On-sky evaluation of AWACS-Duo (Dual-unit Arrayed Wide-Angle Camera System)

Arrayed Wide-Angle Camera System (AWACS) is based on segmented-field corrector architecture and can be scaled to a much larger than meter-size field of view featured in Extremely Large Telescopes (ELTs). In essence, the AWACS accomplishes desired field expansion via a suite of small cost-effective electro-opto-mechanical units over a telescope’s focal surface, for local and simultaneous telescope field aberration and atmospheric dispersion compensation (ADC). In our previous report, we summarized the architectural features and design examples of the AWACS and discussed the snapshots of the components/subsystems of the AWACS-Duo at various development stages. In April 2023, we had a first on-sky run on the 2.7m Harlan J Smith Telescope to commission the rest of the system functionalities. The on-sky commissioning included verifying the guiding and acquisition, imaging performance and field aberration compensation across 1.2-degree telescope field, the ADC operation and performance, and throughput consistency between two AWACS units, all with respect to the model expectations. This report summarizes the results from this commission effort and the plan forward.