Grammar in the schedule file

Schedule files contain one command per line and keywords are semicolon delimited. All equatorial coordinates (RA, Dec) need to be given in J2000 format in hh:mm:ss notation, of which the seconds are optional. Blank lines and lines starting with a hash sign (#) are ignored. All commands are case insensitive.

Telescope observing modes

In the sections below, $type has one of the following values:

Value	Meaning
tracking	Telescope tracks an object both physically and electronically.
transiting	Backend tracks object transiting through primary beam electronically.
stationary	Synthesised beam is stationary.

Telescope movement modes

The following three movement modes of the telescope are supported:

Command	Meaning
track; $ra; $dec	Track given ra and dec.
posn; $ra; $dec	Position at given ra, dec, but do not track.
park	Move telescope to park position.

Pulsar observing modes

A multitude of pulsar observing modes are available, with the fold* modes combining pulsar tracking (track mode in tracking configuration) and folded tied-array beam observing in a single line for convenience, compared with their tb* counterparts.

Command	Meaning
indiv; $type; $jname; $tmax	Start backend in folded individual module mode.
tb; $type; $jname; $tmax	Start backend in tied-array beam mode.
tbsnr; $type; $jname; $snr; $tmin; $tmax	Same as foldsnr, but without physical tracking the source.
tbtoa; $type; $jname; $tmin; $tmax	Same as foldtoa, but without physical tracking the source.
modtb; $type; $name; $tmax	Observe in filterbank individual module plus tied-array beam mode.
fold; $jname; $tmax	Observe pulsar (combines track and tb).
foldsnr; $jname; $snr; $tmin; $tmax	Observe pulsar for at least $tmin and maximum $tmax seconds until the S/N $snr is reached (combines track and tb).
foldtoa; $jname; $tmin; $tmax	Time pulsar until saturation and for at least $tmin and maximum $tmax seconds.
foldint; $jname; $tmin; $tmax	Observe intermittent pulsar for $tmin seconds. If it is on, observe it further until $tmax is reached.

FRB search modes

Command	Meaning
fb; $type; $name; $ra; $dec; $tmax	Do a fan beam FRB search at the given ra and dec.

Synthesis imaging modes

Command	Meaning
corr; $type; $name; $ra, $dec, $tmax	Do a correlation observation of an object at ra and dec.
map; $name; $ra; $dec; $tmax	Map an object at ra, dec (combines track and corr).

Wait modes

Command	Meaning
wait; sec; $seconds	Wait for a number of seconds.
wait; lst; $lst	Wait until a given LST in hh:mm:ss notation. If the LST is over for the current 24 hour LST range, automatically wrap to the next one.
wait; transit; $jname; $offset	Wait until transit of a given pulsar. The $offset from the transit is given in seconds and can be both negative (earlier) and positive (later).

Example usage

Create a schedule file test.sch in your current working directory. You can use all the commands above. Also, have a look at the example schedules below. Then, test the schedule file using:

automatic_mode.py -t test.sch

This will not do anything, it will just parse the schedule file and check it for errors. If there are no errors displayed, you can run the schedule file like this:

automatic_mode.py test.sch

This will execute the commands in the schedule file on the telescope and start the observation.

Example schedules

1. Observe the Vela pulsar for 10 minutes, then park the telescope:

fold; J0835-4510; 600
park

2. Wait for 30 minutes, then do a drift scan on J1644 and park the telescope:

wait; sec; 1800
posn; 16:14:49.281; -45:59:09.5
fold; J1644-4559; 1800
park

3. Wait until 16:00 LST then observe J1644 for one hour:

wait; lst; 16:00
fold; J1644-4559; 3600

4. Wait until 30 minutes before Vela transit, then observe it for one hour:

wait; transit; J0835-4510; -1800
fold; J0835-4510; 3600

5. Observe the CJ1218-4600 quasar for 20 minutes around transit:

wait; lst; 12:08:06
corr; transiting; CJ1218-4600; 12:18:06.0; -46:00:29.2; 1200