Session Notes for RD0501 Prepared by D. Behrend and N. Vandenberg, NVI, Inc./GSFC =========================================================== Purpose: The purpose of rd0501 is to continue the 2004 series of Gb/s tests in 2004. This session uses 6 stations. The schedule was generated using ultra-high minimum SNRs of 80 at X-band and 60 at S-band. The resulting schedule has an average of Special notes for stations: (1) Kokee-Wettzell will observe the INT at 18 UT, then join the R&D at about 20 UT. (2) Ny Alesund was scheduled as a participating station for the first ~ 7 hours, enough to fill one B-size module (about 1440 GB recorded data). Ny Alesund was tagged along to the schedule for the remainder of the session. Please observe as much of the remaining time as possible, consistent with your shift hours. (3) Fairbanks will not participate in this session because their Mk5 has not yet been checked out. This session must be recorded on Mk5 disks. Multiple disk modules will be required. Please plan for disk changes accordingly by referring to the drudg listings that display the number of Gb recorded during the experiment. Refer to the last sections of these notes for reminders about testing and setup for the Gb/s recording mode. Testing prior to the experiment is essential for success. =========================================================== Parameter values for experiment RD0501 Experiment description: R&D-01 Scheduler: dbb Correlator: HAYSTACK Nominal start: 2005-019-18:00:00 Nominal end: 2005-020-18:00:00 Current yyyyddd: 2005019 (2005.05) ( 13390 MJD, WED. 19JAN.) Greenwich sidereal time: 1:56:54.00 (18: 0: 0 UT) Sun's RA and DEC: 20h 7.8m -20d 11.9 =========================================================== First observations Observation listing from file ./rd0501.skd for experiment RD0501 Source Start DURATIONS name yyddd-hhmmss Ap Kk Ny On Wf Wz 1739+522 05019-180000| 40 45 85 85 | 0133+476 05019-180559| 40 129 174 174 | 1044+719 05019-181103| 40 100 142 142 | ........... 1739+522 05019-200540| 40 73 47 92 92 46| 1128+385 05019-200745| 249 144 249| End of listing. =========================================================== Last observations Observation listing from file ./rd0501.skd for experiment RD0501 Source Start DURATIONS name yyddd-hhmmss Ap Kk Ny On Wf Wz 1803+784 05020-173941| 40 214 91 214 117 119| 1044+719 05020-174536| 40 100 142 142 95| 1417+385 05020-174833| 83 83 | 0552+398 05020-174910| 40 40 40| 1308+326 05020-175312| 40 40 | End of listing. =========================================================== SKED Summary from file ./rd0501.skd for experiment RD0501 (all scans with at least one subnet station) Average number of obs. per baseline per source (normalized by up-time) = 8.0 Min = .0 Max = 90.0 (Baseline Ny-On on 1741-038) RMS = 8.8 Total time: 1434 minutes ( 23.9 hours). Key: Ap=ALGOPARK Kk=KOKEE Ny=NYALES20 On=ONSALA60 Wf=WESTFORD Wz=WETTZELL Ap Kk Ny On Wf Wz Avg % obs. time: 16 30 27 47 45 35 33 % cal. time: 3 1 2 3 3 3 2 % slew time: 68 6 15 21 12 10 22 % idle time: 12 61 55 27 38 50 40 total # scans: 267 169 238 298 276 285 255 # scans/hour : 11.2 7.1 10.0 12.5 11.5 11.9 10.7 Avg scan (sec): 52 153 97 137 142 106 114 Total GB(M5): 1791 3323 2974 5241 5041 3888 3710 Total GBytes (M5) recorded: 22259.7 # OF OBSERVATIONS BY BASELINE | Ap Kk Ny On Wf Wz StnTotal -------------------------------------- Ap|267 141 170 163 229 156 859 Kk| 169 96 79 138 86 540 Ny| 238 206 192 190 854 On| 298 191 262 901 Wf| 276 187 937 Wz| 285 881 Number of 2-station scans: 100 Number of 3-station scans: 96 Number of 4-station scans: 68 Number of 5-station scans: 97 Number of 6-station scans: 48 Total # of scans, observations: 409 2486 =========================================================== Recording mode Name Code GEOSX8N 8F Recording mode setup for: ALGOPARK KOKEE NYALES20 ONSALA60 WESTFORD WETTZELL Mode Tot.Rate Tot.BandW #chan #bits Barrel Mk341:2 1024.000 Mbits 512.000 MHz 14 