Final announcement of the 2nd HTN Workshop

[Alasdair Allan]

The 2nd Heterogeneous Telescope Networks (HTN) Workshop

Institut fur Astrophysics, Georg-August-Universitat Gottingen
July 23-26, 2006
http://www.telescope-networks.org/wiki/index.php/2nd_HTN_Workshop

*Aims*

    * Interoperability between service and robotic telescope  
observatories
    * Interoperability with the Virtual Observatory (VO)
    * Establishment of an e-market for the exchange of telescope time

*The Workshop*

This is the second workshop aimed at interoperability between the  
existing proprietary service and robotic telescopes and telescope  
networks and with the emerging Virtual Observatory (VO)  
infrastructure.  The first workshop, held in Exeter in 2005, set the  
stage for real progress by bringing together represetatives of a  
variety of projects who were able to agree on a draft protocol for  
querying and exchanging information.

This time, we will concentrate on the next steps needed to actually  
implement an HTN: e.g.

    * Identifying projects/observatories interested in joining a more  
homogeneous near-term test network
    * Implementation of the actual protocol on the basis of Remote  
Telescope Markup Language (RTML)
    * Definition of a minimum entry-level participation level  
(software, services, resources)
    * Implementation of resource publication for the interested parties
    * Discussion of an e-market broker model
    * Discussion of different architectures and client bases
    * Interfacing with VOEvent
    * Presentation of the results of early network tests

as well as having time to hear about experiences with other network  
models, projects, telescopes, etc.

*Format*

Following the great experience in Exeter, the mornings will be  
reserved for talks and the afternoons for general discussion or  
breakout sessions. Pre-registration on Sunday evening will be held in  
a local restaurant and the workshop will end late Wednesday afternoon.

*Location*

The conference will be held in the Institute for Astrophysics of the  
Faculty of Physics at the north campus of the Georg-August- 
Universitat in Gottingen.   Gottingen is located on the main highway  
and express train line between Frankfurt and Hannover and hence is  
easily reached by car or train.   The Hannover and Frankfurt   
international airports are relatively nearby (about 1 and 2 hours  
away via train, respectively) and are served by all major airlines.

Life is Gottingen is dominated by the University: 24 000 of the  
city's 130,000 inhabitants are students.    The city was first  
mentioned as the small village "Gutingi" near the imperial castle at  
Grona in 953 A.D, became a bustling member of the Hanseatic League  
during the middle ages, but was nearly turned into a ghost town by  
the ravages of the Thirty Years War.   After the founding of the  
University in 1737,  Gottingen quickly became one of the worlds  
leading research and teaching centers, boasting such mathematicians  
and physicists as Max Born, Peter Debye, Carl Friedrich Gauss, Otto  
Hahn, David Hilbert, James Franck, Felix Klein, Hermann Minkowski,  
Ludwig Prantl, Bernhard Riemann, Karl Schwarzschild,  and Wilhelm  
Weber.   Despite the intellectual devestations of the Nazis,  
Göttingen remains a major research center with the University,  
several Max-Planck-Institutes, an aerospace research center of the  
Deutsche Luft und Raumfahrt Agentur (DLR), and a group of bustling  
high-tech industries which have given themselves the name  
"Measurement Valley".   Largely preserved despite the ravages of the  
Thirty Years War is the charming old city center - the "Altstadt" -  
with its half-timbered houses, mediaval churches and city hall, and  
Gauss's classical observatory building.

*Organization*

There will be a small charge for conference registration to cover the  
costs of refreshments and materials only.

The participants will be responsible for making their own travel and  
hotel arrangements, but a Best Western Hotel ("Am Papenberg") is down  
the street within easy walking distance, lunch is available at the  
university cafeteria or the physics cafe, and  a variety of hotels, a  
youth hostel, and scores of pubs and restaurants are available  
downtown via a short bus ride.

A workshop buffet/dinner Tuesday night will be arranged - the details  
will be published later.

*Scientific Organizing Committee*

Dr. Alasdair Allan, Exeter/UK
Dr. Frederic V. Hessman, Gottingen/DE
Mr. Robert White, Los Alamos/USA

*Registration*

We ask that interested persons immediately contact the SOC at the  
address below so that we can estimate how many people are likely to  
come.   Please indicate if you would like to give a short talk or  
poster; a list of your own topics of interest would also be very  
helpful.

Dr. Frederic V. Hessman
Institut fur Astrophysik
Friedrich-Hund-Str. 1
37077 Gottingen
Tel. +49-551-39-5042, -5052
Fax +49-551-39-5043
Hessman at Astro.physik.Uni-Goettingen.DE
http://www.Astro.physik.Uni-Goettingen.DE

* More Information *

More information about the workshop is available on the HTN wiki, see

   http://www.telescope-networks.org/wiki/index.php/2nd_HTN_Workshop