467 research outputs found
The VST telescope control software in the ESO VLT environment
The VST (VLT Survey Telescope) is a 2.6 m Alt-Az telescope to be installed at
Mount Paranal in Chile, in the European Southern Observatory (ESO) site. The
VST is a wide-field imaging facility planned to supply databases for the ESO
Very Large Telescope (VLT) science and carry out stand-alone observations in
the UV to I spectral range. This paper will focus mainly on control software
aspects, describing the VST software architecture in the context of the whole
ESO VLT control concept. The general architecture and the main components of
the control software will be described.Comment: 3 pages, 2 figures, ICALEPCS 2001 Conference, PSN#THAP05
Integration of the VIMOS control system
The VIRMOS consortium of French and Italian Institutes (PI: O. Le Fevre,
co-PI: G. Vettolani) is manufacturing two wide field imaging multi-object
spectrographs for the European Southern Observatory Very Large Telescope (VLT),
with emphasis on the ability to carry over spectroscopic surveys of large
numbers of sources: the VIsible Multi-Object Spectrograph, VIMOS, and the Near
InfraRed Multi-Object Spectrograph, NIRMOS. There are 52 motors to be
controlled in parallel in the spectrograph, making VIMOS a complex machine to
be handled. This paper will focus on the description of the control system,
designed in the ESO VLT standard control concepts, and on some integration
issues and problem solving strategies.Comment: 3 pages, 3 figures, ICALEPCS 2001 Conference, PSN#TUBT00
A Neural Tool for Ground-Based Telescope Tracking control
Neural Network models (NN) have emerged as important components for applications of adaptive control theories. Their basic generalization capability, based on acquired knowledge, together with execution rapidity and correlation ability between input stimula, are basic attributes to consider NN as an extremely powerful tool for on-line control of complex systems. By a control system point of view, not only accuracy and speed, but also, in some cases, a high level of adaptation capability is required in order to match all working phases of the whole system during its lifetime. This is particularly remarkable for a new generation ground-based telescope control system. Infact, strong changes in terms of system speed and instantaneous position error tolerance are necessary, especially in case of trajectory disturb induced by wind shake. The classical control scheme adopted in such a system is based on the Proportional Integral (PI) filter, already applied and implemented on a large amount of new generation telescopes, considered as a standard in this technological environment. In this paper we introduce the concept of a new approach, the Neural Variable Structure Proportional Integral, (NVSPI), related to the implementation of a standard Multi Layer Perceptron (MLP) network in new generation ground-based Alt-Az telescope control systems. Its main purpose is to improve adaptive capability of the Variable Structure Proportional Integral model, (VSPI), an already innovative control scheme recently introduced by authors [1], based on a modified version of classical PI control model, in terms of flexibility and accuracy of the dynamic response range also in presence of wind noise effects. The realization of a powerful well tested and validated telescope model simulation system allowed the possibility to directly compare performances of the two control schemes on simulated tracking trajectories, revealing extremely encouraging results in terms of NVSPI control robustness and reliability
Ground-based telescope pointing and tracking optimization using a neural controller
Neural network models (NN) have emerged as important components for applications of adaptive control theories. Their basic generalization capability, based on acquired knowledge, together with execution rapidity and correlation ability between input stimula, are basic attributes to consider NN as an extremely powerful tool for on-line control of complex systems. By a control system point of view, not only accuracy and speed, but also, in some cases, a high level of adaptation capability is required in order to match all working phases of the whole system during its lifetime. This is particularly remarkable for a new generation ground-based telescope control system. Infact, strong changes in terms of system speed and instantaneous position error tolerance are necessary, especially in case of trajectory disturb induced by wind shake. The classical control scheme adopted in such a system is based on the proportional integral (PI) filter, already applied and implemented on a large amount of new generation telescopes, considered as a standard in this technological environment. In this paper we introduce the concept of a new approach, the neural variable structure proportional integral, (NVSPI), related to the implementation of a standard multi layer perceptron network in new generation ground-based Alt-Az telescope control systems. Its main purpose is to improve adaptive capability of the Variable structure proportional integral model, an already innovative control scheme recently introduced by authors [Proc SPIE (1997)], based on a modified version of classical PI control model, in terms of flexibility and accuracy of the dynamic response range also in presence of wind noise effects. The realization of a powerful well tested and validated telescope model simulation system allowed the possibility to directly compare performances of the two control schemes on simulated tracking trajectories, revealing extremely encouraging results in terms of NVSPI control robustness and reliability. © 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved
