dimma: a completely unmanned differential image motion monitor

ARENA Workshop Tenerife, March 26-29, 2007

DIMMA: a completely unmanned Differential Image Motion Monitor

A.M. Varela(1), L.F. Rodríguez-Ramos (1), C. Muñoz-Tuñón (1) & M. Sosa (2)

(1) Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, Spain(2) Inerza, S.A., Spain


Scope of WP12000

This WP covers the characterization of few sites for what concerns the seeing, ground climatology, atmospheric properties, [soil and seismicity]. Emphasis is put on already existing astronomical sites and on new physics corresponding to such a large telescope. The final report will help to select the best reasonable place to settle the ELT.

Site Selection for the European Extremely Large Telescope

http://www.eso.org/project/e-elt/Backaskög, Suecia

ELT Design Study, WP12000, Site CharacterizationJ. Vernin, C. Muñoz-Tuñon, M. Sarazin


Parameters and Tools

• Structure of the Atmospheric Turbulence (+/- 500 m up to ca. 20km). SCIDAR (Fuensalida et al..Avila et al..)//

SLODAR (Wilson, Sarazin… // MASS • Humidity and precipitable water vapour Satellites (Varela et al…)// Climate diagnostic archives• Wind speed and direction, vertical profile in the BL Climate diagnostic archives // SCIDAR // SODAR//AWS• Sodium layer density and height• Ground deformations and seismicity• Seeing or atmospheric coherence length. DIMM, MASS,MASS-DIMM, SCIDAR, GSM, DIMMA• Airborne aerosols and properties… Airborne particles counter//MFRSR//LIDAR //Satellites• Cloudiness, fog, and dust • Atmospheric extinction• Long-term meteorological parameters

Satellites vs in situ tecnhiques


Differential Image Motion Monitor –DIMM-full atmospheric seeing (but the SL) with accurate < 0.1”1data/minuteaccurate, absolute and reproducible data; control tests are however important, see e.g. Tokovinin, 2003, Varela etal, 2003)Sarazin & Roddier, 1990, A&A, 227, 294. (ESO DIMM)

Vernin & Muñoz-Tuñón, 1995, PASP, 107, 265 (DA/IAC DIMM)http://www.iac.es/project/sitesting/site.htmlhttp://www.eso.org.comMASS

Free atmosphere seeing (“) , resolution?5 atmospheric slabs from 1-16km.The 2 smallest MASS apertures can be conjugated to a negative altitude of –0.5 or –1km. Monitoring campaignshttp://www.ctio.noao.edu/atokovinin/profiler/principle.html

SEEING or atmospheric coherence length

MASS-DIMMFull atmospheric seeing seeing. Resolution <0.1”Monitoring campaignsTokovinin, NOAO-NSO Newsletter, Issue 77, 32-34, 2004 http://mass.ctio.noao.edu

http://www.otri.iac.es/sitesting/bibliography/conferences/bgarcia_Maspalomas.pdf

http://www.otri.iac.es/sitesting/bibliography/conferences/bgarcia_Maspalomas.pdf

http://mass.ctio.noao.edu/

http://mass.ctio.noao.edu/


ORM (La Palma)OT (Tenerife)

La Silla

MaidanakHappy Jack (4) San Pedro Mártir

Mauna Kea

Paranal

Cerro TololoCerro Pachon (4.2)

OukaimedenArecibo (9.2)

Las Campanas (2x6.5, 25.3)

Antarctica (25.3, 50...)

Sierra la NegraCalar Alto

Sierra Nevada


LONG-TERM METEOROLOGY

Automatic Weather Stations

Remote SensingClimatic Diagnostic Archives (NCEP/NCAR), Balloons.http://www.cdc.noaa.govClimate diagnostic archives: an approach to ELT site selection

B.García-Lorenzo, Fuensalida, J.J., Mendizabal, E.G., Muñoz-Tuñón, C., & Varela, A. SPIE, 5572, 68(2005)

GTC site-testing campaign: meteorologyT. Mahoney, C. Muñoz-Tuñón, and A.M. Varela.

New Astronomy Reviews 42 (1998) 417-424

Ground (in situ)

Air temperature 0.30-0.55ºCSoil and Subsoil Temp. “Barometric Pressure 0.3mBVapour pressureRelative Humidity 2%Wind Speed 0.3m/s for ws>3m/s Gusts 3% for ws>3m/s Wind direction 2%Rainfall 1%

http://cdsads.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?bibcode=1998NewAR..42..417M&db_key=AST&nosetcookie=1&high=3659567af924528


OBSERVING STRATEGY

DIMM & 1 observer: (till full automatization :DIMMA)

• Seeing measurements 10-12 nights/month (in alternative weeks) from the last 15 years.

• Sample rate 1 data / 30 s. Precision better than 0.1 arcsec.

Automatic Weather Station• Meteorological parameters continously.• Sample rate 1 data / minute.


