CNC Rotary Table with Standalone Controller for Gear Hobbing

Hello,
I already have a Maho MH500 and a cycloidal lathe retrofitted to LinuxCNC, so I do have some practical experience with LinuxCNC retrofits.Now a colleague has approached me with the following idea:
He wants to build a CNC rotary table for his Maho MH600 in order to hob gears (gear hobbing).The idea is a rotary table with an “electronic gearbox”, synchronized to the machine spindle of the Maho.Key requirements:

• Maximum rotary table speed: ~300 rpm
• Servo or stepper drive with a gearbox, approx. 1:3
• The control should run fully standalone
• Only spindle position and spindle speed are taken from the spindle encoder
• The rotary table is synchronized to the spindle via electronic gearing

Questions / design considerations:

• What is the best choice of encoder for this application?
  Probably an absolute encoder? or better incremental for a better dynamic?
• Servo motor will most likely be NEMA 42 size
• Encoder setup ideas:
  • Incremental encoder on the spindle
  • Encoder directly on the rotary table
  • Possibly an additional encoder on the motor
• How should the control and feedback loops be structured for this setup?

I would appreciate any recommendations regarding:

• encoder types and placement
• control loop architecture
• practical LinuxCNC / Mesa hardware solutions for this kind of standalone rotary table