When calculating the source structure internally a similar method to that used by DESPIKE is employed. The input data are placed into bins of size one quarter beamwidth. The median of each bin is calculated and this is treated as the source model (cf. REBIN_METHOD=MEDIAN in rebin).
Once the source model is available, it is removed from all of the input data. The source-removed data are then analysed with the sky emission derived from the mean of the signal across the array for all the sample times.
Since the sky signal is expected to vary on timescales of the
order of one second, an option is included for smoothing the
sky signal. This is especially useful for scan map data where
samples are taken at 7.8
Hz.
SURF -- SCUBA User Reduction Facility