METIS AOCS at the beginning of MAIT

The Mid-infrared ELT Imager and Spectrograph (METIS) instrument is one of three first-generation science instruments for the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) in Chile. It has entered the Manufacturing, Assembly, Integration and Testing (MAIT) phase and it is currently scheduled to be installed in 2028. Its Single Conjugate Adaptive Optics (SCAO) system will provide the performance of an extreme adaptive optics system which enables high-contrast imaging (HCI) observations in the thermal/mid-infrared wavelength domain. The METIS Adaptive Optics (AO) control system is responsible for the AO wavefront correction and for supporting AO-related assembly, integration, verification and maintenance activities. It realizes the main AO loop by a Real-Time Computer (RTC) that receives images from a wavefront sensor and commands the corrective optics through the Central Control System (CCS) of the ELT. Several auxiliary functions will run outside of the RTC in the AO Observation Coordination System (AO OCS) that are necessary to maintain the quality of the wavefront correction. For instance, the Differential tip-tilt (DTT) control loop centers the star on the Vortex Phase Mask during HCI observations by adjusting the modulator device via the SCAO Function Control System (FCS) based on sciences images received from the Focal Plane Sensor Gateway (FPS GW). Conceptually, the METIS Adaptive Optics Control System (AOCS) is a distributed software system that is controlled by the METIS Instrument Control System (ICS). This paper describes the current status of the METIS AO control system, driving forces behind the design and the important control loops.