Echidna Mark II: One giant leap for 'tilting spine' fibre positioning technology
Date
2016
Authors
Gilbert, James
Dalton, Gavin
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering
Abstract
The Australian Astronomical Observatory's 'tilting spine' fibre positioning technology has been redeveloped to provide superior performance in a smaller package. The new design offers demonstrated closed-loop positioning errors of <2.8 μm RMS in only five moves (~10 s excluding metrology overheads) and an improved capacity for open-loop tracking during observations. Tilt-induced throughput losses have been halved by lengthening spines while maintaining excellent accuracy. New low-voltage multilayer piezo actuator technology has reduced a spine's peak drive amplitude from ~150V to <10V, simplifying the control electronics design, reducing the system's overall size, and improving modularity. Every spine is now a truly independent unit with a dedicated drive circuit and no restrictions on the timing or direction of fibre motion. © (2016) COPYRIGHT Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE). Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Description
Keywords
Citation
Collections
Source
Proceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering
Type
Conference paper
Book Title
Entity type
Access Statement
Open Access
License Rights
Restricted until
Downloads
File
Description