SOAR telescope mount control unit upgrade project: introduction and status report

Braulio Canciño; Michael Warner; Manuel Martínez; Rolando Cantarutti; Peter Moore; Norman Díaz; Omar Estay; Guillermo Dubó; Victor Aguirre; Rodrigo Leiva; Jonathan Elias; Cesar Briceño

doi:10.1117/12.2309954

6 July 2018 SOAR telescope mount control unit upgrade project: introduction and status report

Braulio Canciño, Michael Warner, Manuel Martínez, Rolando Cantarutti, Peter Moore, Norman Díaz, Omar Estay, Guillermo Dubó, Victor Aguirre, Rodrigo Leiva, Jonathan Elias, Cesar Briceño

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 10700, Ground-based and Airborne Telescopes VII; 107005G (2018) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2309954
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2018, Austin, Texas, United States

Abstract

The Southern Astrophysical Research (SOAR) Telescope is a 4.1 meter aperture telescope situated in Cerro Pachon, IV Region, Chile. The telescope works from the atmospheric cut-off in the blue (320 nm) to the near infrared and has been designed to deliver the highest possible angular resolution at optical wavelengths. The telescope has an altazimuth mount which is controlled by the Mount Control Unit (MCU) system.

The SOAR Mount Control Unit Upgrade Project seeks to replace the current MCU in the SOAR telescope. The new control unit will be based on the National Instruments cRIO-9039 controller, which will allow to improve the telemetry, improve fault detection and use new digital control techniques.

This will allow a more compact and robust MCU. This paper introduces the project, shows the control architecture and the current status of the new MCU implementation.

Citation Download Citation

Braulio Canciño, Michael Warner, Manuel Martínez, Rolando Cantarutti, Peter Moore, Norman Díaz, Omar Estay, Guillermo Dubó, Victor Aguirre, Rodrigo Leiva, Jonathan Elias, and Cesar Briceño "SOAR telescope mount control unit upgrade project: introduction and status report", Proc. SPIE 10700, Ground-based and Airborne Telescopes VII, 107005G (6 July 2018); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2309954

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