Doc 3.19, ver. 1 | September, 2015

A User’s Guide to
ALMA Scheduling Blocks(Cycle 3)

ALMA, an international astronomy facility, is a partnership of ESO (representing its member states), NSF (USA) andNINS (Japan), together with NRC (Canada), NSC and ASIAA (Taiwan), and KASI (Republic of Korea), in cooperation
with the Republic of Chile. The Joint ALMA Observatory is operated by ESO, AUI/NRAO and NAOJ.

For further information or to comment on this document, please contact your regional Helpdesk through the ALMA Science
Portal at www.almascience.org. Helpdesk tickets will be directed to the nearest ALMA Regional Center at ESO, NAOJ orNRAO.

VersionDateEditors

1

16 Sept 2015

G. Schieven

This document was produced by the National Research Council of Canada (Herzberg Astronomy & Astrophysics) with theNational Radio Astronomy Observatory, with contributions from staff of the European and East Asian ALMA Regional Centers(ARCs) and the Joint ALMA Observatory (JAO).

In publications, please refer to this document as:Schieven, G., ed., 2015, A User’s Guide to ALMA Scheduling Blocks, ALMA Doc. 3.19, ver. 12

Table of ContentsOT Version

3Introduction4Finding Your SBs

5

Structure of SBs

5Groups

6

Targets

6

Resources

7

Field Sources

7

Instument Setup

7Observing Parameters

7

Verifying Your SBs

8

Science Source Positions and Radial Velocity

8

Instrument Setup

8

Integration Time

11

Array Configuration

12

Other Considerations

12

What Next

12

Everything is Fine

12

Problem in the SBs

12

Appendix A - Acronyms used

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OT Version
The following is a guide for interpreting ALMA Scheduling Blocks(SBs), using the ALMA Observing Tool (OT). You will need todownload and install the latest version of the OT from the ALMAScience Portal at www.almascience.org. To check that you’reusing a version of the OT set up for working with SBs, click the“Help” menu, then click “About” and select the “Version” tab.
You should see PhaseII in the User version (see Figure 1). If
not, then download a more recent version fromthe Science Portal.
This particular document has been updated foruse with the ALMA OT user version
Cycle3PhaseII(u1).

Figure 1: To determine which version of theOT you’re using, under the “Help” menu
select ”About…” and click the “Version” tab.
This document has been updated for use with
“User version: Cycle3PhaseII(u1)”.

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A Users’ Guide to ALMA Scheduling Blocks (SBs)Introduction
When preparing your ALMA proposal(a process often referred to as Phase1) with the ALMA Observing Tool (OT),
Proposal Tab
you created one or more Science
Goals (SGs; Figure 2) in which you
specified the science targets andproperties, observing frequencies andcorrelator settings, requiredsensitivities, and other observing
constraints. These can be viewed byclicking the “Proposal” tab (Figure 2).
After your project was approved, yourproposal entered Phase 2 (visible
under the “Program” tab (Figure 3)), in
which your SGs were used togenerate Scheduling Blocks (SBs).
SBs contain all the instructions
Figure 2: The “Proposal” tab shows the ScienceGoals (SGs) exactly as they were generated by you
needed by the telescope control
when you prepared your proposal.
software to carry out your science andcalibration observations. Before yourSBs can be made available forobserving, however, you need to verify that the SBs will, indeed, be carrying out theobservations as you required. This document provides a quick guide for checking yourSBs. Remember, however, that you can always contact your Contact Scientist (CS)through the Helpdesk if you have any questions or concerns.

Program TabFolder Key
Figure 3: The “Program” tab (circled) contains the files generated at Phase 2, including theSBs. Clicking the folder key symbol exposes or hides the contents of the file. Right-clicking
the key symbol and selecting “Expand all” allows you to see all the files under that key.

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Finding Your SBs
In order to check your SBs, you will need to launch the OT (see Version above), anddownload your project from the archive (File → Open Project → From ALMA Archive).
Click on the Program Tab (Figure 3). Here you’ll see a set of nested folders, similar towhen you created your SGs. To expand the folders, just click on the key symbols (circlewith a line segment; Figure 3) or expand them all using right-click → expand all (Figure 3).
The top level folder is the Project, the second level is the Science Plan, and the third levelof this hierarchy contains the Science Goals. So far this is the same structure as you saw
when generating your proposal. At Phase 2, a hierarchy of files called Observing Unit
Sets (OUSs; see Figure 4) is created from each SG, inside of which you’ll find your SBs.
(For a full description of the OUS hierarchy, see the Technical Handbook, Chapter 8.)

