Telescope Network Workshop, Jul 18-21, Exeter, U.K.

[Alasdair Allan]

The Heterogeneous Telescope Networks Interoperability Workshop
Initial Announcement and Call for Registration

The Southgate Hotel, Exeter, United Kingdom
18th - 21 July 2005

Aims

  * Set standards for interoperability for robotic telescope networks
  * Set standards for interoperability with the VO for event notification
  * Work towards an e-market for the exchange of telescope time

Website

The workshop website can be found at  
http://www.astro.ex.ac.uk/htn-workshop2005/

The Workshop

The aim of the workshop is to make real progress towards standards for 
event notification and interoperability of the existing proprietary 
robotic (and non-robotic) telescope networks, and with the Virtual 
Observatory (VO). As such the number of people attending will be 
intentionally limited to between 30 and 40.

The workshop will be held in the cathedral city of Exeter in the U.K. 
between the 18th and 21st of July 2005. There will be no charge for 
conference registration or attendance.

Format

Each delegate representing an interested project or group will be 
expected to present a talk of about half an hour, describing the status 
of their project. These talks will be followed by architectural 
discussions, and breakout sessions.

Location

The workshop will be held in the 4 star Southgate Hotel 
(http://www.southgate-hotel.co.uk/) which is only a few minutes from 
the centre of the historic city of Exeter . Built in 1989, in the 
Georgian Style, the Southgate occupies a commanding position in the 
heart of the city. Situated next to the city walls and close to the 
cathedral, the hotel benefits from ample free car parking.

Exeter, with its stunning 12th century cathedral 
(http://www.exeter-cathedral.org.uk/) is a fascinating city in which to 
base yourself to explore the South Devon Coast, Dartmoor 
(http://www.dartmoor-npa.gov.uk/) and the many local attractions, or 
for taking a day trip to The Eden Project (http://www.edenproject.com/) 
near St. Austell.

The Southgate itself offers a wide range of leisure facilities 
including; a heated indoor swimming pool,  whirlpool spa, saunas, 
solarium  and an air-conditioned gymnasium all of which which will be 
made available free of change for delegates staying at the hotel.

Registration

Please see the workshop website at 
http://www.astro.ex.ac.uk/htn-workshop2005/ for details of how to 
register. Registration will open on the 1st of March 2005 and will 
close on the 30th of April 2005.

Accommodation

The LOC has arranged a conference discounted rate of £120 per night 
with the Southgate Hotel for the duration of the conference. However 
there are many other places to stay in Exeter and a full list to suit a 
range of budgets will be made available on the workshop web site in a 
few days.

Network Access

The Southgate offers free WiFi network access in its lounge areas. 
Network access for the conference areas has be arranged separately by 
the LOC.

Funding

Some funding may be available to support people wishing to attend, 
please mail Alasdair Allan <aa at astro.ex.ac.uk> for more details. Please 
be aware that funding is very limited, and all funding decisions will 
be made by the LOC at the close of the registration process.

Organisation

The local organising committee (LOC) consists of,

Tim Naylor <timn at astro.ex.ac.uk>
Alasdair Allan <aa at astro.ex.ac.uk>
Eric Saunders <saunders at astro.ex.ac.uk>

The science organising committee (SOC) consists of,

Tim Naylor <timn at astro.ex.ac.uk>
Alasdair Allan <aa at astro.ex.ac.uk>
Iain Steele <ias at astro.livjm.ac.uk>
Rick Hessman <hessman at astro.physik.uni-goettingen.de>
Robert White <rwhite at lanl.gov>
Anuradha Koratkar <koratkar at umbc.edu>

This workshop was funded by an EPSRC grant for "Links to International 
e-Science Sister Projects", which was obtained in a joint proposal 
between eSTAR and Robonet-1.0 Projects in the United Kingdom, the MONET 
Project in Europe, the RAPTOR Project (Los Alamos Laboratory) and SGM 
Project (NASA Advanced Architectures and Automation Group) in the 
United States.