The METIS instrument control system during system AIV

Abstract

METIS, the Mid-Infrared ELT Imager and Spectrograph, has entered its Assembly, Integration, and Verification (AIV) phase in Europe, starting in late 2025 with the installation of the cryostat at the Integration Facility in Leiden, the Netherlands. Automated Instrument Control System (ICS) procedures such as evacuation, cooldown and warmup were already in place at that time thanks to an early deployment strategy that uses final electronics and software already at subsystem level, to validate critical parts of the system at consortium member locations prior to system integration in Leiden. The paper presents the current ICS status, and its role in validating the emerging system and subsystem development. We further discuss how the ICS addresses the complexities of this distributed AIV phase, while highlighting some technical challenges encountered so far.

Authors 28

1. Wim Pessemier

   KU Leuven

   Affiliation as printed

   KU Leuven (Belgium)

2. Gert Raskin

   KU Leuven

   Affiliation as printed

   KU Leuven (Belgium)

3. W. De Meester

   KU Leuven

   Affiliation as printed

   KU Leuven (Belgium)

4. Ioannis Argyriou

   KU Leuven

   Affiliation as printed

   KU Leuven (Belgium)

5. Kwinten Missiaen

   KU Leuven

   Affiliation as printed

   KU Leuven (Belgium)

6. Maddalena Reggiani

   KU Leuven

   Affiliation as printed

   KU Leuven (Belgium)

7. Bart Vandenbussche

   KU Leuven

   Affiliation as printed

   KU Leuven (Belgium)

8. Hans Van Winckel

   KU Leuven

   Affiliation as printed

   KU Leuven (Belgium)

9. Wannes Verstraeten

   KU Leuven

   Affiliation as printed

   KU Leuven (Belgium)

10. Mario Kiekebusch

    European Southern Observatory

    Affiliation as printed

    European Southern Observatory (Germany)

11. Dan Popovic

    European Southern Observatory

    Affiliation as printed

    European Southern Observatory (Germany)

12. Jean-Christophe Barrière

    Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique et aux Énergies Alternatives · Institut de Recherche sur les Lois Fondamentales de l'Univers

    Affiliation as printed

    CEA-IRFU (France)

13. Thomas Bertram

    Max Planck Institute for Astronomy

    Affiliation as printed

    Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie (Germany)

14. Peter Bizenberger

    Max Planck Institute for Astronomy

    Affiliation as printed

    Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie (Germany)

15. Emilie Bouzerand

    ETH Zurich

    Affiliation as printed

    ETH Zurich (Switzerland)

16. Olivier Corpace

    Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique et aux Énergies Alternatives · CEA Paris-Saclay - Etablissement de Saclay · CEA Paris-Saclay

    Affiliation as printed

    CEA-Paris-Saclay (France)

17. Yigit Dallilar

    University of Cologne

    Affiliation as printed

    Univ. zu Köln (Germany)

18. Martin Kulas

    Max Planck Institute for Astronomy

    Affiliation as printed

    Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie (Germany)

19. Dirk Lesman

    Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy

    Affiliation as printed

    ASTRON (Netherlands)

20. Jeff lynn

    Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy

    Affiliation as printed

    ASTRON (Netherlands)

21. Lars Mohr

    Max Planck Institute for Astronomy

    Affiliation as printed

    Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie (Germany)

22. Vianak Naranjo

    Max Planck Institute for Astronomy

    Affiliation as printed

    Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie (Germany)

23. Chad Salo Aachen Leiden Univ. (Netherlands)

    Leiden University

    Affiliation as printed

    Leiden Univ. (Netherlands)

24. Silvia Scheithauer

    Max Planck Institute for Astronomy

    Affiliation as printed

    Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie (Germany)

25. Benoît Serra

    European Southern Observatory

    Affiliation as printed

    European Southern Observatory (Germany)

26. Roy van Boekel

    Max Planck Institute for Astronomy

    Affiliation as printed

    Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie (Germany)

27. Shiang-Yu Wang

    Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Academia Sinica · Academia Sinica

    Affiliation as printed

    Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Academia Sinica (Taiwan)

28. Sandi Wilson

    UK Astronomy Technology Centre

    Affiliation as printed

    UK Astronomy Technology Ctr. (United Kingdom)