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Preparing Observation Schedules

Scheduling Observations

Observations are typically scheduled using scripts that execute the quicksched.py script found here. This is a python3.6+ script that takes in a file with schedule entries in a specified format, and then produces two files to observe the specified sources with the HBAs in mode 5 from subbands 12 to 499. 

The telescope typically takes 3 minutes in order to be configured before the first (and any STOPSTART) observation begins to produce real data. Ensure you consider this time when scheduling observations.

Each entry roughly follows the format

YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM - YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM :<TAB>SourceName [RightAscentionRadians, DeclinationRadians, 'COORDINATEBASIS']

These can be chained together to form a schedule that looks like this.

2021-09-20T19:30 - 2021-09-20T20:29 :	J1931+4229 [5.110297162889553, 5.110297162889553, 'J2000']
2021-09-20T20:30 - 2021-09-20T20:49 :	B1951+32_PSR [5.20531221260202, 0.5738302241353217, 'J2000']

After running python quicksched.py my_schedule.txt, two files will be created in your directory with the prefixes lcu_script_YYYYMMDD.sh and ucc_script_YYYYMMDD.sh, which will be used to perform and record the observation.

Entry Modifiers

STOPSTART: In the case that other observations are scheduled using other software and you need to leave a gap, you can add STOPSTART to the end of the line after the gap takes place. Whenever this keyword is detected, the station shuts down after the previous observation, then starts up 3 minutes before the given scheduled observation is meant to begin. As an example, thiese observations will run from 19:27 - 20:29, shut down for an hour, then run again from 21:33 - 21:59 before returning the station to software level 0.

2021-09-20T19:30 - 2021-09-20T19:59 :	J1931+4229 [5.110297162889553, 5.110297162889553, 'J2000']
2021-09-20T20:00 - 2021-09-20T20:29 :	B1951+32_PSR [5.20531221260202, 0.5738302241353217, 'J2000']
2021-09-20T21:33 - 2021-09-20T21:59 :	J1931+4229 [5.110297162889553, 5.110297162889553, 'J2000'] STOPSTART

[IGNORE_ELEVATION]: In the case that a source will be below the default minimum elevation (typically between 10 and 15 degrees depending on setup), the quicksched.py script will reject the observation. If you intend to observe the source at such a low elevation, you can include [IGNORE_ELEVATION] to highlight that you intend to observe this source at a low elevation and the script will proceed without highlighting the elevation of the source.

2021-09-20T19:30 - 2021-09-20T19:59 :	J1931+4229 [5.110297162889553, 5.110297162889553, 'J2000']
2021-09-20T21:33 - 2021-09-20T21:59 :	J1931+4229 [5.110297162889553, 5.110297162889553, 'J2000'] [IGNORE_ELEVATION]

[MODEN]: Where N is replaced with an observing mode (3-7), this will change the observing antenna and frequencies from the mode 5 default to the specified mode as needed.

Further validation is needed for mode 6, as it sometimes fails to change the clock mode.

2021-09-20T19:30 - 2021-09-20T19:59 :	J1931+4229 [5.110297162889553, 5.110297162889553, 'J2000'] [MODE3] # LBA Obs
2021-09-20T20:00 - 2021-09-20T20:29 :	J1931+4229 [5.110297162889553, 5.110297162889553, 'J2000'] # HBALo Obs
2021-09-20T20:30 - 2021-09-20T20:59 :	J1931+4229 [5.110297162889553, 5.110297162889553, 'J2000'] [MODE7] # HBAhi obs

 

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