  The VST (VLT Survey Telescope) is a 2.6 m class Alt-Az telescope to be
installed at Mount Paranal in the Atacama desert, Chile, in the European
Southern Observatory (ESO) site. The VST is a wide-field imaging facility
planned to supply databases for the ESO Very Large Telescope (VLT) science and
carry out stand-alone observations in the UV to I spectral range. This paper
will focus on the distributed control system of active optics based on CAN bus
and PIC microcontrollers. Both axial and radial pads of the primary mirror will
be equipped by astatic lever supports controlled by microcontroller units. The
same CAN bus + microcontroller boards approach will be used for the temperature
acquisition modules.
