Design and application of an autonomous Master Control System for a multi-layer magnetic and helioseismic telescope

With the growing significance of space weather forecasting, multi-layer magnetic and helioseismic telescopes are emerging as a key area of research. However, owing to the diverse operational processes and sophisticated hardware configurations of these devices, there is an urgent need for efficient autonomous observation capabilities. An autonomous Master Control System (MCS) can ensure efficient performance, data consistency, and stability, and the prototype presented here adopts a microservices architecture, breaking down the hardware into multiple subsystems and converting their functions into individual services. A central decision-making system leads the operations, supported by three auxiliary systems and three device control systems. Through inter-subsystem service calls, it achieves rapid imaging and spectroscopic monitoring. To verify system stability and observation efficiency, the system was tested on the Solar Full-disk Multi-layer Magnetograph. Experimental results verify this system can operate automatically for 4 consecutive months, acquire photospheric vector magnetic and Doppler velocity fields within a 15-minute interval, and measure chromospheric longitudinal magnetic and Doppler velocity fields in under 180 s. This ensures consistent and stable solar monitoring and serves as a practical methodological benchmark for the development of similar devices.