Fuzzy Authentication using Rank Distance
Fuzzy authentication allows authentication based on the fuzzy matching of two
objects, for example based on the similarity of two strings in the Hamming
metric, or on the similiarity of two sets in the set difference metric. Aim of
this paper is to show other models and algorithms of secure fuzzy
authentication, which can be performed using the rank metric. A few schemes are
presented which can then be applied in different scenarios and applications.Comment: to appear in Cryptography and Physical Layer Security, Lecture Notes
in Electrical Engineering, Springe
Software reverse engineering and development: the VST TCS case
The 2.6 m VST telescope is going to be installed at Cerro Paranal (Chile) as a powerful instrument for optical surveys. It is a joint project between the INAF - Osservatorio Astronomico di Capodimonte (OAC) and ESO. This paper deals with Telescope Control Software (TCS) technical aspects and software engineering design and development strategies
Molecular characterization of bacteria associated with the trophosome and the tube of Lamellibrachia sp., a siboglinid annelid from cold seeps in the eastern Mediterranean
Specimens of Lamellibrachia (Annelida: Siboglinidae) were recently discovered at cold seeps in the eastern Mediterranean. In this study, we have investigated the phylogeny and function of intracellular bacterial symbionts inhabiting the trophosome of specimens of Lamellibrachia sp. from the Amon mud volcano, as well as the bacterial assemblages associated with their tube. The dominant intracellular symbiont of Lamellibrachia sp. is a gammaproteobacterium closely related to other sulfide-oxidizing tubeworm symbionts. In vivo uptake experiments show that the tubeworm relies on sulfide for its metabolism, and does not utilize methane. Bacterial communities associated with the tube form biofilms and occur from the anterior to the posterior end of the tube. The diversity of 16S rRNA gene phylotypes includes representatives from the same divisions previously identified from the tube of the vent species Riftia pachyptila, and others commonly found at seeps and vents
OmegaWINGS: OmegaCAM@VST observations of WINGS galaxy clusters
The Wide-field Nearby Galaxy-cluster Survey (WINGS) is a wide-field
multi-wavelength survey of X-ray selected clusters at z =0.04-0.07. The
original 34'x34' WINGS field-of- view has now been extended to cover a 1 sq.deg
field with both photometry and spectroscopy. In this paper we present the
Johnson B and V-band OmegaCAM/VST observations of 46 WINGS clusters, together
with the data reduction, data quality and Sextractor photometric catalogs.
With a median seeing of 1arcs in both bands, our 25-minutes exposures in each
band typically reach the 50% completeness level at V=23.1 mag. The quality of
the astrometric and photometric accuracy has been verified by comparison with
the 2MASS as well as with SDSS astrometry, and SDSS and previous WINGS imaging.
Star/galaxy separation and sky-subtraction procedure have been tested comparing
with previous WINGS data.
The Sextractor photometric catalogues are publicly available at the CDS, and
will be included in the next release of the WINGS database on the VO together
with the OmegaCAM reduced images. These data form the basis for a large ongoing
spectroscopic campaign with AAOmega/AAT and is being employed for a variety of
studies. [abridged]Comment: submitted to A&
SUDARE-VOICE variability-selection of Active Galaxies in the Chandra Deep Field South and the SERVS/SWIRE region
One of the most peculiar characteristics of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) is
their variability over all wavelengths. This property has been used in the past
to select AGN samples and is foreseen to be one of the detection techniques
applied in future multi-epoch surveys, complementing photometric and
spectroscopic methods.
In this paper, we aim to construct and characterise an AGN sample using a
multi-epoch dataset in the r band from the SUDARE-VOICE survey.
Our work makes use of the VST monitoring program of an area surrounding the
Chandra Deep Field South to select variable sources. We use data spanning a six
month period over an area of 2 square degrees, to identify AGN based on their
photometric variability.
The selected sample includes 175 AGN candidates with magnitude r < 23 mag. We
distinguish different classes of variable sources through their lightcurves, as
well as X-ray, spectroscopic, SED, optical and IR information overlapping with
our survey.
We find that 12% of the sample (21/175) is represented by SN. Of the
remaining sources, 4% (6/154) are stars, while 66% (102/154) are likely AGNs
based on the available diagnostics. We estimate an upper limit to the
contamination of the variability selected AGN sample of about 34%, but we point
out that restricting the analysis to the sources with available
multi-wavelength ancillary information, the purity of our sample is close to
80% (102 AGN out of 128 non-SN sources with multi-wavelength diagnostics). Our
work thus confirms the efficiency of the variability selection method in
agreement with our previous work on the COSMOS field; in addition we show that
the variability approach is roughly consistent with the infrared selection.Comment: Published in A & A, 15 pages, 6 figure
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