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LBA Correlator & Operations. LBA’05 Ops mtg Hobart 8 Feb 2005 Tasso Tzioumis. Correlator Operations. Part-time (3 days/week) correlator operator Gary Scott ( 3 year term appointment) Flexible hours; present most week days Absentee correlation - most Observns
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LBA Correlator & Operations LBA’05 Ops mtg Hobart 8 Feb 2005 Tasso Tzioumis
Correlator Operations • Part-time (3 days/week) correlator operator • Gary Scott ( 3 year term appointment) • Flexible hours; present most week days • Absentee correlation - most Observns • PIs still encouraged to come and correlate, especially for “special” observations • Also assists with tape handling • Preliminary check of data in AIPS • ATLOD - load data • Plot and inspect visibilities and spectra (VPLOT, POSSM) • Plots on experiment FTP area - web accessible • Further checks? (FRING, ANTAB….)
S2 Tapes • ~ 1600 tapesets on web tape list • ~ 1200 tapesets are LBA (+ CA VSOP) • ~ 1100 tapesets in unreleased observations!!!! • 30-50% in pulsars (v041,v088,…) • Only 16 observations never correlated (100 sets) + 10 partially correlated. Problems or specials? • Will contact PIs but many obs are old • Uncorrelated backlog mainly eliminated • Recent observations correlated quickly
Tape release? • Need 80-120 tapesets /session • Re-using recent observations (e.g. V131) • Need to “free” more tapesets • PIs need to inform us when release ok • Data Quality checks at correlator. • Sufficient to release tapes?? • What other checks PIs want? • Define time limits?
Correlator issues • Tape release • S2 transport/tapes unreliable • Synch lost more often • Old tapes worse • Transports aging • S2 Electronics maintenance problematic • Correlation more “labour-intensive” and slower • Tape aging --> unplayable old observations?
Correlator lifetime? • LBA correlator and S2s aging fast • No S2 support from Canadians • May need to “cannibalise” units to fix others • Limited correlator inputs? • Replace S2s at observatories with disks? • Develop disk-->tape copying? (eVLBI project) • Will limit flexibility and efficiency • Projected S2 correlator life ? • ~ 3 years? to match eVLBI developments?
Online archive • LBA archive ~ 650 CDs • Total content < 400 GB - one disk! • Need to “weed” recorrelations • Online availability? • “raw” rpfits files? (weeding still needed) • Metadata required? (logs, calfiles?, corr model?) • Online as AIPS multisource fits? • FRING, Cal files? • Usefulness of online archive?? • Worth the effort and how much? • Propose project?