The ESO-MAD (MCAO Technological Demonstrator) is a fast track project aimed at demonstrating the maturity of the Multi-Conjugate Adaptive Optics concept through a prototype MCAO instrument that uses only natural guide stars. This prototype features two different wavefront sensing architectures (Shack-Hartmann and Layer-Oriented), two deformable mirrors and one tip/tilt stage. One of the objectives of MAD is also to explore computing architectures different from the ones adopted so far. MAD-RTC

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... s based on the latest generation general-purpose processors in a parallel architecture that can easily (even though not unexpensively) scale up to accomodate large or very large MCAO systems. MAD-RTC is a multi-wavefront-sensor multi-algorithm real time computer implemented in a Quad-G4 PPC computing board. It is designed to be a test-bed to study different solutions for the future MCAO systems: it can accept data from multiple CCDs in different configurations, use different reconstruction and control algorithms and drive multiple mirrors simultaneously.