Autonomous Observations in Antarctica with AMICA

The Antarctic Multiband Infrared Camera (AMICA) is a double channel camera operating in the 2-28 micron infrared domain (KLMNQ bands) that will allow to characterize and exploit the exceptional advantages for Astronomy, expected from Dome C in Antarctica. The development of the camera control system is at its final stage. After the investigation of appropriate solutions against the critical environment, a reliable instrumentation has been developed. It is currently being integrated and tested to ensure the correct execution of automatic operations. Once it will be mounted on the International Robotic Antarctic Infrared Telescope (IRAIT), AMICA and its equipment will contribute to the accomplishment of a fully autonomous observatory.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figures, Advances in Astronomy Journal, Special Issue "Robotic Astronomy", Accepted 11 February 201

Recent GRBs observed with the 1.23m CAHA telescope and the status of its upgrade

We report on optical observations of Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs) followed up by our collaboration with the 1.23m telescope located at the Calar Alto observatory. The 1.23m telescope is an old facility, currently undergoing upgrades to enable fully autonomous response to GRB alerts. We discuss the current status of the control system upgrade of the 1.23m telescope. The upgrade is being done by the ARAE our group, based on members of IAA (Instituto de Astrofiisica de Andalucia). Currently the ARAE group is responsible to develop the BOOTES network of robotic telescopes based on the Remote Telescope System, 2nd Version (RTS2), which controls the available instruments and interacts with the EPICS database of Calar Alto. Currently the telescope can run fully autonomously or under observer supervision using RTS2. The fast reaction response mode for GRB reaction (typically with response times below 3 minutes from the GRB onset) still needs some development and testing. The telescope is usually operated in legacy interactive mode, with periods of supervised autonomous runs under RTS2. We show the preliminary results of several GRBs followed up with observer intervention during the testing phase of the 1.23m control software upgrade.Comment: 15 pages, 7 figures. Accepted for publication in the Special issue "Robotic Astronomy" of Advances in Astronomy. It includes two iterations with the referee

Fatigue Monitoring System

This work provides an innovative solution for monitoring fatigue for users behind workstations. A web camera was adjusted to work in near infrared range and a system of 880 nm IR diodes was implemented to create an IR vision system to localize and track the eye pupils. The software developed monitors and tracks eyes for signs of fatigue by measuring PERCLOS. The software developed runs on the workstation and is designed to draw limited computational power, so as to not interfere with the user task. To overcome low-frame rate imposed by the hardware limitations and to improve real time monitoring, two-phases detection and tacking algorithm is implemented. The proposed system successfully monitors fatigue at a rate of 8 fps. The system is well suited to monitor users in command centers, flight control centers, airport traffic dispatches, military operation and command centers, etc., but the work can be extended to wearable devices and other environments

Fatigue Monitoring System

This work provides an innovative solution for monitoring fatigue for users behind workstations. A web camera was adjusted to work in near infrared range and a system of 880 nm IR diodes was implemented to create an IR vision system to localize and track the eye pupils. The software developed monitors and tracks eyes for signs of fatigue by measuring PERCLOS. The software developed runs on the workstation and is designed to draw limited computational power, so as to not interfere with the user task. To overcome low-frame rate imposed by the hardware limitations and to improve real time monitoring, two-phases detection and tacking algorithm is implemented. The proposed system successfully monitors fatigue at a rate of 8 fps. The system is well suited to monitor users in command centers, flight control centers, airport traffic dispatches, military operation and command centers, etc., but the work can be extended to wearable devices and other environments