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Three major problems had to be solved in order to make the SGRA concept work. First, we had to convert circa 1980 analog hardware to computer control.
This was not a trivial task. We ended up feeding the analog relay signals to turn the telescope on/off to a digital port I/O card connection. The digital I/O allows us to turn the altitude and azimuth on/off, and monitor relays and brakes. The position encoders are relay syncrhrnous and feed to a special card into Smiley’somputer. All of the software is written in Visual Basic 6, mostly by Jim Castelaz. The software is sent to the Internet via JAVA applets written by Joe Daughtery (UNC-Asheville).
The second problem we needed to overcome was devleopment of an entire curriculum from scratch. With the help of Jay Case, also Charlse Bogle (Sceince Educator), we have 11 labs for stuidents to
do. The labs range in difficulty from just point and measure to making conour maps.
The third problem is developing and funding teacher workshops. We are seeking grants to help fund teacher attendance at the workshops.
Teachers need to learn how to use Smiley and go through the labs. That way the teachers are comfortable using the telescope in the c;assroom.
Thus far we have support from STScI IDEAS and the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation.
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