BoA: a versatile software for bolometer data reduction

Abstract

Together with the development of the Large APEX Bolometer Camera (LABOCA) for the Atacama Pathfinder Experiment (APEX), a new data reduction package has been written. This software naturally interfaces with the telescope control system, and provides all functionalities for the reduction, analysis and visualization of bolometer data. It is used at APEX for real time processing of observations performed with LABOCA and other bolometer arrays, providing feedback to the observer. Written in an easy-to-script language, BoA is also used offline to reduce APEX continuum data. In this paper, the general structure of this software is presented, and its online and offline capabilities are described.