AstroKAT: MeerKAT observation framework

The new scientific discoveries that will be made by MeerKAT are both exciting and unknown. However, it is precisely the unknown that carries the most risk, and requires scientific software development strategies to help mitigate these risks. Additionally, MeerKAT, like other large telescopes, is a complex instrument that entered a phase of parallel science-observation/engineering-development soon after initial commissioning. This adds to the burden of the observational software development, requiring not only scientific observations, but also engineering support. All of which must be achieved in a robust implementation that can be rapidly updated with minimal programming, remain maintainable and evolve seamlessly without interrupting the telescope science operations. Through an evolutionary process, starting with the KAT-7 prototype, modular software libraries have been developed for MeerKAT, making it easy to implement the higher level AstroKAT observation framework to accommodate the MeerKAT operational needs. This modular implementation enabled AstroKAT to support both science and engineering observations transparently, by extending the operational code base to adapt functionality depending on the system-level libraries it finds available. The result of this is a single, configurable, software implementation that can be used all the way from the observation planning phase up to executing observation scripts on the MeerKAT telescope live system.