KEYWORDS: Software development, Telescopes, Data modeling, Computer architecture, Control systems, Atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes, Data acquisition, Data archive systems, Design, Cameras
The Astrophysics with Italian Replicating Technology Mirrors (ASTRI) Mini-Array is an international collaboration led by the Italian National Institute for Astrophysics (INAF) and devoted to imaging atmospheric Cherenkov light for very-high γ-ray astrophysics, detection of cosmic-rays, and stellar Hambury-Brown intensity interferometry. The project is deploying an array of nine dual-mirror aplanatic imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes of 4-m class at the Teide Observatory on Tenerife in the Canary Islands. Based on SiPM sensors, the focal plane camera covers an unprecedented field of view of 10.5 deg in diameter. The array is most sensitive to γ-ray radiation above 1 up to 200 TeV, with an angular resolution of 3 arcmin, better than the current particle arrays, such as LHAASO and HAWC. We describe the overall software architecture of the ASTRI Mini-Array and the software engineering approach for its development. The software covers the entire life cycle of the Mini-Array, from scheduling to remote operations, data acquisition, and processing until data dissemination. The on-site control software allows remote array operations from different locations, including automated reactions to critical conditions. All data are collected every night, and the array trigger is managed post facto. The high-speed networking connection between the observatory site and the Data Center in Rome allows for ready data availability for stereoscopic event reconstruction, data processing, and almost real-time science products generation.
The ASTRI Mini-Array is an international project led by INAF to construct and operate nine Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes with the scientific goals of studying several classes of objects possibly emitting at energies higher than some TeVs and of performing stellar intensity interferometry observations. The telescopes array will be installed at the Teide Observatory (Tenerife, Spain). A Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition (SCADA) software system will be developed to manage the ASTRI Mini-Array allowing its control remotely, from several locations. One of the most important components of the SCADA system is the Telescope Control System (TCS), i.e. the system responsible for the control and supervision of each telescope. The TCS includes several supervisor components, that interface with the telescope local control systems, the hardware and software that control the telescopes hardware devices such as the telescope mount drive systems and the Cherenkov camera, via the Open Platform Communications - Unified Architecture (OPC-UA) standard. These supervisors are then controlled by a telescope manager component responsible for the execution of the single telescope scientific and technical operations requested, orchestrated and synchronized centrally by the SCADA array central controller. This contribution describes the TCS architecture, design and development approach in the context of the general SCADA architecture and of the ALMA Common Software, the framework chosen for the development of all SCADA software of the ASTRI Mini-Array.
KEYWORDS: Atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes, Data acquisition, Cameras, Control systems, Telescopes, Interferometry, Data centers, Software development, Computer architecture, Quality systems
The ASTRI Mini-Array is an international collaboration led by the Italian National Institute for Astrophysics. This project aims to construct and operate an array of nine Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes to study gamma-ray sources at very high energy (TeV) and perform stellar intensity interferometry observations. We describe the software architecture and the technologies used to implement the Online Observation Quality System (OOQS) for the ASTRI Mini-Array project. The OOQS aims to execute data quality checks on the data acquired in real-time by the Cherenkov cameras and intensity interferometry instruments, and provides feedback to both the Central Control System and the Operator about abnormal conditions detected. The OOQS can notify other sub-systems, triggering their reaction to promptly correct anomalies. The results from the data quality analyses (e.g. camera plots, histograms, tables, and more) are stored in the Quality Archive for further investigation and they are summarised in reports available to the Operator. Once the OOQS results are stored, the operator can visualize them using the Human Machine Interface. The OOQS is designed to manage the high data rate generated by the instruments (up to 4.5 GB/s) and received from the Array Data Acquisition System through the Kafka service. The data are serialized and deserialized during the transmission using the Avro framework. The Slurm workload scheduler executes the analyses exploiting key features such as parallel analyses and scalability.
