We intend to appoint a UKIRT WFCAM data processing manager from within our group who will be responsible for overseeing the operation of the UKIRT pipeline and organising appropriate software and hardware effort as necessary. Specialist system-level support will be complemented by the IoA computer manager group. The data processing manager will also be responsible for ensuring that the pipeline software and science data products are appropriately documented.
Since WFCAM can be thought of as a prototpying system for VISTA, for the duration of this RG2 grant there should be no additional VISTA hardware or software maintenance costs. There is, however, an additional need not covered by the WFCAM work for a CASU-VISTA-ESO liaison person, the VDFS technical manager, whose job it will be to aid in the implementation and to help negotiate the requirements for the VISTA QC and calibration modules to be delivered to ESO.
The VDFS technical manager will be responsible for liasing between CASU, VISTA project office and ESO and helping to define the protocols the delivered products must conform to. They will also be expected to contribute directly to the development and help in the deployment of the software modules in a form required by ESO. This includes participating in producing the appropriate docmentation and tools as specified in Appendix B of the VDFS document GSC(02)03 and will include close liaison with the ESO DFS team in Garching. We have identified a suitable individual to undertake this task, initially at the level of 0.5 FTE/yr and have included this in the grant bid under the VISTA-ESO heading.
We estimate that further generic software development and pipeline management procedures for WFCAM/VISTA over the next year will require approximately 3 FTE of effort.
Most of this effort will be expended on designing and coding of the UK-side pipelines, a subset of which may be required for the summit pipeline, and helping to collaboratively devise with the JAC a suitable survey progress and planning interface. This could form the basis for the VISTA/ESO survey planning tool.
Part of the pre-survey responsibility of the WFCAM data processing manager will be community liaison via the UKIDSS Survey Project Scientist to ensure that the projected science survey products and the data taking and processing strategy satfisy user expectations.
We have already taken part in test observing runs at UKIRT to assess the observer interface and begin investigations on the optimal strategy for dealing will issues relating to flatfielding stability, image persistence 3, possible intra-pixel sensitivity problems, non-linearity monitoring and so on. These will continue over the next year.
Thereafter, we estimate that for CASU to maintain and run the WFCAM pipeline, produce science data products and the survey progress archive, plus further develop the processing tools and to help advertise and ensure access to the products will require a total of 3.5-4 FTE/yr, from the last quarter of 2003, when the first real science data is expected to arrive. The greater fraction of this will be expended in day-to-day maintaining, developing and running the pipeline.
We are working on the assumption that the first science observations for WFCAM will occur in the final quarter of 2003. The pipeline system must therefore be in place by the end of 2003.