The Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT) is a complex observatory with thirty major subsystems, many low-level subsystems, components, external contracts, and interfaces. Almost all subsystems require software and controls to operate. An important goal for GMT is to have software and control subsystems that are easy to develop, test, integrate, operate, and maintain. To provide consistency across all controlled subsystems, a set of standards and a reference architecture are provided. Software components are specified using a Domain Specific Language (DSL), which enables code-generation in several languages and automatic validation of architectural conformance and interfaces. Some of the main observatory control subsystems have already been modeled using this approach, and initial implementations are currently being tested. The most advanced control subsystem is the primary mirror Device Control System (M1 DCS), which is currently under testing before the integration of the optical mirror in the test cell. This paper describes the status of the GMT control system, the main lessons learned, and the future steps in the development of the GMT control system.
Large aperture telescopes require active control to maintain focus, collimation, and correct figure errors in the Primary Mirror (M1) due to gravity and thermal deformations. The Giant Magellan Telescope M1 active optics and thermal control systems called the M1 Subsystem (M1S) consists of the hardware and software that controls the shape, position, and thermal state of each mirror segment. A full-scale off-axis M1S prototype called the Test Cell is being fabricated and tested. The primary objective of the Test Cell is to mitigate risk by verifying that the mirror figure and position can be controlled within the image quality error budget and that the thermal control system vibration is within its system level allocation. The M1S components for the active optics support system have been fabricated, assembled, tested at the component level, and integrated into the Test Cell. The team completed the Test Readiness Review and started system level testing with the M1 Device Control Software. Lessons learned throughout the component and integrated system testing of the Test Cell will be incorporated into the M1S design for the production phase. This paper will summarize the progress of the Test Cell and results presented at the Test Readiness Review.
The Primary Mirror Device Control System (M1 DCS) is one of the many Device Control Systems (DCS) included in the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT) control system and is responsible for the overall control and operation of the GMT primary mirror segments. The primary mirror is composed of seven 8.4m diameter segments, six off-axis and one in the center. The active support system of each segment comprises 170 support actuators for the off-axis segments and 154 actuators for the center segment to control the mirror figure, and 6 hardpoints to control the six degrees of freedom of rigid body motion. The software design follows a component model-based architecture, implemented using the GMT core software frameworks. Software components of the M1 DCS are specified using a custom Domain Specific Language (DSL) and inherit all key features of the core components such as communication ports, default behaviors, telemetry, logs, alarms, faults, state machines and engineering user-interface without the need of a separate implementation. The communication between the real time software and the controlled devices is implemented by an EtherCAT Fieldbus in a ring topology. This master-slave standard protocol enables the control system to reach 100 Hz closed loop rate for active support control. This paper describes the software of the M1 DCS, the tests performed with different software and hardware simulators, and the strategy to ensure software readiness with the final optical mirror.
Large aperture telescopes require active control to maintain focus, collimation, and correct figure errors in the Primary Mirror (M1) due to gravity and thermal deformations. The Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT) M1 active optics subsystem consists of the hardware and software that controls the shape, position, and thermal state of each mirror segment. Pneumatic force actuators support the weight and control the surface figure while linear position actuators control the six solid-body degrees of freedom of each mirror segment. A forced convection system comprised of fan-heat exchanger units control the mean temperature and thermal gradient of each mirror segment. The M1 Subsystem design leverages existing technology and employs innovations driven by more demanding requirements compared to heritage systems. These differences led to the identification of three key GMT project risks: determining if the vibration environment induced by the fan-heat exchanger units and the error in the applied influence functions required to shape the mirror are within image quality budget allocations. The third risk is incorporating damping to the force actuators to meet the seismic requirements. GMT is currently mitigating these risks by integrating a fully functional off-axis M1 Test Cell at the University of Arizona’s Richard F. Caris Mirror Lab. This paper summarizes our requirements and design presented at the M1 Subsystem Preliminary Design Review in June 2019, describes our risk burn-down strategy for the M1 Subsystem, and presents our integration and test progress of the M1 Test Cell.
The Observatory Control System (OCS) for the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT) includes all the software and hardware components necessary to control and monitor the GMT optical and electromechanical subsystems and to safely and efficiently operate the GMT observatory. The OCS architecture follows both a component-based and a model-based approaches. Software components are specified using a Domain Specific Language (DSL) which enables codegeneration in several languages and automatic validation of architectural conformance and interfaces. This paper describes the agile development process to generate the final software components from the specifications and the status of the whole development effort.
KEYWORDS: Mirrors, Actuators, Control systems, Telescopes, Fluctuations and noise, Interfaces, Sensors, Control systems design, Prototyping, Calibration
This paper describes the design, status, and test program for the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT) Primary Mirror Subsystem (M1). It consists of the mirror cells, positioning system, support systems, and thermal control system. The seven 8.4m mirror segments are excluded from this paper because they are considered a separate subsystem of the M1 System.
The M1 Subsystem leverages heritage design of similar telescope systems; for example, the Magellan telescopes and the Large Binocular Telescope. The M1 Subsystem incorporates pneumatic force actuators, hardpoints, and a thermal control ventilation system.
Design developments have been introduced to address the challenging levels of performance and unique requirements needed by the GMT telescope. Imaging goals necessitate an increase in mirror support performance, figure control, and higher-levels of thermal control. Additionally, there are challenges associated with matching and tracking the relative position of the seven mirror segments for mirror phasing. The design of the static support system needs to protect the mirrors from loads transmitted through the structure during an earthquake. Finally, the telescope design with interchangeable off-axis mirror cells necessitate mirror cells and support components that function under any range of gravitational vector orientations
. A full-scale Test Cell prototype is being constructed including production versions of mirror cell components to test and validate the M1 subsystem design. A Mirror Simulator will be used with the Test Cell to validate the M1 Control System. Later, a primary mirror segment will be used with the Test Cell to perform optical tests at the University of Arizona.
Access to the requested content is limited to institutions that have purchased or subscribe to SPIE eBooks.
You are receiving this notice because your organization may not have SPIE eBooks access.*
*Shibboleth/Open Athens users─please
sign in
to access your institution's subscriptions.
To obtain this item, you may purchase the complete book in print or electronic format on
SPIE.org.
INSTITUTIONAL Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.
PERSONAL Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.