Herschel Duplication Checker

This tool checks for potential duplications (see the Herschel Duplication Policies document) between your planned observations and already approved AORs. The tool enables you to search all the AORs included in the current Reserved Observations List in a simple fashion.

Table of Contents

• Usage Instructions
• Uploading the AOR file
• Checking the process progress
• Getting the results
• Exporting to a text file
• Browser Compatibility

Usage Instructions

Uploading the AOR file

The first step in a duplication check is to provide the tool with the file containing the AORs to be checked. AOR files are XML files created by HSpot. The files have a version number in the XML header. Very old versions of the AOR files may not always be readable with the latest version of the software. The current file version is 0.7.

The tool performs validation checks on the observation requests. You should ensure that your file contains valid observations, by confirming that the AORs can be loaded into HSpot and that the software can perform a time estimation.

To select an AOR file click on the Browse button. This action opens a dialogue to select a file of AORs. Alternatively, you can enter the full pathname in the AOR file text entry.

Once the correct file is selected, press the Upload button to initiate the processing.

Checking the process progress

The duplication check process is a complex task that can take some time depending on the number of observations included in the file and the observing modes used.

The progress on the tool in performing the duplication check and the information about the latest observations processed by the server are displayed on-the-fly.

Getting the results

When the process is complete, the tool will show a tabbed panel with three tabs:

• The Results tab which contains:
  • Two buttons: one to export the results of the check, if duplications are found (more details at next section) and another to start a new check.
  • A small table with a summary of the process.
  • A table of AORs that potentially collide with the AORs included in your file. The table displays the observation ID (if already observed), the label of the duplicating AOR, the name of the duplicating proposal, the proposal priority, the instrument and pointing mode, the target details and the duration. If the observation has already been executed, you will see an entry in the "OD" column, indicating the Operational Day in which it was observed.
  
• The Log tab, with the history of the activity performed during the AOR analysis.
  
• The Invalid AORs tab, with a list of the observations requests that can not be processed by the tool. The tab will be active only in case of invalid aors. An AOR is declared invalid when the tool is unable to create a proper observation request based on the file contents. The causes could be:
  • The AOR uses a deprecated observing mode
  • The AOR was done with an old version of the software and it is not compatible with the current mission configuration.
  
  

Exporting to a text file

This feature allows the user to download the information related to the duplications in a format that can be directly used by excel-like programs. Upon clicking on the Export to text button, the software produces a text file with the tab character used as field separator.

Depending on the user's web browser, the downloaded file can be stored in the local filesystem or opened directly by an excel-like program. Upon importing the file, the user may have to indicate that the tab character is being used as separator.

Duplication file field description

Browser Compatibility

The tool has been tested in several platforms and browsers.

Internet Explorer 7+ (Win)

Mozilla Firefox 3.6+ (Linux, Win)

Google Chrome 12.0.7 (Win)

Safari (MacOS)