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A&A 411, L19-L23 (2003)
DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361:20031403
Letter
The INTEGRAL Mass Model - TIMM
C. Ferguson1, E. J. Barlow1, A. J. Bird1, A. J. Dean1, A. B. Hill1, S. E. Shaw1, J. B. Stephen2, S. Sturner3, 4, T. V. Tikkanen1, G. Weidenspointner3, 4, 5 and D. R. Willis11 Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Southampton, Southampton, SO17 1BJ, UK
2 IASF/CNR, via Piero Gobetti 101, 40129 Bologna, Italy
3 NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, LHEA, Code 661, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA
4 Universities Space Research Association, 7501 Forbes Blvd. #206, Seabrook, MD 20706, USA
5 Centre d'Étude Spatiale des Rayonnements, 9 avenue Colonel Roche, 31028 Toulouse Cedex 4, France
(Received 14 July 2003 / Accepted 11 September 2003)
Abstract
The INTEGRAL Mass Model (TIMM) was started in 1995 and
aimed to create a detailed geometrical model of the whole INTEGRAL
satellite on computer. In parallel, a comprehensive Monte Carlo
simulation code (called GGOD) has been developed. The mass model
and the Monte Carlo code together enable the in-flight operation of
INTEGRAL to be simulated at the individual event level. Thus TIMM
can be used to provide an independent evaluation of the performance
of the individual instruments, to study the interference and
complementarity between instruments, to generate test data for
software development, and as a powerful tool for post-launch
diagnosis. In this paper TIMM is briefly reviewed, some examples
from ground calibration are presented, and preliminary comparison
to flight data is shown. The future use of TIMM to flat field
flight data is also briefly discussed.
Key words:
-ray astronomy --
instrument simulation
Offprint request: C. Ferguson, cf@astro.soton.ac.uk
© ESO 2003