Track: Internet of Things |
| Internet of Telescopes: Development of a Passively Safe Network of Small Telescopes Connected Using IBM Internet of Things Protocols (IoT) |
| The goal of Cognitive Telescope Network (CTN) is to collect the data from a network of small telescopes, evaluate, and classify that data to identify the most likely candidates for the transient objects being hunted and deliver the results to the astronomical community for further analysis by larger telescopes for directed and focused observations. This would be a challenging task with an operator present at each telescope. Our goal is to develop a network that can operate remotely and safely without human intervention. This project has three components: Remote Command and Control from IBM Watson; Safety Analysis of the Commands; and Local Control of the Telescope and Ancillary Hardware. We have teams working in each of these areas. The Remote Command and Control Team is using the MQTT (Message Queue Telemetry Transport) protocol for IoT communication. to build the infrastructure necessary to have the IoT Platform communicate with Safety Analysis Software on the local server. The Safety Analysis Team has written software that determines whether the remote command is a valid request. If the command is a valid request the Safety Analysis program attempts to develop a safe pathway through which the telescope can move to conduct measurements on the requested object. If the Safety Analysis cannot move the telescope safely, it reports back to Watson that it is unavailable for that specific measurement. If it can, it commands the Local Control Software to move the telescope through the safest pathway to the requested object. The Local Control Software must be developed to work with the control protocols for any available vendor. Once measurements have commenced, the Safety Analysis program continues to monitor the telescope to make certain that no mechanical limits are reached. The data acquisition is halted when the limits are approached. |
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| Presentation Video |
| Presentation Notes |
| CTN-The-Internet-of-Telescopes.pdf |