OVLA prototype telescope control system

A prototype telescope for the optical very large array (OVLA) project is under construction at the Observatoire de Haute-Provence (OHP), France. The OVLA will b a long- baseline optical interferometer of 27 mobile 1.5m- telescopes. In 2000, the functioning of the OVLA prototype will be tested outdoors alongsite the two other telescopes of the GI2T to form a 3-telescope interferometer. Firstly, we briefly present the design of this telescope highlighting its unusual characteristics, which include a spherical mount and a thin active primary mirror. We had to study a specific control system for driving mount and for the active mirror cell. Hardware and software design of these two systems are also presented, as well as some test results. Lastly, we propose a complete electronic architecture for the fully equipped OVLA prototype telescope. The telescope system is partitioned into elementary distinct subsystems each controlled by a small embedded calculator linked to each other by an addressable serial bus. With this kind of architecture, the telescope is fully autonomous. Thus the future installation of the OVLA prototype telescope at the GI2T site should be easier, as well as the installation of a large interferometer such as OVLA where 27 telescopes are expected.© (1998) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.