NAPS
Quickstart guide to GMRT proposal submission
This guide is designed to quickly walk you step by step through the process of creating and submitting a GMRT proposal. It was last updated for Cycle 20.
All proposals are to be submitted by the PI only. The PI and all co-Is must be registered users of our system. Please also read the FAQ page on proposal submission.
Create logins for yourself and your co-Is if needed:
Anyone who was a PI/co-I on a proposal for Cycles 15 or a later cycle, is already a registered user of the NAPS system and should not attempt to register again. If you fall into this category, but have forgotten your user ID or password, you should click on the Forgot User ID/Password link on the NAPS site at https://naps.ncra.tifr.res.in.
If you are not already registered, you will need to create an account at the NAPS site. You will have to fill in at least the mandatory fields (marked with an asterisk). We encourage to fill in as many fields as possible. That will save you some typing later.
ALL your co-Is on the proposal will need to register separately with the system. Only after they have registered, can you add their names to your proposal. Your co-Is can view/print (but not modify) your draft proposal, as it develops.
Create a new proposal:
Once you register, you will be automatically logged in into the system. You will see two tabs one titled Home and the other titled Proposer. Select the Proposer tab. Then click on "Create Proposal". You are permitted to create proposals for the currently open cycle or for a DDT proposal. Once you create a proposal, you should see several tabs titled Synopsis, Observation details etc. You will be filling in each tab in turn, until you reach the submit tab. At any stage, if you wish to logout, please remember to click the "Save Draft" link at the bottom of the page to ensure that the fields you have typed in for the current tab are saved.
Synopsis tab:
In the table of proposers, your name should appear automatically. Since you are the PI, you are not permitted to delete your name. In the list of institutions, we have listed about two hundred institutions from where we have received proposals in the past. If your co-Is are not from one of these institutions, please add the institution to the list (you will need to come up with a suitable acronym/short form for the institution) and then add their name. Indicate whether you or any of your co-Is are Phd students. All Phd students in the proposers tab are automatically added to the Phd students table. Enter Phd title and likely year of completion. Save draft and then click on Observation Details tab at the top of the page.
Observation details tab:
Add sources to the list. For blind surveys or for short runs on large (>20) number of sources (commonly encountered in pulsar observations), please specify only the desired LST range(s) by adding only one source per LST range. You need to set the observation type for each source. Additional configuration options available to you, depend on what you choose in "observation type". Once you are done adding sources, please save draft and move on to the attachments tab.
Attachments tab:
Attach your scientific justification and upto 3 preprints/reprints. Please ensure that you are submitting all these in PDF format only. The PDF documents you attached are automatically parsed and validated. You are free to delete the scientific justification and attach a newer version, at any time before you submit the proposal. You are almost done. Move to the Submit tab.
Submit tab:
All the previous tabs are checked for missing mandatory fields. You cannot submit the proposal until these mandatory fields are filled in. Please jump to the relevant tabs and fill in any missing information. After this, please click the preview button. You should print out and also save a copy of the proposal PDF on local disk and make sure that all data have been entered correctly. Then hit submit. Note down the proposal number for future reference. You are done.
For feedback or support write to: proposal [at]ncra.tifr.res.in. For urgent enquiries, please call Yogesh +91-20-25719238 or Jayaram +91-20-25719248.
National Centre for Radio Astrophysics - Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Pune, India
https://www.ncra.tifr.res.in/
National Centre for Radio Astrophysics - Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Pune, India
Frequently asked questions on GMRT proposal submission.
Do read the Quickstart guide on proposal submission, if you have not done so already.
GSB configuration
You will need to choose between 5 different operating modes of the GSB (Default: 32 MHz BW, Non-polar). Upto two beams are available; for each you can specify if you would like to use the Incoherent Array or Phased Array mode.
Why do you insist on all co-Is being registered users of the system?
The NAPS system is designed to allow seamless, integrated access to all GMRT user related sub-systems such as the proposal submission system and the data archive. Each user will be able to access all public data as well as private data to which he/she has the right privileges. It is impossible to provide such access to all users without them being registered users of the system.
Please encourage prospective co-Is to register with the system as soon as possible.
If you need to add a co-I at the last minute and that co-I is unable to register directly, you may register him/her yourself by creating a separate account for them. Be sure to enter their email address correctly.
How do I change my NAPS password?
If you have forgotten your password, you will need to first reset it by clicking on the Forgot UserID/Password link on the NAPS login page.
To change your password, login to NAPS. Click on the Home -> Change Profile tabs. Select the Change Password checkbox near the top of the page and type in your new password (twice).
Feature XYZ is missing. Why can't you add it?
With our limited resources, we were focused on getting a usable system for Cycle 16. With a working system in place, we added some new features over the last 3 cycles to the NAPS system. These include:
1. Ability to create a new proposal by copying a proposal from any previous cycle for which you were PI or co-I. You will, of course, have to attach the scientific justification anew, but information that appears on the cover-sheet will be copied over.
2. Ability to reorder sources in your source list and to insert a source in between two existing sources.
3. LaTEx formatting support in the coversheet. There is a fallback if LaTeX compilation fails.
4. Ability to use NED/SIMBAD to resolve source names and obtain coordinates for sources in your source list.
5. Compute LST rise and set automatically for your source position. You will also be able to modify the auto-computed rise/set times.
6. For a particular source, availibility of a footprint image showing existing GMRT observations along with pertinent metadata on those observations.
Features that have been developed for the upgraded version of NAPS to be released in late 2018 are:
1. Ability to upload a source list rather than having to type it in by hand.
If we are missing a feature that is critical to you, please let us know at the email address listed at the bottom of this page.
I am observing in sub-array mode. How do I indicate that multiple observations are to be run concurrently?
The first column of the source list on the Observation Details tab is labeled group. By default, a separate group is created for every source that you enter. However, if two sources are to be observed concurrently, you need to edit their group name, and set the group name to be identical.
Once you do this, the total time request in the synopsis tab will correctly indicate the total "clock time" needed for your observations.
Cutting and pasting data to the source list does not work using the middle mouse button on Linux. It is painful to have to retype everything. What can I do?
If you have a text file with your source information, you can open it in gedit. Mark the text you want to copy, then immediately press Ctrl+c. This will copy text to buffer. Then click the corresponding field in the source list and press Ctrl+v. This will paste the text. Click OK. Proceed with copying and pasting the next field.
For feedback or support write to: proposal [at]ncra.tifr.res.in. For urgent enquiries, please call Yogesh +91-20-25719238 or Jayaram +91-20-25719248.
National Centre for Radio Astrophysics - Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Pune, India