[mmaimcal] Dynamic Scheduling

[Mark A. Gordon]

>From the messages I've read and from my own experience with scheduling a
(then) heavily over-subscribed mm-wave telescope for years, I believe that
ALMA will experience a learning curve regarding the best way to schedule
observing programs.

Factors in this learning experience will be

    1) understanding the weather patterns affecting the Chajnantor site,

    2) consulting basic meteorological instrumentation (including equipment
to display water vapor images from satellites) to quantify local conditions,
and

    3) developing an on-site czar (son-of-Barry Clark in Chile) to
assimilate these factors
         into an effective "dynamic" scheduling.

I'm suspicious of how well one can predict the effectiveness of such a
system until it is tried.  Dynamic scheduling of ALMA  seems to me to be
much more of a heuristic than a scientific,  analytical process.  As such,
spending too much time now planning the details of this process may be a
waste of time.

It's a terrific WBS entry, though!

--Mark Gordon