BeppoSAX WFC.  stageII software, release 1.08				feb. 1998
  
    Some comments accompanying this release.
      
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general:
  .  some programs (cdi, dlc and iros) now conditionally have a parameter TAPEARCH
     (corresponding commandline switch is -@).
     this parameter specifies a  data archive identification string, the implementation is
     concrete, a specific oracle database structure is assumed, useful at SRON only.
     the actual inclusion of the code depends on compile time arguments (cf. .../configure).

calibration data:
  .

cdi:
  . fixed failure to handle 0 length attitude data files.
  . resolved conflict in simultaneous use of parameters DCLNMODE(-c)and WSBAR(-w).
      DCLNMODE= 0 - clean (set to 0) all detectorpixels under the supportstructure
        	    as well as those under the in-flight-calibrationsource containers (ifc) .
              = 1 - clean ifc only.
              = 2 - clean nor the ifc nor the supportstructure pixels.
      WSBAR   = 0 - do not filter events on the position values.
              =-1 - from the eventfile select events occuring in the pixels under 
	            the supportstructure.
              = 1 - from the eventfile select events NOT occuring in the pixels under
	      	    the supportstructure.
    use of WSBAR is more cpu intensive, all event coordinates are filtered.
    simultaneous use of these parameters is still not very usefull, the result however
    is more in line with what to expect.
      
  . new parameter FRAGMENT (int), commandline switch -o.
    FRAGMENT=1 : produces an outputfile for every inputfile, the eventfiles produced
    -o1          by the stage1-software comprise 1 orbit, so you get a detector image
    		 per orbit.
		 introduced to facilitate search for transients.
		    

dlc:
  .  NB. previous dlc[1.07] contains a serious bug. The internal buffer is flushed to
         disk after 62500 timebins, and it was NOT CLEARED thereafter.
	 Next bins are filled starting from previous, leftover, value.
	 This has been fixed.

    the dlc column output has been completedly parameterized.
    dlc's outputfile consists mainly of a FITS Binary table, with columns:
    
    time    can be in seconds from start of this lightcurve,
    rate_1  give the counts in the i-th specified energy band,
     rate_n give the counts in the i-th specified energy band,
    rateCs  the total counts in the compound source region,
    ratePh  sums counts for all 8 pinhole sources (the in-flight calibration sources).
    gti     an on/off column reflecting the gti-file status,
    tod     another on/off column reflecting the earth obscuration of the field of view's center.

    the names of the column can be changed, there are programs depending
    on specific name for the columns.
    
lcv:
  . the lcv column output has completedly parameterized.

iros:
  . in previous releases, the main iros result, the list of detected sources,
    stated two, different values for the error in the measured source intensity.
    one, named 'sigma', based on the total events used in the computation of the 
    flux and another value, named 'dflux', based on the least square fit procedure 
    performed on the source image and its computed point spread function.
    the first, 'poisson statistics', error value has been dropped, the weighting
    over the psf. often produced value we do not trust, it is a problem under
    investigation.
    for now, we use the fit-based error, ie. in the outputfile 'sigma' now is
    set to 'dflux'.
    the spectral parameters in the columns 'type ', 'nh' and 'index' are by no
    means determined, they are mere copies of the values from the used source catalog.
    
  . the extension 'WFC_Sourcelist', a FITS binary table in the iros outputfile,
    previously contained array-type column entries with a fixed number of 32 elements,
    if iros was run for just one energy band, 31 elements were set to zero.
    in this revision the binary table column arrys are dynamically allocated, they
    fit the number of energy-bands analysed.
    the 1.08 stage2-release will handle the old-format '.res' iros outputfiles,
    previous versions however fail on the new format.
    
  . experimental implementation of the non-linear detectorpixel boundaries in the
    simulation of the detector response.
    
  . iros uses an Xray-sourcecatalog to establish the validity of a potential detection,
    by locating the coordinates in the catalog. If the catalog has a source entry at this
    position (tolerance, in pixels, given by the parameter RADIUS (-r)), the potential 
    detection is accepted.
    running iros without some catalog (parameter IROS=1 or -m1) based verification 
    is tricky, once you have subtracted a 'false source', ie. some spurious noise signal,
    iros usually looses track and will not converge.
    the new parameter SIGFRAC (see below) may be of use here.
    
  . new parameters:
       parameter SIGFRAC (string), commandline switch -w,
       SIGFRAC= (f,a) : a potential, but yet unidentified, source is retained 
       -wf,a	        if on the first iros iteration, the significance is at least 
		        'f' percent of that of the most significant source detected
		        on subsequent loops, the significance must exceed an absolute
		         minimum value 'a'.
       parameter PSYAXIS (string), commandline switch -X,
       PSYAXIS= ra,dec,na: gives the satellite-pointing, 
       			   the satellite-WFC misaligment corrections will be applied to this
			   value.