arXiv subjects

Suryansh Saxena

Publications and source records attributed to Suryansh Saxena.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Exploration of small footprint stick-slip piezoelectric actuators for use in the FLEX fibre positioner system for the Wide-field Spectroscopic Telescope (WST)

This work presents a novel stick-slip piezoelectric actuator for the FLEX fibre positioner, addressing the challenge of reducing footprint while maintaining precision in next-generation multi-object spectroscopic instruments such as the Wide-field Spectroscopic Telescope (WST). The actuator combines compact geometry (3.2 mm diameter, sub 70 mm length) with high-resolution incremental motion, low power consumption, and high reliability. Three actuators can be integrated into a sub 7 mm diameter circle, enabling a simplified, single-plane assembly. This design offers a promising solution for miniaturized, accurate fibre positioning in wide-field spectroscopic applications.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2026

High multiplex and precision: the design and development of FLEX, a grid-based fiber positioner with large patrol radius and minimized telecentric error

In next-generation spectroscopic facilities, high-multiplex fiber positioning systems must operate within highly constrained focal surfaces, such as the Wide-Field Spectroscopic Telescope (WST) requiring 30,000+ fibers across a 1.4-meter surface. The Fiber Location EXtender (FLEX) positioner meets these constraints by improving fiber patrol radii while minimizing telecentric error and positioner spacing for dense clustering and high Multi-Object Spectrograph (MOS) multiplexing. The patented FLEX concept utilizes a superelastic nickel-titanium alloy (Nitinol) inside three concentric, geometrically altered tubes. This construction ensures the tip remains parallel with its base during tilting, while internal routing allows the fiber to run freely along the axis to minimize Focal Ratio Degradation (FRD). Designed for a patrol radius of 2.5x the pitch within the WST architecture, the design delivers a maximum patrol radius up to ~22.5 mm with a telecentric error of less than 0.39 degrees. FLEX utilizes three piezoelectric actuators to provide large radial displacements and precise focus adjustment. To scale this architecture, a modular focal surface layout of 90 identical curvilinear modules has been devised. This layout houses 30,240 positioners across a 2-degree hexagonal field-of-view (FoV), accommodating a central hole for an Integral Field pickoff mirror. Only three support struts are required, obscuring just 0.8% of the FoV while allowing full positioner coverage. One in 16 positioners is allocated for high-resolution spectroscopy, with the remainder split among three low-resolution spectrograph sets; all four sets achieve virtually full coverage of the FoV.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2025

Searching for star formation towards the Eos molecular cloud

The Eos cloud, recently discovered in the far ultraviolet via H$_2$ fluorescence, is one of the nearest known dark molecular clouds to the Sun, with a distance spanning from $\sim94-136$pc. However, with a mass ($\sim5.5\times10^3$M$_\odot$) just under $40$ per cent that of star forming clouds like Taurus and evidence for net molecular dissociation, its evolutionary and star forming status is uncertain. We use Gaia data to investigate whether there is evidence for a young stellar population that may have formed from the Eos cloud. Comparing isochrones and pre-main sequence evolutionary models there is no clear young stellar population in the region. While there are a small number of $<10$Myr stars, that population is statistically indistinguishable from those in similar search volumes at other Galactic latitudes. We also find no unusual spatial or kinematic clustering toward the Eos cloud over distances $70-150$pc. Overall we conclude that the Eos cloud has most likely not undergone any recent substantial star formation, and further study of the dynamics of the cloud is required to determine whether it will do so in the future.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2020

Novel Perception Algorithmic Framework For Object Identification and Tracking In Autonomous Navigation

This paper introduces a novel perception framework that has the ability to identify and track objects in autonomous vehicle's field of view. The proposed algorithms don't require any training for achieving this goal. The framework makes use of ego-vehicle's pose estimation and a KD-Tree-based segmentation algorithm to generate object clusters. In turn, using a VFH technique, the geometry of each identified object cluster is translated into a multi-modal PDF and a motion model is initiated with every new object cluster for the purpose of robust spatio-temporal tracking. The methodology further uses statistical properties of high-dimensional probability density functions and Bayesian motion model estimates to identify and track objects from frame to frame. The effectiveness of the methodology is tested on a KITTI dataset. The results show that the median tracking accuracy is around 91% with an end-to-end computational time of 153 milliseconds

cs.CV↗