TOAD, the “Top Of the Atmosphere to Detector” simulator, is a primary engineering tool that accompanies the development of the 4MOST instrument. The ultimate goal is to provide a detailed, end-to-end performance model of 4MOST by providing the detector image for an artificial target field with less then 5% error. TOAD will be able to create a realistic output for any reasonable input. The input can be anything, from point sources through extended sources, calibration lamps or stray-light, entering the system at virtually any point in a optical path. During the development of the 4MOST facility, the TOAD simulator will give invaluable insight into the interaction of various parts of the instrument and the impact of engineering design decisions on the system performance.

Date Published: 4 August 2014
PDF: 10 pages
Proc. SPIE 9150, Modeling, Systems Engineering, and Project Management for Astronomy VI, 91500T (4 August 2014); doi: 10.1117/12.2056463

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 9150:
Modeling, Systems Engineering, and Project Management for Astronomy VI
George Z. Angeli; Philippe Dierickx, Editor(s)