TALON - The Telescope Alert Operation Network System : intelligent linking of distributed autonomous robotic telescopes

Conference · Thu Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 2004

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1117/12.549438· OSTI ID:977654

White, R R ^[1]; Wren, J ^[2]; Davis, H R ^[3]; Galassi, M C ^[4]; Starr, D L ^[5]; Vestrand, W T ^[6]; Wozniak, P R ^[7]

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1. Robert R.
2. James
3. Heath R.
4. Mark C.
5. Dan L.
6. W. Thomas
7. Przemyslaw R.

The internet has brought about great change in the astronomical community, but this interconnectivity is just starting to be exploited for use in instrumentation. Utilizing the internet for communicating between distributed astronomical systems is still in its infancy, but it already shows great potential. Here we present an example of a distributed network of telescopes that performs more efficienfiy in synchronous operation than as individual instruments. RAPid Telescopes for Optical Response (RAPTOR) is a system of telescopes at LANL that has intelligent intercommunication, combined with wide-field optics, temporal monitoring software, and deep-field follow-up capability all working in closed-loop real-time operation. The Telescope ALert Operations Network (TALON) is a network server that allows intercommunication of alert triggers from external and internal resources and controls the distribution of these to each of the telescopes on the network. TALON is designed to grow, allowing any number of telescopes to be linked together and communicate. Coupled with an intelligent alert client at each telescope, it can analyze and respond to each distributed TALON alert based on the telescopes needs and schedule.

• Research Organization: Los Alamos National Laboratory
• Sponsoring Organization: DOE
• OSTI ID: 977654
• Report Number(s): LA-UR-04-3582
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION
ALARM SYSTEMS
DATA TRANSMISSION
INTERNET
MONITORING
TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT
TELESCOPES