Digital Technology Art DISCOVERY Plus series, DISCOVERY Plus User Manual

© 2013 Digital Technology Art s.r.l.

All rights reserved. No part of this manual may be reproduced without prior written permission of Digital

Technology Art s.r.l..

The contents of this document are su bject to change without notice.

Digital Technology Art s.r.l. is not responsible for any err o r, omission or inaccuracy in this manual.

September 2013

DISCOVERY Plus

user manual

september 2013

© 2013 Digital Technology Art s.r.l.

All rights reserved. No part of this manual may be reproduced without prior written permission of Digital

Technology Art s.r.l..

The contents of this document are su bject to change without notice.

Digital Technology Art s.r.l. is not responsible for any err o r, omission or inaccuracy in this manual.

September 2013

DISCOVERY Plus user manual

© 2013 Digital Technology Art s.r.l.

CONTENTS

introduction …… 3

personal computer minimum requirements …… 3

scheme of the installation procedure …… 4

connecting the discovery plus ccd camera …… 5
installation of the drivers …… 6
connecting cables and power leads …… 10

detail of the discovery plus connectors …… 10

9-pin user port connector …… 11

power supply connector …… 12

optical window cleaning …… 13

specifications …… 14

index …… 15

DISCOVERY Plus user manual

© 2013 Digital Technology Art s.r.l.

DISCOVERY Plus user manual

© 2013 Digital Technology Art s.r.l.

INTRODUCTION

The DISCOVERY Plus CCD camera series is
characterized by high sensitivity, reduced weight
and dimensions and low costs.
Because of its high integration, it offers the same
quality performances as a professional CCD: fast
download of images up to 420 Kpixel/s due to the
use of a selectable 12/14/16 bit A/D Converter with
programmable CDS at 64 amplification gains with
changeable offset, which enables us to better
optimise the binning functions.
The camera is connected to the PC by a USB

1.1/2.0 connection port.
Powered at 10-15V, it can also be used in the open
air using a car battery.
All components are integrated in the aluminium
housing: CCD, electromechanical shutter, Peltier
cooling system, electronics.
You can choose between the standard cooling
module: Single stage Peltier reaching up to 35 °C
below ambient, and the enhanced cooling
module: Double stage Peltier reaching up to 45 °C
below ambient.
This series uses Kodak KAF CCD sensors, displaying a wide range of resolutions and pixel dimensions.
The sensors are front-illuminated, supported by an excellent quantum efficiency. All sensors (apart
from those with the optional anti-blooming) offer a 100% fill factor, allowing to shoot marvellous
images!
The main application fields are: Astronomy, Plasma Physics.

PERSONAL COMPUTER MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS

 CPU Celeron 1 Ghz
 256 Mb RAM
 Microsoft Windows XP/Vista
 USB port

DISCOVERY Plus user manual

© 2013 Digital Technology Art s.r.l.

SCHEME OF THE INSTALLATION PROCEDURE:

When you use the camera for the first time,
you need to install the ViSTA software.

Insert the ViSTA 3 CD-ROM, provided wi th the
camera, into the CD-ROM reader, wait a few
seconds for the PC to load the "QUICK
INSTALL" menu.

Click on ViSTA 3 and QUICK INSTALL will start
and guide you through the software
installation process.

The default settings will install the complete
software package and all options.

You may need to reboot the PC if certain files
in use by Windows needs to be updated.

DISCOVERY Plus user manual

© 2013 Digital Technology Art s.r.l.

CONNECTING THE DISCOVERY PLUS CCD CAMERA

To install your hardware platform on the PC, follow the steps below:

 Connect the power supply cable to the DISCOVERY Plus CCD camera. The power s upply is not

included in the delivery of the camera, but can be provided on request

 Turn on the camera and connect the USB cable (supplied with a standard length of 1.8 m) to

the corresponding port of the PC

Pay attention:

1) The power supply must be connected to an electrical system with neutral-to-ground
connection;

2) The lateral sides of the camera and of the power supply must to be free to enable the
correct functioning of the ventilation system;

3) Place the system so that you can easily manage the switch of the power supply switch
which is positioned on the front panel.