The ASTRI Mini-Array is a project led by INAF to construct nine Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes in order to study gamma-ray sources emitting up to the multi-TeV energy band. These telescopes, which will be deployed at the Observatorio del Teide (Tenerife, Spain), will be based on the prototype ASTRI-Horn telescope, successfully tested since 2014 at the Serra La Nave Astronomical Station of the INAF Observatory of Catania. Each telescope will be equipped with the new version of the ASTRI Silicon Photo-Multiplier (SiPM) Cherenkov Camera. In order to monitor and control the different subsystems, a Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition (SCADA) system will be developed to manage a set of software components. Among them, the Cherenkov Camera Supervisor (CCS), a software subsystem of the Telescope Control System (TCS), is the software component to control each Cherenkov Camera. It realizes the interface between each Camera and the central SCADA software through the Alma Common Software (ACS). Furthermore, the CCS is based on the Open Platform Communications - Unified Architecture (OPC-UA) standard, in order to realize a client/server system. The server side is implemented in the software subsystem deployed on board the Camera, while the CCS contains the client side which uses the server services. This work presents the design and the technologies used to implement the CCS. It describes architecture and functionalities starting from the definition of the use cases and the system requirements. Moreover, the work reports the various phases of the CCS development.
The ASTRI (Astrofisica con Specchi a Tecnologia Replicante Italiana) Project was born as a collaborative international effort led by the Italian National Institute for Astrophysics (INAF) to design and realize an end-to-end prototype of the Small-Sized Telescope (SST) of the Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) in a dual-mirror configuration (2M). The prototype, named ASTRI-Horn, has been operational since 2014 at the INAF observing station located on Mt. Etna (Italy). The ASTRI Project is now building the ASTRI Mini-Array consisting of nine ASTRI-Horn-like telescopes to be installed and operated at the Teide Observatory (Spain). The ASTRI software is aimed at supporting the Assembly Integration and Verification (AIV), and the operations of the ASTRI Mini-Array. The Array Data Acquisition System (ADAS) includes all hardware, software and communication infrastructure required to gather the bulk data of the Cherenkov Cameras and the Intensity Interferometers installed on the telescopes, and make these data available to the Online Observation Quality System (OOQS) for the on-site quick look, and to the Data Processing System (DPS) for the off-site scientific pipeline. This contribution presents the ADAS software architecture according to the use cases and requirement specifications, with particular emphasis on the interfaces with the Back End Electronics (BEE) of the instruments, the array central control, the OOQS, and the DPS.
KEYWORDS: Telescopes, Atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes, Data modeling, Databases, Data acquisition, Information technology, Gamma radiation, Data archive systems, Control systems, Computer architecture
The ASTRI Mini-Array is a project for the Cherenkov astronomy in the TeV energy range. ASTRI Mini- Array consists of nine Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes located at the Teide Observatory (Canarias Islands). Large volumes of monitoring and logging data result from the operation of a large-scale astrophysical observatory. In the last few years, several “Big Data” technologies have been developed to deal with such volumes of data, especially in the Internet of Things (IoT) framework. We present the Monitoring, Logging, and Alarm (MLA) system for the ASTRI Mini-Array aimed at supporting the analysis of scientific data and improving the operational activities of the telescope facility. The MLA system was designed and built considering the latest software tools and concepts coming from Big Data and IoT to respond to the challenges posed by the operation of the array. A particular relevance has been given to satisfying the reliability, availability, and maintainability requirements towards all the array sub-systems and auxiliary devices. The system architecture has been designed to scale up with the number of devices to be monitored and with the number of software components to be considered in the distributed logging system.
