Title: NCS. New Control System for the 30m Telescope. TBD. 2005 Identifier - Master URL: http://www.iram.es/irames/documents/ncs30mtbdsummer2005 Revision: ncs30mtbdsummer2005, v1.5 Date: 2005-10-06 Expiration Date: 2005-11-15 Supersedes: v1.4, 2005-09-01 Author: Hans Ungerechts Contributors: Audience: IRAM astronomers, NCS team Publisher: IRAM, Granada, Spain Subject and Keywords: new control system, NCS 30m Description - about this document: These are notes about what was done in 2005-05, 06, 07, 08, 09, and about items that remain to be done (TBD) for the NCS in Summer and Fall 2005 before the changeover to NCS v1.0 and for the step from v1.0 to v1.1 Items that have been done in recent months are flagged DONE or. Items not marked otherwise have to be done for NCS v1.0 (2005-11). Items to be done for NCS v1.1 (2005-11, 12) are flagged TBD v1.1. Items can be done later for NCS v1.2++ (2006) are flagged TBD v1.2++. HU @ IRAM 2005-10-06 Page 1 of 10
Goal Summary of Status After some delays, we now plan to change from the old control system to the NCS v1.0 during a changeover period in November 2005. Additional features will then be added for NCS v1.1 in the rest of November and December. VESPA is now partly available in the NCS. In particular it can now be used for tests of other systems, e. g., to debug observing modes and Doppler corrections. HU @ IRAM 2005-10-06 Page 2 of 10
Constraints VLBI. Scheduled about 2005-10-13 to 2005-10-19 (before the changeover). This will be done using the OLD control system. All features to support VLBI are now available in the NCS (2005-09). Bolometer. In October and November there will be several Bolometer projects at the 30m, including the observing POOL. NCS v1.0 must support standard Bolometer observing modes. These were already tested in 2004-11. Remaining problems (timing, pointing model) now appear solved (2005-09). Bolometer observations and related data processing (MOPSIC) must be tested in the change-over period. Heterodyne, Spectroscopy. NCS v1.0 must support the essential observing modes for heterodyne receivers and spectroscopy. (but see special note below about 1 MHz and 100 khz filter banks.) There will be special observations of Mars starting October 27. They need the 1MHz filter banks. NCS development and tests must not interfere with these observations. Personal Support for Observers. Special arrangements will be made to have staff at the telescope familiar with the NCS for observations of projects following the change to NCS. The NCS observer's user manual has been available since early Summer 2005, and is undergoing continuous revisions as the NCS gets ready. It includes a cook book section, ire., an easy guide to observations with the NCS, as well as templates for observing scripts. Remote Observing. Remote observations will not be supported during the transition period to NCS v1.0 and v1.1. Service observations need to be avoided and coordinated with the NCS team and the support astronomers. HU @ IRAM 2005-10-06 Page 3 of 10
Major Items Remaining To Be Done (TBD) Autocorrelators VESPA is now available for test observations with total power switching modes in the NCS (2005-09). In particular it can now be used to test other aspects of the NCS, e. g., Doppler corrections. TBD for VESPA: multi-phase switching modes (frequency switching, wobbler switching). TBD: 2005-10 polarimetry. TBD: NCS v1.1 NOTE: WILMA support will be relatively fast and easy to implement soon after VESPA -- it is similar but simpler. TBD: 2005-11 Heterodyne receiver control RXs AB RXs CD. Done 2005-08 Doppler corrections and synthesizers: Prototype for LSR, Equatorial J2000.0 implemented and tested in June TT NCS. Tests continued in 2005-08, 09 Needs further features, fine tuning and testing at high spectral resolution. TBD 2005-10, 11 TBD: Planets Satellites (later, NCS v1.2++) other Coordinate Systems v1.1 (or later, NCS v1.2++) updates between subscans (later, NCS v1.2++) HERA: set rotation and execute calibration. DONE 2005-08 TBD: observations with HERA Continuum Backends TBD: observations with spectrometers on multiple HERA channels TBD: data processing of HERA observations Switching Modes: Changeover of switching control system to VME/ Linux. DONE as planned 2005-08. Frequency Switching. DONE as planned 2005-08. Needs tests with high spectral resolution. TBD: 2005-10, 11 TBD: data processing. Wobbler switching. OK. TBD: data processing HU @ IRAM 2005-10-06 Page 4 of 10
VLBI support by PAKO and Coordinator Successfully tested in 2005-06 with VLBI between PV and PdB: Sources in Equatorial coordinates J2000.0 and Planets. Pointing and Focus with single pixel heterodyne receivers and continuum backends. Special Observing Mode VLBI ; track of a single fixed position. Switching mode: Total Power for VLBI and Beam Switching for Pointing and Focus. These tests were done in manual control DONE as planned in 2005-09: direct commands (SOURCE, VLBI, START) from VLBI system details of coordinator (end of VLBI scans, START/CANCEL) 100 khz and 1 MHz filter banks see special notes at end of this document. Monitoring various prototypes available and under development; extended and improved during 2005-08, 09: antenna data stream monitor. 2005-06, 08 scan execution info in HTML/browser. 2005-06, 08, 09 Ongoing. "Operator's" User Interface various prototypes available and under development; extended and improved during 2005-08, 09 Ongoing. PAKO, Observing Modes and Sources Observer's user documentation (HU): is ~ 95 % ready and has been available since early Summer 2005. TBD: details, full consistency between documentation and features implemented and tested (ongoing with development and debugging of NCS). general information: receivers, backends (VESPA tables to be provided by GP!) HU @ IRAM 2005-10-06 Page 5 of 10
