CASA Simulator

The CASA Simulator allows a user to simulate interferometric observations, including the ALMA observatory. The simulations consider the configuration of the ALMA array, the receiver specifics and atmospheric conditions.

Array Configuration Files

The simulation of ALMA observations depends on the array configurations. As outlined in Appendix A of the ALMA Proposers Guide and, in more detail, the ALMA Technical Handbook, there are 10 different configurations representing the 12-m Array during Cycle 10 and one configuration representing the Atacama Compact Array (ACA). The array configurations are included in the Cycle 10 tar file below and can be used together with the CASA Simulator to produce representative models of ALMA Cycle 10 observations. The same files are also included in the web based simulation done with the ALMA Observation Tool (OST). DDT proposals during Cycle 9 need to use the Cycle 9 configuration files. Note that in CASA 6.1 and greater, users can update their data repository to include the Cycle 10 configurations by launching CASA and typing !update-data.