Uploading FRB Events

Running the Upload Script

To upload your FRB events and follow up measurements you can use this python script. To use it you must set the environment variables FRB_USER and FRB_PASS which is your username and password for the FRB web app account.

For the first detection/measurement of the FRB event, you can upload the radio measurement and observation data with a command like the following:

python upload_cand.py --first --radio_yaml radio_example.yaml --observation_yaml observation_example.yaml

Which will output an ID like so:

This should be recorded and used for future measurement updates (through post-processing and optical follow up).

To upload further measurements, use the update option like so:

python upload_cand.py --update 3 --radio_yaml radio_example.yaml

Note that you don’t need the observation YAML after the first detection.

Radio Measurement YAML Format

Here is an example of what the radio measurement YAML can look like

{
    # Only used for first detection/measurement
    "time_of_arrival": "2017-11-17T12:21:38.87",
    "repeater": true,
    "search_path": "example_search.png",
    "image_path" : "example_image.png",
    "histogram_path": "example_histogram.png",

    # Required
    "dm": 411.0,
    "dm_err": 1.0,
    "ra": 77.01461542,
    "ra_err": 0.05,
    "dec": 26.06069556,
    "dec_err": 0.05,
    "sn": 50,
    "width": 5,
    "flux": 35,
    "flux_err": 3,
    "source": "MB",
    "version": "v1.0",

    # Optional
    "fluence": 45,
    "fluence_err": 5,
    "dmism": 123.16007817568256,
    "rm": -613.0,
    "rm_err": 2.0,
    "cosmo": "Planck18",
    "eellipse": {
        "a": 0.004,
        "b": 0.004,
        "cl": 68.0,
        "theta": 0.0
    },
    "z": 0.0982,
}

Each of the keys:

“time_of_arrival”: str, optional

The time of arrival of the FRB in the format “%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S.%f”, eg. “2017-11-17T12:21:38.87”

“repeater”: boolean, optional

Is the FRB a repeater (true or false)?

“search_path”: str, optional

The path to the search image

“image_path”str, optional

The path to the radio image

“histogram_path”: str, optional

The path to the histogram image

“dm”float

The dispersion measure of the FRB in pc / cm^3

“dm_err”float

The error of the dispersion measure of the FRB in pc / cm^3

“ra”: str

The Right Acension of the candidate in degrees

“ra_err”: str

The error of the Right Acension of the candidate in degrees

“dec”: str

The Declination of the candidate in degrees

“dec_err”: str

The error of the Declination of the candidate in degrees

“sn”: float

The signal-to-noise ration of the candidate

“width”: float

The width of the candidate pulse in ms

“flux”: float, optional

The flux density of the event in Jy

“flux_err”: float, optional

The error of the flux density of the event in Jy

“source”: str

The source (telescope pipeline) of the measurements, should be either MB (Multi-Beam) or HT (High-Time resolution)

“version”: str

The version of the “source” software

“fluence”: float, optional

The fluence of the event in Jy ms

“fluence_err”: float, optional

The error of the fluence of the event in Jy ms

“dmism”float, optional

The estimated amount of the dispersion measure that is contributed by the interstellar medium in pc / cm^3

“rm”: float, optional

The Rotation Measure of the candidate in rad / m^2

“rm_err”: float, optional

The error of the Rotation Measure of the candidate in rad / m^2

“cosmo”: str, optional

The cosmological model used for cosmological calculations, eg. “Planck18”

“eellipse”: object, optional

The error ellipse object which has the following keys within it

“a”: float
The width of the ellipse in degrees

“b”: float
The height of the ellipse in degrees

“cl”: float, optional
The confidence level of the error ellipse in percent. Default 68.0

“theta”: float
The angle in degrees from North clockwise

“z”: boolean, optional

The redshift of the candidate

Observation YAML Format

Here is an example of what the observation YAML can look like

{
    "beam_semi_major_axis": 0.2,
    "beam_semi_minor_axis": 0.3,
    "beam_rotation_angle": 45,
    "sampling_time": 0.1,
    "bandwidth": 300,
    "nchan": 3000,
    "centre_frequency": 1400,
    "npol": 2,
    "bits_per_sample": 8,
    "gain": 3,
    "tsys": 50,
    "backend": "Multibeam",
    "beam": 1,
}

“beam_semi_major_axis”: float: The beam semi major axis in arcminutes.
“beam_semi_minor_axis”: float: The beam semi minor axis in arcminutes.
“beam_rotation_angle”: int: The beam rotation angle in degrees, clockwise from North.
“sampling_time”: float: The duration of each sample in ms.
“bandwidth”: float: The bandwidth in MHz.
“nchan”: int: The number of frequency channels.
“centre_frequency”: float`: The centre frequency in MHz.
“npol”: int: The number of antena polarisations.
“bits_per_sample”: int: The size in bits of each sample.
“gain”: float: The gain of telescope in K/Jy.
“tsys”: float: The system temperature in K.
“backend”: string: The name of the telescope backend being used (“Multibeam” for example).
“beam”: int: The beam number for multi beam receivers.