W.M. Keck Observatory

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The next generation of EPICS at theW.M. Keck Observatory

Presented by Jimmy Johnson, Kevin Tsubota

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The Keck Telescope x2The Keck Telescope x2

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The Keck Telescope x2The Keck Telescope x2

• 8 Stories Tall• 300 tons• Az-El mount• 10m segmented Mirror• 36 segments

W.M. Keck Observatory

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Overview - definite synergy, common architectureOverview - definite synergy, common architecture

• Two major projects underway– Telescope Control System Upgrade (TCSU)– Next Generation Adaptive Optics (NGAO)

• TCS Upgrade project undertaken to: (1) address hardware and software obsolescence of key subsystems, (2) improve telescope pointing and tracking performance (3) improve system reliability and reduce downtime

• The goals of the Next Generation Adaptive Optics upgrade for WMKO is to increase strehl performance, up to ~80% in K-band, increase sky coverage with multiple lasers and tomography, and improve angular resolution, sensitivity, and contrast.

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Current TCS & AO ArchitectureCurrent TCS & AO Architecture

• Current TCS system based on the following platforms / architectures – VME based MVME-2304 PPC processor– VxWorks V5.3.1 operating system– EPICS R3.13.10 framework and tools

• Display manager (dm)• Schematic capture tool (xschedit)• Alarm handler (alh)

– Sun Workstations, X11/Motif• Some R3.14.9 unixIOCs in operation for cryo and

ion pump monitoring… • AO is basically the same with some R3.13.0Beta12

and Frc40 68K processors • No CA Gateways

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ExplorationsExplorations

EPICS, Common Services Framework (ATST CSF)TANGO 3, Alma Common Software (ACS) 2, JPL Real-Time Control (RTC)

PVSS, VSystem, iFix (ITER, ASKAP)

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Work to dateWork to date

• R3.14.11 running as SoftIOC on CentOS

• Telescope Pointing Kernel (new TCSpk, TPK)– Separated Pointing Kernel to standalone softIOC– Simple proof of concept with TCSpk/tpk– Use of PCAS as possible alternate to softIOC

• Converted Keck Barcode reader to use Asyn– With asynSerial

• Looking at additional drivers (drvAscii, ABDF1..)

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Areas of interestAreas of interest

• Linux deployment• PXI and Ethernet IO • Supporting complex data types (i.e. structured

data)• Built-in request/response (RPC) type of

communication• UI, Tools, CSS• Motor records and PMAC integration• Support for bulk data transfer• Possible use of DDS for true pub/sub events

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Areas of interestAreas of interest

• Planned updates in 2 to 3 year time frame

• Collaboration opportunities

• Relational database integration