Proceedings Article | 16 September 2004
Proc. SPIE. 5493, Optimizing Scientific Return for Astronomy through Information Technologies
KEYWORDS: Observatories, Telescopes, Calibration, Databases, Control systems, Data archive systems, Software development, Astronomical telescopes, Optical instrument design, Optical correlators
The Expanded Very Large Array (EVLA) project is the next generation
instrument for high resolution long-millimeter to short-meter
wavelength radio astronomy. It is currently funded by NSF, with
completion scheduled for 2012. The EVLA will upgrade the VLA with new feeds, receivers, data transmission hardware, correlator, and a new software system to enable the instrument to achieve its full potential. This software includes both that required for controlling and monitoring the instrument and that involved with the scientific
dataflow. We concentrate here on a portion of the dataflow software,
including: proposal preparation, submission, and handling; observation preparation, scheduling, and remote monitoring; data archiving; and data post-processing, including both automated (pipeline) and manual processing. The primary goals of the software are: to maximize the scientific return of the EVLA; provide ease of use, for both novices and experts; exploit commonality amongst all NRAO telescopes where possible. This last point is both a bane and a blessing: we are not at liberty to do whatever we want in the software, but on the other hand we may borrow from other projects (notably ALMA and GBT) where appropriate. The software design methodology includes detailed initial use-cases and requirements from the scientists, intimate interaction between the scientists and the programmers during design and implementation, and a thorough testing and acceptance plan.
