An integrated scheduling and program management system

摘要

An integrated scheduling and program management system is being developed for the MMT Observatory (MMTO),Arizona, USA. A systems engineering approach is used to combine existing and new relational databases, spreadsheets,file storage systems, and web-based user interfaces into a single unified system. An overview of software design, datamanagement, user interfaces, and techniques for performance assessment is presented. Goals of this system includestreamlined data management and an optimized user experience. The MMTO has over a dozen different telescopeconfigurations, including three secondary mirrors and a wide range of observing instruments. Scheduling is complex forthe varying telescope configurations, limited available observing time, and appropriate astronomic conditions (e.g., lunarphase) for each science project. Scheduled telescope configurations can be used to perform safety checks of actualconfiguration during telescope operations. Programmatic information is automatically input into nightly telescopeoperator (TO) logs by the system. The TO's provide additional information into the system on telescope usage,observing conditions (e.g., weather conditions), and observatory closure (e.g., from instrument malfunction or inclementweather). All of this information is synthesized to assess telescope and observatory performance. Web interfaces to thesystem can be used by observers to submit information, such as travel plans, instrumentation requirements, andobserving catalogs. A service request (SR) (i.e., trouble report) system has also been developed for tracking operationalissues. The specific needs of the MMTO have been met through in-house software development of this integratedscheduling and program management system.© (2012) COPYRIGHT Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE). Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.