RHQ Camera ASCOM driver

This page explains the installation procedure of the ASCOM driver for the Raspberry Pi High Quality (HQ) camera released in April 2020.

Contact me via the e-mail address stated above when you encounter any issues or difficulties using this instruction so I can improve it or the driver software itself!

Special thanks to Iain Chris for ironing out the typos in this readme file 😃!

Step 1) Ordering and initial setup your Raspberry Pi

Raspberry Pi HQ camera

Raspberry Pi versions

you don't have a suitable Raspberry Pi, order it as well. I recommend a Raspberry Pi 3 with 512 MB RAM (but 1GB will work as well) or a Raspberry Pi 4 with 2GB RAM (but the 4GB or 8GB versions will work as well), but older models will probably work as well but be much slower in retrieving the images.

SD card

Include in your order a micro-SSD card of at least 16GB with NOOBS (Raspberry Pi lite image) pre-installed. The Raspberry Pi lite image does not include the graphical user interface which is not needed for this project. When you want to install NOOBS on the SD card yourself find instructions here: https://projects.raspberrypi.org/en/projects/raspberry-pi-setting-up/2.

Raspberry casing

Attach the HQ camera to your telescope

Camera flatcable

Also a longer e.g. 50 cm (20") camera flat cable will be handy because the standard with the camera sensor included flatcable is only 15 cm (6") long.

Test lense

Other parts

Make sure you have the needed cable(s) to hook up the Raspberry Pi to your monitor (micro HDMI or HDMI depending on the Raspberry Pi model, https://www.raspberrypi.org/products/micro-hdmi-to-standard-hdmi-a-cable/), a suitable power supply (2.5A for the Raspberry Pi 3 and 3A for the Raspberry Pi 4)for your country and an (extra) keyboard.

Step 2) Attach the HQ camera to the Raspberry Pi

Stop and un-power the Raspberry Pi

If your Raspberry Pi is already running shut it down properly. This is done with:

Wait app. 10 seconds for the Pi to stop all its processes and uncouple the power supply if you are detaching or attaching the camera cable, it is sensitive for static electricity and you might damage it when performing these action while it is still powered on.

Attach the camera to the Raspberry Pi

Hook up you Pi

Place the SD card in the Raspberry Pi and fit it in the Pi casing. Attach your monitor, keyboard, network cable and power adapter and spin up the Raspberry Pi.

Step 3) Update your Raspberry Pi, install nano and enable Secure Shell (SSH) access:

First start

The first time you want to access your Raspberry Pi a keyboard and monitor will be needed to enable the secure shell option and retrieve the configured IP address of the Pi. Once you have enabled the secure shell interface service you should be able to access the Pi via a secure shell client like Putty via a workstation (e.g. Windows PC or Mac).

Boot up the Raspberry Pi (the default username is pi and the default password is raspberry). If your are using a Raspberry Pi OS version with a Graphical User Interface (GUI) enter the needed logon data during the installation wizard and open a terminal session. When using the Raspberry Pi lite OS version with the command line interface (CLI) logon when prompted.

Raspberry Pi firmware update (optional)

First perform a firmware and base software update of the Raspberry Pi and the camera's firmware and reboot the setup:

Answer both questions with Y, the updated Raspberry Pi software will be downloaded and installed. Reboot the RPi (this will take app. 60 seconds):

Update the installed Raspberry Pi software

Secondly update all packages to the current version to ensure your Raspberry Pi is fully up to date (these actions might take a while):

Install the user friendly text editor nano

Install the nano user friendly text editor (if not standard available in your RPi build):

sudo apt install nano -y

Configure automatic overnight software updates (optional)

If you want you Raspberry Pi to be always up to date with the latest software you might want to consider to add the following entry in its schedular (named crontab). This step is optional.

0 0 * * * apt update -y && apt upgrade -y

Add this line at the end of schedular configuration file bij entering the following command:

You might want to select the editor nano when asked (this is only asked the first time the crontab is edited).

Add the crontab line stated above at the end of the configuration file and save it by pressing [CTRL]O and close the editor by pressing [CTRL]X.

