News
- Luiz Alberto Rasseli Junior
Using RedCUDI in the Pierre Auger Observatory Remote Control Room located at UNAM
The control room is the first installation of its kind in America and allows operating telescopes and fluorescence detectors at a distance, from Mexico to Argentina, maximizing operating times and optimizing the transmission of scientific data.
The Pierre Auger collaboration initiated the development of remote control rooms a few years ago and is in regular operation since 2014. The control room helps collaboration saving travel tickets and per diem. "It allows us to operate the fluorescence detectors without traveling to the observatory. The reduction in operating costs makes it possible to consider extending the operating periods of fluorescence detectors without increasing (strongly) the cost of operation", commented Dr. Lukas Nellen, responsible for the setting. There are three remote control rooms in Germany, one in Spain; others are in the process of opening in France, Italy, Puebla and some in the US. The Mexican room is the first in the Americas and works with monitoring pages, console for two operators, maps and task list.
"The time difference of seven hours and the fact that the Observatory in Argentina is between the hours of Europe and Mexico, allows us to split shifts from 12 to 6 hours. We can take the first turn and end it at 23h, which corresponds to 6 am in Europe. Thus, the shifts are not too heavy for the staff operating the equipment", added Nellen.
The connection between the Remote Control Room located at UNAM and the Pierre Auger Observatory is done through the links of the National Network for Research and Education, the Mexican NREN and its international links. The traffic goes through RedUNAM, CUDI / NIBA, RedCLARA and InnovaRed.
"A European Community project, the AugerAccess, contributed to the optic fiber installation in the Centre; originally we had satellite and microwave connections, none of these had the bandwidth and the quality required for the service. Having a good network service is important not only for remote operations, but also for access to observatory data”, completed Nellen.
To read the full story, visit: http://www.cudi.edu.mx/noticia/usando-la-redcudi-en-el-cuarto-de-control-remoto-del-observatorio-pierre-auger-ubicado-en-la