The ASTRI project was born as a collaborative international effort led by the Italian National Institute for Astrophysics (INAF) to design and realise an end-to-end prototype of the Small-Sized Telescope (SST) of the Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) in a dual-mirror configuration (2M). The ASTRI Mini-Array is being installed at the Teide Observatory on the island of Tenerife (Canary Islands) and represents the first system of atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes completely dedicated to the study of very high energy gamma emission. The ASTRI software supports the operations of the ASTRI Mini-Array. The Array Data Acquisition System (ADAS) includes all hardware, software and communication infrastructure required to acquire, buffer and store the bulk data of the ASTRI Mini-Array instruments which will be installed to the ASTRI telescopes. The Cherenkov Camera Data Acquisition, one for each telescope, is a component of the ADAS. It connects with the Back End electronics (BEE) of the Cherenkov cameras to acquire and save the raw data. The Cherenkov Camera Dispatcher gets data from the Camera Data Acquisition and interfaces with the Online Observation Quality System (OOQS) to decode and send acquired data in near real-time. The OOQS aims to perform the data quality analysis during the observations. According to the requirement specifications, we are redesigning the software to decode and send the raw data to the OOQS at a rate of 1 kHz. This contribution presents the assessment of a solution based on Avro software for data serialisation and a Kafka server for the data transmission to the OOQS.
KEYWORDS: Data modeling, Atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes, Control systems, Software development, Telescopes, Data processing, Data archive systems, Data acquisition, Calibration, Computer architecture
The ASTRI Mini-Array is an international collaboration led by the Italian National Institute for Astrophysics (INAF) and devoted to the imaging of atmospheric Cherenkov light for very-high gamma-ray astronomy. The project is deploying an array of 9 telescopes sensitive above 1 TeV. In this contribution, we present the architecture of the software that covers the entire life cycle of the observatory, from scheduling to remote operations and data dissemination. The high-speed networking connection available between the observatory site, at the Canary Islands, and the Data Center in Rome allows for ready data availability for stereo triggering and data processing.
The ASTRI ("Astrofisica con Specchi a Tecnologia Replicante Italiana") program is a collaborative international effort led by the Italian National Institute for Astrophysics (INAF) for developing and operating an array of nine 4-m class Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes (IACTs), sensitive to gamma-ray radiation at energies above 1 TeV, under deployment at the Teide Observatory in Tenerife, in the Canary Islands. In order to support the development, installation and operations of the ASTRI Mini-Array an on-site Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Infrastructure has been designed. In this paper we describe the main objective of the ICT infrastructure project and its configuration in the initial phase. This ICT infrastructure, which we called mini-ICT (m-ICT), include all hardware and services needed to support the installation and testing of the first three Telescopes Mechanical Structures of the ASTRI Mini-Array that will be installed at the Teide site by 2022, before the definitive ICT infrastructure will be up and running. The m-ICT includes a virtualization system (ProxMox) and a container system to run the ASTRI Mini-Array on-site control and monitoring software. It also includes all interconnection functions of his Local Area Network (LAN) and the necessary network services: Network Time Protocol (NTP), Domain name Server (DNS), Network Address translator (NAT), Virtual Private Network (VPN), Routing. Internet connection will also be supported so that the connection with the ASTRI Data Centre in Italy (Rome) can be tested and all test results transferred to this persistent storage.
The Cherenkov Telescope Array Observatory (CTAO) consists of three types of telescopes: large-sized (LST), mediumsized (MST), and small-sized (SST), distributed in two observing sites (North and South). For the CTA South “Alpha Configuration” the construction and installation of 37 (+5) SST telescopes (a number that could increase up to 70 in future upgrades) are planned. The SSTs are developed by an international consortium of institutes that will provide them as an in-kind contribution to CTAO. The SSTs rely on a Schwarzschild-Couder-like dual-mirror polynomial optical design, with a primary mirror of 4 m diameter, and are equipped with a focal plane camera based on SiPM detectors covering a field of view of ~9°. The current SST concept was validated by developing the prototype dual-mirror ASTRI-Horn Cherenkov telescope and the CHEC-S SiPM focal plane camera. In this contribution, we will present an overview of the SST key technologies, the current status of the SST project, and the planned schedule.
