[mmaimcal] Dynamic Scheduling

[Bryan Butler]

nice description, min.  i will add some to one piece of this while
i'm thinking about it.  you wrote:

>One highly useful information that may not be easily implemented
>into any kind of dynamic scheduler is the satellite images and
>forecasts.  Most observers have become avid fans of weather
>satellite WEB sites in recent years, and some even believe they
>can predict the weather for at least up to 24-48 hrs in advance.
>Is this something we want to teach the scheduler and be incorporated
>into the decision making?  Unfortunately, this data can not be easily
>quantified....

while not "easily quantified", in fact the europeans are doing just
that (see recent papers by erasmus & co.).  we will probably have
access to a similar thing for ALMA.  simon knows all about this, and
we have been in touch (in a roundabout way) with them about using
these tools for the chajnantor site...

an interesting note - even with the most sophisticated weather and
atmospheric models, you _barely_ do better than the simple prediction
that "conditions tomorrow will be the same as today".  this is simply
a reflection of the inability of current "futurecasting" to go beyond
a few days very reliably...

	-bryan