The scheduling subsystem within the ALMA software system is designed to manage the execution of approved observing projects. Since weather will play such an important role in science observations with ALMA, the telescope will operate primarily in a dynamic scheduling mode. Current environmental conditions together with the current state of the telescope itself will be used to algorithmically determine the best scheduling block to execute at any time. In addition to the on-line system, a simulation tool is a significant part of this system that will be used for short and long-term planning. It implements the fundamental concepts used to solve this problem of dynamic scheduling and is capable of using historical weather data. The architecture and function of this simulation tool are presented.

Date Published: 16 September 2004
PDF: 11 pages
Proc. SPIE 5493, Optimizing Scientific Return for Astronomy through Information Technologies, (16 September 2004); doi: 10.1117/12.549382

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 5493:
Optimizing Scientific Return for Astronomy through Information Technologies
Peter J. Quinn; Alan Bridger, Editor(s)