Newly developed method and technology for determining the spatial position of the feeds of the FAST are introduced in this paper. Base on the measurements of the position and orientation of cabin in which the feeds are mounted, a loop feedback control enables accurately driving the feeds along desired tracks. The key technique of this implementation is the precise measurement of 6-freedom coordinates of the cabin in air with high sampling rate. An innovated way for this purpose is put forward and tested, combining data by different type of sensors. The errors of measurements and their influences on the control accuracy are analyzed theoretically, and checked by model tested. The experiment shows the feasibility and effectivity of the scheme of measurement and control for the telescope.

Date Published: 15 September 2004
PDF: 9 pages
Proc. SPIE 5496, Advanced Software, Control, and Communication Systems for Astronomy, (15 September 2004); doi: 10.1117/12.550855

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 5496:
Advanced Software, Control, and Communication Systems for Astronomy
Hilton Lewis; Gianni Raffi, Editor(s)