New TCS

The full system `burn-in' test to verify the long term reliability of the hardware was continued at the start of the semester without any glitches. A full test of the new TCS on the telescope was made in May and was fairly successful in that the system basically worked from the moment it was started. There were a few mostly minor problems which had to be corrected, and in the end there were two issues which prevented the system to be taken in use directly. One was some intermittent problems with the rotator stopping with tracking which was found to be due to some noise on a communication line. The second was a problem with the electronic communication with the top unit, where both the unit and its spare failed in a relatively short time. For this a new, commercially available unit was found and replacements were ordered.

The new system was finally installed in August. As expected a few small problems resulting in a small amount of down-time have occurred, and we might expect (at an ever decreasing rate) a few more in the coming semesters.

At the start of the new semester the old TCS has been dismantled and the installation of the new TCS has been tidied-up. The old system has been carefully packed and stored in the machine room, and it the worst case we can still return to the old system in a matter of 1 or 2 days.

In the coming months the documentation will be completed and the logging system of the TCS will be further developed. Specifically, we will expand the options for logging and an interface will be provided to view and analyze the logs.