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PLATO, the 'PLATeau Observatory', is a robotic Antarctic observatory developed by UNSW for deployment to
Dome A, the highest point on the Antarctic plateau. PLATO is designed to run autonomously for up to a year, providing
power, communications and thermal management for a suite of scientific and site-testing instruments. To achieve this
degree of autonomy, multiple-redundant Linux-based 'supervisor' computers, each with their own watchdog-timer and
Iridium satellite-modem, communicate with each other and with the outside world. The active supervisor computer
monitors and controls the PLATO power distribution, thermal and engine management subsystems via a CAN (Control
Area Network) bus. High-bandwidth communication between the instruments and the supervisor computers is via a
100 Mbps Local Area Network. Data is stored in cold-verified flash memory. The PLATO computers monitor up to 140
analog channels and distribute electrical power and heating to 96 current-monitored channels via an intelligent load-shedding
algorithm.
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Daniel M. Luong-Van, Michael C. B. Ashley, Jon R. Everett, Jon S. Lawrence, John W. V. Storey, "PLATO control and robotics," Proc. SPIE 7019, Advanced Software and Control for Astronomy II, 70192U (21 July 2008); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.788557