Change user password, hostname, WiFi (optional), camera interface, memory split and activate setup secure shell

Close the config tool (select the Reboot->Yes option). The reboot should be finished in a minute.

Setup secure shell (optional)

If desired download and install secure shell terminal software (like Putty) on your workstation to access your Raspberry Pi. Configure as user pi@[IP address] and save the configuration before starting it up. The IP address of the Raspberry Pi can found by executing the following command on your Raspberry Pi:

Step 4) Setup fixed IP-address for your Raspberry Pi (optional but highly recommended)

Determine IP address to use

To ensure your Raspberry Pi always uses the same IP address set it up as follow. Choose an IP address from your home network range which should in one of the following private address ranges:

Determine home IP address range

You can check your home address range by checking the IP address on a Windows workstation. On your Windows desktop press [Windows key]->R and type cmd[enter]. A terminal screen will open. Now type ipconfig /all[enter]. Find your Ethernet adapter Ethernet entry (for workstations connected via a network cable) or Wireless LAN adapter Wi-Fi (for workstations using a wireless lan) and note its IPv4 Address, Default Gateway and DNS Servers.

Select another IP address in the same range of your home network. E.g. if your found address of your workstation is:

192.168.1.45 choose a static IP address for your RPi by changing the last (most right) digit, e.g. 192.168.1.250 (the last digit of the address must be between 1 and 254).

NOTE: It is recommended to reserver a range of IP addresses in your DHCP settings on your ISP router (e.g. 240 - 254) for fixed IP address usage in your home network.

Configure the choosen IP address

sudo nano /etc/dhcpcd.conf

Scroll down in the file and remove the # (comment) before interface eth0 and the other items with exception of the statis ip6_address line in this section. Change the uncommented lines to:

interface eth0
static ip_address=[choosen IP address in your home network]/24
static routers=[Default Gateway IP address]
static domain_name_servers=[DNS Servers] 9.9.9.9 8.8.8.8

Save the file by pressing {CTRL]O, close nano by pressing [CTRL]X and restart the DHCP service to start using the configured IP address:

sudo service dhcpcd restart

Reconfigure your secure shell client

Do not forget the next time you want to connect to the Pi with your secure shell client you need to use the newly configured IP address.

Step 5) Configure your camera and test initial working

Grant permission to use the camera to the pi user

Log onto the Raspberry Pi using your newly configure password (and open een terminal session when in graphical mode).

sudo usermod -a -G video pi

Test the camera for the first time

raspistill -v -o output.jpg

This should create your first (probably out of focus) picture in the file output.jpg

Transfer image file

Transfer this output.jpg file from the /home/pi directory with a sftp tool like Filezilla or WinSCP to see if the image meet your expectations (spoiler alert: it is probably a fuzzy image because your lense was not in focus). You can also choose to setup NFS file sharing and share the /var/www/html and /home/pi folder so you can access these directories directly from your workstation (e.g. in Explorer (Windows) or Finder (Mac)).

Step 6) Setting up needed software to control the Raspberry Pi camera

Installing Apache web server, php programming language and imagemagick imaging software

Install the following packages on your Raspberry Pi to use the ASCOM HQ camera driver:

sudo apt install apache2 php imagemagick -y

Setting up the Apache web server

Allow the Apache www-data user to use the camera by executing the following command:

sudo usermod -a -G video www-data

Create images directory

Create the needed images directory in /var/www/html and ensure the Apache web server can access it:

sudo mkdir /var/www/html/images

sudo chown www-data:www-data /var/www/html/images

sudo chmod 660 /var/www/html/images

Step 7) Install raspiraw (optional)

Install and setup raspiraw to make raw images in currently experimental exposure mode Raw by following the following procedure:

