A Study on Generic Models of Control Systems of Large Astronomical Telescopes

Abstract

The control system is an essential and important part of an astronomical telescope. For large telescopes, an efficient control system is vital for successful observations. In this paper, an exhaustive study of generic models of control systems for large telescopes and a wide range of their common requirements are presented. This paper also discusses a basic hierarchical structure, workflow model, and telescope control model based on object-oriented analysis, as well as the main data flow model of a general purpose telescope. After analysis of these models, a layered and orthogonal architecture, which has a wide range of adaptability, is proposed. The design of a concrete architecture based on the message bus, which is used in the LAMOST (Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fiber Spectroscopy Telescope) project and FAST (The Five-Hundred-Meter Aperture Spherical Radio Telescope) project, is discussed. The design of the control systems proposed in this paper can serve as a useful reference in the construction of large telescopes.