Interactive interferometry reduction
Flag, calibrate and image radio data with interactive steps.
20 project-authored proposals · taxonomy v1.1 · 0 new benchmark runs. Verifiers and partial-credit rules below are designs, not executed results.
- Typical applications
- CASA · CARTA
- Class GUI-need label
HY· Hybrid
Task proposals · 20
Expand to inspect the complete original wording and proposed checks. Original proposal text remains English in both interfaces.
R08.01.01.03-T01 Summarize a measurement set with listobs
Original instruction
Run CASA listobs on fixtures/vla_synth.ms and write output/summary.json with field names and roles (from intents), number of spectral windows with channel counts, antenna count, and total on-source time for the target field (min).
- Platforms
lin· Linuxmac· macOS- Applications
- CASA
- Interfaces
term· Terminal- GUI need · task setting
CL· CLI-sufficient- GUI need · ordinary access
CL· CLI-sufficient- Interaction primitives
code· Code & commands- Work product
WP12· Answer/decision- Conditions
- None declared
- Proposed difficulty
- 2 / 5
Proposed verifier
Grader computes the same from the MS with casatools: all fields exact, on-source time within 0.1 min.
Proposed partial credit
25% fields/intents; 25% spws; 20% antennas; 30% on-source time.
R08.01.01.03-T02 Flag antenna dropouts interactively in plotms
Original instruction
In CASA plotms, plot amplitude vs time for the phase calibrator in fixtures/vla_synth.ms (colorized by antenna). Identify antennas/time ranges with dropouts (amplitude near zero) and flag them using Mark Regions and Flag in plotms. Record the flagged antenna/time list in output/flags.csv.
- Platforms
lin· Linuxmac· macOS- Applications
- CASA plotms
- Interfaces
desk· Desktop GUI- GUI need · task setting
G2· GUI-essential- GUI need · ordinary access
CL· CLI-sufficient- Interaction primitives
drag· Drag & dropclick· Point & clickvis· Visual judgment- Work product
WP10· Annotations- Conditions
- None declared
- Proposed difficulty
- 3 / 5
Proposed verifier
Grader reads the MS FLAG column: planted dropout visibilities flagged >=95%, good calibrator data flagged <=3%; flags.csv lists the 3 planted antenna/time ranges. Flags must come from plotms: flagdata, flagcmd and the casatools table tool are blocked in the agent's CASA session, and any flagging task call in the CASA log fails.
Proposed partial credit
50% dropout recall; 30% precision on good data; 20% list correct.
R08.01.01.03-T03 Calibrate a VLA continuum dataset and report the phase-calibrator flux
Original instruction
Calibrate fixtures/vla_synth.ms in CASA: setjy on 3C286 (Perley-Butler 2017), delay, bandpass and gain calibration, fluxscale for the phase calibrator, and applycal to all fields. Report the bootstrapped phase-calibrator flux density per spw in output/fluxscale.json.
- Platforms
lin· Linuxmac· macOS- Applications
- CASA
- Interfaces
term· Terminaldesk· Desktop GUI- GUI need · task setting
HY· Hybrid- GUI need · ordinary access
CL· CLI-sufficient- Interaction primitives
code· Code & commandsvis· Visual judgment- Work product
WP07· Simulation result- Conditions
- None declared
- Proposed difficulty
- 4 / 5
Proposed verifier
Grader: calibration tables exist with expected types; fluxscale results within 1% of reference per spw; CORRECTED_DATA amplitudes of the flux calibrator within 2% of the model.
Proposed partial credit
30% calibration tables; 40% flux densities; 30% applied correctly.
R08.01.01.03-T04 Clean an image with hand-drawn masks in interactive tclean
Original instruction
Image the calibrated target in fixtures/target_cal.ms with tclean interactive=True (Hogbom, cell 0.5", 1024 px, Briggs 0.5). Draw and update clean masks around emission in the viewer each major cycle and stop when residual RMS reaches <=12 uJy/beam without cleaning noise.
- Platforms
lin· Linuxmac· macOS- Applications
- CASA · casaviewer
- Interfaces
desk· Desktop GUI- GUI need · task setting
G2· GUI-essential- GUI need · ordinary access
G2· GUI-essential- Interaction primitives
path· Continuous pathvis· Visual judgmentclick· Point & click- Work product
WP04· 3D/spatial model- Conditions
- None declared
- Proposed difficulty
- 4 / 5
Proposed verifier
Grader: final residual RMS <=12 uJy/beam; mask covers the true emission (recall >=0.9) with <=20% of mask area on noise; image flux within 3% of truth. The CASA log must show interactive mask-update events each major cycle; tclean runs with mask files or auto-multithresh are detected in the CASA log and fail.
