In the last NOAO Newsletter (No. 45), the lessons learned from the fall 1995 semester of the WIYN Queue Experiment were discussed in general terms. With the completion of fall 1995, a quantitative summary can now be presented.
On 1 February 1996, all fall 1995 WIYN queue programs were officially terminated. PIs were informed that to continue their program, to start a new program, or re-start their old program, they had to re-apply for observing time.
As discussed in NOAO Newsletter No. 45, the WIYN queue was heavily oversubscribed in fall 1995. Consider the following tables:
WIYN Fall 1995 Subscription Statistics
Number of Proposals Number of Nights
Submit Sched Ratio Request Avail Ratio
Dark 36 26 1.4 80 34 2.4
Bright 9 6 1.5 27 16 1.7
2hrQ 20 16 1.3 5 4 1.3
WIYN Spring 1996 Subscription Statistics
Number of Proposals Number of Nights
Submit Sched Ratio Request Avail Ratio
Dark 47 16 2.9 122 36 3.4
Bright 17 10 1.7 52 13 4.0
2hrQ 22 13 1.7 5 3 1.7
If one considers the fall 1995 "Nights Requested/Nights Available" ratios, you can see that the dark-time and bright-time over-subscription ratios were 2.4 and 1.7, respectively. However, once one factors in weather and technical problems (e.g., the 16 day secondary failure in January 1996), effective oversubscription rates became 6.0:1 and 4.2:1, respectively, by the end of the semester.
Next consider the following breakdown of how we used the hours available to the WIYN queue experiment and then read the commentary that follows:
F95 Hours Available: 554
Number of Hours Used
Hrs Percentage
Long Programs 222 40%
2hrQ 43 8%
Weather 171 31%
Technical Failures 92 17%
Misc Activity 26 5%
Notes: Lost 8 (6 Dark/2 Bright) nights to secondary failure
Queue Completion Statistics
Number of Programs
Input Whole Part None
Long Programs:
Dark 25 4 2 19
Long Programs:
Bright 7 0 4 3
2hrQ High Priority 7 5 1 1
2hrQ Best Effort 9 0 1 8
Notes:
(1) More dark hours than bright hours in a semester.
(2) Lost more time to weather in bright time than dark time in F95.
(3) WIYN Consortium using seven bright nights per month for T&E
during F95, decreasing number of bright nights available for
science operations.
(4) Programs took much longer to complete than expected, vastly
exceeding allocation time. This was a combination of buggy
telescope/instruments (this was the first real semester of
observing) and grossly underestimated overheads during the
time allocation process. Both problems have been vastly
mitigated for spring 1996.
(5) Lost eight (6D/2B) nights to secondary failure
To put this in perspective, we received essentially identical numbers of 4-m and WIYN proposals, but NOAO only has 40% of the time on WIYN.
User frustration was heightened by two effects:
I have written about these issues in the March 1996 NOAO Newsletter (No. 45, p. 36) and I urge you to read that article. This article is also available on the Web (see the hotlink on the WIYN Observing Program Home Page (http://www.noao.edu/wiyn/obsprog/).
Users were also frustrated by lack of progress reports and clear information about how the queue was being executed. We have tried to reduce this frustration by creating the NOAO WIYN Observing Program Home Page (http://www.noao.edu/wiyn/obsprog/). This Web page contains links to application information, spring 1996 status reports (updated after every NOAO queue night), details about how the queue works, and queue experiment related NOAO Newsletter articles.
We know this experiment did not operate as smoothly or as satisfactorily as desired during fall 1995. Most of our problems were a combination of balky telescope (this was, after all, the first semester of science operations of a new, complex telescope) and inexperience on our part. We have fixed many of the telescope problems and have gained much experience. With the additional help of your feedback, we think that spring 1996 is going much better and we will continue improving things in the future. Any input you have on improving this experiment would be appreciated and considered carefully.
Nevertheless, no matter how efficient we become, it is a fact that WIYN is heavily over-subscribed right now. To get telescope time, whether through the queue experiment or as a classically scheduled observing run, you will need a strong science proposal.
Our highest goal remains to produce the best quality data possible. However, we are also committed to continuing to improve the level and quality of communication between us and you. We appreciate your concern and patience and we hope to serve you better in the future.
F95 Active Long Programs Hours ID Allocated Used Status 2161 22.3 74.1 completed 2164 34.0 52.3 completed/synoptic 1929 42.5 25.3 partial 2173 17.0 19.9 partial 1999 25.5 13.7 partial 1954 4.3 13.3 completed 2006 25.5 11.9 completed/synoptic 2085 8.5 3.5 partial 2142 17.0 2.7 partial 1937 4.5 2.0 partial Misc Cal 0.0 3.2 Totals 201.1 221.9 Notes: One Typical 4-m Run = 25.5 hours Number of Equivalent 4-m Runs = 8.7
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Last Updated: 7/9/96, dsilva@noao.edu