PC-based observation control of balloon-borne telescope.

The operations involved during observations, using the TIFR 100-cm balloon-borne far-infrared telescope, have been semi-automated using an IBM-PC. A hardware interface has been developed for this PC, which interacts with the two-way radio communication links (telemetry and telecommand) between the ground station and the telescope system. In addition, software has been developed to improve the accuracy of the telescope aspect information. This has been implemented by on-line processing of the signals from the focal plane optical and infrared detectors.