Proposed partial credit
40% residual RMS; 30% mask quality; 30% flux accuracy.
R08.01.01.03-T05 Flag RFI with automatic flaggers and verify in plotms
Original instruction
In fixtures/lband_rfi.ms, flag RFI with flagdata (tfcrop then rflag, parameters of your choice), inspect amp vs frequency in plotms and add manual flags for any residual RFI channels. Keep total flagged fraction of RFI-free data below 5%.
- Platforms
lin· Linuxmac· macOS- Applications
- CASA · CASA plotms
- Interfaces
term· Terminaldesk· Desktop GUI- GUI need · task setting
HY· Hybrid- GUI need · ordinary access
G2· GUI-essential- Interaction primitives
code· Code & commandsdrag· Drag & dropvis· Visual judgment- Work product
WP10· Annotations- Conditions
- None declared
- Proposed difficulty
- 3 / 5
Proposed verifier
Grader compares with the injected RFI mask: recall >=95% and false-flag fraction <=5% on clean data.
Proposed partial credit
60% RFI recall (pro-rata from 0.80 recall); 40% false-flag fraction.
R08.01.01.03-T06 Self-calibrate a continuum image to a dynamic-range target
Original instruction
Starting from fixtures/target_cal.ms, run 2 rounds of phase-only and 1 round of amplitude-and-phase self-calibration in CASA, choosing solution intervals and masks interactively, and produce output/selfcal_final.image with dynamic range >=3,000 (peak/RMS).
- Platforms
lin· Linuxmac· macOS- Applications
- CASA · CARTA
- Interfaces
term· Terminaldesk· Desktop GUI- GUI need · task setting
HY· Hybrid- GUI need · ordinary access
HY· Hybrid- Interaction primitives
code· Code & commandsvis· Visual judgmentpath· Continuous path- Work product
WP07· Simulation result- Conditions
long· Long-horizon- Proposed difficulty
- 5 / 5
Proposed verifier
Grader: dynamic range >=3,000 (partial from 1,000); source flux within 3% of truth (no flux loss from amplitude selfcal); 3 gain tables with the stated modes.
Proposed partial credit
20% selfcal tables correct; 50% dynamic range; 30% flux preserved.
R08.01.01.03-T07 Measure image RMS, peak and beam in CARTA
Original instruction
Open fixtures/cont_image.fits in CARTA. Draw a region on a source-free area of at least 50 beams to measure the RMS, measure the peak flux of the main source and read the restoring beam. Write all values to output/qa.json.
- Platforms
mac· macOSlin· Linux- Applications
- CARTA
- Interfaces
desk· Desktop GUIbrow· Browser- GUI need · task setting
G2· GUI-essential- GUI need · ordinary access
G2· GUI-essential- Interaction primitives
path· Continuous pathclick· Point & clickvis· Visual judgment- Work product
WP12· Answer/decision- Conditions
- None declared
- Proposed difficulty
- 2 / 5
Proposed verifier
Grader: RMS within 10% of the true noise; peak within 1%; beam exact; the off-source region contains no pixel above 5 sigma. CARTA's scripting interface (carta-python/gRPC) is disabled for the agent and the VM has no terminal, so this must be done in the CARTA GUI.
Proposed partial credit
40% RMS; 30% peak; 30% beam.
R08.01.01.03-T08 Subtract continuum and image a spectral line with chosen line-free channels
Original instruction
In fixtures/co_line.ms, inspect amplitude vs channel in plotms to choose line-free channels, run uvcontsub with a first-order fit, image the CO line cube at 5 km/s resolution with tclean and make moment 0 and 1 maps. Save outputs under output/.
- Platforms
lin· Linuxmac· macOS- Applications
- CASA · CASA plotms
- Interfaces
desk· Desktop GUIterm· Terminal- GUI need · task setting
HY· Hybrid- GUI need · ordinary access
HY· Hybrid- Interaction primitives
vis· Visual judgmentcode· Code & commands- Work product
WP07· Simulation result- Conditions
- None declared
- Proposed difficulty
- 4 / 5
Proposed verifier
Grader: chosen fitspw excludes all line channels and keeps >=60% of line-free ones; continuum residual in line-free channels <2 sigma; moment-0 integrated flux within 5% and moment-1 velocity field RMS error <5 km/s.
