J. Gordon Robertson,1 Michael J. Ireland,2,3 William J. Tango,1 Peter G. Tuthill,1 Benjamin A. Warrington,2 Yitping Kok,1 A. C. Rizzuto,2 Anthony Cheetham,1 Andrew P. Jacob1
1Sydney Institute for Astronomy, The Univ. of Sydney (Australia) 2Macquarie Univ. (Australia) 3Australian Astronomical Observatory (Australia)
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This paper presents an overview of recent progress at the Sydney University Stellar Interferometer (SUSI). Development
of the third-generation PAVO beam combiner has continued. The MUSCA beam combiner for high-precision
differential astrometry using visible light phase referencing is under active development and will be the subject of a
separate paper. Because SUSI was one of the pioneering interferometric instruments, some of its original systems are old
and have become difficult to maintain. We are undertaking a campaign of modernization of systems: (1) an upgrade of
the Optical Path Length Compensator IR laser metrology counter electronics from a custom system which uses an
obsolete single-board computer to a modern one based on an FPGA interfaced to a Linux computer - in addition to
improving maintainability, this upgrade should allow smoother motion and higher carriage speeds; (2) the replacement of
the aged single-board computer local controllers for the siderostats and the longitudinal dispersion compensator has been
completed; (3) the large beam reducing telescope has been replaced with a pair of smaller units with separate accessible
foci. Examples of scientific results are also included.
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J. Gordon Robertson, Michael J. Ireland, William J. Tango, Peter G. Tuthill, Benjamin A. Warrington, Yitping Kok, A. C. Rizzuto, Anthony Cheetham, Andrew P. Jacob, "Science and technology progress at the Sydney University Stellar Interferometer," Proc. SPIE 8445, Optical and Infrared Interferometry III, 84450N (12 September 2012); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.924946