The Iranian National Observatory Telescope is a 3.4-meter Alt/Az optical telescope. MCS (Mount Control System) is developed in such a way that meets the requirements of movements control of all axis. To this end, the end-to-end (E2E) simulations are performed using Matlab software. In this simulation, the telescope is modeled with adequate precision, and the mechanical behavior of the model is tested. Then the results were confirmed with other software independently in some specific positions to make sure that the mechanical behavior is precise and valid. Then in the Matlab software, a controller is developed, and the simulated telescope is controlled. Tracking error is calculated with the presence of the simulated wind at the predicted speeds, and the performance of the MCS is then analyzed and the controller is improved. The tracking accuracy at different speeds is calculated and compared. The final controllers are tuned in Matlab, and errors and noises are applied in the simulation environment. A simple optical instrument is also simulated to estimate the image quality in the image plane. Then, after development of the structure of the telescope, in the integration phase, the appropriate controller is implemented in the real controller, and the real results are recorded from the telescope. During integration, a test camera is placed in the telescope to check the primary image quality and compare the results with the encoder's recorded data. In this paper, we discuss the design and development approach for axis controllers and provide the related results together with the future upgrades necessary for enhancing telescope performance.
Interlock and safety systems (ILS) play a significant role in the safe and reliable operations of cyber-physical systems such as optical telescopes. We performed a comprehensive hazard analysis to identify and classify various hazard issues and their severities together with the required actions. ILS has been deployed in reliable PLC platforms in the INO340 telescope to deliver all related functionalities in safe and stable conditions. Since ILS provides dedicated engineering panels for specific operators, we have also developed a specific Alarm/warning management system for the operator/astronomer applications in parallel. In this paper, we briefly present the INO340 telescope hazard analysis process, ILS architecture and development methodologies, and Alarm/warning management system design and implementation.
Observatories are often oversubscribed with observation proposals competing for available time slots at the best observing conditions. The role of the scheduling system is critical in such matters. In the INO340 telescope, a flexible scheduling system has been developed to make optimum programs for the observation nights to minimize the idle time of the INO340 telescope and decrease the cost of its mechanical motion while obtaining the best quality image results. A genetic algorithm has been employed to take into account the predictable factor affecting the observation conditions and obtain the optimal scheduling solution. This paper aims to present the short-term flexible scheduling design and implementation, the factors involved in the process, and the evaluation test results on how it improved the performance.
Iranian National Observatory (INO) project is approaching completion, with the first light of the flagship 3.4m optical telescope, INO340, planned for 2022. The observatory is located in central Iran on Mt Gargash at 3600m, benefiting from an excellent atmospheric seeing and suitable weather conditions. The observatory comprises the 3.4m optical telescope, the enclosure and auxiliaries, a service building hosting a control room, offices and mirror coating hall, a lens array system for wide-field monitoring, and a site monitoring station equipped with a weather station and an automatic seeing monitor, and essential utilities. The Alt-Az telescope benefits from hydrostatic bearing in the Azimuth, an active optics system to support and deform the primary mirror and a hexapod to position the secondary mirror. This report will provide an overview of the project development, manufacturing and installing the telescope and its enclosure.
The software architecture plays an important role in distributed control system of astronomical projects because many subsystems and components must work together in a consistent and reliable way. We have utilized a customized architecture design approach based on “4+1 view model" in order to design INOCS software architecture. In this paper, after reviewing the top level INOCS architecture, we present the software architecture model of INOCS inspired by “4+1 model”, for this purpose we provide logical, process, development, physical, and scenario views of our architecture using different UML diagrams and other illustrative visual charts. Each view presents INOCS software architecture from a different perspective. We finish the paper by science data operation of INO340 and the concluding remarks.
The INO340 stands for Iranian National Observatory, which is an Alt-Az reflecting optical telescope with 3.4m main
mirror diameter. At the moment, the conceptual design of telescope control system (TCS) has been finished and the
detailed design is developing. Distributed control system configuration has been selected for the architecture of TCS
design. TCS is responsible for the control of the telescope structure with its mirrors including 3 major subsystems:
TCSS, MCS and AOS. All subsystems of TCS are designed with an adequate safety subsystem. This paper presents the
TCS architecture of INOCS, and then it focuses on the requirements and the major functionalities of MCS. We provide
different analysis of MCS using related parameters such as wind effect, encoder resolution and etc. Based on the
simulation results the optimum sets of parameters and functions of different modules are concluded. The Alt balancing
and mirror cover sub-systems are also briefly presented. Finally, we present the evaluation results of MCS design based
on the pre-defined telescope requirements.
KEYWORDS: Telescopes, Control systems design, Telecommunications, Data communications, Optical instrument design, Control systems, Telescopes, Control systems, Optical instrument design, Computer architecture, Distributed computing, Observatories, Reliability
The INO340 Control System (INOCS) is being designed in terms of a distributed real-time architecture. The real-time
(soft and firm) nature of many processes inside INOCS causes the communication paradigm between its different
components to be time-critical and sensitive. For this purpose, we have chosen the Data Distribution Service (DDS)
standard as the communications middleware which is itself based on the publish-subscribe paradigm. In this paper, we
review and compare the main middleware types, and then we illustrate the middleware architecture of INOCS and its
specific requirements. Finally, we present the experimental results, performed to evaluate our middleware in order to
ensure that it meets our requirements.
In order to meet high image quality requirements of the INO340 telescope, one of the significant issues is the design and
development of the Telescope Control System (TCS) architecture. The architecture of TCS is designed based on
distributed control system configuration, which consists of four major subsystems: Telescope Control System supervisor
(TCSS), Dome Control System (DCS), Mount Control System (MCS), and Active Optic System (AOS). Another system
which plays important role in the hardware architecture is Interlock System (ILS), which is responsible for safety of
staff, telescope and data. ILS architecture is also designed, using distributed system method based on the fail-safe PLCs.
All subsystems of TCS are designed with an adequate safety subsystem, which are responsible for the safety of the
subsystem and communicates through reliable lines with the main controller, placed in control room. In this paper, we
explain the innovative architecture of Telescope Control System together with Interlock System and in brief show the
interface control issues between different subsystems.
The Iranian National Observatory telescope (INO340) is a 3.4m Alt-Az reflecting optical telescope under design and development. It is f/11 Ritchey-Chretien with a 0.3° field-of-view. INO340 telescope control system utilizes a distributed control system paradigm that includes four major systems: Telescope Control System (TCS), Observation System Supervisor (OSS), Interlock System (ILS) and Observatory Monitoring System (OMS). The control system software also employs 3-tiered hierarchical architecture. In this paper, after presenting the fundamental concepts and operations of the INO340 control system, we propose the distributed control system software architecture including technical and functional architecture, middleware and infrastructure design and finally the software development process.
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