Change the configuration file

sudo nano /boot/config.txt

Downloading & compiling the raspiraw software

sudo cd /var/www/html
sudo git clone https://github.com/Hermann-SW/raspiraw
sudo cd raspiraw
sudo ./buildme
sudo git checkout origin/long_exposure

cd ..
sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/html/raspiraw

Installing the needed dcraw libraries

sudo apt-get install libjasper-dev libjpeg8-dev gettext liblcms2-dev i2c-tools -y

sudo cd /var/www/html
sudo git clone https://github.com/6by9/dcraw
sudo cd dcraw
sudo ./buildme
sudo cd ..
sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/html/dcraw

Setting up and testing the i2c interface software

sudo cd /var/www/html/raspiraw
sudo modprobe i2c-dev
sudo ./camera_i2c

You should see something like this, where there is a number or numbers in the table:

Set state of 133 to 1
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 a b c d e f
00: -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
10: 10 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
20: -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
30: -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
40: -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
50: -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
60: -- -- -- -- 64 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
70: -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

If you only see "--" in the table then it probably did not work and I have found that running raspivid first fixes this:

raspivid -t 5000
./camera_i2c

Test raspiraw:

Step 8) Install the php script in /var/www/html included at the bottom of this installation page:

Granting the needed permissions

First change the ownership of the /var/www/html directory to the www-data owner and group so the php script can write to this directory (and sub-directories):

sudo chown -R www-data:www-data html

Copy & Pasting the needed php script

To use this camera driver install the php script included in this instruction page below on your Raspberry Pi in the directory folder /var/www/html as RPi_camera.php (NOTE: this is a case sensitive file name).

sudo cd /var/www/html

sudo nano RPi_camera.php

Copy and paste the script from below this page into the editor and save the file by pressing [CTRL]O and exit the editor by pressing CTRL]X. The script starts with <?php on this page below right till the end of this page where is stated ?>. Include the <?php and ?> lines.

(Alternatively) download and transfer the needed php script

This php script can also be downloaded and transfered (via SFTP) to your Raspberry Pi /var/www/html directory). The file has a temporary zip extension to enforce the browser to download it (instead of showing it in the browser), however it is not compressed. After transferring the file to your Raspberry Pi give it its original php file extension:

sudo cd /var/www/html

sudo mv RPi_camera.zip RPi_camera.php

Set script permissions

sudo chown www-data:www-data RPi_camera.php

sudo chmod 660 RPi_camera.php

Test the php script

You can test the script by entering the following URL in your favorite browser to take a picture of 1 second (fill in the configured IP address of your Raspberry Pi):

http://[IP address]/RPi_camera.php?shutter=1000000&exposure=auto&type=jpg&analog_gain=1

It should return the image name of the image file created in /var/www/html. Check the image file via the following URL (fill in your IP address and the returned image file name and file extension in your favorite browser):

http://[IP address]/[filename.extension]

If all works out well this will probably produces a blurry image (your lense is probably not in focus).

Step 9) Setting up a RAM drive (optional)

To ease the usage of the SD card and extent its lifespan it is recommended to setup a RAM drive. This is a virtual harddisk which resides in memory only. Therefor the generated files are not written to the RAM drive. Downside is that when a power cycle of the Raspberry Pi is done the content is gone. In this case however this should not be an issue for the output images (and log files) since they should already be absorbed by the client astro app.

Creating the RAM drive

sudo mkdir /mnt/ramdisk

Change the ownership and permission so that the Apache user www-data can use the RAM drive.

sudo chown www-data:www-data /mnt/ramdisk

sudo chmod 775 /mnt/ramdisk

Add the next line and save the file by pressing [CTRL]O and close nano by pressing [CTRL]X.

tmpfs /mnt/ramdisk tmpfs nodev,nosuid,size=512M 0 0

After a reboot of the Pi the RAM drive should automatically be mounted during the boot process.

Create softllink to RAM drive

sudo rm -rf /var/www/html/images

sudo ln -s /mnt/ramdisk /var/www/html/images

Show the additional RAM drive

Step 10) Start using the ASCOM driver:

Install the ASCOM client software

Install the ASCOM driver software which can be downloaded via https://www.musquetier.nl/downloads/RPiCameraV3_Setup.exe on your workstation running your ASCOM compliant astro software of choice. This software will only work on Windows workstations (PC, laptops or pads).