Now, install the drivers for the USB connection.

Power supply connector

USB connector

User Port

DISCOVERY Plus user manual

© 2013 Digital Technology Art s.r.l.

INSTALLATION OF THE DRIVERS:

When you use the camera for the first ti me, you will be asked to specify where the available drivers
are located.
In the following, you will find the sequenc e of operations to be carried out.
An example with WINDOWS XP Operating System is shown below. The operations are similar for the
other Operating Systems.
Follow the steps on the basis of your Operative System.

WINDOWS XP

Once you have connected the camera to the PC following
the instructions reported on the previous page, a screen (as
shown on the right) will appear, informing you that new
hardware has been detected.

Then, a screen will
appear (as shown
on the righ t)
asking you to
connect for
Windows update.
Select: “No, not at
this time” and
click on " Next" to
continue the
installation.

DISCOVERY Plus user manual

© 2013 Digital Technology Art s.r.l.

Select the o ption
"Install from a list
or specific
location
(Advanced)”
(recommended
choice). Then
click on " Next" to
continue the
installation.

Check the
functions
selected as
shown in the
screen on the
right (in this
case, E:\
indicates the
CD-ROM drive)
and click on
“Next” to
continue.

DISCOVERY Plus user manual

© 2013 Digital Technology Art s.r.l.

Select the folder that contains the drivers f or
USB hardware according to the Operative
System:

 Windows 98/Me2000/XP: select Windows
 Windows XP Professional x64: select XPx64

(as in the image below)

Then, click on OK and wait while the wizard
installs the software (this only takes a few
seconds).

DISCOVERY Plus user manual

© 2013 Digital Technology Art s.r.l.

When the
installation has
been
completed, a
screen like the
one shown on
the right will
appear.
Click on “Finish”
to close the
wizard and
restart the PC
(recommended
choice).

DISCOVERY Plus user manual

© 2013 Digital Technology Art s.r.l.

CONNECTING CABLES AND POWER LEADS

Connect the cables between the parallel port and the camera. We advise you to execute this
operation with all the equipment turned off, for safety reasons!
The connectors are fixed with screws, which should be tightened only slightly to avoid any
damages. For the Discovery series, the power connector is connected to a 10-15V 3A power
supply. The camera is always turned on at the power supply.

Before making any connection, make sure that your computer and the power supply are turned off!

DETAILS OF THE DISCOVERY PLUS CONNECTORS

On the DISCOVERY Plus you will find the connectors required to connect the camera to the PC and
the power supply, and to mount it on a photographic tripod.

Starting from the left in clockwise
direction the following connectors are
shown :

 Power connector
 USB PORT: male 9-pin

connector for USB
communication with the PC

 USER PORT: female 9-pin

connector which implements a
communications port in order to
drive the RPF6 filter wheel, or to
run the autoguide or the shutter signal

DISCOVERY Plus user manual

© 2013 Digital Technology Art s.r.l.

9 PIN USER PORT CONNECTOR

1 SHUTTER 2 EX1 3 EX2
4 EX3 5 EX4 6 PWR
7 GND 8 TRIG 9 EXI

 SHUTTER: output signal of shutter control.
 EX1: (output) RPF6 control or N (North) control for autoguide.
 EX2: (output) RPF6 control or S (South) control for autoguide.
 EX3: (output) RPF6 control or E (East) control for autoguide.
 EX4: (output) RPF6 control or W (West) control for autoguide.
 EXI: (input) autoguide input.
 TRIG INPUT: trigger input.

When activating the TRIGGER mode, it is necess ary to pro vide the signal to start acquiring
images. In fact, when executing the function: “DC_Ge tCCD”, the camera, after the Clear
CCD operation, will wait for the hardware signal to start the acquisition, i.e. the TRIG INPUT
signal.