2 NONE Chan.BW #Subpasses Tracks(*fan) Tot.tracks Speed 16.00 MHz 1 16(*2) 32 3.20 X-band spanned bw= 720.0 MHz rms spanned bw= 280.4 MHz S-band spanned bw= 140.0 MHz rms spanned bw= 50.9 MHz Effective number of channels recorded per sub-pass X S Total 19.912 12.000 32.000 =========================================================== Tape types ID Station Tape length Density Passes Ap ALGOPARK 17400feet (Thin ) 5625000 (DUPER ) 7 Kk KOKEE 17400feet (Thin ) 5625000 (DUPER ) 7 Ny NYALES20 17400feet (Thin ) 5625000 (DUPER ) 7 On ONSALA60 17400feet (Thin ) 5625000 (DUPER ) 7 Wf WESTFORD 17400feet (Thin ) 5625000 (DUPER ) 7 Wz WETTZELL 17400feet (Thin ) 5625000 (DUPER ) 7 =========================================================== SNR Targets Minimum SNR by baseline for multi-baseline scans X-band (margin 0) S-band (margin 0) Ap Kk Ny On Wf Ap Kk Ny On Wf Kk 80 Kk 60 Ny 80 80 Ny 60 60 On 80 80 80 On 60 60 60 Wf 80 80 80 80 Wf 60 60 60 60 Wz 80 80 80 80 80 Wz 60 60 60 60 60 =========================================================== TESTING AND SETUP ====================================================================== This session requires 4 ribbon cables between the Formatter and the Mark 5 Recorder. If one of these cables is missing, the correlator will not be able to read any of the data. Mark 4 stations should run ftp://web.haystack.edu/pub/mark5/SNAP/chk1024.snp with ftp://web.haystack.edu/pub/mark5/SNAP/chk1024.prc VLBA4 stations such as Kokee Park, should run ftp://web.haystack.edu/pub/mark5/SNAP/vchk1024.snp and ftp://web.haystack.edu/pub/mark5/SNAP/vchk1024.prc Send a copy of the log to dsmythe@haystack.mit.edu, or put a copy in the misc directory on cddisa, with a follow-up e-mail to dsmythe. Do not touch any of the cables between the Formatter and the Mark 5 Recorder after this test has been run without any errors. ====================================================================== DISK MODULE CHANGES ====================================================================== This session will require 3 or 4 disk modules, depending on the sizes that you have available at your station. DRUDG does not know the sizes, so it shows an ever-increasing GByte count. Please be aware that you will have to change modules several times during this session, and plan accordingly. There are several things to consider: 1) Mark module change times. Select the modules you will use for this session, note their sizes, and then mark by hand the places in the schedule where a module change will be necessary, and which bank will need to be changed. You can use the drudg Option 5 listing for this purpose. 2) Change modules promptly. When a module is full, the FS will automatically switch to the next one and put up a notice that you should change the old one. It is good practice to change the module as soon as it's called for, because then you are ready to record on the new one. 3) Create prompt window. The notice to change the disk module will scroll off the screen pretty quickly and you might miss it. It is possible, using the fs.prompt program, to create a prompt window on the screen with a message that you should replace the module. The window will stay there until you dismiss it by clicking on "continue". It is possible to do this so that the schedule will not be blocked while the window is displayed. To do this, edit your "change_pack" procedure and insert the following line as the first line: sy=fs.prompt "change disk module that is not selected" & The use of the "&" at the end is of the line is crucial to making sure that the schedule is not blocked. Please make sure you enter the line exactly as shown (you can adjust the message inside the quotes). One thing to be aware of is that the prompt will not tell you which module to change, so you must be careful to select the right one, i.e., the one that is not currently selected. If you have any questions, please contact Ed Himwich (weh@ivscc.gsfc.nasa.gov).