The LWS Time Estimator

Access

Simple type lws-te. The time estimator will start up and also tell you what files it finds in your current directory. (The current path of the program for Solaris machines is /proj/iso/software/sol.bin/).

You will then type an identifier for your proposal file (anything will do).

The help is internal, to access, type help.

WARNING!!! -- Pay Attention to Units!!!

TRICKS!!

You will want to know this trick:

You can actually edit the file associated with the observations. (not the ".in" file).

WARNINGS - OVERHEADS

The time estimator does NOT incluce the ~180 seconds necessary to acquire a new (non-concatenated) source. You must take the output time of the lws-te and add 180 to it to predict the Target Dedicated Time that includes source acquisition. Otherwise, if the AOT is concatenated to a previous AOT, then you must add only 20 seconds for starting this AOT. You must also aways add an addition 45 seconds per AOT - for instrument set-up.

Overview of the LWS-TE program:

What it does:

The LWS-TE program manages the parameters for a LWS proposal, and runs the time estimator programs (Latest Version, 3.3; Ken King, Author) in an interactive environment.

It allows you to interactively enter parameters, save results, return to old runs, and change parameters. It allows you to copy parameter sets into multiple copies, then change one parameter in each copy to build up a set of similar runs.

How to use it:

First you will want to use the 'enter' command to enter the parameters of an AOT. After that you may enter additional AOT's manually, or you may take advantage of the "update" and "copy" commands.

Hints:

To see the parameters of an entered object, use the update command. (and don't update anything)

Check out the help topic, "glossary"

Related topics found in the internal help of the program

lws01: overview of the "Medium Resolution Wavelength Range" AOT

lws02: overview of the "Medium Resolution Line Spectrum" AOT

lws03: overview of the "High Resolution Wavelength Range" AOT

lws04: overview of the "High Resolution Line Spectrum" AOT

Sample commands:

new - type in parameters for one AOT from scratch

update - edit parameters of an aot

main - finish an update and rerun to estimate the time

copy - duplicate an aot

help - get information on a topic

quit - exit the program and update proposal file