Advances in the Echidna fiber-positioning technology

Andrew Sheinis; Will Saunders; Peter Gillingham; Tony J. Farrell; Rolf Muller; Scott Smedley; Jurek Brzeski; Lewis G. Waller; James Gilbert; Greg Smith

doi:10.1117/12.2057126

28 July 2014 Advances in the Echidna fiber-positioning technology

Andrew Sheinis, Will Saunders, Peter Gillingham, Tony J. Farrell, Rolf Muller, Scott Smedley, Jurek Brzeski, Lewis G. Waller, James Gilbert, Greg Smith

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 9151, Advances in Optical and Mechanical Technologies for Telescopes and Instrumentation; 91511X (2014) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2057126
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2014, Montréal, Quebec, Canada

Abstract

We present advances in the patented Echidna 'tilting spine' fiber positioner technology that has been in operation since 2007 on the SUBARU telescope in the FMOS system. The new Echidna technology is proposed to be implemented on two large fiber surveys: the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) (5000 fibers) as well the Australian ESO Positioner (AESOP) for 4MOST, a spectroscopic survey instrument for the VISTA telescope (~2500 fibers). The new 'superspine' actuators are stiffer, longer and more accurate than their predecessors. They have been prototyped at AAO, demonstrating reconfiguration times of ~15s for errors of <5 microns RMS. Laboratory testing of the prortotype shows accurate operation at temperatures of -10 to +30C, with an average heat output of 200 microwatts per actuator during reconfiguration. Throughput comparisons to other positioner types are presented, and we find that losses due to tilt will in general be outweighed by increased allocation yield and reduced fiber stress FRD. The losses from spine tilt are compensated by the gain in allocation yield coming from the greater patrol area, and quantified elsewhere in these proceedings. For typical tilts, f-ratios and collimator overspeeds, Echidna offers a clear efficiency gain versus current r-that or theta-phi positioners.

Citation Download Citation

Andrew Sheinis, Will Saunders, Peter Gillingham, Tony J. Farrell, Rolf Muller, Scott Smedley, Jurek Brzeski, Lewis G. Waller, James Gilbert, and Greg Smith "Advances in the Echidna fiber-positioning technology", Proc. SPIE 9151, Advances in Optical and Mechanical Technologies for Telescopes and Instrumentation, 91511X (28 July 2014); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2057126

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