posterabstractyr3

A team of South Carolina State University (SCSU) students is implementing a project with four space science components that require extensive collaboration with the staff at the Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute (PARI) near Rosman, North Carolina. First, they have developed a LabVIEW virtual instrument (VI) that reads weather data from a serial port and displays it via the web (http://physics.scsu.edu/weather/). The team has also worked on another VI that reads data from a spectrometer attached to a radio telescope that in turn displays the information to a local monitor. A third component of the project was to set up a lightnight detector located at the PARI site, whereby researchers will then be able to detect storms and lightning in the area. Finally, the team is also studying RS CVn binary stars, which are chromospherically active binary systems. This work was funded in part by a PAIR grant from NASA-MURED to SCSU under NCC 5-454.

Remote Data Acquisition and Control Using LabVIEW DATASocket Server

Marvin Fulton, James E. Payne

Department of Physical Sciences South Carolina State University

Students from South Carolina State University (SCSU) are collaborating with the staff at the Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute (PARI) to allow the SMILEY radio telescope to be accessed and controlled over the SCSU Network and the Internet. The poster will illustrate data acquisition and control using LabVIEW's DATASocket Server. The tests carried out using the DATASocket Server in a network environment will be depicted and methods of using the DATASocket Server via the Internet will be discussed. This work was funded in part by a PAIR grant from NASA-MURED to SCSU under NCC 5-454.

Closed-loop Position Control with Synchro

Troy Inniss, James E. Payne

Department of Physical Sciences South Carolina State University

A feedback position control system is investigated that employs a motor control circuit and a synchro. The motor control circuit operates the direction and amount of rotation of motor whereas the synchro measures its current position. The project is developed using National Instrument's (NI) Data Acquisition (DAQ) Board (Model PC6024E) and LabVIEW software package. The required amount of rotation of the motor is input to the front panel of the vi (Virtual Instrument) developed with LabVIEW. The vi then passes the information on to the motor control circuit to activated the relays which in turn controls the motor's direction of rotation. The data acquisition such as reading the synchro for motor position and sending the control signal are both accomplished via the DAQ board. The desired motor position, entered from the front panel of the vi, is continuously compared to the current position of the motor obtained from synchro, and the difference between the two positional information is used to control the clockwise or counter-clockwise rotation of the motor. This work is funded by a PAIR grant from NASA/MURED to South Carolina state University under NCC 5-454. Using LabVIEW to Monitor and Control a Weather Station Marcelite Jenkins, James E. Payne Department of Physical Sciences South Carolina State University We have developed a virtual instrument (VI) using LabVIEW from National Instruments to monitor and control a commercial weather station. The goal of this project was to provide meteorological information needed for operation of the radio telescopes at the Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute (PARI). In addition to displaying the local conditions at the site, software was needed that could provide remote alarms, be incorporated into the control software for the telescopes, and provide information and allow for control over a LAN and the Web. PARI also has a number of optical telescopes that require similar information. We will briefly describe the hardware and the software that was provided with the weather station and also discuss the LabVIEW package and its advantages. The current status of the project will be discussed along with plans for modifications and updates. This work was funded by a PAIR grant from NASA-Mured to SCSU under NCC 5-454.

Optical and Radio Observations of V7111 Tauri

Armogan Raju, James E. Payne

Department of Physical Sciences South Carolina State University

We have observed the binary star system V711 Tauri (HR1099, HD22468) in both the optical and radio frequencies. V711 Tauri is a RS Canum Venaticorum (RSCVn) binary that contains two cool stars which behave much like our sun. The rotation period of the system is 2.8 days. Radio flares occur in the system every 50 to 60 days, but the strongest periodicity is reported to be 121±3 days. We will report of optical observations of V711 made at the 32" Tenagera Observatory in Nogales, AZ and with a 12" telescope at South Carolina State University (SCSU). The radio observations were made at 1.4 GHz with a small radio telescope at SCSU and at 4.8 GHz with the 26 meter dish at the Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute (PARI). This work is funded by a PAIR grant from NASAMURED to SCSU under NCC 5-454.