TopSim
Telescope OPerations Simulator (TopSim) is a simulation framework built to evaluate planning and scheduling paradigms for large-scale telescope operations, such as the Square Kilometre Array (SKA).
Overview
TopSim follows a discrete event simulation model, using the SimPy module as the foundation for the simulations.
The context of a TopSim simulation is and end-to-end run-through of a mid-term observation plan for a (radio) telescope. A simulation contains various ‘Actors’; some are initialised and start at the beginning of the simulation; others are activated by other Actors throughout the duration of the simulation. The different Actors, their roles, and how they may be invoked, are discussed in more detail in the section.
The primary motivation of TopSim is to test new models of scheduling and planning for Radio Astronomy post-processing. As a result, the focus of TopSim is primarily on the design and implementation of the workflow, plan scheduling models. This means the relative granularity and expressiveness of other parts of the system - such as observation specifications - are low. More discussion on the different levels of abstraction of the different actors and resources is covered in both the What is a TopSim simulation? and Configuring a Simulation sections.