The PLATO Antarctic site testing observatory

Lawrence, Jon; Allen, G.; Ashley, M. C. B.; Bonner, C. S.; Bradley, Stuart; Cui, Xiangqun; Everett, Jon R.; Li, Feng; Gong, Xiaoli; Hengst, S.; Hu, Jingyao; Jiang, Zhaoji; Kulesa, Craig; Li, Y.; Luong-Van, D.; Moore, Anna; Pennypacker, C. R.; Qin, W.; Riddle, Reed; Shang, Zhaohui; Storey, J. W. V.; Sun, Bо; Suntzeff, N.; Tothill, N.; Travouillon, Tony; Walker, C. K.; Wang, L.; Yan, Jun; Yang, Ji; Yang, Huigen; York, D. G.; Yuan, Xiangyan; Zhang, X. G.; Zhang, Z.; Xu, Zhiyong; Zhu, Zhenxi

doi:10.1117/12.787166

Cited by 29 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…The thermal performance of the PLATO engine module does not need to be as high as that of the instrument module, because of the large amount of waste heat available. For a discussion of the design considerations of a two-module design, see Lawrence et al (2009) 8 . Figure 4 shows the thermal losses from the instrument module through the winter of 2009.…”

Section: Plato Thermal Performancementioning

confidence: 99%

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Performance of the autonomous PLATO Antarctic Observatory over two full years

et al. 2010

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For continuous observation at locations that are inhospitable for humans, the desirability of autonomous observatories is self evident. PLATO, the 'PLATeau Observatory' was designed to host an easily configurable instrument suite in the extremely cold conditions on the Antarctic plateau, and can provide up to 1 kW of power for the instruments. Powered by jet fuel and the Sun, PLATO and its instruments have been taking nearly uninterrupted astronomical science and sitetesting data at Dome A, the coldest, highest and driest location 1 on the Antarctic Plateau, since their deployment by the 24th Chinese expedition team in January 2008. At the time of writing, PLATO has delivered a total uptime of 730 days. Following a servicing mission by the 25th Chinese expedition team in 2008-9, PLATO has achieved 100% up-time (520 days) and has been in continuous contact with the rest of the world via its Iridium satellite modems. This paper discusses the performance of the observatory itself, assesses the sources of energy and dissects how the energy is divided between the core observatory functions of instrument power, heating, control and communication.

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Section: Plato Thermal Performancementioning

confidence: 99%

“…This paper provides an analysis of the PLATO observatory as a whole, evaluating its performance in its core responsibilities of power generation and delivery, thermal support and communication. A more thorough description of the physical layout, electronics and control strategy, has previously been published 8,9 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Performance of the autonomous PLATO Antarctic Observatory over two full years

et al. 2010

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“…This isolates sensitive instruments from the power generation system. Companion papers 3,4 provide more information on the engine module, science-case, instruments, and the overall design of PLATO.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

PLATO control and robotics

Luong-Van

Ashley

Everett

et al. 2008

Advanced Software and Control for Astronomy II

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PLATO, the 'PLATeau Observatory', is a robotic Antarctic observatory developed by UNSW for deployment to Dome A, the highest point on the Antarctic plateau. PLATO is designed to run autonomously for up to a year, providing power, communications and thermal management for a suite of scientific and site-testing instruments. To achieve this degree of autonomy, multiple-redundant Linux-based 'supervisor' computers, each with their own watchdog-timer and Iridium satellite-modem, communicate with each other and with the outside world. The active supervisor computer monitors and controls the PLATO power distribution, thermal and engine management subsystems via a CAN (Control Area Network) bus. High-bandwidth communication between the instruments and the supervisor computers is via a 100 Mbps Local Area Network. Data is stored in cold-verified flash memory. The PLATO computers monitor up to 140 analog channels and distribute electrical power and heating to 96 current-monitored channels via an intelligent loadshedding algorithm.

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“…The PLATO (PLATeau Observatory) 3,4 was created to solve this problem. PLATO provides between 0.5-1 kW of continuous electrical power for a year, and a warm environment for instruments.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Future development of the PLATO Observatory for Antarctic science

et al. 2010

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PLATO is a self-contained robotic observatory built into two 10-foot shipping containers. It has been successfully deployed at Dome A on the Antarctic plateau since January 2008, and has accumulated over 730 days of uptime at the time of writing. PLATO provides 0.5-1 kW of continuous electrical power for a year from diesel engines running on Jet-A1, supplemented during the summertime with solar panels. One of the 10-foot shipping containers houses the power system and fuel, the other provides a warm environment for instruments. Two Iridium satellite modems allow 45 MB/day of data to be transferred across the internet.Future enhancements to PLATO, currently in development, include a more modular design, using lithium iron-phosphate batteries, higher power output, and a light-weight low-power version for field deployment from a Twin Otter aircraft.Technologies used in PLATO include a CAN (Controller Area Network) bus, high-reliability PC/104 computers, ultracapacitors for starting the engines, and fault-tolerant redundant design.

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The PLATO Antarctic site testing observatory

Cited by 29 publications

References 37 publications

Performance of the autonomous PLATO Antarctic Observatory over two full years

Performance of the autonomous PLATO Antarctic Observatory over two full years

PLATO control and robotics

Future development of the PLATO Observatory for Antarctic science

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