1. ALMA Software Scheduling subsystem Planning for cycle5 onwards
Alexis Tejeda

3. Scheduling Team, 2016 (as of cycle4)
Alexis Tejeda, NRAO 80%, lead dev.
Rachel Rosen, NRAO 20%, dev.
Ignacio Toledo, JAO, dev.
Sergio Martin, JAO subsystem scientist
Maria Diaz, deputy subsystem scientist
Cognizant Scientists
Sheng-Yuan Liu, EA
Gerald Schieven, NA
Arielle Moullet, NA 3

4. Software delivered as part of online releases, usually two per cycle
ONLINE and OFFLINE
Scheduling Online
Software delivered as part of online releases, usually two per cycle
Interacts with the rest of the ALMA online software (critical to perform observations), e.g.: SchedBlocks full auto transitions
Scheduling Offline
Doesn’t interact directly with the rest of the ALMA software, but it is used to support Online operations, e.g.: DSA
Has more releases per cycle, allowing to introduce changes more quickly 4

5. Full Auto SchedBlock state transitions Urgent problems fixed
Scheduling Cycle4
Full Auto SchedBlock state transitions
Urgent problems fixed
Transitions are now based on QA0
DSA (Dynamic Scheduler Algorithm) was delivered as part of the offline software
Algorithm adjustments affecting SB selection
18 tickets addressed so far, consolidated in 3 patch requests
Technical performance/scalability problems affecting mainly to the scheduler GUI panels, WIP.
Overall, scheduling in cycle4 seems to works better compared to cycle3, according to ADE PRTS KPI October Report. 5

6. Scheduling Cycle4, how everything fits together
Scheduler
Queue 4
ONLINE
DSA GUI
1,3 6
Archive 2
OFFLINE
DSA

7. F2F meeting held in Socorro NM, August 31st to September 2nd
Scheduling Cycle5
F2F meeting held in Socorro NM, August 31st to September 2nd
Key points discussed:
Team, roles definition and collaboration model
DSACore catch up
Scheduling future 7

8. Collaboration model
DSACore (an evolution of WTO tool), is now an ICT Scheduling deliverable, maintained by Ignacio Toledo (JAO Data Analyst)
Software Engineering 8
ALMA
Scheduler
Data Analyst
Science Requirements

9. Collaboration model
DSACore (an evolution of WTO tool), is now an ICT Scheduling deliverable, maintained by Ignacio Toledo (JAO Data Analyst)
Software Engineering
Technical expertise 9
ALMA
Scheduler
What we do really need now
Data and algorithms expertise
Data Analyst
Science Requirements

10. Requirements, Sergio Martin
Roles definition
Requirements, Sergio Martin
Graphical Interfaces
(panels)
Rachel Rosen
Online Scheduler
Alexis Tejeda
ONLINE 10
Offline Scheduler
(DSA or a.k.a. DSACore)
Ignacio Toledo
OFFLINE

11. Rely on few data sources as possible
DSA Catch Up
Problems
Rely on few data sources as possible
currently, DSA is relying on different data sources to feed the algorithm: array configurations, pwv data, weather, etc, which is prone error and difficult to test
APDM access, what DSA needs is in XML format, we are currently exploring different technologies to parse everything in an efficient way
Constant evolution of requirements
Use cases and documentation
SPT (scheduler planning tool) as a script-tool, will not be included in cycle5 11

12. Rely on few data sources as possible
DSA Catch Up
Rely on few data sources as possible
currently, DSA is relying on different data sources to feed the algorithm: array configurations, pwv data, weather, etc, which is prone error and difficult to test
APDM access, what DSA needs is in XML format, we are currently exploring different technologies to parse everything in an efficient way 12
APDMs XML are parsed are kept in memory
Testing oracle events and feasibility to use a nosql database just for DSA

13. Constant evolution of requirements Use cases and documentation
DSA Catch Up
Constant evolution of requirements
Use cases and documentation
SPT (scheduler planning tool) as a script-tool, will not be included in cycle5
More DSA simulations are needed in order to implement an initial working prototype
Constrained by observatory requirements 13

14. Offline scheduler (DSA)
Future Scheduling
After a few discussions we converged to collaborate in an efficient way, we will keep this collaboration model
Offline scheduler (DSA)
Continue the work to support the constant evolution of the observatory requirements
Simulations
Towards to a working SPT
APRC feedback 14

15. Online Scheduler (short term, possibly cycle5)
Future Scheduling
Online Scheduler (short term, possibly cycle5)
Improve the GUIs usability by fixing bottlenecks and memory usage efficiency
Streamline the scheduling working database (SWDB)
Avoid the need to import and parse APDMs for the online system, there’s relational data in materialized views to work with
Improve full auto to have a bugless/bug-free SBs transition (avoiding to lose EB statuses)
All the work is now being focused on the DSA mainly, at some point, hopefully the online scheduler will be stable
This allows to have more room to improve testing, integration and validation phases 15

16. Future Scheduling
Improve observing efficiency, project completion rate, number of QA2 passes, and reduces AoD work load. 16

17. The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), an international astronomy facility, is a partnership of Europe, North America and East Asia in cooperation with the Republic of Chile. ALMA is funded in Europe by the European Organization for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere (ESO), in North America by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) in cooperation with the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) and the National Science Council of Taiwan (NSC) and in East Asia by the National Institutes of Natural Sciences (NINS) of Japan in cooperation with the Academia Sinica (AS) in Taiwan. ALMA construction and operations are led on behalf of Europe by ESO, on behalf of North America by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO), which is managed by Associated Universities, Inc. (AUI) and on behalf of East Asia by the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ). The Joint ALMA Observatory (JAO) provides the unified leadership and management of the construction, commissioning and operation of ALMA.