SOURCES: continue tests of SOURCE for equatorial J2000.0 and other systems "SOURCE BODY" is implemented, needs to be tested. (GP will provide information for appropriate test source: Ceres, Pallas) SOURCE SATELLITE ("moons"). TBD: later (NCS v1.2++). (AS, AP) observe SOURCE SUN, MOON: TBD: later (NCS v1.2++). (AS, AP) test offsets in projection radio, horizontal true", Nasmyth sun avoidance is available (2005-09). TBD: tests during realistic observations other coordinate systems: TBD: after changeover (2005-10,11) or later (NCS v1.2++) descriptive systems: TBD: after changeover (2005-10,11) or later (NCS v1.2++) other projections: later (NCS v1.2++) Switching Modes: Total Power Beam Switching Wobbler Switching Frequency Switching all 4 are basically implemented in the NCS, but need continued testing and debugging with different receivers, backends, observing modes. Observing Modes: (Tests and debugging are ongoing) Calibrate TBD 2005-10, 11: debug TBD 2005-10: Signal/ image ratio TBD v1.1 2005-11, 12: Polarization Pointing Focus TBD 2005-10, 11: timing, coordinator Tip Track VLBI On-Off OTF-Map Raster: TBD: after changeover (2005-10,11) or later (NCS v1.2++) For these observing modes we support offsets in systems: projection "radio" horizontal "true" Nasmyth HU @ IRAM 2005-10-06 Page 6 of 10
Coordinator /Queue DONE (2005-09): basic observation queue (FIFO) Antenna Mount Drive sun avoidance. DONE as planned 2005-09 TBD: tests during realistic observing runs TBD (later, NCS v1.2++): for special observations towards sun disable sun avoidance higher level software must limit time on sun zenith avoidance (for CLOUDSAT avoidance) TBD: tests during realistic observing runs to be provided through the coordinator subsystem: automatic start, stop of antenna MD. 2005-08 refraction parameters. 2005-08 automatic startup and stop of antenna mount drive. 2005-08 earth orientation. 2005-09 pointing corrections from inclinometer. 2005-09 sun position for avoidance. 2005-09 Secondary control TBD: focus tracking/ focus fixed Other Subsystems / Items weather data: prototype is available General continue test & debug timing antenna mount drive / data remaining 1 second difference. Identified and solved: 2005-09 Pointing quality for observations is ~ as good as in the old CS; although the differences between old CS and NCS pointing models are not yet fully understood. test tracking quality: implicitly shown to be OK by successful tests of bolometer (last year), ongoing pointing tests, observations and VLBI (2005-06) optimize timing of subscan sequences (IMPORTANT! Note that this is a major, time-consuming item!). Ongoing. TBD: 2005-10, during changeover period to NCS v1.0. Bolometer measurements on absorber HU @ IRAM 2005-10-06 Page 7 of 10
Processing and Calibration of Data (MIRA and MOPSIC) Heterodyne/ MIRA continue debugging for Pointing, Focus (DONE) process Tips (TBD: later, NCS v1.2++) spectroscopy: Track (with frequency switching) On-Off (total power, wobbler switching) prototype for total power OTF-map (total power, frequency switching) prototype for total power Raster (total power, frequency switching): TBD NCS v1.1 or later (NCS v1.2++) TBD: automatic execution of MIRA Bolometer/ MOPSIC exists since 2004-11; needs revisions & improvements Automatic feedback of data processing results from Pointing, Focus, etc. to PAKO HU @ IRAM 2005-10-06 Page 8 of 10
1 MHz and 100 khz Filter Banks (FB) Adapted from: Minutes of our meeting Thursday 2005-02-17 at 11:00h local time. Technical discussion of NCS priorities and planning Phase 1. 2005-06-07 to 17 prepare software for 100 khz filter bank connect 100kHz filter bank to VME. (time scale: hours) test and debug software to acquire data and write them to NCS data files. (time scale: ~ 1 week) test 100kHz filter bank with VME in the NCS and acquire example data (time scale: days) change 100kHz filter bank back to CAMAC (time scale hours) Phase 1 was DONE as planned. Adapt data processing software for 100kHz filter bank data and prepare for 1MHz filter bank (time scale: weeks, TBD: 2005-06, 07, 08). Preliminary. Phase 2, after change-over to NCS v1.0 change 1MHz and 100kHz filter banks to VME (time scale: days) test and debug software to acquire data from the 1MHz VME systems (time scale: days) acquire test data and adapt data merging software (time scale: days) debug data processing software (time scale: 1 week?) make 1MHz and 100 khz filter banks available for observations During this time the 1MHz and 100kHz filter banks will not be available for observations. To be decided: when do we start 1MHz activities, ire., when do we change the 1MHz to VME? We should minimize the risk that we might have to reverse this step! Motivation behind this scheme minimize the number of changes from CAMAC-->VME (and back) which are complicated and maybe risky, for the 1MHz more so than for 100 khz. In the above scheme there are only the changes: 100kHz: CAMAC to VME (done); back to CAMAC (done); and again to VME. 1MHz: CAMAC to VME. minimize the "down" time for the 1MHz filter bank. HU @ IRAM 2005-10-06 Page 9 of 10
keep the 1MHz filter bank fully available for observations as long as we are in the "old" CS; get the 1MHz available in the NCS in time for any projects that need it. use the 100 khz filter bank for most software development and testing (done). Much of the software will be the same for the 100 khz and 1 MHz systems. For most/all observations the functionality of the 100 khz filter bank can be very nearly replaced by VESPA. The data acquisition and processing software for the 100 khz and 1MHz filter banks will be based on the software for the 4 MHz filter banks. HU @ IRAM 2005-10-06 Page 10 of 10