Science Operations
Philip Edwards
Head of Science Operations
14 May 2009
ATNF Operations Structure
Telescope Operations
& Science Services
National
Facility
Operations
Science
Operations
Computer Infrastructure
Scientific Computing & Archives
Visitor services
Receivers, LO & Conversion
Engineering
Operations
Digital & Servo Electronics
Cryogenics
Mechanical, Drives, & Electrical
Performance Goals
• Parkes and ATCA:
• Greater than 70% of all time used for astronomy observations, with
selection based on scientific merit, and less than 5% unscheduled
downtime as a result of equipment failures.
• Mopra:
• Greater than 40% of all time allocated for astronomical
observations, with selection based on scientific merit and research
skill development and less than 15% of unscheduled downtime as
a result of equipment failures.
• LBA
• Operate the LBA for astronomical programs for at least 20 days per
year, with time allocated on scientific merit. Less than 15% of
scheduled time lost to equipment failures.
CSIRO. ATUC report May 2009: ATNF Science Operations
Usage stats (2008-JUL-01 to 2009-FEB-20 *)
ATCA
Parkes
Mopra
Successful
astronomy
82%
76%
45%
Equipment
failure
2%
2%
2%
Time lost to
weather
2%
4%
2%
Maintenance/
idle
14%
18%
49%
Differences in accounting between sites being examined
CSIRO. ATUC report May 2009: ATNF Science Operations
Science Operations
• Telescope Operations and Science Services
• Appointment of Jamie Stevens and Ettore Carretti (ATCA and
Parkes System Scientists)
• TAC met in February, schedules for 2009APRS released in March
• Due to phased CABB implementation, division of ATCA semester
into 2009APRS and 2009JULS
• Not all arrays advertised for 2009APRS were scheduled
• Call for ATCA proposals for 2009JULS (15-JUL to 30-SEP) in April
• Preparations for CABB
• ATCA User Guide undergoing major overhaul to include all mm and
CABB information. Improved format for web version of ATUG.
• Plans to roll out improved format for Parkes User Guide
• New "ATNF Observability Tool“ provides time vs. elevation charts
for multiple objects.
• Water Vapour Radiometer project making good progress
CSIRO. ATUC report May 2009: ATNF Science Operations
Scientific Computing and Archives
• CABB
• CAOBS has been modified to work with CABB.
• CABB computer controls CABB hardware and phases array.
• CABBScheduler is a new, web based, scheduler – integrated with
existing calibrator search and velocity calculator tools
• The CABB version of miriad has now been merged with the main
branch of miriad.
• MoniCA
• Monitoring for the compact array and Mopra is now done almost
exclusively with MoniCA.
• ASAP
• Version 2.3.0, which includes a number of fixes and new export
options, was released in March. A minor upgrade (2.3.1) has
appeared since.
• ATOA
• Backlog of Mopra observations uploaded.
• ATOA modified to process CABB observations.
CSIRO. ATUC report May 2009: ATNF Science Operations
Science Operations
• Computer Infrastructure
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New bigrock at Mopra
New kaputar at Narrabri
Increased data storage capability at Narrabri for CABB
New server at Narrabri for support on-line software support
Increased ATOA data storage at Marsfield
Rationalisation of general-use tape drives at Marsfield underway
New proxy server for ATNF website
Marsfield site power provision improved
• Visitors Services
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•
•
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Meeting of all Visitors Services staff in April 2009
Roll-out of software for bookings management
Use of taxis for travel to and from Parkes Observatory
Aeropelican now operating Sydney  Narrabri flight route
CSIRO. ATUC report May 2009: ATNF Science Operations
Parkes
• Parkes participation in IYA webcast, and Ch.7 Sunrise weather
• Parkes schedule in “classic” text format and also graphical format,
scheduled in 30min quanta
• OPAL coversheet being revised to better capture front-end and
back-end requirements
• 10/50 receiver to be removed for 6 weeks during 2009APR
semester for engineering work
• Parkes receiver fleet being reviewed
• Two major development projects continuing: examining ways of
scheduling observations so staff can focus more on project work
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Larger maintenance blocks
Coordinated maintenance blocks between observatories
Fewer receiver changes
Advertise availability of receivers in Call for Proposals
Better manage arrival of new equipment
Schedule new observers to start on weekdays where possible
CSIRO. ATUC report May 2009: ATNF Science Operations
ATCA
• CABB shutdown (Feb 23 ) Mar 2  Apr 22
• CABB hardware (almost all!) installed
• CABB webpage at
http://www.narrabri.atnf.csiro.au/observing/CABB.html
• CABB introduction sessions April 8 and May 13.
