Re: ALMA Science Software Requirements (SSR) -- Step 1

[Robert Lucas <lucas@iram.fr>]

Brian:

If the observing projects are split up in say 2-h observing periods then
we really need to have the work done automatically. But there is no
doubt that human supervision  will be needed, particularly for the high
frequencies, where we have little experience, and for observations taken
for `limit' conditions (high phase fluctuations), before dynamic
scheduling is perfectly tuned.
Ideally with properly tuned scheduling we should always be observing in
conditions when the array is 100% efficient, i.e. when calibration is
easy and can be done automatically. 

For the mapping itself my guess is that for most projects, with the uv
coverage available,  we could automatically produce maps that would only
need 
the application of a blind standard clean to be only signal to noise
limited.

One related question is: don't we need to have at least one astronomer
for a critical look at the final result, even if the pipeline ran
smoothly ? 
Some problems can only be diagnosed in the final map, and may be
feedback even
before the proposer has time  to see the result. 

Regards

Robert





Robert LUCAS,            Institut de Radioastronomie Millimetrique
300 rue de la Piscine,  F-38406 St Martin d'Heres Cedex   (FRANCE)
Tel +33 (0)4 76 82 49 42 - Fax +33 (0)4 76 51 59 38 - Tlx 980753 F
E-mail: mailto:lucas@iram.fr                http://iram.fr/~lucas/