AO4ELT5 Proceedings
Aircraft safety and operational efficiency during LGS operations at the Large Binocular Telescope Observatory.
Rahmer, Gustavo (Large Binocular Telescope Observatory), Lefebvre, Michael (Large Binocular Telescope Observatory), Christou, Julian (Large Binocular Telescope Observatory)
A key aspect of LGS (Laser Guide Star) operations is the implementation of measures to prevent the illumination of aircraft flying overhead. In parallel to the use of aircraft spotters, we have an automatic aircraft detection system developed at UCSD known as TBAD (Transponder-Based Aircraft Detection). Our airspace is busier, if not the busiest, than for other telescope sites using LGS, and the constant interruptions, specially during the first half of the night, can have a big impact in the efficiency of the LGS operations. We describe the steps that we have taken to validate the operation of the automatic detection system, and show that the efficiency of our laser operation will improve by transitioning to a TBAD-only operation.
DOI: 10.26698/AO4ELT5.0111- Proceeding PDF
