We describe the on-sky performance of the robotic Focal Plane System (FPS) units that replace the fiber plug-plate systems at the Sloan and duPont telescopes for the SDSS-V survey. The first FPS was arrived at Apache Point in December 2021, and the second unit will be delivered to Las Campanas in spring 2022. Each FPS carries 500 zonal fiber positioners carrying three fibers: two science fibers for the BOSS and APOGEE spectrographs and a back-illuminated metrology fiber. The FPS enables the SDSS-V Milky Way and Black Hole Mapper surveys that will begin survey operations in 2022.
The Sloan Digital Sky Survey V (SDSS-V) is an all-sky spectroscopic survey of more than 6 million objects, designed to decode the history of the Milky Way, reveal the inner workings of stars, investigate the origin of solar systems, and track the growth of supermassive black holes across the Universe. SDSS-V presents significant innovations in both hardware and software, chiefly due to the introduction of a robotic Focal Plane System (FPS) that replaces plug-plate operations. This new mode of operations introduces new challenges with respect to target scheduling, fibre robot positioner reconfiguration optimisation, telescope guiding, observer interfaces, and observatory operations. During normal operations SDSS-V will observe a new field every 15 minutes. For each field requiring a new telescope pointing the FPS will reconfigure 500 robotic fibre positioners with feedback from an external Field Viewing Camera (FVC) in less than two minutes. Six CCD cameras mounted on the FPS will be used to automatically acquire the field and maintain the necessary guiding accuracy. These strict requirements highlight the need for streamlined operations software and procedures to minimise the time spent during FPS reconfigurations. We describe the overall design and implementation of the SDSS-V survey operations, with special emphasis on software development, conventions, and observing procedures. While specific to SDSS-V, the solutions we describe can be readily applied to other astronomical surveys and are of special interest given the rapid increase in projects employing robotic fibre positioners.
The Sloan Digital Sky Survey V (SDSS-V) is an all-sky spectroscopic survey of < 6 million objects, designed to decode the history of the Milky Way, reveal the inner workings of stars, investigate the origin of solar systems, and track the growth of supermassive black holes across the Universe. Collaboratively, organizations across both academia and industry have partnered to overcome technical challenges and execute operational directives associated with commissioning the various mechanical, electrical, and software subsystems of SDSS-V. While this type of collaboration is not unique, the scale and complexity of next generation astronomical instruments is an emerging challenge that requires industrial systems and process engineering practices at a quasi-industrial scale. Driven by the success of multiplexed spectroscopic surveys, instrumentation is evolving to include systems with hundreds to thousands of components and sub-assemblies procured or produced from various sources. This trend requires the adoption of new and existing processes and best practices in the design, integration, and test of next generation astronomical instruments. The following discussion outlines those industrial systems and process engineering processes, methods, and practices, currently in the operational phase, for the design, integration, and test of the SDSS-V Focal Plane System (FPS). An emphasis is placed on processes, methods, and practices related to coordination of multiple contract manufacturing vendors and operational execution of small batch manufacturing.
The Sloan Digital Sky Survey V (SDSS-V) is an all-sky spectroscopic survey of <6 million objects, designed to decode the history of the Milky Way, reveal the inner workings of stars, investigate the origin of solar systems, and track the growth of supermassive black holes across the Universe. This paper describes the design and construction of two robotic Focal Plane System (FPS) units that will replace the traditional SDSS fiber plug-plate systems at the Sloan and du Pont telescopes for SDSS-V. Each FPS deploys 500 zonal fiber positioners that allow us to reconfigure the fibers onto a new target field within 2-3 minutes of acquisition. Each positioner carries three fibers: two science fibers that feed the BOSS and APOGEE spectrographs and a third back-illuminated metrology fiber is used in conjunction with a telescopemounted Fiber Viewing Camera (FVC) to measure the absolute positions of the fiber heads. The 300 APOGEE fibers are distributed among the 500 positioners to maximize common field coverage. A set of fiber-illuminated fiducials distributed in and around the positioner array establish a fixed reference frame for the FVC system. Finally, six CCD cameras mounted around the periphery of the focal plane provide acquisition, guiding, and focus monitoring functions. The FPS is a key enabling technology of the SDSS-V Milky Way and Black Hole Mapper surveys.
