A modern approach to upgrading the telescope control system of the CTIO Blanco 4-m telescope

Michael Warner; Rolando Cantarutti; German Schumacher; Eduardo Mondaca; Omar Estay; Manuel Martinez; Victor Aguirre; Rodrigo Alvarez; Rodrigo Leiva; Timothy M. C. Abbott; Nicole S. van der Bliek

doi:10.1117/12.926193

24 September 2012 A modern approach to upgrading the telescope control system of the CTIO Blanco 4-m telescope

Michael Warner, Rolando Cantarutti, German Schumacher, Eduardo Mondaca, Omar Estay, Manuel Martinez, Victor Aguirre, Rodrigo Alvarez, Rodrigo Leiva, Timothy M. C. Abbott, Nicole S. van der Bliek

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 8451, Software and Cyberinfrastructure for Astronomy II; 84510U (2012) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.926193
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2012, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Abstract

In preparation for the arrival of the Dark Energy Camera (DECam) at the CTIO Blanco 4-m telescope, both the hardware and the software of the Telescope Control System (TCS) have been upgraded in order to meet the more stringent requirements on cadence and tracking required for efficient execution of the Dark Energy Survey¹. This upgrade was also driven by the need to replace obsolete hardware, some of it now over half a century old. In this paper we describe the architecture of the new mount control system, and in particular the method used to develop and implement the servo-driver portion of the new TCS. This portion of the system had to be completely rethought, when an initial approach, based on commercial off the shelf components, lacked the flexibility needed to cope with the complex behavior of the telescope. Central to our design approach was the early implementation of extensive telemetry, which allowed us to fully characterize the real dynamics of the telescope. These results then served as input to extensive simulations of the proposed new servo system allowing us to iteratively refine the control model. This flexibility will be important later when DECam is installed, since this will significantly increase the moving mass and inertia of the telescope. Based on these results, a fully digital solution was chosen and implemented. The core of this new servo hardware is modern cRIO hardware, which combines an embedded processor with a high-performance FPGA, allowing the execution of LabVIEW applications in real time.

Citation Download Citation

Michael Warner, Rolando Cantarutti, German Schumacher, Eduardo Mondaca, Omar Estay, Manuel Martinez, Victor Aguirre, Rodrigo Alvarez, Rodrigo Leiva, Timothy M. C. Abbott, and Nicole S. van der Bliek "A modern approach to upgrading the telescope control system of the CTIO Blanco 4-m telescope", Proc. SPIE 8451, Software and Cyberinfrastructure for Astronomy II, 84510U (24 September 2012); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.926193

ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE

INSTITUTIONAL
Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.

SELECT YOUR INSTITUTION

PERSONAL
Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.

PERSONAL SIGN IN

No SPIE Account? Create one

PURCHASE THIS CONTENT

SUBSCRIBE TO DIGITAL LIBRARY

50 downloads per 1-year subscription

Members: $195

Non-members: $335 ADD TO CART

25 downloads per 1 - year subscription

Members: $145

Non-members: $250 ADD TO CART

PURCHASE SINGLE ARTICLE

Includes PDF, HTML & Video, when available