Configuring IP address

Startup your favorite client application (e.g. Sequence Generator Pro or NINA), select the HQ camrea in your camera configuration page and configure the ASCOM HQ camera driver. First enter the IP address of your Raspberry Pi.

Web server port

When you decided to use an alternative TCP/IP port for your webserver on your Raspberry Pi, change it to your likings (Apache default uses port 80 which is the drivers default value).

Binning

Start with the binning setting 1x1, often you can deviate from this setting using the astro software itself and overwrite this setting during your configured sequences.

Exposure

For night time imaging use exposure Auto for testing during daytime and Night for night time photography. The Raw option is still experimental and requires the setup of raspiraw (see step 7 above).

Analog Gain

Analog gain can be used for non-Auto exposure modes. This will need some trial and error to determine the correct value for your setup.

White Balance

Switch the white balance off for night photography and use Auto (or another desired mode) for daytime testing.

Image format

Use jpg (fastest due to the hardware compression performed by the camera although it produces images without quality loss since the driver is configured with a quality setting of 100%), bmp (uncompressed, slow due to it filesize) or png (compressed, slow due to software compression).

Application

Make sure you select the correct application option in the ASCOM driver setup dialogue to match your application of choice.

Output Directory

Change this option when you want to place the output files in another place than /var/www/html (e.g. when you have setup in the RAM drive in step 9 change this to /mnt/ramdisk/). The entered path should end with a trailing forward slash /.

Convert to fits

Tick this option if you want the produced files to be automatically converted into fits files.

Tracing

Tick this option if you want tracing information to be logged by the ASCOM client driver

Debug Console

Tick this option if you want to have the client debug console switched on to follow the steps performed by the ASCOM client software.

Step 11) Play and learn

When not using the Raw exposure mode the script is using the raspistill command to capture images and the php script makes the most useful parameters available via the RESTful API of the php script.

The driver was primarily tested with Sequence Generator Pro and NINA but should/might work with other ASCOM compatible capturing programs as well. Please contact me via the stated email address above when you encounter issues using the driver iin combination with other software.

NOTE: Please start testing with image format type: "jpg" and exposure option: "auto" before experimenting with other image format types and exposure options...

Troubleshooting

Use the ASCOM client debug Window to see where the software might struggle to perform its tasks. Also on the Raspberry Pi in the /var/www/html directory for each image file created a log file is held for 15 minutes containing the raspistill/raspiraw command produced by the php script. The commands noted in these files can be copy & pasted to the command line of the Raspberry Pi to repeat the command manually.

When encountering problems please report them back to me (via the email address stated at the top of this page), please include screen shots of the ASCOM client window and corresponding logfile content of the failed image attempt so I can effectively investigate the issue. Please also include the name and version of the used astro software.

RPi_camera.php script (starting after this line, till the end of this instruction page), please note this software is copyrighted by ITCAP bv but can be used and altered freely as long as the source of the original code and the Author is properly mentioned:

<?php

 $type = "jpg"; // Default type to create jpg files

 $debug = false; // Default debug is switched off
 $doit = true; // Default doit is switched on

 $debug = isset($_REQUEST['debug']) ? validate_boolean($_REQUEST['debug']) : $debug; // Dump Unix commands on command line interface (for debugging purposes only)
 $doit = isset($_REQUEST['doit']) ? validate_boolean($_REQUEST['doit']) : $doit; // Flag to prevent Unix command to be executed (for debugging purposes only)

 $type = isset($_REQUEST['type']) ? validate_value($_REQUEST['type'], "jpg,png,gif,bmp") : $type; // Desired file type

