Operating a heterogeneous telescope network

Alasdair Allan; Karsten Bischoff; Martin Burgdorf; Brad Cavanagh; Damien Christian; Neil Clay; Rob Dickens; Frossie Economou; Mehri Fadavi; Stephen Frazer; Thomas Granzer; Sandy Grosvenor; Frederic V. Hessman; Tim Jenness; Anuradha Koratkar; Matthew Lehner; Chris Mottram; Tim Naylor; Eric S. Saunders; Nikolaos Solomos; Iain A. Steele; Georg Tuparev; W. Thomas Vestrand; Robert R. White; Sarah Yost

doi:10.1117/12.671247

29 June 2006 Operating a heterogeneous telescope network

Alasdair Allan, Karsten Bischoff, Martin Burgdorf, Brad Cavanagh, Damien Christian, Neil Clay, Rob Dickens, Frossie Economou, Mehri Fadavi, Stephen Frazer, Thomas Granzer, Sandy Grosvenor, Frederic V. Hessman, Tim Jenness, Anuradha Koratkar, Matthew Lehner, Chris Mottram, Tim Naylor, Eric S. Saunders, Nikolaos Solomos, Iain A. Steele, Georg Tuparev, W. Thomas Vestrand, Robert R. White, Sarah Yost

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 6270, Observatory Operations: Strategies, Processes, and Systems; 62700H (2006) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.671247
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2006, Orlando, Florida , United States

Abstract

In the last few years the ubiquitous availability of high bandwidth networks has changed the way both robotic and non-robotic telescopes operate, with single isolated telescopes being integrated into expanding "smart" telescope networks that can span continents and respond to transient events in seconds. The Heterogeneous Telescope Networks (HTN)* Consortium represents a number of major research groups in the field of robotic telescopes, and together we are proposing a standards based approach to providing interoperability between the existing proprietary telescope networks. We further propose standards for interoperability, and integration with, the emerging Virtual Observatory. We present the results of the first interoperability meeting held last year and discuss the protocol and transport standards agreed at the meeting, which deals with the complex issue of how to optimally schedule observations on geographically distributed resources. We discuss a free market approach to this scheduling problem, which must initially be based on ad-hoc agreements between the participants in the network, but which may eventually expand into a electronic market for the exchange of telescope time.

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Alasdair Allan, Karsten Bischoff, Martin Burgdorf, Brad Cavanagh, Damien Christian, Neil Clay, Rob Dickens, Frossie Economou, Mehri Fadavi, Stephen Frazer, Thomas Granzer, Sandy Grosvenor, Frederic V. Hessman, Tim Jenness, Anuradha Koratkar, Matthew Lehner, Chris Mottram, Tim Naylor, Eric S. Saunders, Nikolaos Solomos, Iain A. Steele, Georg Tuparev, W. Thomas Vestrand, Robert R. White, and Sarah Yost "Operating a heterogeneous telescope network", Proc. SPIE 6270, Observatory Operations: Strategies, Processes, and Systems, 62700H (29 June 2006); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.671247

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