Keck adaptive optics facility: real time controller upgrade

Le résumé fourni par la source

The W. M. Keck Observatory Adaptive Optics (AO) facilities have been operating with a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) based real time controller (RTC) since 2007. The RTC inputs data from various AO wavefront and tip/tilt sensors; and corrects image blurring from atmospheric turbulence via deformable and tip/tilt mirrors. Since its commissioning, the Keck I and Keck II RTCs have been upgraded to support new hardware such as pyramid wavefront and infrared tip-tilt sensors. However, they are reaching the limits of their capabilities in terms of processing bandwidth and the ability to interface with new hardware. Together with the Keck All-sky Precision Adaptive optics (KAPA) project, a higher performance and a more reliable RTC is needed to support next generation capabilities such as laser tomography and sensor fusion. This paper provides an overview of the new RTC system, developed with our contractor/collaborators (Microgate, Swinburne University of Technology and Australian National University), and the initial on-sky performance. The upgrade includes an Interface Module to interface with the wavefront sensors and controlled hardware, and a Graphical Processing Unit (GPU) based computational engine to meet the system’s control requirements and to provide a flexible software architecture to allow future algorithms development and capabilities. The system saw first light in 2021 and is being commissioned in 2022 to support single conjugate laser guide star (LGS) AO, along with a more sensitive EMCCD camera. Initial results are provided to demonstrate single NGS & LGS performance, system reliability, and the planned upgrade for four LGS to support laser tomography.

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