ORM (La Palma)OT (Tenerife)


http://www.iac.es/project/sitesting/site.html


ORM:Several DIMMS, MASS-DIMMDIMM(A)

OT:DIMM, MASS-DIMM


DIMMA: the IAC automated DIMM

Completely automatic. No operator needed. Using ideas and previous developments of earlier

DIMMs. Completely outsourced, if possible. Use as many commercial off the shelf products as

possible Designed to be copied about a dozen times To be placed in remote sites, with no

infrastructure at all. Powered using only photovoltaic solar energy Capable of storing all relevant data, including

housekeeping, seeing and weather Featuring a built in software data quality

checking module. Self-protection incorporated.

•DIMMA: Conceptual Design. Rodríguez, Varela & Muñoz-Tuñón, 2004•The DIMMA. Muñoz-Tuñón, Varela & Rodríguez, 2004 1er Encuentro Astronomía Robótica, Madrid.

•DIMMA: Conceptual Design. Rodríguez, Varela & Muñoz-Tuñón, 2004•The DIMMA. Muñoz-Tuñón, Varela & Rodríguez, 2004 1er Encuentro Astronomía Robótica, Madrid.


DIMM VERSIONS

RoboDIMM (ING, CTIO, ....)

HDIMM (CARA)

ADIMM (Automated DIMM-Oukaïmeden)

ADIMM (Antarctica DIMM-JACARA)

MASS-DIMM (automatic...Chile, SPM, ...)

Etc.

NOMENCLATURE??

BUT:

Weather checking (if yes, not yet able cloud and/or rain detection) Dome closing and opening Power supply Risks evaluation Quality control of the data Etc.


DIMMA OBJETIVES

• Automatic Operation (pointing, tracking, selection and search of stars,...seeing calculation)

• Operation in isolated sites.

• Self-protection system. Evaluation of risks:» Extreme weather conditions (winds, clouds, rain, gust, humidity,

dust...)every 1 minute

» Break-down of sensors» Unloading of the batteries» Space on hard disk» Intruders presence, ...


BLOCK DIAGRAM

M ONIT OR

HUB

CONT ROLSYST EM

ARQUIT

DOM E

ARQUIT DOM ESENSORS

DAT A

L OGGER

Air

T h ermo meter

Earth

T h ermo meter

Rain

Detecto r

Weath ervan e

Du st

Alarm

Baro meter

Hig ro meter

An emo meter

Su n M easu re

F OCUS CCD M OUNT

M ech an ical su p p o rt

AUTONOMUS WEATHER STATION

RS232

WIF I

WEBCAM S

GPRS

F o u n d atio n s

An ch o rag e

RS-232

IAC

DOME

CONTROL

COMMUNICATIONS

SURVEILLANCE

RS-232

RS-232RS-232 USB

ROUT ER

INSTRUMENTS

Power system

RS-232Datalogger

Panels

Batteries +

Regulator

Air T h ermo meter

Hig ro meter

PC 1

M ain So ftware

GPS CLOCK

RS-232 BOARD

IO BOARD

ST-237 de Sta. Barbara Instruments: 657x495 pixels de 7.4x7.4 μm.

C8”


MAIN CHARACTERISTICS

Automatic point with less than 1 arc minute accuracy.

Automatic focusing with two independent systems.

Automatic dome opening and closing.

Automatic weather station integrated within the control system.

Web cameras for remote monitoring

Multisensor integration for robotic control

Database storage of both scientific and housekeeping data

Data quality checking (fwhml/fwhmt, focus, saturation, ….)

Wireless linked to the Ethernet

Powered by solar panels (7.7 m2) plus batteries (2x450 Ah).


STATUS OF THE DIMMA

DIMMA was developed by INERZA, S.A. (Gran Canaria, Spain) under contract by IAC.

In June 2006 has started the DIMMA installation at the ORM at Las Lajitas.

5m-tower

Astro-Haven Dome

12m-Mast

Solar Pannels

DAUResidence


DIMMA INTERFACE


DIMMA20061010

0

0,1

0,2

0,3

0,4

0,5

0,6

0,7

0,8

0,9

1

1,1

1,2

1,3

18:51 19:51 20:51 21:51 22:51 23:51 00:51

The DIMMA is now under calibration and validation process and will be fully operative in spring 2007.


Future Works

• Comparison DIMMA vs DIMM, RoboDIMM, SCIDAR y MASS-DIMM.

• DIMMA will be a reference for the MASS-DIMM (E-ELT FP6 site testing campaign)

• Second DIMMA will be installed in the next april 2007 at the Teide Observatory (site seeing on Thursday...?)

More information: www.iac.es/project/sitesting/site.htmlwww.inerza.com

http://www.iac.es/project/sitesting/site.html

http://www.inerza.com/

dimma: a completely unmanned differential image motion monitor

Documents