Proposed partial credit
25% channel selection; 20% continuum subtraction; 30% moment 0; 25% moment 1.
R08.01.01.03-T09 Clean with auto-multithresh masking by script (control pair of T04)
Original instruction
Control pair of T04: image the same calibrated target non-interactively with tclean usemask='auto-multithresh' (choose thresholds) and the T04 imaging parameters, reaching residual RMS <=12 uJy/beam. Save the script as output/image_t09.py.
- Platforms
lin· Linuxmac· macOS- Applications
- CASA
- Interfaces
term· Terminal- GUI need · task setting
CL· CLI-sufficient- GUI need · ordinary access
CL· CLI-sufficient- Interaction primitives
code· Code & commands- Work product
WP04· 3D/spatial model- Conditions
- None declared
- Proposed difficulty
- 3 / 5
Proposed verifier
Control pair of T04: same checks (residual RMS, mask recall/precision, flux within 3%); script reruns.
Proposed partial credit
40% residual RMS; 30% mask quality; 30% flux.
R08.01.01.03-T10 Calibrate instrumental leakage and polarization angle
Original instruction
For fixtures/vla_pol.ms, after parallel-hand calibration, solve for cross-hand delay, D-terms (polcal poltype 'Df' on the unpolarized calibrator) and position angle on 3C286, apply, and image Stokes Q and U of the target. Report the target's polarization fraction and EVPA in output/pol.json.
- Platforms
lin· Linuxmac· macOS- Applications
- CASA
- Interfaces
term· Terminaldesk· Desktop GUI- GUI need · task setting
HY· Hybrid- GUI need · ordinary access
CL· CLI-sufficient- Interaction primitives
code· Code & commandsvis· Visual judgment- Work product
WP07· Simulation result- Conditions
long· Long-horizon- Proposed difficulty
- 5 / 5
Proposed verifier
Grader: D-term amplitudes within 0.5% of injected; calibrated 3C286 EVPA within 1 deg of 33 deg; target polarization fraction within 0.5 pts and EVPA within 2 deg of truth.
Proposed partial credit
30% leakage solutions; 30% angle calibration; 40% target polarization results.
R08.01.01.03-T11 Map a VLBI source with interactive windows in Difmap
Original instruction
In Difmap, load fixtures/vlbi_synth.uvf, set up mapsize and uv weighting, place clean windows interactively on the core and jet, and alternate clean and phase self-calibration until the residual RMS is below 0.15 mJy/beam. Save the model and output/map.fits.
- Platforms
lin· Linuxmac· macOS- Applications
- Difmap
- Interfaces
desk· Desktop GUIterm· Terminal- GUI need · task setting
HY· Hybrid- GUI need · ordinary access
G2· GUI-essential- Interaction primitives
path· Continuous pathkey· Shortcutsvis· Visual judgment- Work product
WP04· 3D/spatial model- Conditions
- None declared
- Proposed difficulty
- 3 / 5
Proposed verifier
Grader: final map RMS <0.15 mJy/beam; clean model total flux within 3% of truth; jet component positions within 0.1 mas of truth.
Proposed partial credit
40% residual RMS; 30% total flux; 30% component positions.
R08.01.01.03-T12 Find and flag baseline-specific spikes in plotms
Original instruction
In plotms, plot amplitude vs uv-distance for the target in fixtures/spikes.ms, iterate by baseline as needed to find the baselines with spurious high-amplitude spikes, and flag only those points interactively. Report the affected baselines in output/baselines.txt.
- Platforms
lin· Linuxmac· macOS- Applications
- CASA plotms
- Interfaces
desk· Desktop GUI- GUI need · task setting
G2· GUI-essential- GUI need · ordinary access
G2· GUI-essential- Interaction primitives
drag· Drag & dropvis· Visual judgmentnav· Pan/zoom/scroll- Work product
WP10· Annotations- Conditions
- None declared
- Proposed difficulty
- 3 / 5
Proposed verifier
Grader: planted spikes flagged >=95%; non-spike data on those baselines flagged <=5%; baseline list exact. Flags must come from plotms: flagdata, flagcmd and the casatools table tool are blocked in the agent's CASA session, and any flagging task call in the CASA log fails.