The ASTRI Mini-Array is an International collaboration, led by the Italian National Institute for Astrophysics, that is constructing and operating an array of nine Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes to study gamma-ray sources at very high energy and perform optical stellar intensity interferometry (SII) observations. Angular resolutions below 100 microarcsec are achievable with stellar intensity interferometry, using telescopes separated by hundreds to thousands of meters baselines. At this level of resolution it turns out to be possible to reveal details on the surface and of the environment surrounding bright stars on the sky. The ASTRI Mini-Array will provide a suitable infrastructure for performing these measurements thanks to the capabilities offered by its 9 telescopes, which provide 36 simultaneous baselines over distances between 100 m and 700 m. After providing an overview of the scientific context and motivations for performing SII science with the ASTRI Mini-Array telescopes, we present the baseline design for the ASTRI Stellar Intensity Interferometry Instrument, a fast single photon counting instrument that will be mounted on the ASTRI telescopes and dedicated to performing SII observations of bright stars.
Large volumes of monitoring and logging data result from the operation of a large scale astrophysical observatory. In the last few years several “Big Data” technologies have been developed to deal with such volumes of data especially in the Internet of Things (IoT) framework. We present the logging, monitoring and alarm system architecture for the ASTRI Mini-Array aimed at supporting the analysis of scientific data and improving the operational activities of the telescope facility . A prototype was designed and built considering the latest software tools and concepts coming from Big Data and IoT and a particular relevance has been given in satisfying quality requirements such as performance, scalability and availability.
ASTRI-Horn is a small-sized Cherenkov telescope (SST) developed by the Italian National Institute of Astrophysics (INAF) for very-high energy gamma-ray astronomy. It is characterized by a dual-mirror optical system and a curved focal surface covered by SiPM sensors managed by a non-conventional fast front-end electronics. Installed in Italy at the INAF "M.C. Fracastoro" observing station (Mt. Etna, Sicily), ASTRI-Horn has been developed implementing a complete end-to-end approach that includes all aspects from the design, construction and implementation of the entire hardware and software system to the final scientific products. ASTRI-Horn is the prototype for nine SSTs that will form the ASTRI mini-array, considered by INAF as pathfinder for the Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA). This phase will permit to exploit previous experimented technologies for the realization of the telescope structure and mirrors in a large production scale. After a short description of the major results obtained by the prototype in Serra La Nave, the proposed design of the new telescope structure and the status of the production of the optics are described. Moreover a review about the integration and alignment strategies to reach the required performance of the mini-array is reported.
The ASTRI SST-2M telescope is a robotic end-to-end prototype, installed on Mount Etna (Italy) and proposed for the Small Size class of telescopes of the future Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA). The ASTRI prototype is currently operative and it is undergoing the scientific verification stages. In the next future a first set of nine ASTRI telescopes is foreseen for the early implementation of the CTA southern site. In this contribution we present the general design of the monitoring system for the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructure of the ASTRI SST-2M prototype. The ASTRI ICT monitoring system is composed by specific custom tools which interface the ICT device, through the Open Platform Communication Unified Architecture (OPC-UA) protocol, to the Alma Common Software (ACS), which is the high-level framework used to operate the ASTRI SST-2M prototype. The main purpose of these tools is to convert the Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) and Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP), used in the ICT devices, into the OPC-UA protocol, through the implementation of an appropriate OPC-UA server. This server interacts with an OPC-UA client implemented as ACS components, which are able to provide all the ICT monitoring parameters, through the ACS notification channel and sends alerts to the central console of the ASTRI SST2M telescope prototype. ICT monitoring data are also saved into the ACS Telescope Monitor Communication Data Base (TMCDB), like those of the other telescope subsystems. The same approach has been proposed for the monitoring of the CTA on-site ICT infrastructures.
ASTRI SST-2M is an imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescope developed by the Italian National Institute of Astrophysics (INAF) in the framework of the Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) project as an end-to-end prototype for the Small Size array. Large-, medium-, and small-sized telescopes will compose the CTA observatory that represents the next generation of imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes and will explore the very high-energy domain from a few tens of GeV up to few hundreds of TeV. The ASTRI SST-2M telescope has been installed at the INAF-Catania observing station at Serra La Nave, on Mt. Etna (Sicily, Italy) in September 2014. In these 3 years of open-air operations the telescope has been commissioned and its opto-mechanical performance is now well understood. The apparatus was made ready to host its main scientific instrument, the camera with Silicon-Photomultiplier based detectors. This contribution is a status report on the complete ASTRI SST-2M telescope assembly including the electro-mechanical structure and the optical system.
