Telescope networking and user support via Remote Telescope Markup Language

Frederic V. Hessman; Carlton R. Pennypacker; Encarni Romero-Colmenero; Georg Tuparev

doi:10.1117/12.547429

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15 September 2004 Telescope networking and user support via Remote Telescope Markup Language

Frederic V. Hessman, Carlton R. Pennypacker, Encarni Romero-Colmenero, Georg Tuparev

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Proceedings Volume 5496, Advanced Software, Control, and Communication Systems for Astronomy; (2004) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.547429
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2004, Glasgow, United Kingdom

Abstract

Remote Telescope Markup Language (RTML) is an XML-based interface/document format designed to facilitate the exchange of astronomical observing requests and results between investigators and observatories as well as within networks of observatories. While originally created to support simple imaging telescope requests (Versions 1.0-2.1), RTML Version 3.0 now supports a wide range of applications, from request preparation, exposure calculation, spectroscopy, and observation reports to remote telescope scheduling, target-of-opportunity observations and telescope network administration. The elegance of RTML is that all of this is made possible using a public XML Schema which provides a general-purpose, easily parsed, and syntax-checked medium for the exchange of astronomical and user information while not restricting or otherwise constraining the use of the information at either end. Thus, RTML can be used to connect heterogeneous systems and their users without requiring major changes in existing local resources and procedures. Projects as very different as a number of advanced amateur observatories, the global Hands-On Universe project, the MONET network (robotic imaging), the STELLA consortium (robotic spectroscopy), and the 11-m Southern African Large Telescope are now using or intending to use RTML in various forms and for various purposes.

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Frederic V. Hessman, Carlton R. Pennypacker, Encarni Romero-Colmenero, and Georg Tuparev "Telescope networking and user support via Remote Telescope Markup Language", Proc. SPIE 5496, Advanced Software, Control, and Communication Systems for Astronomy, (15 September 2004); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.547429

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