Paper:	The GBT Precision Telescope Control System
Volume:	314, Astronomical Data Analysis Software and Systems XIII
Page:	689
Authors:	Constantikes, K.
Abstract:	The National Radio Astronomy Observatory has undertaken an ambitious project that is intended to control our 100m primary Gregorian telescope, the Green Bank Telescope (GBT), at frequencies up to 115 GHz. In order to ensure adequate efficiency and pointing performance, the net wave front path errors need to be less than 1/16 of a wave and the telescope pointed to 1.2 arc seconds over periods of an hour. The Precision Telescope Control System (PTCS), an architecture that generates control signals for the telescope servomechanisms on the basis of telescope metrology and models, seeks to extend the domain of environments for which high frequency observations can be effectively performed. We will present an overview of the GBT and the PTCS architecture, discuss our algorithmic and computational approaches, and present preliminary results of our characterization of the GBT and inferences about the ultimate potential of the GBT for 3mm observations.

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