GBT A CTIVE S URFACE U PGRADE Perrin Kurtz Jeffrey Smith Gregory Thurston Charles Allen Taylor

R OBERT C. B YRD G REEN B ANK T ELESCOPE 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

A CTIVE S URFACE D ETAILS

C URRENT S YSTEM o Linux Box o MV167 VME Master Control Computer o Two MV167 VME Slave Computers o 8 Intelligent I/O Processors o 140 H-Bridge digital output modules o H-Bridge paired with LVDT module

A CTIVE S URFACE U PGRADE o 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

C ONTROL S YSTEM P ROTOCOLS Wide Commercial Acceptance Components highly reliable Readily available

D ETAILED UPGRADE P ATH [ S TAGE 1: C ONTROL M ODULE ] o Select microcontroller platform o Development of LVDT/H-Drive modules o Development of associated control software

D ETAILED UPGRADE P ATH [ S TAGE 2: SIB R EPLACEMENT ] Design (SIB) Standard Interface Board The same microcontroller from stage 1 utilized

D ETAILED U PGRADE P ATH [ S TAGE 3 ] C URRENT VME S LAVE M ODIFICATION o Modification of existing Master and Slave computer software

D ETAILED UPGRADE P ATH [ S TAGE 4: D EPLOYMENT ] Deployment period Existing software interface to the hardware will be modified to talk to either the old control hardware or the new

D ELIVERABLES o Demonstrating control of a single actuator using new interface o Demonstration of monitor and control

C ONCLUSION o Deter downtime of facility o Make repairs easier o Upgrade past due

S OURCES : NRAO. GBT S CIENCE. N. D. W EB. 21 O CTOBER O’N EIL, K., AND D.J. P ISANO. “ THE R OBERT C. B YRD G REEN BANK TELESCOPE.” AIP CONFERENCE P ROCEEDINGS (2008): W HITEIS, P ETE. A CTIVE S URFACE U PGRADE P ROPOSAL. 20 M ARCH PDF. 21 O CTOBER 2014 Questions?