Instrument simulators are becoming ever more useful for planning and analysing large astronomy survey data. In this paper we present a simulator for the Herschel-SPIRE photometer. We describe the models it uses and the form of the input and output data. The SPIRE photometer simulator is a software package which uses theoretical models, along with flight model test data, to perform numerical simulations of the output time-lines from the instrument in operation on board the Herschel space observatory. A description of the types of uses of the simulator are given, along with information on its past uses. These include example simulations performed in preparation for a high redshift galaxy survey, and a debris disc survey. These are presented as a demonstration of the sort of outputs the simulator is capable of producing.
@article{arxiv.0906.3307,
title = {SPS: A software simulator for the Herschel-SPIRE photometer},
author = {B. Sibthorpe and P. Chanial and M. Griffin},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0906.3307},
year = {2015}
}