JCMT active surface control system: implementation

Ian A. Smith

doi:10.1117/12.308824

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26 May 1998 JCMT active surface control system: implementation

Ian A. Smith

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Proceedings Volume 3351, Telescope Control Systems III; (1998) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.308824
Event: Astronomical Telescopes and Instrumentation, 1998, Kona, HI, United States

Abstract

The James Clerk Maxwell Telescope on the summit of Mauna Kea in Hawaii is a 15 meter sub-millimeter telescope which operates in the 350 microns to 2 millimeter region. The primary antenna surface consists of 276 panels, each of which is positioned by 3 stepper motors. In order to achieve the highest possible surface accuracy we are embarking upon a project to actively control the position of the panels adjuster system is based on a 6809 micro connected to the control computer by a GPIB interface. This system is slow and inflexible and it would prove difficult to build an active surface control system with it. Part of the upgrade project is to replace the existing micro with a 68060 VME micro. The poster paper will describe how the temperature of the antenna is monitored with the new system, how a Finite Element Analyses package transforms temperature changes into a series of panel adjuster moves, and how these moves are then applied to the surface. The FEA package will run on a high end Sun workstation. A series of DRAMA tasks distributed between the workstation and the Baja 68060 VxWorks Active Surface Control System micro will control the temperature monitoring, FEA and panel adjustment activities. Users can interact with the system via a Tcl/TK based GUI.

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Ian A. Smith "JCMT active surface control system: implementation", Proc. SPIE 3351, Telescope Control Systems III, (26 May 1998); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.308824

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