A Distributed Observing Facility for Remote Access to Multiple Telescopes

The REMOT (Remote Experiment Monitoring and conTrol) project was financed in 1996 by the European Community in order to investigate the possibility of generalizing the remote access to scientific instruments. After the feasibility of this idea was demonstrated, the DYNACORE (DYNAmically COnfigurable Remote Experiment monitoring and control) project was initiated as a REMOT follow-up. Its purpose is to develop software technology to support scientists in two different domains, astronomy and plasma physics. The resulting system allows (1) simultaneous multiple user access to different experimental facilities, (2) dynamic adaptability to different kinds of real instruments, (3) exploitation of the communication infrastructures features, (4) ease of use through intuitive graphical interfaces, and (5) additional inter-user communication using off-the-shelf products such as video-conference tools, chat programs and shared blackboards.One important intermediary result, obtained in the astronomical domain through the cooperation of different institutions, is the design and development of a general telescope model, used as the basis for modeling within the project. A validation test has been made using the Nordic Optical Telescope located at the Canary Islands. Several European users controlled simultaneously the system, successfully testing the functionality of the prototype I software so far developed. Further developments will introduce enhancements that will lead to the final version in mid-2000. The final test is planned to be performed using additional telescopes, including the Italian National Galileo Telescope.