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The SAO/ASIAA Submillimeter Array (SMA)

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eSMA Optical Fiber Switch, SMA Project

Image Credit: Derek Kubo

Top photo - eSMA control panel consisting of DC power supply, ADAM-6050 monitor and control module, and custom logic board. Bottom photo - Single-mode fiber splice trays with two black Newport SPDT optical switches at bottom.

Extended SMA, or eSMA, observations linked the CSO (10.4m) and JCMT (15m) observatories to our backend correlator system by emulating receiver B of antennas 5 and 6. This was initially accomplished by manually configuring the single-mode fibers in the SMA vault to connect to either the SMA antennas or CSO and JCMT. This optical fiber switch was designed and implemented to automate the fiber configuration via remote hal9000 command. Derek Kubo, Todd Hunter.