 $exposure = isset($_REQUEST['exposure']) ? validate_value(strtolower($_REQUEST['exposure']), "auto,night,nightpreview,raw,off,verylong,fireworks") : "off"; // Default off
 $analog_gain = isset($_REQUEST['analog_gain']) ? validate_number($_REQUEST['analog_gain']) : 1; // Default 1
 $flicker = isset($_REQUEST['flicker']) ? validate_value($_REQUEST['flicker'], "off,auto,50hz,60hz") : "off"; // Default flicker mode off
 $awb = isset($_REQUEST['awb']) ? validate_value(strtolower($_REQUEST['awb']), "off,auto,sun,cloud,shade,tungsten,fluorescent,incandescent,flash,horizon,greyworld") : "auto"; // Default auto wide balance
 $hflip = isset($_REQUEST['hflip']) ? validate_boolean($_REQUEST['hflip']) : false; // Default horizontab flip off
 $vflip = isset($_REQUEST['vflip']) ? validate_boolean($_REQUEST['vflip']) : false; // Default vertical flip off
 $roi_x = isset($_REQUEST['roi_x']) ? validate_number($_REQUEST['roi_x']) : -1; // Default disabled
 $roi_y = isset($_REQUEST['roi_y']) ? validate_number($_REQUEST['roi_y']) : -1; // Default disabled
 $roi_w = isset($_REQUEST['roi_w']) ? validate_number($_REQUEST['roi_w']) : -1; // Default disabled
 $roi_h = isset($_REQUEST['roi_h']) ? validate_number($_REQUEST['roi_h']) : -1; // Default disabled
 $shutter = isset($_REQUEST['shutter']) ? validate_number(round($_REQUEST['shutter'])) : 1000000; // Default 1 seconts
 $drc = isset($_REQUEST['drc']) ? validate_value(strtolower($_REQUEST['drc']), "off,low,med,high") : "off"; // Default dynamic range control switched off
 $binning = isset($_REQUEST['binning']) ? validate_value(round($_REQUEST['binning']), "1,2,3,4") : 1; // Default on maximum resolution (4056 xc 3040)
 $annotate = isset($_REQUEST['annotate']) ? validate_number(round($_REQUEST['annotate'])) : 0; // Default 0 (no text)
 $timeout = isset($_REQUEST['timeout']) ? validate_number(round($_REQUEST['timeout'])) : 100; // Default 0.1 sec timeout
 $verbose = isset($_REQUEST['verbose']) ? validate_boolean($_REQUEST['verbose']) : false; // Default debug info default off
 $convert = isset($_REQUEST['convert']) ? validate_boolean($_REQUEST['convert']) : false; // Default debug info default off
 $directory = isset($_REQUEST['directory']) ? $_REQUEST['directory']) : "images/"; // Target directory (default current directory)

 // Remove previously created image and log files create longer than x minute ago
 echo exec("find ".$directory."*.bmp -mmin +5 -type f -exec rm {} \;"); // Remove bmp files after 5 minutes
 echo exec("find ".$directory."*.jpg -mmin +5 -type f -exec rm {} \;"); // Remove jpg files after 5 minutes
 echo exec("find ".$directory."*.gif -mmin +5 -type f -exec rm {} \;"); // Remove gif files after 5 minutes
 echo exec("find ".$directory."*.png -mmin +5 -type f -exec rm {} \;"); // Remove png files after 5 minutes
 echo exec("find ".$directory."*.fits -mmin +5 -type f -exec rm {} \;"); // Remove fits files after 5 minutes
 echo exec("find ".$directory."*.log -mmin +15 -type f -exec rm {} \;"); // Remove log files after 15 minutes
 echo exec("find ".$directory."*.*~ mmin +2 -type f -exec rm {} \;"); // Remove temporary image files after 2 minutes

 // Set shutter speed
 // Limit shutter speed to minimal 0.000001 seconds
 if ($shutter < 1)
 $shutter = 1; // Lower limit is 0.000001 seconds

 // Limit shutter speed to 239 seconds
 if ($shutter > 239000000)
 $shutter = 239000000; // Upper limit is 239 seconds

 // Ensure binning is at least set to 1
 if ($binning < 1)
 $binning = 1; // Lower limit to 1

 // Ensure binning is at most set to 4
 if ($binning > 4)
 $binning = 4; // Upper limit to 4

 if (substr($directory,-1,1)!='/'))
 $directory += "/";

