Scheduling Working Group (SWG)


NOTE - As of September 1, 2016 this website will no longer be updated. It has been replaced by the Scheduling Working Group website operated out of Dartmouth College by Evan Thomas, see

http://engineering.dartmouth.edu/superdarn/wg-scd.html(external link)

Welcome!


Following the SuperDARN 2016 Workshop at Fairbanks, Alaska, the leadership of the Scheduling Working Group has transitioned from Gareth Chisham at British Antarctic Survey to Evan Thomas at Dartmouth College. Gareth has issued his last final SuperDARN schedule, for July 2016. New scheduling requests should be directed to Evan.

This working group engages the person in each PI group who has the primary responsibility for scheduling radars. Scheduling requests should be directed to Evan or to a group scheduler. Be aware that requests need to be received several months in advance.

Current and past schedules are accessible via the 'Radars/Operating Schedule' menu item on the main VT web page or click http://vt.superdarn.org/tiki-index.php?page=BKS.sked(external link)

What's New


Evan has issued the draft schedule for October 2016, which is copied below. Comments are due to him by September 1.

The launch of the Japanese ERG satellite is scheduled for later in 2016. Anticipating three months from launch to the start of the science mission will allow that much window for scheduling radar runs in support of the mission. Discussion of scientific goals and radar modes with ERG scientists is planned for the 2016 SuperDARN workshop.

Current and past schedules are accessible via the 'Radars/Operating Schedule' menu item on the main VT web page or click http://vt.superdarn.org/tiki-index.php?page=BKS.sked(external link)

Basic Information


The operating schedule of the radars is drawn up several months in advance. Time on the radars is booked in 6-hr UT increments that are flagged as Common Time, Special Time, or Discretionary Time, as defined by the PIs' agreement. The SWG is responsible for the preparation of the plan for each month which is then subject to approval by the Executive Council.

The timetable for how a month's schedule for the SuperDARN radars:

- Two months out: Requests are taken from other working groups such as the Spacecraft Working Group

- One and a half months out: A draft schedule is created by Gareth Chisham based the previous requests as well as general scheduling patterns. Comments on this draft schedule are encouraged at this time.

- One month out: A final schedule is sent out by Gareth Chisham merging the draft schedule with any comments.

So, for example, the schedule for the month of August starts at the beginning of June with any scheduling requests. Then, about the middle of June, a draft schedule is sent out. Finally around the beginning of July, the final August schedule is sent out.

Mailing List

The scheduling mailing list along with other SuperDARN mailing lists are operated by the University of Leicester. An archive of the swg mailing list can be found at:

http://lists.le.ac.uk/mailman/private/darn-swg/(external link) (login required)

Audit of Publications involving S/c or Data collected in special modes

  • Questions have been raised about the extent of coordination with satellite missions and the usefulness of data collected in special modes, e.g., THEMIS mode with its single camping beam. To help answer these questions, a directly editable Google doc has been started at the link below to list publications that (i) involve some measure of coordination between SuperDARN and a satellite mission, or (ii) involve SuperDARN data that was collected in a special mode, whether or not a satellite mission was directly involved. You are asked to contribute.
SuperDARN - Spacecraft Publication List(external link)

Draft Schedule


October 2016
01:00 02:00 Common Time (1-min)
02:00 05:00 Discretionary Time
05:00 09:00 Common Time (1-min)
09:00 12:06 Discretionary Time
12:06 12:12 Special Time (ST-APOG) (see Note A)
ADE BKS CVE CVW FHW PGR SAS BPK DCE SPS {rbspscan normalscan}
12:12 14:12 Common Time (1-min) (no switching)
14:12 14:18 Special Time (ST-APOG) (see Note A)
ADW CLY CVW HOK KSR BPK TIG UNW {rbspscan normalscan}
14:18 17:12 Common Time (1-min)
17:12 17:18 Special Time (ST-APOG) (see Note A)
ADW CLY CVW HOK KSR BPK TIG UNW {rbspscan normalscan}
17:18 18:06 Common Time (1-min)
18:06 18:12 Special Time (ST-APOG) (see Note A)
ADE BKS CVE CVW FHW PGR SAS BPK DCE SPS {rbspscan normalscan}
18:12 21:06 Discretionary Time
21:06 21:12 Special Time (ST-APOG) (see Note A)
ADE BKS CVE CVW FHW PGR SAS BPK DCE SPS {rbspscan normalscan}
21:12 23:12 Common Time (1-min)
23:12 23:18 Special Time (ST-APOG) (see Note A)
ADW CLY CVW HKW HOK KSR PGR RKN BPK TIG UNW ZHO {rbspscan normalscan}
23:18 26:00 Common Time (1-min)
26:00 26:18 Special Time (THEMIS) (see Notes B, C)
26:18 27:00 Common Time (1-min)
27:00 27:18 Special Time (THEMIS) (see Notes B, C)
27:18 28:00 Common Time (1-min)
28:00 28:18 Special Time (THEMIS) (see Notes B, C)
28:18 29:00 Common Time (1-min)
29:00 29:18 Special Time (THEMIS) (see Notes B, C)
29:18 30:00 Common Time (1-min)
30:00 30:18 Special Time (THEMIS) (see Notes B, C)
30:18 31:00 Common Time (1-min)
31:00 31:18 Special Time (THEMIS) (see Notes B, C)
31:18 31:24 Common Time (1-min)

  1. Total Common Time (1-min): 16d 0h
  2. Total Discretionary Time: 9d 0h
  3. Total Special Time: 6d 0h

  1. Notes:

Special Time notes:

Note A: ST-APOG - This is a spacecraft working group request to support Van
Allen Probes (VAP - formerly RBSP) observations. The radars highlighted in
the square brackets for each interval should run rbspscan (a full scan of
at least 16 beams with an interleaved mini-scan of 3 beams, with a scan
time of 2-min). All other radars should run a 'normal' 1-min common time
mode e.g., normalscan. The PIs/operators are welcome to adapt the mode to
best fit the geometry of the conjunctions (e.g., by adapting the range
gates) - VAP footprint plots can be found at
http://www.southampton.ac.uk/~rcf2c13/VAP/(external link) .

Note B: THEMISSCAN - The first 12 hours of this Special Time block are a
spacecraft working group request to support all-sky camera operations
during the new moon period over North America. All radars should run
themisscan during this interval. This mode has a camping beam which is
sounded on every 6 seconds. The scanning scheme is such that the field of
view scan is interleaved with the camping beam.

Note C: THEMISSCAN - The final 6 hours of this Special Time block are a
spacecraft working group request to support the MMS mission. All radars
should run themisscan during this interval. This mode has a camping beam
which is sounded on every 6 seconds. The scanning scheme is such that the
field of view scan is interleaved with the camping beam. The PIs/operators
are welcome to adapt the mode for the geometry for any conjunctions as they
see fit (e.g., by changing the camping beam) - footprint plots can be found
at http://www.southampton.ac.uk/~rcfc13/footprints/(external link) .

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