Build Systems that Drive Business
June 11–12, 2018: Training
June 12–14, 2018: Tutorials & Conference
San Jose, CA

Real-time astronomical observations using a global network of telescopes

Brodie Kurczynski (Las Cumbres Observatory)
1:15pm–1:55pm Wednesday, June 13, 2018
Hardware, Storage, and Datacenters, Systems Engineering & Architecture
 Location: LL21 C/D Level: Intermediate
Secondary topics: Systems Architecture & Infrastructure

Prerequisite knowledge

  • A basic understanding of HTTP verbs, Python, JSON, and the difference between stateful and stateless systems

What you'll learn

  • Learn how Las Cumbres Observatory developed a stateless interface to take real-time observations on a private global telescope network over the internet on a nonprofit budget

Description

Designing a new system to integrate into an existing stateful architecture is challenging—even more so when the new system must be stateless. It is easy to overengineer solutions that quickly become cumbersome and taxing to maintain. These challenges are intensified when financial resources are limited and the stateful architecture exists across a distributed network.

Brodie Kurczynski shares how Las Cumbres Observatory developed a stateless interface to take real-time observations on a private global telescope network over the internet on a nonprofit budget. You’ll learn the approaches utilized for integrating an easy-to-understand web interface into the software stack used to control telescopes all over the world, explore the technologies chosen, and learn how the observatory was able to implement them using constrained resources.

Photo of Brodie Kurczynski

Brodie Kurczynski

Las Cumbres Observatory

Brodie Kurczynski is a software engineer at Las Cumbres Observatory in Goleta, California, where he works closely with astronomers to gather scientific data.