A versatile scheduler for automatic telescopes

Sabine Moisan, Michel Boer, Carole Thiebaut, Fabien Tricoire, Monique Thonnat

Publication: Chapter in book/Conference proceedingContribution to conference proceedings

Abstract

We present a versatile scheduler for automated telescope observations and operations. The main objective is to optimize telescope use, while taking alerts (e.g., Gamma-Ray Bursts), weather conditions, and mechanical failures into account. Based on our previous experiment, we propose a two steps approach. First, a daily module develops plan schemes during the day that offer several possible scenarii for a night and provide alternatives to handle problems. Secondly, a nightly module uses a reactive technique --driven by events from different sensors-- to select at any moment the "best" block of observations to launch from the current plan scheme. In addition to a classical scheduling problem under resource constraints, we also want to provide dynamic reconfiguration facilities. The proposed approach is general enough to be applied to any other type of telescope, provided that reactivity is important.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationObservatory Operations to Optimize Scientific Return III
Editors Proceedings of the SPIE 4844
Place of PublicationWaikoloa, Hawaii, United States
Pages262 - 272
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2002

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