[vsnet-grb 6275] Bug fix for GCN Test Notices for INTEGRAL

[Bacodine]

TO   All GCN sites getting INTEGRAL Test notices
RE   Bug fix for Test Notices from INTEGRAL

INTRO:
This message is only pertinant to GCN Sites who thought
they should be getting the Test_notice versions of the INTEGRAL notices.

BUG FOUND IN THE FILTERING:
I found a bug in the filtering code that caused the Test INTEGRAL notices
to be blocked by the Time_Delay filter.  Because the INTEGRAL Test notices
are issued (by the IBAS team) with Dates that are in the past,
the Time_Delay filter would find these delta_times (now_time - test_time)
to be too large and filter those out from being sent to the site.
Typically, sites have their Time_Delay value set to 999.9 hr (=41 days),
which is plenty open for real burst notice traffic.  But for these
INTEGRAL Test notices, that had dates of 23/May/05, then they tripped
the Time_Delay filter.  (To be technically correct, IBAS issues the Test
Noties with a date of 23/May/02, but I/GCN arbitrarily change that date
to be in the current year.  This advancement is done for other reasons
of handling time within GCN.  But, of course, even that change is not enough
to eliminate the Time_Delay filter interaction.)

THE FIX:
It makes no sense to apply the Time_Delay filter to Test notices
that are hardwired with dates in the past, so I have changed the code
to ignore the Time_Delay test for only the Test INTEGRAL notices.
(Note that all the other mission-specific Test Notices have
current date values, so they were unaffected by this bug.  And they
are also unaffected by the fix.)

ONLY AFFECTED TEST INTEGRAL NOTICES:
This bug affected the distribution of ONLY the Test INTEGRAL notices.
It did NOT affect the real INTEGRAL notices, nor any other type of notices
(because they all have a date which is real-time current).

YOU WILL START TO RECEIVE INTEGRAL TEST NOTICES:
So if your site has INTEGRAL Test notices enabled, you will start seeing
them again.  (For sites that had their Time_Delay filter value at 999.9 hrs,
there would have been a 41 day window when you would have gotten these,
but now you will get them all year round.)

IF YOU WANT THEM DISBALED:
If you find that these Test INTEGRAL Notices are not suitable for your operation,
please request that they be disabled for your site.  I will be only too happy
to change your configuration.  (And as always, any changes to any part
of a site's configuration are always welcomed.)  My apologes for this mistake.

Sincerely,
Scott


Scott Barthelmy                      NASA-GSFC, Code 661, Greenbelt, MD  20771
PHONE:  301-286-3106                 (office)
FAX:    301-286-1684                 (1st choice,  -1682 2nd choice)
EMAIL:  scott at lheamail.gsfc.nasa.gov
PAGER:  3013463733 at mmode.com
WEB:    http://gcn.gsfc.nasa.gov/gcn


/////////////////////// your current configuration ///////////////////////////


Site_name: VSNET
Lon,Lat=  135.75   35.00
Distribution_method: EMAIL  Attachment_format: NONE
Address: vsnet-grb at kusastro.kyoto-u.ac.jp   
Filter:  ALL
Error_limit=   360.100 [deg, diameter]
Delta_T_limit= 999.900 [hr]
Swift_Trigger_ID_filter:   Disabled
Sources & Notice Types/Subtypes:
    RXTE-PCA_Alert_wont:     Enabled
    RXTE-PCA_Alert_will:     Enabled
    RXTE-PCA_nosaw:          Enabled
    RXTE-PCA_saw:            Enabled
    RXTE-ASM:                Enabled
    IPN_POS:                 Enabled
    ALEXIS:                  Enabled
    RXTE-ASM_TRANS:          Enabled
    HETE_S/C_ALERT:          Enabled
    HETE_S/C_UPDATE:         Enabled
    HETE_S/C_LAST:           Enabled
    HETE_GND_ANA:            Enabled
    HETE_Test_notices:       Disabled
    Test_type2_notices:      Disabled
    INTEGRAL_Test_notices:   Disabled
    SWIFT_Test_notices:      Disabled
    INTEGRAL_POINTDIR:       Disabled
    INTEGRAL_SPIACS:         Enabled
    INTEGRAL_WAKEUP:         Enabled
    INTEGRAL_REFINED:        Enabled
    INTEGRAL_OFFLINE:        Enabled
    SWIFT_BAT_GRB_ALERT:     enabled
    SWIFT_BAT_GRB_POS:       enabled
    SWIFT_BAT_GRB_POS_NACK:  enabled
    SWIFT_BAT_GRB_LIGHTCURVE:enabled
    SWIFT_FOM_2OBS:          enabled
    SWIFT_SC_2SLEW:          enabled
    SWIFT_XRT_POS:           enabled
    SWIFT_XRT_POS_NACK:      enabled
    SWIFT_XRT_SPECTRUM:      enabled
    SWIFT_XRT_IMAGE:         enabled
    SWIFT_XRT_LIGHTCURVE:    enabled
    SWIFT_UVOT_IMAGE:        enabled
    SWIFT_UVOT_SRCLIST:      enabled
    SWIFT_UVOT_POS:          enabled
    SWIFT_BAT_GRB_LC_PROC:   enabled
    SWIFT_XRT_SPECTRUM_PROC: enabled
    SWIFT_XRT_IMAGE_PROC:    enabled
    SWIFT_UVOT_IMAGE_PROC:   enabled
    SWIFT_UVOT_SRCLIST_PROC: enabled
    SWIFT_FULL_DATA_INIT:    enabled
    SWIFT_FULL_DATA_UPDATE:  enabled
    SWIFT_POINTDIR:          enabled
    SWIFT_BAT_TRANS:         Disabled


When requesting changes to your configuration,
it helps if you refer to your site_name.