The Sloan Digital Sky Survey V (SDSS-V) is an all-sky spectroscopic survey of > 6 million objects, designed to decode the history of the Milky Way, reveal the inner workings of stars, investigate the origin of solar systems, and track the growth of supermassive black holes across the Universe.1 This paper describes the design of the theta/phi fiber positioner robots that are being produced to be integrated in the Focal Plane System (FPS) of the SDSS-V telescopes. For each installation, 500 robots are being manufactured, more than 800 units have already been received from the manufacturer and validated. Mechanical, electronic and firmware designs are presented in the current paper in detail. We will expose the different iterations of the prototypes that were developed, built and tested and ultimately allowed to achieve the end version that meets the requested science requirements. The fiber positioner robot is carrying 3 optical fibers integrated into a single snowflake ferrule. Two of the fibers are science fibers connected to two different spectrographs, and the third fiber is used for metrology. The robot is capable of positioning the fibers with a planar accuracy better than 50 microns with a first blind move within its workspace of a diameter of 44.8mm. With a complementary fiber viewing camera (FVC) and the backlighted metrology fiber to perform a few small corrections moves, the positioner can reach a sub 5-micron precision on the fiber position.
This paper presents the design and performance of an easily scalable Theta/Phi fiber positioner for Multi-subject Spectrographs. It has been developed by Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL) together with the Swiss manufacturer of miniature microsystems MPS Microsystems. The positioner has been designed with the purpose of adapting readily to the requirements of any Multi-Object Spectrograph, which requires precise positioning of optical fibers. Whether MOONS, COBRA, MEGARA, or DESI, each project has so far developed its own fiber positioner from scratch, with all of the risks linked to such a complete new development. The positioner presented in the current paper intends to significantly reduce the development time, costs, and eliminate unforeseen risks. The design is easily scalable in size, length, and shape. For validation, we built eight prototypes with a diameter of 9.5mm which are capable to reach any target within five micrometers with just two correction moves.
This paper will focus on the testing, validation and performance of the ongoing SDSS-V fiber positioners production. The tested critical parameters include positioning accuracy calibration and validation, fiber misalignment control as well as lifetime test and thermal reliability check over the large temperature scale encountered in the telescopes. The presented results give a good overview on the general design performance and on the general reliability the complete robotic positioning system will achieve.
This paper presents the design and performance of an easily scalable Theta/Phi fiber positioner for multi-object spectrographs (which has been developed by Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) together with the Swiss manufacturer of miniature microsystems MPS). The positioner has been designed with the purpose of adapting readily to the requirements of any multi-object spectrograph, which requires precise positioning of optical fibers. Whether MOONS, PFS, MEGARA or DESI, each project has so far developed its own fiber positioner from scratch, with all of the risks linked to such a complete new development. The positioner presented in the current paper intends to significantly reduce the development time, costs and eliminate unforeseen risks. The design will be detailed and highlighted to be easily scalable in size, length and shape. We will expose in which range the main geometrical parameters can be changed within the limits of the technology. Finally, we will discuss how the experience made with four different projects have led to the design of this positioner platform as well as results of performance testing on a set of prototypes with 9mm external diameter.
The recent burgeoning interest in massive multiobject spectroscopy has pushed the development of massive optical fiber positioning systems. These systems rely on precise fiber placement to detect the light spectra of many stars and galaxies. One successful approach is the use of robotic fiber positioners, which allow one to automate and scale up observations. However, due to the need for high precision and accuracy, each positioner must be calibrated and verified to comply with the requirements. The calibration measurements are nontrivial, and the large number of the robotic positioners up to thousands can lead to a prohibitively long time for calibration. We describe and validate an optical calibration setup and procedure for robotic fiber positioning systems. Based on the measurements results, we have developed models describing the behavior of the positioners and we introduce new performance metrics that allow one to verify the stringent positioner specifications and furthermore help to identify and analyze design and manufacturing flaws.
This paper describes the design of an optical metrology system for fiber positioners. The system can be used for accurate calibration and verification of fiber positioners with SCARA-like RR planar kinematics. It is capable of measuring accurately the absolute position and tilt of the fiber tip over the whole workspace of the positioner. The metrology system works by back illuminating the optical fiber of the positioner with a laser. The position and tilt of the exiting cone at the tip of the fiber is measured with two optical cameras.
One of the big research topics in modern cosmology is the mystery of dark Energy. To unveil the secret, cosmologists want to measure precisely the evolution of large scale structures in the universe. One way of doing so is to measure the 3D location of a high number of galaxies. By measuring the redshift of a galaxy, it is possible to find its distance. In order to measure a high number of galaxies in a practical amount of time, we need to observe multiple objects in parallel. Instead of a spectrograph, thousands of optical fibres are placed in the focal plane of a telescope. They will transmit the light of many objects to a spectrograph. Each fibre has to be positioned to several μm precision in the focal plane of a telescope for each exposure. Each fibre is positioned by a 2-axis fibre positioner. In this paper such a fibre positioner with 24-mm diameter is presented. It is driven by two brushless DC motors in combination with a backlash free gearbox. The positioner has an optimal central fibre path and improved angular alignment. The fibre runs through the centre of the positioner and is only bent at the top to reach its target position. In this way, the flexion and torsion of the fibre are minimal. In addition to the high positioning accuracy, the design is optimized to allow a minimal tilt error of the fibre. This is demonstrated using a novel optical tilt measurement system.
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