Correlation tracking and adaptive optics control using off-the-shelf workstation technology

The microprocessors used in off-the-shelf workstations double in performance every eighteen months. The Swedish Vacuum Solar Tower (SVST) uses off-the-shelf workstations for all aspects of its on-line telescope control and data acquisition. Since 1995 workstation performance has been adequate for a correlation tracker of solar granulation controlling a tip-tilt corrector. In 1998 workstation performance permits the construction of a 19 subimage Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor for adaptive optics and phase diversity based wavefront sensing is becoming feasible. It is argued that workstations provide a cost-effective, upgradable, low-risk and flexible means of instrument construction for solar adaptive optics systems and solar instrumentation in general.