ScheduleRTML

Write Remote Telescope Markup Language (RTML) XML files to be read by ACP Scheduler. ACP Scheduler is a commercial tool used to automatically schedule and execute observing plans for telescopes. The observing plans can be entered manually using the Scheduler's GUI, or imported from RTML files. The ScheduleRTML package allows you to automatically write these RTML plans.

Getting started

Prerequisites

• python 2.7 or above
• lxml
• configparser

Installing

Create and activate a conda environment with the necessary modules:

$ conda create -n schedulertml lxml configparser
$ source activate schedulertml

Install the ScheduleRTML package:

$ pip install git+https://github.com/naamach/schedulertml.git

Using ScheduleRTML

The ACP Scheduler RTML Schema

The RTML schema compatible with ACP Scheduler is described here. More details can be found here.

Minimal Working Example

This is a minimal working example, that creates a plan, NewPlan.xml, with a single 300s exposure in V-band:

from schedulertml import rtml

root = rtml.init(name="Observer",
		 email="email@example.com")

root = rtml.add_request(root,
			request_id="Plan1",
			user="Observer")

root = rtml.add_target(root,
		       request_id="Plan1",
		       ra="50.123",
		       dec="+30.123",
		       name="Target1")

root = rtml.add_picture(root,
			filt="V",
			target_name="Target1",
			exptime="300",
			count="1")

rtml.write(root, "NewPlan.xml")

Creating a Simple Plan Using parse_config

The parse_config script helps you to create an RTML plan with all available observing constraints, for a single target, defined in a configuration text file called config.ini.

Create a config.ini file, and save it in your work directory. Adjust the parameters according to your needs. Parameters that are left blank or omitted will be assigned with the default values:

; config.ini
[GENERAL]
PATH = 				; path of the output plan file, default: current directory
FILENAME =  			; output plan file name, default: current timestamp (YYYYMMDD_hhmmss.xml)

[PROJECT]
PI = New Observer 		; PI's name, for contact, default: New Observer
EMAIL = observer@example.com 	; PI's email, default: observer@example.com
ORGANIZATION = 			; PI's organization, default: empty
DESCRIPTION = 			; project description, default: empty
NAME = Project name 		; project name, default: empty

[PLAN]
USER = New Observer	; ACP Scheduler observer name, default: New Observer
BESTEFFORTS = 1 	; best efforts. 1 - execute plan as long as the constraints are met, 0 - execute only if the plan can be completed within the constraints. default: 1
NAME = Plan1 		; plan's name, default: empty
AIRMASS = 		; maximal airmass limit (to be used with no minimal airmass limit), default: empty
AIRMASS_MIN = 1.02  	; minimal airmass limit, together with AIRMASS_MAX, default: empty
AIRMASS_MAX = 3 	; maximal airmass limit, together with AIRMASS_MIN, default: empty
HORIZON = 		; min elevation (integer), default: empty
HOURANGLE_MIN = -4.6 	; eastern hour angle limit, together with HOURANGLE_MAX, deafult: empty
HOURANGLE_MAX = 4.6 	; western hour angle limit, together with HOURANGLE_MIN, deafult: empty
SKY_CONDITION = 	; sky condition (Excellent, Good, Fair, Poor), deafult: empty
MOON_DOWN = 		; moon down (True/False), default: empty
MOON_DIST = 		; moon distance. needs to be set together with MOON_WIDTH, default: empty
MOON_WIDTH = 		; moon width. needs to be set together with MOON_DIST, default: empty
START_NOW = 		; if True - start plan immediately. default: empty
EARLIEST = 		; earliest observing date (format: 0001-01-01T00:00:00), default: empty
LATEST = 		; latest observing date (format: 0001-01-01T00:00:00), default: empty
PRIORITY = 		; plan priority
DESCRIPTION = 		; plan description

[OBSERVATION]
NAME = Target1		; observation name, default: empty
COUNT = 1		; observation count (how many times to repeat), default: 1
INTERVAL = 		; observation interval (between repeats) in hours. default: empty
TOLERANCE =  		; observation interval's tolerance (between repeats) in hours. default: empty
AUTOFOCUS = 		; perform autofocus before executing the observation, default: empty
DESCRIPTION = 		; observation description, default: empty
RA = 50.123		; target's RA, in deg, default: empty
DEC = +30.123		; target's Dec, in deg, default: empty
POSITION_ANGLE = 	; position angle, default: empty

[IMAGESET]
COUNT = 1		; imageset count (how many times to repeat), default: 1
AUTOSTACK = 		; stack imageset automatically (True/False), default: empty
SOLVE = True		; astrometrically solve the images (True/False), default: True
DESCRIPTION = 		; imageset description
EXPTIME = 300 		; imageset exposure time in seconds, default: 5. Use either EXPTIME or LIMITING_MAG. If both are included, use LIMITING_MAG.
LIMITING_MAG = 		; imageset limiting magnitude, default: empty. Use either EXPTIME or LIMITING_MAG. If both are included, use LIMITING_MAG.
BINNING = 1		; imageset binning, default: 1
FILTER = ExoP		; imageset filter, default: empty
DITHER = 		; dither telescope between exposures (0 - no dither, -1 - auto), deafult: empty

In python, run:

from schedulertml import parse_config

parse_config

Creating a Complex Plan

Use the schedulertml.rtml methods following the above conventions, to add more requests, targets, and pictures.

Uploading the plan to a remote ACP Scheduler server

Assuming ACP Scheduler is installed on a remote Windows host, with ssh connection available using Cygwin, you can automatically upload and add the RTML plan you created to the ACP Scheduler database, using:

from schedulertml import rtml

rtml.import_to_remote_scheduler("NewPlan.xml",
                                username="remote_user",
                                remote_host="remote_host",
                                remote_path="/home/remote_user/",
                                cygwin_path="C:\\cygwin64\\home\\remote_user\\")

This will upload to the RTML plan NewPlan.xml and a VBScript import.vbs to the remote host remote_user@remote_host, to the remote Cygwin directory /home/remote_user/. It will then use the VBScript import.vbs to import the new plan (now located at C:\cygwin64\home\remote_user\) to the ACP Scheduler database.

NOTE: You should first exchange ssh keys with the remote server, to allow an ssh connection without password prompt. See here for details: https://www.thegeekstuff.com/2011/07/rsync-over-ssh-without-password/