 // Create filename from selected ISO gain, exposure time and date/time stamp
 $org_filename = "image_".$shutter."_".$binning."x".$binning."_".date("Ymd")."T".date("His");
 $filename = $directory.$org_filename;

 // Open log file for writing (create the file when needed)
 $f = fopen ($filename.".log", "w+");

 // Open en write selected details from the URL to the log file
 $q = 0;
 $qo = -1;

 // Retrieve URL from character position 16 onwards
 $p = substr($_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'], 16);

 // Cycle through all give parameters (separated by & character)
 while ($q = strpos($p, "&", $q + 1)) {

 // Write parameter and the passed value, replace equal character (=) with a colon (:)
 fwrite($f, str_replace("=", ": ", substr($p, $qo + 1, ($q - $qo - 1)))."\n");

 // Save position of the & found in the string
 $qo = $q;
 }

 if ($exposure!="raw") {
 // Sensor width in pixels
 $sensor_width = 4056;

 // Sensor height in pixels
 $sensor_height = 3040;

 // Check lower value for analog gain (=> 1)
 if ($analog_gain < 1)
 $analog_gain = 1;
 // Check upper value for analog gain (<= 16)
 if ($analog_gain > 16)
 $analog_gain = 16;

 // Call raspistill and ensures nopreview option is selected, flicker control is switched off and auto white balance is switched off
 $command = "/usr/bin/raspistill --nopreview --metering average --thumb none ";

 // Add file type (jpg, png or bmp) to the command string
 // Check for jpg value
 if ($type=="jpg")

 // Set jpg file in the raspistill command string
 $command .= "--raw --quality 100 --output ".$filename.".jpg ";

 // Other file formats (bmp, gif and png)
 else
 // Add bmp, gif or png file type encoding tot he raspistill command string
 $command .= "--encoding ".$type." --output ".$filename.".".$type." --burst ";

 // Add header labels to the command string
 $command .= "--exif 'INSTRUME=Raspberry Pi Camera V3' --exif 'DATE-LOC=".date("Y-m-d")."T".date("H:i:s")."' --exif 'IMAGETYP=LIGHT' --exif 'EXPOSURE=".($shutter / 1000000)."' --exif 'HFLIPPED=".$hflip."' --exif 'VFLIPPED=".$vflip."' --exif 'GAIN=".$iso."' --exif 'FILTER=RGB' ";

 // Set ISO value
 //$command .= "--ISO ".$iso." ";

 // Set exposure type $command .= "--exposure ".$exposure." ";
 //$command .= "--exposure off ";

 // Set flicker mode
 $command .= "--flicker ".$flicker." ";

 // Set auto white balance
 if ($awb!='off')
 $command .= "--awb ".$awb." ";
 else // Set manual white balance (R = R * 3.3, B = B * 1.53
 $command .= "--awb off --awbgains 2,1.53 ";

 // Horizontal flip
 if ($hflip)
 $command .= "--hflip ";

 // Vertical flip
 if ($vflip)
 $command .= "--vflip ";

 // Set region of interest
 if ($roi_x!=-1 and $roi_y!=-1 and $roi_w!=-1 and $roi_h!=-1) {
 // Determine new width
 $w = round($roi_w / $sensor_width * 100) / 100;

 // Ensure width is between 0 and 1 (0 and 100% of the sensor width)
 if ($w < 0 or $w > 1)
 $w = 1;

 // Determine new height
 $h = round($roi_h / $sensor_height * 100) / 100;

 // Ensure height is between 0 and 1 (0 and 100% of the sensor height )
 if ($h < 0 or $h > 1)
 $h = 1;

 // Add region of interest to the command string
 $command .= "--roi ".$x.",".$y.",".$w.",".$h." ";
 }

 // Add shutter speed to raspistill command string

 // for higher then 5 seconds exposures use the extra -lss option to prevent long waiting times
 $command .= "--shutter ".$shutter." ";

 // Set dynamic range control
 $command .= "--drc ".$drc." ";

 // Set analog gain

 // Ensure analog gain is at least set to 1
 // Add analog gain setting to command string
 $command .= "--analoggain ".$analog_gain." ";

