Speaker
Description
Adaptive Optics (AO) has become crucial in present astronomy, to reach diffraction-limited imaging of astronomical targets on large ground-based telescopes. AO correction loops usually need to be operating at very high frequencies, of the order of 1 kHz, corresponding to the typical coherence timescale of the atmospheric turbulence. Hence, they require very fast real-time control (RTC) systems, with low latency and jitter.
At the Observatory of Padova, we have devised and we are currently developing MATTO (Multi-conjugate Adaptive Techniques Test Optics), a laboratorial test bench funded by INAF through the PNRR STILES project. MATTO is the first and only lab facility aimed at supporting the study and development of new Multi-conjugate Adaptive Optics (MCAO) techniques for the world-wide AO community.
DAO4MATTO is the RTC component of MATTO. In this contribution, I will present its hardware architecture, based on out-of-the-shelf components, and how it is physically interfaced to the large number of devices on the bench. Software-wise, DAO4MATTO is based on the DAO RTC Toolkit, developed by the Durham Adaptive Optics group. I will discuss the advantages of this solution and show some results for a very preliminary DAO4MATTO prototype, obtained by testing DAO on a very simple AO lab system.
