gbt a ctive s urface u pgrade perrin kurtz jeffrey smith gregory thurston charles allen taylor

GBT ACTIVE SURFACE UPGRADEPerrin Kurtz

Jeffrey Smith

Gregory Thurston

Charles Allen Taylor

ROBERT C. BYRD GREEN BANK TELESCOPE

Few Facts

World’s largest fully steerable radio telescope

485 feet tall

17 million pounds

Located in heart of the U.S. National Radio Quiet Zone

Used to detect signals from outer space

ACTIVE SURFACE DETAILS

2.3 Acre Parabola Shaped Collecting Area

2004 surface panels 2209 actuators

Primary Reflector is an off axis segment of paraboloid

CURRENT SYSTEM

oLinux Box

oMV167 VME Master Control Computer

oTwo MV167 VME Slave Computers

o8 Intelligent I/O Processors

o140 H-Bridge digital output modules

oH-Bridge paired with LVDT module

ACTIVE SURFACE UPGRADEo Design and develop an updated control system

o VME computers and I/O cards replaced

o IIOP interface will be replaced

o H-Drive and LVDT modules replaced by microcontroller based modules

CONTROL SYSTEM PROTOCOLS

Wide Commercial Acceptance

Components highly reliable

Readily available

DETAILED UPGRADE PATH [ STAGE 1: CONTROL

MODULE ]

o Select microcontroller platform

o Development of LVDT/H-Drive modules

o Development of associated control software

DETAILED UPGRADE PATH [ STAGE 2: SIB REPLACEMENT ]

Design (SIB) Standard Interface Board

The same microcontroller from stage 1 utilized

DETAILED UPGRADE PATH [ STAGE 3 ]

CURRENT VME SLAVE MODIFICATION

o Modification of existing Master and Slave computer software

DETAILED UPGRADE PATH [ STAGE 4: DEPLOYMENT ]

Deployment period Existing software interface to the

hardware will be modified to talk to either the old control hardware or the new

DELIVERABLES

o Demonstrating control of a single actuator using new interface

o Demonstration of monitor and control

CONCLUSION

o Deter downtime of facility

o Make repairs easier

o Upgrade past due

SOURCES:NRAO. GBT SCIENCE. N.D. WEB. 21 OCTOBER 2014.

O’NEIL, K., AND D.J. PISANO. “THE ROBERT C. BYRD GREEN BANK TELESCOPE.” AIP CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS (2008): 279-285.

WHITEIS, PETE. ACTIVE SURFACE UPGRADE PROPOSAL. 20 MARCH 2012. PDF. 21 OCTOBER 2014

Questions?