 // Set camera mode (resolution)

 // Translate the desired binning size to the right camera mode

 // Check if binning 1 is selected
 if ($binning==1)

 // Select binning 1 (4060 x 3056 pixels)
 $roi = "";

 // Check if binning 2 is selected
 elseif ($binning==2)

 // Select binning 2 (2028 x 1520 pixels)
 $roi = "--roi 0.25,0.25,0.5,0.5 ";

 // Check if binning 3 is selected
 elseif ($binning==3)

 // Select binning 3 (1352 x 1013 pixels)
 $roi = "--roi 0.333333,0.333333,0.333333,0.333333 ";

 // Binning 3 is selected
 else
 // Select binning 4 (1014 x 764 pixels)
 $roi = "--roi 0.375,0.375,0.25,0.25 ";

 // Add required camera mode (for the desired binning factor) to the raspistill command string
 $command .= "--mode 3 ";
 $command .= $roi;

 // Set annotation text
 if ($annotate)
 $command .= "--annotate ".$annotate." -ae 32,0xff,0x808000 "; // Default to size 32 white text on black background

 $timeout = round($shutter / 20000);

 // Ensure timeout is at least set to 0.1 sec
 if ($timeout < 100)
 $timeout = 100; // Lower limit to 0.1 seconds (unfortunately 0 secs causes raspistill to crash)

 // Ensure timeout is at most set to 15 sec
 if ($timeout > 15000)
 $timeout = 15000; // Upper limit to 15 seconds

 // Add timeout value to the raspistill command prompt
 $command .= "--timeout ".$timeout." ";

 // Set debug info
 if ($verbose)
 $command .= "--verbose ";

 // Set remaining changeable options
 $command .= "--digitalgain 1 --stats --burst ";

 // Write raspistill command string to the log file
 fwrite($f, "\n".$command."\n\n");

 // Close the log file
 fclose ($f);

 // Show command on the command interface when debug parameter is true or not 0
 if ($debug)
 echo " MESSAGE: executing command: ".$command." \n";

 // Check if Unix command should be executed
 if ($doit)
 // Execute raspistill command
 exec($command);

 }

 // Use raspiraw
 else {
 // File extension is always png
 $type = "png";

 // Call long exposure and raw2ogg2anim script
 $command = "export PATH=/var/www/html/dcraw:/var/www/html/raspiraw:/var/www/html/raspiraw/tools:/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/sbin;cd ".$directory."; /var/www/html/raspiraw/camera_i2c;/var/www/html/raspiraw/tools/long_exposure ".$shutter.";/var/www/html/raspiraw/tools/raw2ogg2anim dummy 1 1 1;mv out.0001.ppm.d.png ".$filename.".png;";

 // Write raspistill command string to the log file
 fwrite($f, "\n".$command."\n\n");

 // Close the log file
 fclose ($f);

 // Show command on the command interface when debug parameter is true or not 0
 if ($debug)
 echo " MESSAGE: executing command: ".$command." \n";

 // Check if Unix command should be executed
 if ($doit)
 // Execute change permission command
 exec($command);
 }

 // Change permissions on the file
 $ecommand = "chmod 660 ".$filename.".".$type;

 // Show command on the command interface when debug parameter is true or not 0
 if ($debug)
 echo " MESSAGE: executing command: ".$ecommand." \n";

 // Check if Unix command should be executed
 if ($doit)
 // Execute change permission command
 exec($ecommand);

 // Check if image needs to vbe converted to fits
 if ($convert) {
 // Convert using imagemagick convert function
 $ecommand = "convert ".$filename.".".$type." ".$filename.".fits";

 // Show command on the command interface when debug parameter is true or not 0
 if ($debug)
 echo " MESSAGE: executing command: ".$ecommand." \n";

 // Check if Unix command should be executed
 if ($doit)
 // Execute convert to fits command
 echo exec($ecommand);

 // Change permissions on fits file
 $ecommand = "chmod 660 ".$filename.".fits";

