Session Notes for Prepared by N. Vandenberg, NVI, Inc./GSFC =========================================================== PURPOSE AND GENERAL NOTES =========================================================== The purpose of rd0507 is to continue the 2004 series of Gb/s tests. This session uses 7 stations fully scheduled. Wettzell and Kokee will observe INT I05183 and join rd0587 at about 1945 UT. Per the station request, 15 minutes are allowed after the nominal end of the INT schedules before joining the R&D. This schedule was generated using ultra-high minimum SNRs of 80 at X-band and 60 at S-band. An extra 3 seconds is added at the start of each scan for correlator synchronization. These extra seconds are not included in the calculation of the scan SNR. This session must be recorded on Mk5 disks. Multiple disk modules will be required. Stations must plan for disk changes 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 RD0507 Experiment description: R&D-07 Scheduler: nrv Correlator: HAYSTACK Nominal start: 2005-193-17:30:00 Nominal end: 2005-194-17:30:00 Current yyyyddd: 2005193 (2005.53) ( 13564 MJD, TUES 12JUL.) Greenwich sidereal time: 12:52:49.00 (17:30: 0 UT) Sun's RA and DEC: 7h 28.5m 21d 52.8 =========================================================== First observations Observation listing from file ./rd0507.skd for experiment RD0507 Source Start DURATIONS name yyddd-hhmmss Ap Gc Kk Ny On Wf Wz 4C39.25 05193-173000| 40 40 40 40 40 | 1739+522 05193-173244| 96 95 208 208 | 2113+293 05193-173520| 134 134 | 1606+106 05193-173842| 67 67 | 0727-115 05193-173856| 40 40 | .... 1044+719 05193-194511| 40 60 224 73 138 224 98| 1923+210 05193-194939| 56 56 43| 0607-157 05193-195021| 40 40 | 3C371 05193-195242| 76 239 354 354 331| End of listing. =========================================================== Last observations Observation listing from file ./rd0507.skd for experiment RD0507 Source Start DURATIONS name yyddd-hhmmss Ap Gc Kk Ny On Wf Wz 1611+343 05194-165507| 50 40 50 40| 0059+581 05194-170004| 40 116 313 106 313 261 130| 3C84 05194-170505| 40 40 | 1606+106 05194-170650| 68 68 57| 0602+673 05194-171023| 40 184 256 258 258 210| 1357+769 05194-171635| 75 241 295 321 321 296| End of listing. =========================================================== SKED Summary from file ./rd0507.skd for experiment RD0507 (all scans with at least one subnet station) Average number of obs. per baseline per source (normalized by up-time) = 5.7 Min = .0 Max = 66.0 (Baseline Ny-On on CTA26 ) RMS = 8.3 Total time: 1428 minutes ( 23.8 hours). Key: Ap=ALGOPARK Gc=GILCREEK Kk=KOKEE Ny=NYALES20 On=ONSALA60 Wf=WESTFORD Wz=WETTZELL Ap Gc Kk Ny On Wf Wz Avg % obs. time: 15 38 33 41 44 38 36 35 % cal. time: 3 3 2 3 3 3 3 3 % slew time: 67 19 8 18 19 12 9 22 % idle time: 14 38 55 37 32 47 50 39 total # scans: 247 289 174 295 260 241 262 252 # scans/hour : 10.4 12.1 7.3 12.4 10.9 10.1 11.0 10.6 Avg scan (sec): 53 113 164 118 146 135 119 120 Total GBytes: 1902 4703 4109 5014 5483 4680 4495 4341 Total GB(M5): 1691 4180 3652 4457 4873 4160 3996 3858 # of tapes : .1 .1 .7 .1 .1 .1 .7 tape change times (hhmm): Total number of tapes: 2.1 Total GBytes (M5) recorded: 27008.9 # OF OBSERVATIONS BY BASELINE | Ap Gc Kk Ny On Wf Wz StnTotal ------------------------------------------ Ap|247 177 98 173 127 195 131 901 Gc| 289 163 223 158 163 158 1042 Kk| 174 108 73 83 77 602 Ny| 295 217 169 219 1109 On| 260 147 227 949 Wf| 241 134 891 Wz| 262 946 Number of 2-station scans: 134 Number of 3-station scans: 64 Number of 4-station scans: 73 Number of 5-station scans: 77 Number of 6-station scans: 69 Number of 7-station scans: 31 Total # of scans, observations: 448 3220 =========================================================== Recording mode Name Code GEOSX8N 8F Recording mode setup for: ALGOPARK GILCREEK 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 19.780 11.868 32.000 =========================================================== Tape types ID Station Tape length Density Passes Ap ALGOPARK 17400feet (Thin ) 5625000 (DUPER ) 7 Gc GILCREEK 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 Gc Kk Ny On Wf Ap Gc Kk Ny On Wf Gc 80 Gc 60 Kk 80 80 Kk 60 60 Ny 80 80 80 Ny 60 60 60 On 80 80 80 80 On 60 60 60 60 Wf 80 80 80 80 80 Wf 60 60 60 60 60 Wz 80 80 80 80 80 80 Wz 60 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 2, 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).