ASTRI is an on-going project developed in the framework of the Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA). An end- to-end prototype of a dual-mirror small-size telescope (SST-2M) has been installed at the INAF observing station on Mt. Etna, Italy. The next step is the development of the ASTRI mini-array composed of nine ASTRI SST-2M telescopes proposed to be installed at the CTA southern site. The ASTRI mini-array is a collaborative and international effort carried on by Italy, Brazil and South-Africa and led by the Italian National Institute of Astrophysics, INAF. To control the ASTRI telescopes, a specific ASTRI Mini-Array Software System (MASS) was designed using a scalable and distributed architecture to monitor all the hardware devices for the telescopes. Using code generation we built automatically from the ASTRI Interface Control Documents a set of communication libraries and extensive Graphical User Interfaces that provide full access to the capabilities offered by the telescope hardware subsystems for testing and maintenance. Leveraging these generated libraries and components we then implemented a human designed, integrated, Engineering GUI for MASS to perform the verification of the whole prototype and test shared services such as the alarms, configurations, control systems, and scientific on-line outcomes. In our experience the use of code generation dramatically reduced the amount of effort in development, integration and testing of the more basic software components and resulted in a fast software release life cycle. This approach could be valuable for the whole CTA project, characterized by a large diversity of hardware components.
The ASTRI mini-array, composed of nine small-size dual mirror (SST-2M) telescopes, has been proposed to be installed at the southern site of the Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA), as a set of preproduction units of the CTA observatory. The ASTRI mini-array is a collaborative and international effort carried out by Italy, Brazil and South Africa and led by the Italian National Institute of Astrophysics, INAF. We present the main features of the current implementation of the Mini-Array Software System (MASS) now in use for the activities of the ASTRI SST-2M telescope prototype located at the INAF observing station on Mt. Etna, Italy and the characteristics that make it a prototype for the CTA control software system. CTA Data Management (CTADATA) and CTA Array Control and Data Acquisition (CTA-ACTL) requirements and guidelines as well as the ASTRI use cases were considered in the MASS design, most of its features are derived from the Atacama Large Millimeter/sub-millimeter Array Control software. The MASS will provide a set of tools to manage all onsite operations of the ASTRI mini-array in order to perform the observations specified in the short term schedule (including monitoring and controlling all the hardware components of each telescope and calibration device), to analyze the acquired data online and to store/retrieve all the data products to/from the onsite repository.
ASTRI SST-2M is an end-to-end telescope prototype developed by the Italian National Institute of Astrophysics (INAF) in the framework of the Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA). The CTA observatory, with a combination of large-, medium-, and small-sized telescopes (LST, MST and SST, respectively), will represent the next generation of imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes. It will explore the very high-energy domain from a few tens of GeV up to few hundreds of TeV.
The ASTRI SST-2M telescope structure and mirrors have been installed at the INAF observing station at Serra La Nave, on Mt. Etna (Sicily, Italy) in September 2014. Its performance verification phase began in autumn 2015. Part of the scheduled activities foresees the study and characterization of the optical and opto-mechanical performance of the telescope prototype.
In this contribution we report the results achieved in terms of kinematic model analysis, mirrors reflectivity evolution, telescopes positioning, flexures and pointing model and the thermal behavior.
