Automated telescope with distributed orientation and operation processing

An automated telescope system of the type including a telescope mounted for rotation about two substantially orthogonal axes, the automated telescope system comprising:

• first and second motor assemblies, each coupled to rotate the telescope about a respective one of the axes, each motor assembly including:
• a motor having a rotatable shaft;
• an optical encoder coupled to the motor shaft for providing motor movement feedback information;
• and
• a motor control processor for commanding motor movement and evaluating optical encoder feedback information;
• and
• a command unit connected to each motor assembly over a respective serial communication bus, the command unit receiving telescope movement commands from a user and developing appropriate control signals for communication to the motor control processor.

A fully automated telescope system with functional intelligence distributed between independent components, the telescope system of the type including a telescope mounted for rotation about two substantially orthogonal axes, the automated telescope system comprising:

• an intelligent motor module, the motor module including means for commanding a motor to rotate the telescope a desired arcuate amount about a respective axis, and further including means for determining the actual arcuate amount of rotation;
• a command module, including means for translating a user input into signals suitable for transmission to the motor module, the motor module processing said signals into motor motion commands;
• and
• a communication bus coupled between the command module and the motor module.

In a computerized telescope system of the type including a telescope coupled for rotation about two orthogonal axes, a method for orienting the telescope system with respect to a spherical coordinate system, the method comprising:

• providing a pair of motors, each coupled to rotate the telescope about a respective one of the orthogonal axes, each motor including a positional reference indicator, each positional reference indicator defining an arcuate position of the telescope with respect to its respective axis;
• providing a control processor, the processor connected to receive positional reference information from each positional reference indicator;
• inputting a time indicia to the control processor;
• inputting a date indicia to the control processor;
• moving the telescope about a first one of the axes to a first reference position;
• recording positional reference data from the respective positional reference indicator as a first positional index;
• moving the telescope about the second of the axes to a second reference position;
• recording positional reference data from the respective positional reference indicator as a second positional index;
• and
• processing the first and second positional indices and the time and date indicia so as to define a virtual coordinate location of the telescope system with respect to the spherical coordinate system.

In a computerized telescope system of the type including a telescope coupled for rotation about two orthogonal axes, the orthogonal axes defining a first coordinate system, a method for orienting the telescope system with respect to a spherical coordinate system, the method comprising:

• providing first and second motors, each motor coupled to rotate the telescope about a respective one of the orthogonal axes;
• providing first and second arcuate position indicators, each position indicator coupled to a respective one of the first and second motors, each position indicator indicating an arcuate position of the telescope with respect to its respective axis in the first coordinate system;
• providing a control processor, the processor coupled to receive arcuate positions from the arcuate position indicators;
• moving the telescope about a first one of the axes to a first reference position;
• recording a first arcuate position corresponding to said first reference position of said first axis;
• moving the telescope about a second one of the axes to a second reference position;
• recording a second arcuate position corresponding to said second reference position of said second axis;
• processing the first and second recorded arcuate positions so as to translate the telescope position in the first coordinate system to a virtual telescope position in the spherical coordinate system;
• and
• inputting a rotation metric, the rotation metric rotating the virtual telescope position in the spherical coordinate system in accord with a major axis of the spherical coordinate system.

In an automated alt-azimuth telescope system where orthogonal altitude and azimuth axes define a first earth-based coordinate system, a method for orienting the telescope system with respect to a celestial coordinate system comprising:

• providing altitude and azimuth motors, each motor coupled to rotate the telescope about its respective axis;
• providing altitude and azimuth axial rotation indicators, each coupled to its respective axis and each outputting a rotational datum indicating an amount of telescope rotation about the respective axis;
• providing a control processor;
• inputting a geographical indicia into the control processor;
• rotating the telescope about the azimuth axis to an azimuth reference index;
• reading and recording the azimuth rotational datum corresponding to the azimuth reference index output by the azimuth axial rotation indicator;
• rotating the telescope about the altitude axis to an altitude reference index;
• reading and recording the altitude rotational datum corresponding to the altitude reference output by the azimuth axial rotation indicator;
• and
• processing the geographical indicia and the azimuth and altitude rotational data to translate between the earth-based coordinate system into the celestial coordinate system.