Scantable Redesign Proposal

Summary

The current Scantable schema is biased towards rpfits style data (or the structure of atnf/PKSIO/PKSrecord.h). Using the PKSreader and the current Scantable format a lot of metadata from the MeasurementSets get lost. This proposal tries to rectify this without as major impact on the current use of the Scantable.

The proposal in summary:

• Keep Scantable as the asap internal format
• extend the schema to include all relevant (meta)data in the MeasurementSet (MS)
• implement a direct MS->Scantable Filler avoiding (meta)data loss by going through the PKSreader
• use MS as the persistent asap storage container
  • implement a direct Scantable->MS Writer avoiding (meta)data loss by going through the PKSwriter

optional performance/usability changes:

• implement a direct ASDM->Scantable Filler (performance)
• implement an upgrade task for the old Scantable to the new Scantable schema ( not required for standard as Scantable is not assumed to be persistent)

Relevant Documentation

• attach spreadsheet for impact on all asap functions/methods/tasks
• attach image of Scantable schema