Introduction to FAST central control system

摘要

FAST is the largest single dish radio telescope in the world. During observation, part of spherical reflector forms paraboloid to the source direction, meanwhile the feed is placed to instant focus. The control of telescope is difficult and complicated. An autonomous central control system is designed and implemented for methodically and efficiently operation. The system connects and coordinates all subsystems including control, measurement and health monitoring for reflector, feed support and receiver respectively. The main functions are managing observation tasks, commanding subsystems, storing operating data, monitoring statuses and providing the uniform time standard. In this paper, the functions, software and hardware of FAST central control system are presented. The relative infrastructures such as power, network and control room arrangement are introduced.