Upgrades at the 2.3 meter Wyoming Infrared Observatory telescope have provided the capability for fully-remote operations by a single operator from the University of Wyoming campus. A line-of-sight 300 Megabit/s 11 GHz radio link provides high-speed internet for data transfer and remote operations that include several real-time video feeds. Uninterruptable power is ensured by a 10 kVA battery supply for critical systems and a 55 kW autostart diesel generator capable of running the entire observatory for up to a week. Construction of a new four-element prime-focus corrector with fused-silica elements allows imaging over a 40' field-of-view with a new 4096x4096 UV-sensitive prime-focus camera and filter wheel. A new telescope control system facilitates the remote operations model and provides 20'' rms pointing over the usable sky. Taken together, these improvements pave the way for a new generation of sky surveys supporting space-based missions and flexible-cadence observations advancing emerging astrophysical priorities such as planet detection, quasar variability, and long-term time-domain campaigns.
@article{arxiv.1604.02446,
title = {A Wide-Field Camera and Fully Remote Operations at the Wyoming Infrared Observatory},
author = {Joseph R. Findlay and Henry A. Kobulnicky and James S. Weger and Gerald A. Bucher and Marvin C. Perry and Adam D. Myers and Michael J. Pierce and Conrad Vogel},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1604.02446},
year = {2016}
}