2026-11-04 –, Seminar Room 2
In the past years the field of observatory operations has seen many technical advances which have predominantly been driven by the need for robotisation. Employing the new opportunities provided by AI agents advances this development. The German Centre for Astrophysics (DZA) has launched several projects in this regard. In this contribution we present
(1) Exploitation of libraries of documentation (manufacturer documentation, technical manuals, acceptance protocols for telescopes and receivers, commissioning notations and reports) through a RAG system that incoporates a knowledge graph and an agentic router and that enables queries in a chatbot-like manner which bases information solely on the existing documents. This facilitates efficient access to complex technical information compiled by multiple providers and teams with extended cross-referencing. An example use case is the commissioning of the 14 element array of the MeerKAT-Extension telescopes.
(2) Support of observatory proposal evaluation through a Multi-Agent Review System (MARS). It uses several specialised AI agents that fill different roles in a review process to create structured evaluations that are designed to provide transparent pre-assessments on all aspects of a proposal. Key features include using verifiable evidence as an information base, recording all steps that lead to a quantified assessment or ranking, and using consistent but adaptable scoring frameworks.
We will present the development and current capabilities of these systems as well as the strategies used to verify the results.
With a strong emphasis on the importance of combined observation of astrophysical processes across multiple wavebands and messengers, I have been involved in observatory operations across most of the electromagnetic spectrum, e.g. the robotisation and automatisation efforts for the pioneering Automatic Telescope for Optical Monitoring (ATOM) or science operations for the High Energy Stereoscopic System (H.E.S.S.). Projects I am currently involved in include the MeerKAT Extension, DSA, ZTF and SKA. Scientifically I am most active in the multiwavelength characterisation of variable AGN, but have also participated in binary system observations as well as dwarf planet occlusions.