Camera articulation prototype of the Giant Magellan Telescope Multi-object Astronomical and Cosmological Spectrograph (GMACS)

We describe the camera articulation prototype (CAP) for the Giant Magellan Telescope Multi-object Astronomical and Cosmological Spectrograph (GMACS), which is a wide field, multi-object, moderate-resolution, optical spectrograph of the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT). The GMACS will have the Camera and Grating Articulation System (CGAS) which has two independent cameras and grating modules. The grating angles and the camera angles can be changed to adjust the dispersed light bands on the detector. The electronics components of this system include motors with encoder, pneumatic brakes, and limit switches. We demonstrate how to control the camera angles using a prototype that is designed for the camera articulation controller as a miniature model of the GMACS. The prototype was built with commercially-available extruded aluminum struts and 3D-printed parts and includes two motors with encoders. The prototype was produced quickly and inexpensively, but replicates all functions of the camera articulation mechanism in GMACS. We have developed the control package for the prototype that will be one of the GMACS Device Control System (DCS). The software is designed by the Agile development process and SysML, and developed using Visual C++ on Windows OS. This software has five major control functions: power, homing, resolution mode changing, limit detection, and emergency process. The limit detection is implemented by setting up the limit angle range in the software, because the limit switches are not included in the prototype. We present the demonstration result and discuss the details of the communication route about data flow between high-end user software and hardware components.