Automating the CFHT Observatory
Tom Vermeulen

Abstract: During the past year, a project has begun to automate the summit facility. The ultimate goal of the project is to automate both the facility and observing process in order to enable autonomous observing. Using a phased approach, the first phase of the project is to achieve remote observing without staff at the summit. The design and implementation of the first phase will be performed in such a way that future efforts towards autonomous observing can be deployed on top of the remote observing infrastructure. The following sections provide more details on the project scope, benefits of automation, current status and implications for new instruments being delivered to CFHT.