The Italian National Institute for Astrophysics (INAF) is leading the Astrofisica con Specchi a Tecnologia Replicante Italiana (ASTRI) project whose main purpose is the realization of small size telescopes (SST) for the Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA). The first goal of the ASTRI project has been the development and operation of an innovative end-to-end telescope prototype using a dual-mirror optical configuration (SST-2M) equipped with a camera based on silicon photo-multipliers and very fast read-out electronics. The ASTRI SST-2M prototype has been installed in Italy at the INAF “M.G. Fracastoro” Astronomical Station located at Serra La Nave, on Mount Etna, Sicily. This prototype will be used to test several mechanical, optical, control hardware and software solutions which will be used in the ASTRI mini-array, comprising nine telescopes proposed to be placed at the CTA southern site. The ASTRI mini-array is a collaborative and international effort led by INAF and carried out by Italy, Brazil and South-Africa. We present here the use cases, through UML (Unified Modeling Language) diagrams and text details, that describe the functional requirements of the software that will manage the ASTRI SST-2M prototype, and the lessons learned thanks to these activities. We intend to adopt the same approach for the Mini Array Software System that will manage the ASTRI miniarray operations. Use cases are of importance for the whole software life cycle; in particular they provide valuable support to the validation and verification activities. Following the iterative development approach, which breaks down the software development into smaller chunks, we have analysed the requirements, developed, and then tested the code in repeated cycles. The use case technique allowed us to formalize the problem through user stories that describe how the user procedurally interacts with the software system. Through the use cases we improved the communication among team members, fostered common agreement about system requirements, defined the normal and alternative course of events, understood better the business process, and defined the system test to ensure that the delivered software works properly. We present a summary of the ASTRI SST-2M prototype use cases, and how the lessons learned can be exploited for the ASTRI mini-array proposed for the CTA Observatory.
ASTRI SST-2M is an end-to-end prototype of Small Size class of Telescope proposed for the Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA). Currently under completion at the Serra La Nave observing station (Mt. Etna, Catania, Italy), the ASTRI SST- 2M telescope is the first imaging dual-mirror telescope ever realized for Cherenkov telescopes. A mini-array of nine such telescopes will form the ASTRI mini-array proposed as a precursor and initial seed of CTA to be installed at the final CTA southern site. ASTRI SST-2M is equipped with an active optics system, controlling both the segmented primary mirror and the monolithic secondary mirror, which allows optical re-alignment during telescope slew. We describe the hardware and software solution that have been implemented for optics control and the models we developed for the system.
ASTRI (Astrofisica con Specchi a Tecnologia Replicante Italiana) SST-2M is an end-to-end prototype of Small Size
class of Telescope for the Cherenkov Telescope Array. It will apply a dual mirror configuration to Imaging Atmospheric
Cherenkov Telescopes. The 18 segments composing the primary mirror (diameter 4.3 m) are equipped with an active
optics system enabling optical re-alignment during telescope slew. The secondary mirror (diameter 1.8 m) can be moved
along three degrees of freedom to perform focus and tilt corrections. We describe the kinematic model used to predict the
system performance as well as the hardware and software design solution that will be implemented for optics control.
KEYWORDS: Telescopes, Fringe analysis, Data processing, Space operations, Calibration, Signal processing, Satellites, Interferometry, Metrology, Space telescopes
The goal of the Gaia mission is to achieve micro-arcsecond astrometry, making Gaia the most important astro- metric space mission of the 21st century. To achieve this performance several innovative technological solutions have been realized as part of the satellite's scientific payload. A critical component of the Gaia scientific pay- load is the Basic Angle Monitoring device (BAM), an interferometric metrology instrument with the task of monitoring, to some picometers, the variation of the Basic Angle between Gaia's two telescopes. In this paper we provide an overview of the AVU/BAM software, running at the Italian Data Processing Center (DPCT), to analyze the BAM data and to recover the basic angle variations at the micro-arcosecond level. Outputs based on preliminary data from Gaia's Commissioning phase are shown as an example.
The Astrometric Instrument Model system comprises several monitoring and diagnostic tasks for the astrometric
instrument aboard Gaia. It is a hierarchy of dedicated software modules aimed at decreasing the parameter degeneration
of the relation linking the observations to the instrumental behavior, and optimize the estimation process at the CCD and
field-of-view crossing level. Critical for the system is the definition and maintenance of a physical instrument model
fitting the science data, and able to accommodate non nominal configurations. Precise modeling of the astrometric
response is required for optimal definition of the data reduction and calibration algorithms, and to ensure high sensitivity
to both instrumental and astrophysical source parameters.
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