REMOT−A Project to Remotely Monitor and Control ScientificExperiments
M. Pucillo (OAT, Trieste, Italy), E. Garcia Alcazar (TCP-SI, Madrid, Spain), F. Genova (CDS,Strasbourg, France), F. Gomez (IAC, Tenerife, Spain), M. Korten (Forschungszentrum Juelich,Germany), S. Labajo Izquierdo (GTI, Univ. Pol. Madrid, Spain), P. Linde (Obs. Lund, Sweden), W.
Lourens (Univ. Utrecht, The Netherlands), F. Pasian (OAT, Trieste, Italy), J. D. Ponz (ESA/VILSPA,Spain), F. Puente (CMA/ULPGC, Las Palmas, Spain), E. F. Vieira (LAEFF, Madrid, Spain)of the architecture itself.
1 Introduction
REMOT (Remote Experiment MOnitoring and conTrol)is a project developed under the auspices of theTELEMATICS programme of the European Commission,
DG XIII.
Its objective is to build and validate a generic approach
to allow remote control of scientific experiments andfacilities that require real-time operation and multimedia
information feedback, using communications infrastructure
available to European researchers.
The validation of such generic approach is being
performed by representatives from the two usercommunities participating in the project: the Astronomicalcommunity, which has telescopes in rather difficult-toaccess locations - such as islands and/or mountains - andthe Plasma Physics community, that is concentrating
expensive experimental facilities in a few places in order topool resources.
2 The REMOT system
A generic teleoperation system is being developed, using
as much as possible available off-the-shelf elements,
plus ad-hoc software modules. The communications
infrastructure is based on the Internet, using underlying
dedicated network infrastructures where necessary, toensure that real-time and safety constraints can be met.
Point-to-point ISDN connections are being used fortesting purposes or for emergency situations; ATM is also
being considered, since it can deliver the combination offlexible high bandwidth together with Quality of Service(QoS) where needed.
The implementation and integration of such a system isbeing developed using a client-server architecture, objectoriented methods and CORBA, which is complex, but astandardized architecture for distributed systems. When
only reliable communications need to be supported,
CORBA and its IP-based layer can be used directly but,
since it does not consider QoS aspects, a special
mechanism has been added to the architecture in which
network objects will manage guaranteed bandwidthconnections among local and remote sites.
Over this generic remote operation system architecture,
two independent demonstrators are being developed, inorder to show the feasibility of teleoperating scientificexperiments in two real environments, and the suitability

3 Integration of astronomical facilities
Astronomers and astrophysics work is largely based on
observatory facilities. But these observations are largely
influenced by the atmospheric conditions, that can limit orcompletely spoil the observations. Due to that factor, themajority of observatory facilities are installed at places
where the atmosphere is thin and clear, and the weather
stable. Those conditions are best obtained at places locatedhigh (over mountains), and often isolated (on islands, forthe thermal stabilization due to the sea).
For the reasons stated above, large-scale astronomical
observing facilities are difficult to reach and expensive to
use and maintain (a second of observing time of a modern
facility is estimated to cost up to 1 US$): it is therefore
mandatory to optimize both their accessibility and theirscientific performance. The telescopes of the newgeneration are thus designed and implemented with remotecontrol as an essential requirement, to allow remote accessand a flexible scheduling of observing time. The latter isparticularly important to allow scientists to be able toperform and directly control observing programs requiring
specific atmospheric conditions, without having to wait at
the telescope for the weather to be suitable, or to delegate
the observation to local staff possibly not having enoughscientific expertise.
Two optical telescopes, the Italian Galileo National
Telescope (TNG) and the IAC Teide telescope, will be
used as testbeds for the REMOT astronomicaldemonstrator. The integration of these telescopes is being
performed by building an appropriate software interface
between their own control software and the newgeneralized software described above. As the result of thisactivity, it shall be possible to control both telescopes fromany remote institute having access to the project's software.
The logical scheme of the astronomical demonstrator issketched in Figure 1.
On the telescope side, a Teleoperation Server will takecare of the management of the system, of the users, and ofneeded resources; on the remote user's site, a Teleoperation
Client will provide the necessary management of the user
session and will control all of the presentation aspects. A
CORBA-based system is being used throughout allcommunication elements in between the Server and theuser. In the case QoS is required, a bridging mechanism
has been provided.