Figure 4: Each SG
contains a hierarchy offiles called anObserving Unit Set(OUS), which include
the SBs. Each SG
contains one or moreSBs, depending onwhether multiple arrays
and/or multiple tunings
are required for thescience goal.

Structure of SBsDepending on the angular resolution, largest angular structure (LAS), and number of tunings
specified in the SG, at Phase 2 one or more SBs will be generated for each SG, each in its
own Member OUS (Figure 4).
The SB can be identified with a yellow clock icon (Figure 4). Each SB in your project has aunique name, with the structure SRCName_a_XX_AR, where ‘SRCName’ is the first (up to) 8
characters of the representative science target, ‘XX’ is the receiver band used (e.g. 03 forBand 3), ‘AR’ distinguishes the array (‘TE’ or ‘TC’ for the 12m-Array, ‘7M’ for the 7m-Array, and‘TP’ for the TP-Array), and ‘a’ has the value ‘a’, ‘b’, ‘c’, etc., to give the SB a unique name.
An example of an SB name might be ‘RU_Lupi_b_03_TE’, where ‘RU_Lupi’ comes from thefirst (up to) 8 letters of the representative science source in the SB, ‘b’ means that there is5

another SB in the project witha similar name (i.e. RU
Lupi_a_03_TE), ’03’ means
the SB uses the Band 3
receivers, and ‘_TE’ meansthat this is a 12m Arrayobservation. (If you hadchosen an angular resolution
and LAS combination that
required two 12m Arrayconfigurations, the SB for thesecond, more compact
configuration would havebeen labeled ‘_TC’; see
Figure 4.)
Each SB is made up of three
sections: Groups, Targets,
and Resources (Figure 5).
Groups} Groups
Targets

⎤
⎜
⎜
⎬
⎜
⎜
⎦

All observing targets that areResources
to be executed are included ina Group within the SB. EachSB can include multipleGroups. The first, Group 1,
generally contains the initial
calibration observations (e.g.
amplitude, bandpass,
sideband ratio, etc.), and thetargets within this Group areFigure 5: The basic structure of an SB consists of threeintended to be done once perelements: Groups; Targets; and Resources.
execution of the SB. (Note,however, that for spectralscans, Group 1 is empty.) The
second (or subsequent) Group contains the science targets plus relevant calibrators (e.g. phase,atmosphere, pointing, etc.) which are repeated until the science integration time is completed. If
you click on a group, then the targets associated with that group are highlighted in yellow.
Targets
Targets define all the information needed for an observation, using Resources (see below).
There is one target for each science source or calibrator. Clicking on a target causes all of theresources associated with that target to be highlighted in yellow (Figure 5). All of the resource
parameters for the target are also shown at the same time in the Editor window (Figure 6).
6EditorWindow

Figure 6: All observing parameters for the SB are viewable in the Editor Window.

One of the science targets is labeled with an ‘[R]’. This target is used as a representative
target for the SB when the Scheduler is looking for available SBs to observe.
Resources
Resources define the parameters used for a particular type of observation. A resource may be
used by several targets. Clicking on the resource will highlight the targets making use of it inyellow. It also shows the parameters for that resource in the Editor window.
There are three types of resources (Figure 5):
Field Sources

Field Sources define the position, offsets and radial velocity of each source, including
calibration sources. If multiple science sources were defined in the SG, each will haveits own field source. Calibration field sources are usually left as a query, to be definedat the time of the observation. Calibration sources, because they tend to be variable,
are monitored periodically by the observatory. If there are no suitable calibrators in thecatalogue, a “cone search” may be carried out prior to observing your SBs.
Instument Setup

The instrument setup defines how the receiver is tuned and the correlator is set up.
Usually there are two setups: one for pointing, and one for the science observations, but
in certain circumstances (e.g. multiple tunings for a spectral scan, multiple sources withdifferent redshifts, very narrow total bandwidth) there may be several science setups.
Observing Parameters

