Remote observing

Extensive preparation were made for the remote summer school in Turku in June. Based on the planned observations with ALFOSC (imaging and spectroscopy) and NOTCam (imaging) the requirements were defined for the remote observing system including back-up solutions for slow transfer rates. A specific issue is the data rate for NOTCam which are much higher than for other instruments.

Some tests have been conducted to decide the best way of providing access to the instrument control interface. The bandwidth from ORM to Tuorla has been sampled at different times to determine maximum and (expected) minimum bandwidth. A ``test set-up'' has been made locally by artificially reducing the network bandwidth available to a local computer, simulating the (worse) expected conditions. This experiment has been used to determine what parts of the interface can be ``exported'' under such conditions. In any case, we will also provide a back-up solution for the case of a severely restricted Internet connection.

For the course specific instructions will be provided for setting-up the system and performing the observations from the remote site.