Defining Schedule Items

This is the actual definition of the schedule. In general, you should always use the Perl script (See Section 4.6) to process your schedules, but this information will enable you to construct your schedules as desired before submitting them:

# ------------------------------------

#     Schedule List - This should be useful to folks

# ------------------------------------

# Format:

#          sched  trigger  "flags"

# eg:

#          sched  pointing  "-r 10,0 -d 80,0 -e 2000.0 -f 120"

#

# Schedule items are queued and scored on their relative merits (elevation...)

#  -can set priority which overrides scores.  Alerts have priority 100+.

#

# The flags are:

#     -r hr,min    :  RA, with no space between hr,min

#           -d deg,min   :  Dec, ""

#           -e epoch     :  epoch

#           -a azimuth   :  Azimuth in degrees (useful for focus, etc)

#           -l elevation :  Elevation in degrees

#           -t max_times :  Max # times to run the schedule item

#           -p priority  :  priority.  Most should be default (0)

#           -L user ID number  :  The local user's ID number

#           -m min_elev  :  Only image if it is above min. elevation

#           -u max_sun   :  Max. elevation of the sun for the item

#           -s           :  Is a Sky Patrol.  These have less weight

#           -i interval  :  Minimum time (minutes) between running

#           -c cadence   :  Exact time (minutes) between running

#           -T           :  Check camera temperature at target

#           -M min_dmoon :  Minimum distance to the moon for exposure

#           -S           :  check if the moon has set

#           -P           :  do a "photometry" frame

#          

#  Obviously, you cannot specify both ra/dec and az/el!

#------------------------------------- 

Each schedule item is tied to a specific trigger. If a schedule item is given without a corresponding trigger, an error will be logged to /var/log/rotse.log and astrod will shut down.

When specifying a trigger field, the operator can either specify RA/Dec or Az/El. This second mode is used for focus runs. Schedule items with specified positions are given more weight than sky patrol items under the assumption that if the operator cared enough to type it in, it must be important. The additional weight is given by the value targ_const in Section 4.3.5.

The difference between a cadence -c and an interval -i is the weight given by cadence_const. If a cadence is specified, it means that the field should be imaged at that specified cadence, which becomes more important than airmass. If -t 1 is specified then the cadence and interval have no meaning. You can only specify one of these three options, or an error will be logged and the system will not start.

A local user must set the priority -p option, as well as the -L user ID number. The photometry option -P is also not frequently used.

The options -u,-m,-M,-S are used to override the system defaults. It is always important to remember the -u option, or the images might be taken in early twilight before it is dark!

sched sky_patrol  "-s -u -18.0 -t 3 -c 30 -S -m 30.0"      # skypatrol (-s)

sched home_check "-u -10.0 -t 1 -r lmst -d 0,0 -e 2000.0"

sched dark_run "-t 1 -u -15.0 -i 300 -T"

In the default schedule listed above, it should first be noted that the order of schedule items or option parameters is not important.

The sky_patrol item is designated by the -s option. The sky patrol will only begin when the sun is below ${-18^\circ}$. Each field will be imaged 3 times with a cadence of 30 minutes. The moon must be below the horizon to do the sky patrol (-S), and the field must be at least ${30^\circ}$ elevation.

The home_check item runs just once, when the sun is ${10^\circ}$ below the horizon. It points at ${0^\circ}$ declination, at the local mean sidereal time, or due south on the equator. This single short image is calibrated and is used by schierd to check the home position. Any calibrated image can be used for this purpose, but it is nice to have a single image taken before any sky patrols or burst responses.

The dark_run item runs just once, when the sun is ${15^\circ}$ below the horizon, when there is no stray light. If the camera has not reached its target temperature (from the -T option), the scheduler will wait to take the dark calibration run.

The actual order of operation here would be the home check, the dark run, and then the sky patrol for the whole night. Any target fields specified would interrupt the sky patrol where appropriate.