Observing parameters define the sub-scan duration (basic integration time) and thetotal integration time per execution of the SB for each target, as well as otherparameters.
7Verifying Your SBs
The most common items that need to be verified are the science source positions andradial velocities, the instrument setups, and the integration time. We look at each itemin turn.
Science Source Positions and Radial Velocity
Each science source has its own Field Source resource (Figure 7), where the source
position and radial velocity are defined. Clicking on the Field Source (e.g. in Figure 7,
the Field Source for RU Lupi) shows the parameters in the Editor window to the right.
Where a mosaic or offsets have been specified, you may need to scroll down the Editor
window to see them (Figure 8). Total Power (_TP) science observations require areference position, which your Contact Scientist may have requested you to provide.
That can be checked by scrolling down the Editor window.
On the top left corner of the Editor window (Figure 9), if you click on the Spatial tab you
can get a graphical view of the source position, offsets and mosaic positions. This view
works the same way as when you generated your SGs in Phase 1.
Instrument Setup
Because of the power and flexibility of the ALMA correlator, the Instrument Setup resources aremuch more complex than the other resources, and checking them can be daunting. However, inmost cases only a few numbers are relevant and can be checked quickly.

Figure 7: The Field Source resource, showing the position, radial velocity and velocity frame,
proper motion, and other properties.

8Figure 8: Offset positions (e.g. for a mosaic) are found by scrolling to the bottom of the Editor
window in the Field Source resource.

Spatial tab

Figure 9: The Spatial tab
shows a graphicalpresentation of source
positions and offsets. A
background image must be
loaded from an online server
or using a local fits file.

Click on the Science Instrument Setup resource (see Figure 5). The targets using this setup arehighlighted in yellow. Scrolling down the Editor window, near the bottom you’ll see (up to) fourtabs, one for each baseband (BB_1, BB_2, etc.; Figure 10). Click on each baseband tab in turn.
At the bottom of each baseband window is another set of 1-4 tabs, one for each spectral window(SW-1, SW-2, etc.; Figure 10). Click on each of these tabs in turn to check the center frequencyof the spectral window (rest and sky), the bandwidth, averaging factor, and spectral resolution(after smoothing and averaging).
If you have multiple SBs within an SG (Figure 3) due to multiple array configurations, then all of
the 12-m and 7-m Array SBs (_TE, _TC, _7m) and the science TP-Array SB (e.g.
RULupi_a_03_TP), should all have identical science instrument setups. The TP-Arraycalibration SB (CalSourceName_xxx_TP) may have a different instrument setup from the others.
(Note that the Desired Center Freq listed near the top of the BB window (Figure 10) may bedifferent from the center frequency of the spectral window. This is because the former is thecentre frequency of the 2 GHz wide baseband, whereas the spectral window can be anywherein the baseband. See Figure 11.)On the top left corner of the Editor window, if you click on the Spectral tab you can get agraphical view of the correlator setup (Figure 11). This view is similar to the Spectral
9Baseband Tabs

Spectral window Tabs

Center Frequency

Bandwidth
Polarization

Spectral averaging factor
Resolution after smoothing/averaging

Figure 10: Click on the Science Instrument Setup and scroll to the bottom of the Editor
window in order to check your correlator setup. Each baseband (BB) has its own tab, andeach spectral window (SW), if more than one within the baseband, has its own tab. Click oneach in turn to check the setup for each spectral window in each baseband.

view when you generated
your SGs in Phase 1,
except that now both thebaseband location andwidth as well as all
spectral window widths
are shown graphically.

Spectral tab
Figure 11: A graphicalview of the correlator
setup using the Spectral
tab, showing the ranges
for each baseband as wellas the bandwidth andrange of each spectral
window.

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Integration Time
Click on the Science
Observing Parameter resource (Figure 5). Thetarget(s) using this setup will be highlighted inyellow. In the Editor window (Figure 12) you cancheck the Integration Time on Source, which is
the total integration time (per execution of the SB)for each target using this resource (Figure 12).
(For targets with multiple offsets, e.g. mosaics, theintegration time per point will be the integration
time on source divided by the number of offsets.)
The integration time on source is limited so that
the SB will be completed in approximately 2 hours
or less including all calibration observations, so it
will often be shorter than the total integration timerequired. In this case, the SB may need to beexecuted multiple times. Click on the SB icon(yellow clock) and scroll down to Execution Count(Figure 13). The overall total integration time onsource is then the execution count multiplied by
the integration time on source.