• Still gaining experience with the best data processing paths for
CABB data, e.g., full 2GHz versus divide-and-conquer approaches
• Remote observing “clocks reset”
• ATCA remote observing using VNC sessions being trialled
• Simultaneous 6cm AND 3cm possible, but 20cm OR 13cm for now
• RFI characterisation continuing
• ATCA calibration being addressed by c007 and c2050
CSIRO. ATUC report May 2009: ATNF Science Operations
CABB
(brought to you by the friendly folk in Technologies)
CSIRO. ATUC report May 2009: ATNF Science Operations
Autocorrelations at 6cm
Structure
Missing channels
Autocorrelations always available
Cross-correlation amplitudes at 6cm
Coming soon
For 2009JULS, we expect that three observing modes will be
available as follows:
• 1. A bandwidth of 2 GHz with 2048 x 1-MHz channels
• 2. A bandwidth of 2 GHz with 32 x 64-MHz channels (from mid-July)
• 3. Option 1 with an additional one to four “zoom” bands, each with a
bandwidth of 1 MHz split into 2048 channels (from September)
• When CABB is fully implemented, up to 16 zoom bands per IF will
be available in addition to the 2-GHz spectrum. There will, in time,
be four configurations:
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•
•
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CFB 1M-0.5k: coarse resolution 1 MHz, fine resolution 0.5 kHz,
CFB 4M-2k: coarse resolution 4 MHz, fine resolution 2 kHz,
CFB 16M-8k: coarse resolution 16 MHz, fine resolution 8 kHz,
CFB 64M-32k: coarse resolution 64 MHz, fine resolution 32 kHz
CSIRO. ATUC report May 2009: ATNF Science Operations
CABB zoom bands
CSIRO. ATUC report May 2009: ATNF Science Operations
Mopra
• New Mopra "Current Issues" page.
• Online tools to make schedule files have been updated
• New SiO maser database and monitoring program at 7-mm & 3-mm
for Mopra pointing.
• New version of ASAP now has the capability to export data in a
format that can be read into popular data-reduction packages such
as GILDAS (class) and XSPEC
• ASAP tutorials from the Astro-Informatics School held at Sydney Uni
in April will be made available on the ASAP website.
• New GUI tool now available for observers to do quick-look “point and
click” data reduction (thanks to Cormac Purcell).
• Beam mapping and efficiency measurements in progress
CSIRO. ATUC report May 2009: ATNF Science Operations
Mopra Beam Maps at 7mm (courtesy James Urquhart)
31-37 GHz
43-49 GHz
CSIRO. Mopra Calibration
CSIRO. ATUC report May 2009: ATNF Science Operations
Tidbinbilla
• Understanding between ATNF and ICTC for continued use of
Tidbinbilla facilities for radio astronomy
• Service observations for single-dish radio astronomy announced
in ATNF Call for Proposals.
• ATNF contact, Jimi Green, liaising with CDSCC Radioastronomy
Engineer, Shinji Horiuchi.
• A four month maintenance period on the 70m has just ended.
Normal service is expected to resume later this month.
• A new12mm filter box enabling dual polarization capability is
expected to be installed on the 70m by the end of July. Until then
12mm observations are limited in frequency range.
• A paper on Extragalactic H2O Masers in Southern Bright IRAS
Sources has recently been accepted by A&A (0904.4816)
• Use of CDSCC facilities for VLBI is continuing.
CSIRO. ATUC report May 2009: ATNF Science Operations
LBA
• e-VLBI demo to Curtin in March 2009 (2 x 512 Mbps
from each ATNF antenna + 128 Mbps from Hobart).
Aggregate data rate of 3.2 Gbps across the Nullabor.
• Feb’09 LBA session transferred from ATNF to Curtin
via ARCS (Australia Research Collaboration Service).
No disk shipping from ATNF telescopes. Data stored in
IVEC petabyte store awaiting correlation.
• IYA participation with EXPReS in Jan‘09 and April’09.
• Record over-subscription on LBA last round.
• LBA paper in Science in January (Deller et al.)
• Recent ToO requests:
• eVLBI to Asia and Europe for a Fermi source.
• New SN with VLBA, yet to be scheduled.
CSIRO. ATUC report May 2009: ATNF Science Operations
LBA usage statistics
• In 2008 there were 5 LBA sessions:
• LBA allocated time:
26.4 days (633h)
• Scheduled proposal time: 496h (78%) .
• Includes 47hrs e-VLBI (~10% of scheduled time)
• Test observations (networks; eVLBI development;
polarisation testing): 82.5h (13%)
• Real-time fringe checking: 35h (5.5%).
• About ~20hrs remaining for receiver changes etc (3%)
• Successful observing rate 92%.
CSIRO. ATUC report May 2009: ATNF Science Operations
Operations summary
• The new Operations structure is settling down
• Annual Performance Goals are being met
• Increasing focus on Parkes development projects
• Increasing productivity of Mopra
• Increasing demand for LBA
• Major (on-going) effort across ATNF to implement
CABB
CSIRO. ATUC report May 2009: ATNF Science Operations