Edward Pier (Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii), K.C. Chambers (Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii), and the Pan-STARRS Team (Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii)
Keywords: Pan-STARRS
Abstract:
An ultimate goal for the final Pan-STARRS array (PS4) is fully robotic facility operations. To facilitate that development, PS1 is a remotely operable observatory that includes many features of the future robotic Pan-STARRS. Both remote and robotic operational concepts require sufficient knowledge of environmental conditions to support survey scheduling, and this requires an auxiliary instrumentation suite to measure meteorological and atmospheric conditions in addition to the control systems for the observatory and telescope. For the Pan-STARRS PS1 prototype, the monitoring, control, and summit subsystem coordination are handled by the HW/SW within the Observatory, Telescope, and Instrumentation Subsystem (OTIS). In this talk, we present the functional capabilities of OTIS, and the HW and SW architectures designed to meet the subsystem operational requirements. OTIS performance through early commissioning is described as well as the future plans to incorporate the Pan-STARRS scheduler into system operations.
Date of Conference: September 10-14, 2006
Track: Pan-STARRS