Changelog

Version 2.0

  • Prefactor v3.0 is now required for preprocessing. Earlier versions are no longer supported
  • Updated to use WSClean v2.6 (including IDG support). Earlier versions are no longer supported
  • Calibration is now done with the improved TEC solver in DPPP
  • Solutions are now stored in H5parm format instead of ParmDB format; hence, LoSoTo is now required

Version 1.4

Version 1.3

  • Updated to use WSClean v2.4 and LSMTool v1.2.0
  • Preaveraging is now done in frequency as well as in time. This preaveraging generally improves the S/N of the CS slow-gain solutions for fainter sources by a factor of ~ 2
  • An option (min_fraction_per_band) has been added that sets the minimum allowed unflagged fraction per band
  • WSClean’s automasking feature is now used during imaging. The old image-mask-image sequence is no longer used during self calibration, but can still be used during the final, full-bandwidth facet imaging if automask_facet_image = False under the [imaging] section of the parset
  • Handling of pipeline failure/interruption has been improved
  • The combination of flagging ranges specified by the flag_abstime, flag_baseline, and flag_freqrange options can now be set with the flag_expr option

Version 1.2

  • The combination of flagging ranges specified by the flag_abstime, flag_baseline, and flag_freqrange options can now be set with the flag_expr option
  • An unarchiving tool (unarchivefactor, see Unarchiving a Factor archive with unarchivefactor) has been added that can unarchive an archive made with archivefactor
  • An option (update_selfcal_clean_regions`) has been added that controls whether user-supplied clean masks are updated during selfcal
  • Intersections in user-supplied clean masks are now detected and an error raised
  • An archiving tool (archivefactor, see Archiving a Factor run with archivefactor) has been added that can archive the subtracted datasets, the sky models, the instrument tables, the selfcal plots, and the calibrated data for one or more directions
  • Polynomial sky models generated directly by WSClean during imaging are used for prediction, resulting in improved and faster subtraction of extended sources

Version 1.1

  • The subtraction of sources after self calibration has been improved
  • The baseline-dependent averaging used during imaging has been reduced, as the previous averaging caused significant smearing away from the facet center
  • Many bug fixes

Version 1.0

First release. Changes since version pre1.0:

  • The BBS calibration software has been replaced by GainCal, which is both much faster and more stable
  • The CASA imager has been replaced by WSClean, which is generally much faster and integrates better with the LOFAR pipeline framework that Factor uses
  • A new option has been added to keep the primary data files used in self calibration in memory, speeding up self calibration dramatically on some systems (set dir_local_selfcal = /dev/shm under the [cluster] section of the parset)
  • The Dysco storage manager can now be used to compress visibilities and weights, reducing file sizes (and IO) by a factor of ~ 2.5
  • The reimage_selfcaled option has been removed, as facets are always reimaged now. A image_target_only option has been added if you wish to reimage only the target
  • The skip_facet_imaging option has been removed, as facets are always imaged now to improve the subtraction (using only a faction of the full bandwidth)