Safety Procedures and Monitoring Systems

There must be a competent person monitoring the array at all times. In good weather conditions it is permissible to leave the Control Room (but not the site) for short periods (e.g., for an hour over lunch or dinner). In the case of strong winds ($>$ 10km/hr) or visible storm activity, one person must always remain in the Control Room.

Note that the antennas are designed such that winds of speeds greater than 29km/hr will deleteriously affect the pointing. For further information refer to Cooper et al. (1992).

There are two independent monitoring systems to help the observer monitor the Compact Array. The Primary Monitoring (PMON) system is a hardware system that monitors critical components of the array (basically for fire, power and cryogenics failure and some weather data). The PMON rack is in the Observer's Area, and alarms are heard in the control building, and are distributed to the site houses. If you hear an alarm and are unsure about what to do, do nothing: In general, the site staff respond pretty quickly to these alarms. Consult the Duty Astronomer if you have any concerns about the PMON rack.

Figure 4.1: PMON antenna alarm cards

As well as the Hardware PMON system, there is a large amount of software monitoring the array which should help the observer be aware of array problems as they arise. These programs include ASSISTANCE, CAMON, WINDS, LOPLOT, MONICA, and others. Please leave any array monitoring programs running and heed any warnings as they come up. Again, if in doubt, consult the Duty Astronomer.