2005-09-24:
A new UMLTM Parsing Analysis of my honours thesis on rotational synthesis radioastronomy in MOST
using UML2.0TM port-based systems engineering in MagicDraw UMLTM !
In 1988 I was an honours student at the University of Sydney, School of Physics, studying
the Molonglo Observatory Synthesis Telescope (MOST).
within the Dept. Astrophysics. Back then - with the help of many members of that department - I modelled
the MOST signal-processing system after simple fashion in FORTRAN (as was then used),
In 2003/04 as a consultant to the Astrophysics Dept., Univ. of Sydney, I developed a database-driven component-tracking
and modelling system for the mechanical layer of the MOST under
model-driven development with Unified Modelling Language (UML)TM, using JavaTM technologies such as
Java 3DTM
and Java Data Objects (JDO)TM, and
MySQL(R) as the database:
I am now (as time permits) working towards a UML2.0TM model and simulation of the signal-processing
path of MOST - both sonified using the JSyn audio synthesis and animated using
Java 3DTM - using my (now somewhat out of date) honours thesis and some more
recent publications as the guiding model - all modelled in Unified Modelling Language (UML)TM under
model-driven development to make my MOST model sing and shine !
Thanks to Dr Anne Green (Director of MOST) for the opportunity to work on this MOST
component model and for access to the lovely old technical drawings of the Mills Cross.
Dedication
This MOST zone is dedicated to the late Michael Large, whose scientific, educational,
and personal skills are sorely missed. They don't build 'em like that anymore. He
explained the principle of rotational synthesis to me, and it was while he was
explaining it to me that he had the insight into the
wide-field techniques now used in MOST. That in turn taught me that to understand
things one does well to teach them to others, which principle I still embrace.