 // Show command on the command interface when debug parameter is true or not 0
 if ($debug)
 echo " MESSAGE: executing command: ".$ecommand." \n";

 // Check if Unix command should be executed
 if ($doit)
 // Execute change permission command
 echo exec($ecommand);
 }

 // Show file name on the command interface when debug parameter is not false or 0
 if (!$debug)
 echo $org_filename.".".$type." \n".$command;

 // Otherwise show image on the screen
 else
 echo "<img src='".$filename.".".$type."' width='676' height='506' />\n".$command." \n";

 // Function to validate input variable $v (it should consist of y, n, Y, N , 0, 1, true or false)
 function validate_boolean($v) {

 // Chop of spaces at the start and end of the string
 $v = trim($v);

 // Check for permitted input values
 if (!$v or $v=="0" or $v=="1" or strtolower($v)=="true" or strtolower($v)=="false" or strtoupper($v)=="N" or strtoupper($v)=="Y")
 // Check if value false
 if (!$v or strtolower($v)=="false")
 // Return false value
 return false;
 else
 // Return true value
 return true;
 else
 // Return false value
 return false;
 }

 // Check if input variable $v consists of numbers or a point (.) or a minus (-) sign
 function validate_number($v) {

 // Set error flag
 $err = false;

 // Chop of spaces at the start and end of the string
 $v = trim($v);

 // Check if input variable is 0
 if ($v=="0")
 // Return the variable value;
 return $v;

 // Cycle through all the entered characters
 for ($i = 0; $i < strlen($v); $i++)
 // Check for permitted input values
 if (!($v[$i]== "-" and $i==0) and ($v[$i] < "0" or $v[$i] > "9") and $v[$i]!=".")
 // Flag the input variable as not compliant
 $err = true;

 // Check if input variable was valid
 if ($err)
 // Return 0 value
 return 0;

 // Input variable was valid
 else
 // Return checked value
 return $v;
 }

 // Check if input variable $v consists of the possible values passed in the value parameter
 function validate_value($v, $options) {

 // Set error flag
 $err = false;

 // Chop of spaces at the start and end of the string
 $v = trim($v);

 // Determine position in possible value string to start searching
 $p = $q = -1;

 // Reset value string position counter
 $to = 0;
 // Cycle through possible options string (delimited by comma's), a maximum 50 options is allowed
 while ($p = strpos($options, ",", $p + 1) and $to < 50) {

 // Retrieve possible option and trim of trailing and leading spaces
 $t = trim(substr($options, $q + 1, $p - $q - 1));

 // Save the position where "," was found
 $q = $p;

 // Increase option counter
 $to++;

 // Check if input variable is one of the found allowed options
 if ($t==$v)
 // Return the input variable
 return $v;
 }

 // Get last possible allowed option
 $l = trim(substr($options, $q + 1));

 // Check if input variable is one of the found allowed options
 if ($l==$v)

 // Return the input variable
 return $v;

 // Option similar to the input variable could not be found in the allowed options variable $options
 else

 // Illegal option found
 $err = true;

 // Check if an illegal variable was given
 if ($v and $err)

 // Return false
 return false;

 // Legal option was given
 else

 // Return the allowed variable value
 return $v;
 }

?>

	Author:	Rob Musquetier
	E-mail:	rob.musquetier@itcap.nl
	Software driver v1.7.3:	https://www.musquetier.nl/downloads/RPiCameraV3_Setup.exe

Parameter	Default Value	Options
type	jpg	jpg, bmp, png
analog_gain	1	1 - 16
exposure	off	all options mentioned on the referred camera webpage are available
flicker	off	off, auto, 50hz, 60hz
awb	auto	off, auto, sun, cloud, shade, tungsten, fluorescent, incandescent, flash, horizon, greyworld
hflip	false	false, true
vflip	false	false, true
binning	1	1, 2, 3, 4
shutter	1000000	1 - 239000000 (uSec.)
drc	off	off,low,medium,high
mode	3	1, 2, 3, 4
verbose	false	false, true

Installation Guide Raspberry Pi version 3 High Quality (HQ) Camera ASCOM driver

Introduction