This signal is RISING EDGE SENSITIVE

Once the signal is provided, after just 1-2 ns, the shutter will be opened and image acquisition
will start (the acquisition time is prefixed by the user). Then, after the hys teresis time for the
shutter closure, image downloading wi ll take place.

 PWR: Warning main power supply, 13.8V.
 GND: ground.

Note: all signals are TTL compatible.

DISCOVERY Plus user manual

© 2013 Digital Technology Art s.r.l.

POWER SUPPLY CONNECTOR

Through this connector 12V 3A power is transferred to the DISCOVERY camera.

POWER SUPPLY WARNING:

For the right functioning of the camera, it is necessary to use a power supply able to provide 3A of
continuous load with low duty cycle.

WARNING ! Do not reverse polarity! Risk of irreparable damage to the camera !

NEGATIVE - POSITIVE +

Front View

DISCOVERY Plus user manual

© 2013 Digital Technology Art s.r.l.

OPTICAL WINDOW CLEANING

Both the optical window and the CCD cleaning are carried out in the clean room through a 30­magnifying power microscope. This procedure removes any dust which may cause spots to appear
on the images taken. These spots increase in particular when the focal ratio gets wider. In other
words, an image may not show any marks at f/5.6, which, however, can
be clearly noted at f/32 because of a geometrical problem of projection.
Due to the shutter elapsed time, the external surface of the optical
window may gather dust particles that can be easily removed.

In order to do so, we recommend the use of a compressed air cylinder
designed specifically for optical cleaning.

Be careful !!! There are similar products that, instead of using compressed
air, use fluids containing liquefiable gases : at ambient pressure they
quickly gassify, thus causing a compressed air effect. Absolutely do NOT
use these products : they may cause persistant marks or rings on the window.

A product we can recommend is DUST-OFF made by EDMUND-OPTICS. Thanks to DUST-OFF (or
other similar products) it is very easy to remove microparticles : keep the shutter open for a few
seconds (via the camera control program) and spray some air blast. We strongly advise against
using cloths, optical paper and cleaning liquids because the dirt will only mix up or even increase,
which may cause damage to the coating of the op tical window !

DISCOVERY Plus user manual

© 2013 Digital Technology Art s.r.l.

SPECIFICATIONS

SHUTTER:

Electromechanical. Exposure time: from 0.1 s to 9999 s

A/D CONVERTER:

Selectable 12/14/16 bit

SETTABLE GAINS:

64
READ OUT SPEED:

up to 420 kpixel/s

INTERFACE:

USB 1.1/2.0

COOLING:

Single stage Peltier up to 35 ºC T below ambient (standard version)
Double stage Peltier up to 45 ºC T below ambient (on request)

CCD TEMPERATURE CONTROL:

 0.1 °C

OPTICAL WINDOW:

Fused silica
FILTER WHEEL:

External (optional)

BACKFOCUS:

17.5 mm

MAX TOTAL NOISE:

15 e

-

MOUNT:

C

BINNING:

From 1 x 1 to 8 x 8 or arbitrary

POWER SUPPLY (optional):

230V

MAX ABSORPTION:

36 W

WEIGHT:

800 g

DIMENSIONS:

118 (

x 53 (h) mm

DISCOVERY Plus user manual

© 2013 Digital Technology Art s.r.l.

INDEX

9

9-pin user port connector …… 11

c

connecting cables and power leads …… 10

connecting the discovery plus ccd camera …… 5

d

details of the discovery plus connectors …… 10

i

introduction …… 3

installation of the drivers …… 6

o

optical window cleaning …… 13

p

personal computer minimum requirements …… 3

power supply connector …… 12

s

scheme of the installation procedure …… 4

specifications …… 14

w

windows xp …… 6

DISCOVERY Plus user manual

© 2013 Digital Technology Art s.r.l.

CONTACT

For further information, please contact us at:

Email: [e-mail]
Web: www.digitaltechnologyart.com
Tel.: [phone]
Fax: [phone]