its card returns to the idle state.

When a rig becomes inactive, ARIS suspends its WebSocket connection to conserve bandwidth and browser connection slots. Telemetry stops streaming, but the last known state remains visible on the card. When you tap the card again, the connection resumes and live data flows immediately.

Caution

Browsers limit the number of simultaneous connections per host (typically six). If you run many rigs against the same agent host, ARIS manages connections carefully to stay within this budget. Suspending inactive rigs is part of that strategy.

Per-Rig Stats

Each rig card includes computed optical statistics derived from the equipment profile:

• Image scale — Arcseconds per pixel, calculated from focal length and pixel size.
• Field of view — The angular coverage of the sensor in arcminutes or degrees.
• Dawes limit — The theoretical resolving power of the telescope based on aperture.

These values update automatically when you change the equipment profile for a rig.

Opening a Rig Dashboard

Tap the active rig card (or double-tap any card) to open that rig’s full dashboard. The dashboard gives you complete control over the rig: imaging, focusing, guiding, sequencing, and planning screens are all scoped to that specific rig. Navigation and controls work exactly as they do in single-rig mode.

To return to the array overview, tap the back arrow or the Home tab.

Note

Each rig maintains its own independent state. A sequence running on one rig continues uninterrupted while you inspect or control another.

Removing a Rig

Tap the X button on a rig card to disconnect it. ARIS closes the WebSocket connection and removes the card from the Home screen. If the rig is running a sequence, you are prompted to confirm before disconnecting.

Removing a rig does not affect the agent or simulator on the other end. You can reconnect to the same agent later by adding it again.