Total Integration
time on-source
per execution

Figure 12: The Science Observing
Parameter resource shows, among otherthings, the total integration time on source
per execution of the SB.

Note that if more than one array configuration is required for your SG (e.g. a second, morecompact 12m-Array configuration, and/or the ACA, etc.), then the integration time for themore compact configuration(s) will be governed by the required integration time for the mostextended configuration (i.e. the SB with the ‘_TE’ at the end of its name). For Cycle 3, theintegration time for the compact 12m-Array configurations (‘_TC’) will have half the total
integration time on source as the extended configuration SB (‘_TE’); the 7m-Array and TPArray SBs have a more complicated formula for determining the total integration time.

Execution Count

Figure 13: Click on the SB name (yellow clock icon) and scroll down the Editor window to findthe Execution Count. The total time on source will be the Integration Time on Source (Figure12) multiplied by the Execution Count.

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Array Configuration
Currently the ALMA observing software uses the values of angular resolution and LAS
stored in the Control and Performance section of the SG to determine which array
configurations are suitable for observing your SBs. To confirm which array
configurations are likely to be used for your SBs, consult with your Contact Scientist
through the ALMA Helpdesk.
Other Considerations
For other observing constraints, such as time constraints, observing cadences, 7mArray and TP-array setups, etc., consult with your Contact Scientist through the ALMA
Helpdesk.

What Next
Once you’ve checked your SBs you will need to communicate with your Contact
Scientist whether:a) everything is fine and you approve the SBs as-is; orb) you’ve encountered a problem, e.g. source position error, wrong bandwidth in aspectral window, etc.
Everything is Fine
You’ve checked everything in your SBs and there are no errors or inconsistencies. Youwill still need to communicate with your Contact Scientist using the ALMA Helpdesk thatyou approve your SBs. The CS will then have the SBs marked as Ready to Observe inthe Project Tracker (PT). You can check the status of your SBs using the PT, which
you’ll find on the ALMA Science Portal (almascience.org) under the Observing menu.
You can also enable the PT to send you notices automatically whenever the status ofyour SBs changes (e.g. when observations are taken).
Problem in the SBs
If you’ve found any errors in the source positions, velocity, correlator settings, etc., or if
you have better information on these parameters than you had when you first submitted
the proposal, then you should communicate these to your Contact Scientist through theHelpdesk. Small corrections or updates to source positions or velocities may beconsidered as “minor” changes, and if agreed by the CS, may be applied to the SBs.
Once the changes have been made, you should again check your SBs and let your CS
know whether or not you approve them
Significant changes to source positions, velocities or correlator settings, or changes
which would result in an increase in observing time, may be classed as “major”
changes, and your CS will let you know if this is the case. Major change requests mustbe submitted through the Helpdesk and are reviewed by a committee at the JAO with a12

final decision by the ALMA Director. While the request is being processed, allobservations for your project are suspended until a decision is made. Major changes
are approved only in very exceptional cases. See the ALMA Proposer’s Guide,Appendix D.2 for an explanation of the policy on changes to submitted projects.

Appendix A - Acronyms used
ACA - Compact array, including 7m Array and TP Array
ALMA - Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array
BB - baseband
CS - Contact Scientist
FDM - correlator spectral mode
JAO - Joint ALMA Observatory
LAS - Largest Angular Structure
OT - ALMA Observing Tool
PT - Project Tracker
SG - Science Goal
SB - Scheduling Blockspw - spectral window
TDM - correlator continuum mode
TP Array - total power array, part of ACA13!

The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), aninternational astronomy facility, is a partnership of the European
Organization for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere(ESO), the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National
Institutes of Natural Sciences (NINS) of Japan in cooperation with theRepublic of Chile. ALMA is funded by ESO on behalf of its Member
States, by NSF in cooperation with the National Research Council ofCanada (NRC) and the National Science Council of Taiwan (NSC) andby NINS in cooperation with the Academia Sinica (AS) in Taiwan andthe Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI).
ALMA construction and operations are led by ESO on behalf of its
Member States; by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory(NRAO), managed by Associated Universities, Inc. (AUI), on behalf ofNorth America; and by the National Astronomical Observatory ofJapan (NAOJ) on behalf of East Asia. The Joint ALMA Observatory(JAO) provides the unified leadership and management of theconstruction, commissioning and operation of ALMA.

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