System management
Users management
Resources management

Presentation
IP commands
based interface

Session management
Presentation control

ISDN-basedbridging
mechanism

TELESCOPE
SYSTEMTELEOPERATIONSERVERTELEOPERATIONCLIENT

GRAPHICALUSERINTERFACECORBA-based
communications
supportIP commands
based interface

CORBA based
interface

CORBA based
interfaceFig. 1: Demonstrator logical scheme

4 Integration of plasma physics facilities
The Research Center Juelich (Forschungszentrum JuelichGmbH, FZJ) is one of 13 national research centers in theFederal Republic of Germany. The fusion experiment
TEXTOR (Torus EXperiment for Technology Oriented
Research), as a major device of the FZJ, participates in thenational and international nuclear fusion researchprogramme. Fusion research in general aims at thedevelopment of a new energy source with favourable
properties. The activities of TEXTOR, within thisprogramme, concentrate on the study of plasma-wallinteraction and on selected problems of fusion reactor
technology.
Within the contract of the Trilateral Euregion Cluster(TEC), the three Plasma Physics institutes in Belgium(Ecole Royale Militaire/Koningklijke Militaire School), theNetherlands (FOM Instituut voor Plasmaphysica'Rijnhuizen' - Nieuwegein) and Germany (FZJ, Institut fuer
Plasmaphysik) have agreed on a coherent common
research programme in the field of high temperature
nuclear fusion plasma physics. The experimental work will
be carried out on the TEXTOR-94 tokamak at FZ Juelich.
TEC is introducing new plasma diagnostics ascontributions from the partners, which asks for integrationof new and existing environments. Also, there is need forremote access to experimental and data resources from thehome institutes, which will affect structures and theinterfacing of current systems. It is seen to be mandatory toconcentrate the know-how and to join the experience of thepartners into a common distributed system layout.
It is generally recognized that the ability of people tocollaborate over a distance is to a large extent determinedby the efficiency and 'easiness' of the tools fortelecommunication, which should include audio, video anddocument sharing. The partner will add their own
equipment to local TEXTOR systems and they want tocontrol it from their home sites. The EU TELEMATICSREMOT project, in this respect, is expected to provide amajor contribution of generic tools for a remoteparticipation by the TEC scientific community.
Beyond the significance of the REMOT project for theTEC collaboration, it is expected to support theparticipation of the Forschungszentrum Juelich in theintegral European fusion research programme with theJoint European Torus (JET) as its flagship. Purpose of thisprogramme is to provide the basis for the construction ofthe International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor(ITER) and to develop improvements of the concepts
currently selected for ITER. Participation of scientists andinstruments from Japan, USA, Canada and Switzerland isarranged through the International Energy Agency (IEA).
Several European universities participate in this research
programme by special projects.
Work has been carried out within the REMOT project, inwhich a demonstrator for the plasma physics domain isbeing implemented. It will be composed of remote control
and monitoring of two pilot-diagnostic at TEXTOR94.
Experiment data as well as configuration parameters will
be stored in a distributed object database.

Videoconferencing will also be possible by using
multimedia tools. Some special devices for ATM are understudy for this purpose.
5 Future developments
The preliminary results of the REMOT project haveencouraged the participants to try to expand its facilities
into a flexible, full-fledged system: building such a systemis the purpose of the DYNACORE (DYNAmicallyCOnfigurable Remote Experiment monitoring and controlsystem) project, which is currently in the final negotiation
phase with the EC TELEMATICS programme, and is
expected to start in early 1998.
The project results will potentially enable large savings,
by allowing for shared and more effective access toexpensive research facilities. Furthermore, the potential ofperforming remote experiments will also enable a wider
participation in joint research undertakings from all regionsof the European community.
References[1] A.Balestra et al.
Remote Control of the Galileo Telescope and the EU"REMOT" Project"The Three Galileos Conference", Padova, Italy, 7-10
Jan. 1997, in press[2] P.Linde et al.
REMOT: A design for multiple site remote observing
ADASS 97, Sonthofen, Germany, 14-17 Sept. 1997,
in press[3] G.Kemmerling et al.
Remote Experiment Monitoring and Control at theTEXTOR94 Experiment
Xth IEEE Real Time Conference, Beaune, France, 2226 Sept. 1997, in press[4] C.T.A.M. de Laat
Virtual Control Room, the REMOT Project,
Networking PilotsXth IEEE Real Time Conference, Beaune, France, 2226 Sept. 1997, in press