Proposed partial credit
50% spike recall; 30% precision; 20% baseline list.
R08.01.01.03-T13 Image a seven-pointing mosaic with primary-beam correction
Original instruction
Image the 7-pointing mosaic in fixtures/mosaic7.ms with tclean gridder='mosaic', phasecenter at the central pointing, 0.3" cells, pblimit 0.2, and produce a primary-beam corrected image output/mosaic.pbcor. Report total flux of the extended source in output/flux.json.
- Platforms
lin· Linuxmac· macOS- Applications
- CASA · CARTA
- Interfaces
term· Terminaldesk· Desktop GUI- GUI need · task setting
HY· Hybrid- GUI need · ordinary access
CL· CLI-sufficient- Interaction primitives
code· Code & commandsvis· Visual judgment- Work product
WP04· 3D/spatial model- Conditions
- None declared
- Proposed difficulty
- 3 / 5
Proposed verifier
Grader: image header and pblimit correct; flux within 5% of truth; pb-corrected noise pattern consistent with the mosaic PB (ratio check at 3 positions within 5%).
Proposed partial credit
30% imaging parameters; 40% flux; 30% pb correction.
R08.01.01.03-T14 Bootstrap flux scale and measure a target spectral index
Original instruction
Calibrate fixtures/two_band.ms (two spws at 4.5 and 7.5 GHz) with 3C147 as flux calibrator, bootstrap the secondary calibrator, image the target in both spws, and report the target's spectral index alpha (S ~ nu^alpha) in output/alpha.json.
- Platforms
lin· Linuxmac· macOS- Applications
- CASA
- Interfaces
term· Terminal- GUI need · task setting
HY· Hybrid- GUI need · ordinary access
CL· CLI-sufficient- Interaction primitives
code· Code & commands- Work product
WP07· Simulation result- Conditions
- None declared
- Proposed difficulty
- 3 / 5
Proposed verifier
Grader: flux per spw within 2% of truth; alpha within 0.05.
Proposed partial credit
30% flux scale; 40% per-spw flux; 30% alpha.
R08.01.01.03-T15 Export source statistics for a region in the CASA viewer
Original instruction
Open fixtures/cont_image.fits in the CASA viewer (or CARTA), draw an elliptical region around source 'S2' at the position in input/sources.txt, and export region statistics (integrated flux, peak, number of pixels) to output/s2_stats.txt and the region to output/s2.crtf.
- Platforms
lin· Linuxmac· macOS- Applications
- casaviewer · CARTA
- Interfaces
desk· Desktop GUI- GUI need · task setting
G2· GUI-essential- GUI need · ordinary access
G2· GUI-essential- Interaction primitives
path· Continuous pathclick· Point & click- Work product
WP10· Annotations- Conditions
- None declared
- Proposed difficulty
- 2 / 5
Proposed verifier
Grader: region encloses S2 above 3 sigma (recall >=0.95) without neighbors; statistics match grader's computation for that region within 1%. The agent has no CASA prompt or terminal and CARTA's scripting interface is disabled, so statistics must come from the viewer's region statistics panel.
Proposed partial credit
50% region quality; 50% statistics.
R08.01.01.03-T16 Reduce a synthetic ALMA dataset end to end to QA thresholds
Original instruction
Reduce fixtures/alma_synth_uid/ (raw MS, two science spws): apriori flagging, Tsys/WVR application, bandpass/phase/flux calibration, interactive inspection and flagging, continuum and one-line cube imaging. Meet input/qa_thresholds.json (RMS, DR, flux accuracy) and save images and a QA log.
- Platforms
lin· Linuxmac· macOS- Applications
- CASA · CASA plotms · CARTA
- Interfaces
term· Terminaldesk· Desktop GUI- GUI need · task setting
HY· Hybrid- GUI need · ordinary access
CL· CLI-sufficient- Interaction primitives
code· Code & commandsvis· Visual judgmentdrag· Drag & drop- Work product
WP07· Simulation result- Conditions
long· Long-horizonmultiapp· Multi-app- Proposed difficulty
- 5 / 5
Proposed verifier
Grader checks each QA metric against thresholds on the delivered images, flux of check source within 5%, and line cube velocity axis/frame correct.
