Description
LOFAR (Low Frequency Array) is an international telescope, designed and built by ASTRON (Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy), which is devoted to the global astronomical community and managed by the International LOFAR Telescope (ILT) foundation. The project LOFAR 2.0 has involved, among new changes and challenges, in the design and implementation of the TMSS (Telescope Manager Specification System) project, which supplies one interface and an integrated process for specification, scheduling and reporting, with data flow enhancements, that improve the efficiency and automation of LOFAR operations. From a pragmatic perspective, TMSS can be seen as a user who proposes specifications to LOFAR observations and receives results for such operations. We present the architecture of TMSS, composed of data specification, dynamic scheduling, workflows and reporting, and its main features among which a new frontend interface for users and a new backend to interact and integrate within other LOFAR components. Regarding the software system, state-of-the-art Web technologies are adopted for the implementation of the frontend and backend, that are, respectively, the Prime React framework and the DRF (Django Rest Framework). The main Django application is further enriched by various microservices communicating with each other and with the application itself. The development process is supported by using a Gitlab pipeline that ensures CI/CD practices and QA thanks to a comprehensive test coverage, which is composed of unit tests, integration tests and regression tests. The TMSS project also embraces the Scrum AGILE methodology in order to take advantage of benefits such as quickly adapting changes, including feedback from customers and stakeholders, and delivery throughout the development process.
