Machine Learning based Pointing Models for Radio/Sub-millimeter Telescopes

Fuente: arXiv
Gespeichert in:
Bibliographische Detailangaben
Hauptverfasser: Nyheim, Bendik, Riemer-Sørensen, Signe, Parra, Rodrigo, Cicone, Claudia
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2024
Schlagworte:
Online-Zugang:
Tags: Tag hinzufügen
Keine Tags, Fügen Sie den ersten Tag hinzu!
_version_ 1866916605174218752
author Nyheim, Bendik
Riemer-Sørensen, Signe
Parra, Rodrigo
Cicone, Claudia
author_facet Nyheim, Bendik
Riemer-Sørensen, Signe
Parra, Rodrigo
Cicone, Claudia
contents Radio, sub-millimeter and millimeter ground-based telescopes are powerful instruments for studying the gas and dust-rich regions of the Universe that are invisible at optical wavelengths, but the pointing accuracy is crucial for obtaining high-quality data. Pointing errors are small deviations of the telescope's orientation from its desired direction. The telescopes use linear regression pointing models to correct for these errors, taking into account various factors such as weather conditions, telescope mechanical structure, and the target's position in the sky. However, residual pointing errors can still occur due to factors that are hard to model accurately, such as thermal and gravitational deformation and environmental conditions like humidity and wind. Here we present a proof-of-concept for reducing pointing error for the Atacama Pathfinder EXperiment (APEX) telescope in the high-altitude Atacama Desert in Chile based on machine learning. Using historic pointing data from 2022, we trained eXtreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost) models that reduced the Root Mean Squared Error (RMSE) for azimuth and elevation (horizontal and vertical angle) pointing corrections by 4.3% and 9.5%, respectively, on hold-out test data. Our results will inform operations of current and future facilities such as the next-generation Atacama Large Aperture Submillimeter Telescope (AtLAST).
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2402_08589
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Machine Learning based Pointing Models for Radio/Sub-millimeter Telescopes
Nyheim, Bendik
Riemer-Sørensen, Signe
Parra, Rodrigo
Cicone, Claudia
Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics
Data Analysis, Statistics and Probability
Radio, sub-millimeter and millimeter ground-based telescopes are powerful instruments for studying the gas and dust-rich regions of the Universe that are invisible at optical wavelengths, but the pointing accuracy is crucial for obtaining high-quality data. Pointing errors are small deviations of the telescope's orientation from its desired direction. The telescopes use linear regression pointing models to correct for these errors, taking into account various factors such as weather conditions, telescope mechanical structure, and the target's position in the sky. However, residual pointing errors can still occur due to factors that are hard to model accurately, such as thermal and gravitational deformation and environmental conditions like humidity and wind. Here we present a proof-of-concept for reducing pointing error for the Atacama Pathfinder EXperiment (APEX) telescope in the high-altitude Atacama Desert in Chile based on machine learning. Using historic pointing data from 2022, we trained eXtreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost) models that reduced the Root Mean Squared Error (RMSE) for azimuth and elevation (horizontal and vertical angle) pointing corrections by 4.3% and 9.5%, respectively, on hold-out test data. Our results will inform operations of current and future facilities such as the next-generation Atacama Large Aperture Submillimeter Telescope (AtLAST).
title Machine Learning based Pointing Models for Radio/Sub-millimeter Telescopes
topic Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics
Data Analysis, Statistics and Probability
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2402.08589