Proposed partial credit
30% calibration correctness; 20% flagging quality; 30% continuum QA; 20% line cube QA.
R08.01.01.03-T17 Flag shadowed antennas and bad time ranges by inspection
Original instruction
In fixtures/compact_cfg.ms (compact configuration, low elevations), use plotms to identify time ranges where antennas are shadowed or have low elevation (<10 deg) issues and flag them interactively; then image and confirm the sidelobe pattern improves. Note ranges in output/flags.csv.
- Platforms
lin· Linuxmac· macOS- Applications
- CASA plotms
- Interfaces
desk· Desktop GUI- GUI need · task setting
G2· GUI-essential- GUI need · ordinary access
G2· GUI-essential- Interaction primitives
drag· Drag & dropvis· Visual judgment- Work product
WP10· Annotations- Conditions
- None declared
- Proposed difficulty
- 3 / 5
Proposed verifier
Grader: shadowed/low-elevation visibilities (computed from geometry) flagged >=95%, other data <=3%; post-flag image RMS lower than baseline by >=10%. Flags must come from plotms: flagdata, flagcmd and the casatools table tool are blocked in the agent's CASA session, and any flagging task call in the CASA log fails.
Proposed partial credit
50% recall; 25% precision; 25% image improvement.
R08.01.01.03-T18 Remove an off-axis source's sidelobes with wide-field imaging
Original instruction
In fixtures/wide_field.ms, a bright off-axis source 18' from phase center creates sidelobes. Image with w-projection (or awproject) and an outlier field on the bright source, choosing wprojplanes from inspection, and reduce the residual RMS around the target by at least 40% vs the naive image.
- Platforms
lin· Linuxmac· macOS- Applications
- CASA · CARTA
- Interfaces
term· Terminaldesk· Desktop GUI- GUI need · task setting
HY· Hybrid- GUI need · ordinary access
CL· CLI-sufficient- Interaction primitives
code· Code & commandsvis· Visual judgment- Work product
WP04· 3D/spatial model- Conditions
- None declared
- Proposed difficulty
- 4 / 5
Proposed verifier
Grader: outlier field defined at the bright source (within 2"); target-region RMS reduced >=40%; target flux within 3%.
Proposed partial credit
25% outlier/w-proj setup; 50% RMS reduction; 25% flux.
R08.01.01.03-T19 Combine 12 m and 7 m array data with consistent weights
Original instruction
Combine fixtures/twelve_m.ms and fixtures/seven_m.ms: run statwt on each, check weights in plotms (weight vs uvdist), concat, and image the extended source jointly. Report total recovered flux and the weight ratio in output/combine.json.
- Platforms
lin· Linuxmac· macOS- Applications
- CASA · CASA plotms
- Interfaces
term· Terminaldesk· Desktop GUI- GUI need · task setting
HY· Hybrid- GUI need · ordinary access
CL· CLI-sufficient- Interaction primitives
code· Code & commandsvis· Visual judgment- Work product
WP07· Simulation result- Conditions
- None declared
- Proposed difficulty
- 4 / 5
Proposed verifier
Grader: weight ratio within 10% of the expected value from system parameters; recovered flux within 5% of the input model; image beam consistent with combined data.
Proposed partial credit
30% statwt/weights; 20% concat; 50% recovered flux.
R08.01.01.03-T20 Report missing calibrator scans instead of inventing a calibration
Original instruction
fixtures/broken_track.ms lacks bandpass-calibrator scans in spw 3 and the flux calibrator has no model in the CASA catalog. Calibrate what can be calibrated; do not transfer solutions from other spws silently. List the blockers and affected data in output/issues.md.
- Platforms
lin· Linuxmac· macOS- Applications
- CASA
- Interfaces
term· Terminal- GUI need · task setting
HY· Hybrid- GUI need · ordinary access
CL· CLI-sufficient- Interaction primitives
code· Code & commands- Work product
WP12· Answer/decision- Conditions
clarify· Ask when unclear- Proposed difficulty
- 3 / 5
Proposed verifier
Grader: issues.md names both blockers with spw/field; spw 3 left uncalibrated (no applycal to spw 3); other spws calibrated correctly (amplitudes within 2%).
Proposed partial credit
40% blockers reported; 30% no silent spw transfer; 30% other spws calibrated.
Mapped research references
No benchmark reference is assigned to this class in the current mapping.