The Atacama Large Millimetre/submillimetre Array (ALMA) is the world’s largest ground-based facility for observations at millimeter/submillimeter wavelengths. Inaugurated in March 2013, ALMA has already accomplished ten years of continued steady-state operations. It comprises 66 antennas located approximately 5000 meters at the Chajnantor Plateau in the Atacama Desert in Northern Chile. The ALMA partnership established the ALMA 2030 development program to improve ALMA’s capability to avoid obsolescence for the next decade. The Wideband Sensitivity Upgrade (WSU) project, the first initiative of the ALMA 2030 development program, will replace the entire digital processing system, which includes the wideband digitizers, data transmission system, and data correlation system. A working group was charged to develop a WSU Deployment Concept based on a parallel deployment approach to minimize scientific downtime during the upgrade period, which could last up to five years. In this paper, the authors present the relevant aspects of this analysis and conclusions, which will pave the road to address the definition of the AIVC concept and the corresponding AIVC plan of the WSU project.
ALMA (Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array) is the world's largest ground-based facility for observations in the millimeter/submillimeter regime. One of ALMA's outstanding characteristics is the large effort dedicated to the quality assurance (QA) of the calibrated and imaged data products offered to the astronomical community. The Data Management Group (DMG), in charge of the data processing, review, and delivery of the ALMA data, consists of approximately 60 experts in data reduction, from the ALMA Regional Centers (ARCs) and the Joint ALMA Observatory (JAO), distributed in fourteen countries. With a throughput of more than 3,000 datasets per year, meeting the goal of delivering the pipeline-able data products within 30 days after data acquisition is a huge challenge. This paper presents (a) the history of data processing at ALMA, (b) the challenges our team had and is still facing, (c) the methodology followed to mitigate the operational risks, (d) the ongoing optimization initiatives, (e) the current data processing status, (f) the strategy which is being followed so that, in a few Cycles from now, a team of approximately 10 data reducers (DRs) at JAO can process and review some 80% of the datasets collected during an observing cycle, and, finally, (g) the important role of the ARCs for processing the remaining datasets.
After eight observing Cycles, the Atacama Large Millimeter-submillimeter Array (ALMA) is capable of observing in eight different bands (covering a frequency range from 84 to 950 GHz), with 66 antennas and two correlators. For the current Cycle (7), ALMA offers up to 4300 hours for the 12-m array, and 3000 hours on both the 7-m of the Atacama Compact Array (ACA) and TP Array plus 750 hours in a supplemental call. From the customer perspective (i.e., the astronomical community), ALMA is an integrated product service provider, i.e. it observes in service mode, processes and delivers the data obtained. The Data Management Group (DMG) is in charge of the processing, reviewing, and delivery of the ALMA data and consists of approximately 60 experts in data reduction, from the ALMA Regional Centers (ARCs) and the Joint ALMA Observatory (JAO), distributed in fourteen countries. Prior to their delivery, the ALMA data products go through a thorough quality assurance (QA) process, so that the astronomers can work on their science without the need of significant additional calibration re-processing. Currently, around 90% of the acquired data is processed with the ALMA pipeline (the so called pipeline-able data), while the remaining 10% is processed completely manually. The Level-1 Key Performance Indicator set by the Observatory to DMG is that 90% of the pipeline-able data sets (i.e. some 80% of the data sets observed during an observing cycle) must be processed, reviewed and delivered within 30 days of data acquisition. This paper describes the methodology followed by the JAO in order to process near 80% of the total data observed during Cycle 7, a giant leap with respect to approximately 30% in Cycle 4 (October 2016 - September 2017).
We propose the Allan Variance method to identify spurious signals with sensitive detectability. With this method, detection level of -56 dB with respect to the system noise can be achieved within the integration time less than 10 min. Detected spurious signals can be mitigated by masking these channels before spectral bunching to required spectral resolution. We will present the principle of the method and the performance taken through the ALMA system verification activity. This method can be applied for universal single-dish spectroscopy.
The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) Band 10 receiver covering 787 to 950 GHz is the highest frequency receiver of the ten bands envisioned for the ALMA Front End system. The Band 10 receivers have been undergoing installation and commissioning since 2012. After the Band 10 receiver tuning scripts (Josephson currents suppression, LO power optimization) and operation procedures had been developed and implemented, astronomical verification procedures (radio pointing, focus, beam squint, and end-to-end spectroscopic verification) were established in single dish mode at the ALMA Operations Support Facility (OSF; 2900 m elevation). Subsequently, the first Band 10 astronomical fringes were achieved at the Array Operations Site in October 2013 (AOS; 5000 m elevation). This is the highest frequency ever achieved by a radio interferometer and opens up a new window into submillimeter astrophysics.
S. Asayama, L. B. Knee, P. Calisse, P. Cortés, R. Jager, B. López, C. López, T. Nakos, N. Phillips, M. Radiszcz, R. Simon, I. Toledo, N. Whyborn, H. Yatagai, J. McMullin, P. Planesas
The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) will consist of at least 54 twelve-meter antennas and 12
seven-meter antennas operating as an aperture synthesis array in the (sub)millimeter wavelength range. The ALMA
System Integration Science Team (SIST) is a group of scientists and data analysts whose primary task is to verify and
characterize the astronomical performance of array elements as single dish and interferometric systems. The full set of
tasks is required for the initial construction phase verification of every array element, and these can be divided roughly
into fundamental antenna performance tests (verification of antenna surface accuracy, basic tracking, switching, and on-the-fly rastering) and astronomical radio verification tasks (radio pointing, focus, basic interferometry, and end-to-end
spectroscopic verification). These activities occur both at the Operations Support Facility (just below 3000 m elevation)
and at the Array Operations Site at 5000 m.
The Verification Model (VM) of MIRI has recently completed an extensive programme of cryogenic testing, with the
Flight Model (FM) now being assembled and made ready to begin performance testing in the next few months. By
combining those VM test results which relate to MIRI's scientific performance with measurements made on FM
components and sub-assemblies, we have been able to refine and develop the existing model of the instrument's
throughput and sensitivity.
We present the main components of the model, its correlation with the existing test results and its predictions for
MIRI's performance on orbit.
The Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) is one of the three scientific instruments to fly on the James Webb Space
Telescope (JWST), which is due for launch in 2013. MIRI contains two sub-instruments, an imager, which has low
resolution spectroscopy and coronagraphic capabilities in addition to imaging, and a medium resolution IFU
spectrometer. A verification model of MIRI was assembled in 2007 and a cold test campaign was conducted between
November 2007 and February 2008. This model was the first scientifically representative model, allowing a first
assessment to be made of the performance. This paper describes the test facility and testing done. It also reports on the
first results from this test campaign.
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