The goal of a time estimator is to find the elapsed telescope time
(
) needed to obtain a given rms noise, while a sensitivity estimator
aims at finding the rms noise obtained when observing during
.
The time needed 1) to do calibrations (e.g. pointing, focus, skydip) and
2) to slew the telescope between on-source integrations have to be added to
to get the elapsed telescope time. The observing procedures to use
MAMBO are standardized. This enables to decompose the telescope time into a
succession of calibrations, scans and subscans, which will be close to the
actual observing setup. We nevertheless include an additional efficiency
factor (
), which will take into account the possibility of bad
weather and/or technical problems. The idea is that on average the PIs will
reach their scientific goals, including possible hazards.