Tyson Seto-Mook was born and raised on the island of Oahu. He is a 2004 graduate from Kaimuki High School. Currently, he is pursuing a degree in Electrical Engineering at the University of Hawaii at Manoa and plans to graduate in May 2009. He is involved in the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE) and Native Hawaiian Science and Engineering Mentorship Program.
Home Island: Oahu
High School: Kaimuki High School
Institution when accepted: University of Hawaii at Manoa
Akamai Project: Coelostat Sun Tracking Stabilization Through Imaging
Project Site: Institute for Astronomy, Maui
Mentors: John Messersmith, JD Armstrong, Jeff Kuhn
A coelostat is a two mirror optical system. One mirror is fixed on an axis parallel to the Earth’s axis, while the other is adjustable in all directions. It is designed to reflect the same portion of the sky continuously so that an image does not appear to move or rotate as the Earth spins. Currently, the Institute for Astronomy is using their coelostat to track and reflect the Sun onto a lab test bench. While the current tracking is good, it is not stable enough to do any type of research. The goal is to develop a routine to prevent drifting for a more stable image. A camera is used to take pictures of the Sun, and an image processing routine is performed on the image. This routine calculates the centroid of the Sun and tells the coelostat how many pixels away from the center it is. With this information the coelostat driver will adjust the coelostat back to its original position. The routine works only for high-contrast images. If the maximum and minimum intensities are too similar, the equation detects a flat image. Neutral density filters have been placed in front of the beam to ensure high contrast images.