Software programming
While programming is not necessarily something I want to spend my life on, sometimes
it is simply necessary in order to proceed with something. My programming experience ranges
from improvements of existing packages (like NIC, which was part of the
GILDAS software, but is now
discontinued) until own developments of useful programs.
- TkParal
TkParal is an X Window interface for the Paral program of the former Radio Continuum
Group of the Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie, Bonn.
Paral/TkParal is a convenient tool to plan observing runs at various
telescopes. Based on source position and observatory coordinates it
calculates azimuth, elevation, parallactic angle, rise and set times
and some more parameters.
Observing techniques
- Fast On-The-Fly Continuum Mapping:
About a decade ago,
when bolometer arrays had only a few dozens of channels, fast
(or "undersampled") On-The-Fly Mapping was a recommended
method for mapping large areas in a reasonable amount
of observing time. Nowadays, as bolometer arrays with several hundreds
or thousands of channels are in use, this is not so much an issue
anymore. Read the SMTO working report on
Fast OTF Mapping at the HHT
if you are interested.
- Fast Switching Phase Calibration:
As a post-doc at IRAM Grenoble, I was working on some simulations
about FSPC and its efficiency in mm-wave interferometry. Fast switching phase
calibration is one of the phase correction strategies in use at ALMA. Actually,
the need for FSPC in sub-mm interferometry led to the construction of antennas
which are capable to move with a rate of various degrees/second, and a consequence
of this is that also APEX can move very rapidly between sources.
Some results of my work on FSPC with the PdB interferometer could be made available
on request, although I think that more recent (and more advanced) work on this topic
is available elsewhere.
Lectures
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