Engineering Open House

"C.A.T.S. (Computer Aided Telescope System)"

UIAS / ACM SigMicro EOH Project 1994

This project won second place in the Lockmiller Robotics contest.
(text written by Brian Bosley for ACM SigMicro update in 1994)

Since this is the EOH issue of the Banks, I figured I would write an expanded explanation of SigMicro's (the Special Interest Group for Microcomputing) EOH project. ACM selected the SigMicro Computer Controlled Telescope project, or C.A.T.S. (Computer Aided Telescope System), as its central exhibit this year. This project has been developed in cooperation with the University of Illinois Astronomical Society (UIAS). The project's basic concept is to allow someone to take the telescope out in the field and then type into the computer the astronomical object -- such as a star or planet -- they would like to view. The computer would then tell the telescope where the object is and how to find it. Signals will be sent out of the serial (RS-232) port of a PC to a Motorola 68HC11 motor controller which will then actuate the stepper motors until the object is in view. Once the object has been located, the telescope's hardware will track the object. We are using optical encoders to send signals back to the computer which tell the computer where the telescope is pointing at all times.

I would like to thank all of the people who have been involved in this project. They are (in no particular order)...from ACM: Dan Simms, Frank Klier, Jonathan Stark, David Morgan, Ann Coyne, Doug Beeferman, & myself; from UIAS: Greg Rudnick, Steve Elliott, Peter Sochaki, Kayoko Ikeda, Joe Schmidd, Jeremy Hicks, & Mr. Hicks. I would also like to point out the driving force behind getting the project started last year: Ed Burns (We love you Ed!:)).

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This document was last modified on Friday, 27-Sep-2002 18:10:05 CDT