Designing a common real-time controller for VLT applications

Bertrand Bauvir; Anders Wallander; Philippe Duhoux; Alexis Huxley; Robert Karban

doi:10.1117/12.551988

15 September 2004 Designing a common real-time controller for VLT applications

Bertrand Bauvir, Anders Wallander, Philippe Duhoux, Alexis Huxley, Robert Karban

Proceedings Volume 5496, Advanced Software, Control, and Communication Systems for Astronomy; (2004) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.551988
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2004, Glasgow, United Kingdom

Abstract

The increasing number of digital control applications in the context of the VLT, and particularly the VLT Interferometer, brought the need to find a common solution to address the problems of performance and maintainability. Tools for Advanced Control (TAC) aims at helping both control and software engineers in the design and prototyping of real-time control applications by providing them with a set of standard functions and an easy way to combine them to create complex control algorithms. In this paper we describe the software architecture and design of TAC, the VLT standard for digital control applications. Algorithms are described at schematic level and take the form of a set of interconnected function blocks. Periodical execution of the algorithm as well as features like runtime modification of parameters and probing of internal data are also managed by TAC, allowing the application designers to avoid spending time writing low value software code and therefore focus on application-specific concerns. We also summarize the results achieved on the first actual applications using TAC, to manage real-time control or digital signal processing algorithms, currently deployed and being commissioned at Paranal Observatory.

Citation Download Citation

Bertrand Bauvir, Anders Wallander, Philippe Duhoux, Alexis Huxley, and Robert Karban "Designing a common real-time controller for VLT applications", Proc. SPIE 5496, Advanced Software, Control, and Communication Systems for Astronomy, (15 September 2004); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.551988

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