Status of the ASKAP monitoring and control system

The Australian Square Kilometer Array Pathfinder, or ASKAP, is a new radio telescope currently under construction at the Murchison Radio astronomy Observatory (MRO) in Mid West region of Western Australia. As well as being a world-leading telescope in its own right, ASKAP will be an important test-bed for the Square Kilometer Array. This paper gives a status update of the ASKAP project and provides a detailed look at the initial deployment of the monitoring and control system as well as major issues to be addressed in future software releases before the start of system commissioning later this year. The experience gained on the ASKAP control system could be useful for ground-based array cosmic particle detectors