Observing time estimates must take into account:
For bolometer observations, integration time estimators are available in the NIC software [11]. For heterodyne observations, the total integration time should be derived using the standard radiometer formula:
where and
are the telescope forward and main
beam efficiencies,
is the system temperature above the atmosphere (in the antenna
temperature scale), B the
channel noise bandwidth in Hz, and t the total (ON + OFF) integration time
in seconds.
For 3, 2, and 1.3mm observations,
should be estimated for average winter conditions
(4 mm of precipitable water, or
at 230 GHz).
Proposals for 0.8mm should adopt good winter conditions
(1.5 mm of water, or
at 345 GHz).
We ask you to specify in your proposal the parameter values ( total integration time, overheads and dead times) adopted
in your calculation of the needed telescope time.
A technical report explaining how to estimate the telescope time
needed to reach a given sensitivity level in various modes of
observation was published in the January 1995
issue
of the IRAM Newsletter [9]. It has been included in the
30-m telescope Manual [10].
You are asked to follow the
guidelines given in this report (or to justify particular requirements) in
your proposal.