Observing Scripts

What is an Observing Script?

An observing script is some Python code whose purpose is to perform the observation defined in a Scheduling Block (SB). In practice, there may be several observing scripts that process different parts of the SB; for example, a script to allocate resources, a script to perform the observation; a script to deallocate resources, etc.

The SKA Project Data Model (PDM) defines the structure of Scheduling Blocks (SBs), and how an SB can be serialised as a JSON file. The syntax of the commands and configurations required by the telescope are described in the SKA Control Data Model (CDM). A major function of an observing script is to convert the SB PDM entity to the appropriate set of CDM allocation and configuration entities, which form the arguments for telescope control commands.

To achieve its aims the script must send a series of commands in the correct order. The typical sequence for ‘executing’ an SB from start to finish is:

  1. Command the CentralNode to allocate the required resources and instantiate the SubArrayNode. The observing script parses the SB JSON, reading what resources are required and constructing the equivalent CDM JSON which it then issues to the control system.

  2. Using the SubArrayNode, loop through the scans required by the SB:

    1. Command the SubArrayNode to configure for the scan. The script reads the subarray configurations, calculates the CDM JSON required for the scan configuration, and configures the subarray accordingly.

    2. Command the SubArrayNode to scan (that is, take data).

  3. Tell the SubArrayNode and CentralNode that the SB is complete.

  4. Command the CentralNode to release the resources in the SubArrayNode.

Context

The relationship between SBs, observing scripts, and the devices that the scripts control is shown in the figure below.

_images/context.svg

Observing scripts in the context of SBs, the OET, and SKA Tango devices.

Scheduling Blocks (SBs) are the atomic units of SKA observations. Each SB defines the required resources, configurations, scan sequences, timing constraints, and data processing that is required for that observation. Each SB also references an observing script - a set of Python instructions that will process the SB, translating the SB to the series of lower-level commands and JSON configuration strings that will control the SKA telescopes and take the required data.

During standard operations, the SKA will have an observing queue with a pool of pending SBs awaiting execution. SBs will be selected by the SKA Scheduler and sent to the Observation Execution Tool (OET) for execution. The OET is responsible for loading and executing the scripts, retrieving the script referenced by an SB, installing any dependencies into a Python environment and then executing the script.

The telescope appears to the script author as two Tango devices: the CentralNode is the target for commands to allocate resources to form a SubArrayNode, and release them again when the SubArrayNode is no longer needed after the observation; the SubArrayNode is the target for commands to configure and scan to take data during the observation.