Observatories are often oversubscribed with observation proposals competing for available time slots at the best observing conditions. The role of the scheduling system is critical in such matters. In the INO340 telescope, a flexible scheduling system has been developed to make optimum programs for the observation nights to minimize the idle time of the INO340 telescope and decrease the cost of its mechanical motion while obtaining the best quality image results. A genetic algorithm has been employed to take into account the predictable factor affecting the observation conditions and obtain the optimal scheduling solution. This paper aims to present the short-term flexible scheduling design and implementation, the factors involved in the process, and the evaluation test results on how it improved the performance.
KEYWORDS: Telescopes, Control systems design, Telecommunications, Data communications, Optical instrument design, Control systems, Telescopes, Control systems, Optical instrument design, Computer architecture, Distributed computing, Observatories, Reliability
The INO340 Control System (INOCS) is being designed in terms of a distributed real-time architecture. The real-time
(soft and firm) nature of many processes inside INOCS causes the communication paradigm between its different
components to be time-critical and sensitive. For this purpose, we have chosen the Data Distribution Service (DDS)
standard as the communications middleware which is itself based on the publish-subscribe paradigm. In this paper, we
review and compare the main middleware types, and then we illustrate the middleware architecture of INOCS and its
specific requirements. Finally, we present the experimental results, performed to evaluate our middleware in order to
ensure that it meets our requirements.
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