Technical Sites
Here are a whole stack of technical links, plus some information about the project(s) I am currently working on. There is stuff relating to electronics, computing, and general product information - data sheets, manufacturers, etc. If this sounds too much like product-placement to you, I'm working on pages dedicated to Java and control engineering...

Enjoy!

   

Semiconductor Manufacturers

Download Adobe Acrobat Most manufacturers supply datasheets in Adobe's PDF format. Get free software to read and print PDF's by clicking the icon!

Electronics Info. Sources

  • Chip Directory: a useful place to check out Elbonian i.c. that *everyone* uses!
  • An excellent set of pages about CANbus.
  • Useful introduction to the Gerber file format: I needed this when I started PCB design work...
Usenet Newsgroups:

Computing: Info., Drivers et al...

 		 

Tech. Companies

  • XYCOM Automation supply a wide range of VME-based I/O cards
  • Heidenhain manufacture precision position and angle encoder systems - they make the optical tape encoder used on the Gemini telescope axes
  • Delta-Tau make the PMAC (Precision Multi-Axis Controller) cards used to control the axis servos
  • Kollmorgen: We're using motors and power amplifiers from Kollmorgen/Inland Motor.
  • Allen-Bradley: PLC controllers, mainly in safety systems.

Tech. Software Companies

  • The MathWorks - the makers of Matlab, a powerful and flexible technical-computing simulation environment.

Institutionalised?

The ranks of the worthy, yet often fairly dull Professional Bodies...

Misc. Usenet Newsgroups...

...that I have been known to spend time in. Mostly *asking* questions, but sometimes even *answering* a few. (It's a miracle!). In no particular order, then:

   

Gemini International 8m Telescopes Project

The Gemini Telescopes Project, to build two ground-based optical/infra-red telescopes - each with single mirrors 8 meters in diameter - is entering its final phases. One telescope, Gemini North, will be situated on top of the mountain of Mauna Kea on the Big Island of Hawaii. The other telescope, Gemini South (!), will be atop the Chilean mountain of Cerro Pachon. The latest First-Light deadline - January 1999 - draws ever nearer.

Late in March 1998 I left the Royal Greenwich Observatory to take up a permanent post with the Gemini Telescope Engineering Team on Hawaii, as a Servo Engineer.

My Work On Gemini

My work at the RGO was mainly concerned with the Mount Control System (MCS) work-package, in particular the following:
  • The axis Virtual Encoders - these are assembler programs, written in 56000 DSP assembly language, that provide accurate position information to the telescope control systems.
  • The Monitoring & Metrology subsystem - a network of data-gathering nodes, connected by CANbus, that can act as inputs for remote sensors and transducers to the telescope system.
At Gemini things have broadened and become much more interesting. I'm still peripherally involved in integrating the above work - especially the Monitoring system and the Counterweights (an electromechanical system of servo-driven, computer-controlled masses that rebalance the telescope after an instrument change), but my main area of responsibility (right now) is working on the electronic integration of the secondary mirror control system (SCS) the product of a collaboration between Lockheed-Martin and Gemini. This unit is a sophisticated mirror-control system that provides tip-tilt capabilities to the very high resolutions required for leading-edge observing.

The SCS integration has gone well! We got everything working and have demonstrated readiness for First Light. Mind you, we have requested time - post First-Light frenzy - to rework and improve some areas, especially inadequate cabling and some software peculiarities, ummm, I mean 'features'! :)

 

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