Liverpool John Moores University

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eScience Telescopes for Astronomical
Research http//www.estar.org.uk/

• Liverpool John Moores University
• University of Exeter

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Purpose of the eSTAR demonstrator

• To develop infrastructure to create a global
  network of robotic astronomical telescopes.
• To test and use Globus in a real situation with
  diverse resources.

• Science Drivers
• Rapid response and time variable astronomy.
• Spaceguard, Near Earth Objects
• Low Running Cost Observatories
• Schools and Education

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Concepts

• Intelligent Agents - developed by astronomers to
  address their own science drivers. Can request
  and analyse data.
• Discovery Nodes - telescopes or archives which
  deliver astronomical data or other resources.
• Protocols -
• Communication via Globus
• Requests via Robotic Telescope Markup Language
  (RTML).
• Status information via Lightweight Directory
  Access Protocol (LDAP).

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Intelligent Agents

• Written in Perl.
• Can be customized for particular science tasks
  (prototype IA specializes in Dwarf Novae, a type
  of star which produces infrequent outbursts).

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Intelligent Agent Architecture
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Intelligent Agent Screenshot
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Discovery Nodes

• Telescope Discovery Nodes written in C.
• Include scheduler, telescope and instrument
  control, weather monitoring.
• Also Archive and Bibliographic Databases.

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Discovery Node Architecture
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Discovery Node Screenshot
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Scheduling Observations

• Intelligent Agent requests a score from each
  Discovery Node.
• Score reflects how well the object is positioned
  in the sky.
• Can also in future reflect weather, state of the
  telescope, how important what it is doing already
  is.
• Extend to databases which can say they have the
  data already.

IA then chooses DN which returns the highest
score to provide data.
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Scheduling and Observation Protocol
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Globus

• Globus IO library provides user/host
  authentication and authorization
• SSL encryption on communications providing a
  secure data stream upon connection.

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Robotic Telescope Markup Language (RTML)

• Subset of XML used for high level communication
  with Robotic Telescopes.
• New version (2.1) developed for this project.

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LDAP structure
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Equipment for Demonstrator

• Small (Meade) telescopes in Liverpool and Exeter
  plus travelling telescopes.
• Commercial CCD camera systems (3 manufacturers
  supported).
• Control via laptop PCs for IA and DNs.

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Future Deployment

• Can be deployed on any telescope which can parse
  RTML
• Existing 2 metre telescopes (Liverpool, Faulkes).
• Future 2 metre telescopes built for international
  customers by Telescope Technologies Limited.
• Existing UK telescopes in Hawaii, La Palma,
  Chile.
• Amateur telescopes with a computer control and a
  CCD camera.

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Non-astronomical applications

• Time critical threat reaction
• Security and Surveillance systems
• Earth Observation Scheduling
• Intelligent Agent Toolkit Evaluation

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Summary
2-m telescope (La Palma)
Bibliographic Database (USA)
Object Database (France)
The Intelligent Agent uses telescopes and
databases worldwide to carry out automated
research, improving productivity and enabling new
science
Amateur telescope (Liverpool)
4-m telescope (Hawaii)