GBT Operations & Commissioning Meeting
AGENDA
Activities list
We supported 18 projects in 43 observing sessions. The number of sessions this week was much higher than has been typical. The telescope was also scheduled for 11 hrs of maintenance, 6.8 hrs of servo tests, and 1 hr of receiver checkouts.
Lost time amounted to 7.5 hrs, about 5% of the time scheduled for astronomy. Half of the lost time was due to winds.
- Winds (8 instances) : 3.3 hrs
- RFI (2 instances) : 0.7 hrs
- GFM/LPC's (5 instances) : 0.7 hrs
- 500 MHz, Analog Filter Rack Lock : 0.5 hrs
- Astrid lockups (4 instances) : 0.4 hrs
- Spectral Processor (3 instances) : 0.4 hrs
- Network/VNC (2 instances -- user's computers) : 0.4 hrs
- Active Surface : 0.3 hrs
- Turret Lock : 0.3 hrs
- Spectrometer (2 instances) : 0.2 hrs
- Wrong Cable Wrap : 0.2 hrs
A larger number of small problems this week. For example, the number of Astrid and GFM problems was higher than has been typical.
In other news, Paul Ruffle has joined the support group.
Last Week
=========
Observations for proposals
GBT06C-051, GBT06B-042, GBT06C-032,
GBT06B-034, GBT06C-012, GBT05C-023,
GBT06A-015, GBT06C-013, GBT06C-003,
GBT06C-058, GBT06B-037, GBT06C-026,
GBT06C-048, GBT06C-016, GBT06C-017,
GBT06C-018, GBT06B-019, GBT06C-008
Completed proposals
GBT06B-042, GBT06C-032
Next Week
=========
Observations scheduled for **
GBT07A-074 [ B] Jack Hewitt
Follow-Up of Radio Recomb Lines Associated with
Supernova Remnants
GBT06B-032 [ B] Steve Begin
Timing of the Binary and Millisecond Pulsars in
M28
GBT06B-033 [ B] Jason Hessels
Completing a 350-MHz Survey of the Galactic Plane
for Pulsars and Transients
GBT06B-044 [ B] Robert Ferdman
Timing Binary and Millisecond Pulsars from the
Parkes Multibeam Survey
GBT06B-034 [ B] Jacqueline van Gorkom
Galaxy evolution in groups: HI properties of 80
2dfGRS-selected groups
GBT07A-036 [F B] Yi-nan Chin
Confirmation of Interstellar Benzonitrile
(C6H5CN) -- A Key Tracer of Benzene
GBT06C-012 [ B] Steve Curran
A Wide-Band Search of the Source of the
Obscuration of Reddened Quasars
GBT07A-015 [ P ] Jeff Mangum
Formaldehyde Densitometry of External Galaxies
GBT07A-104 [ B] Peter Martin
The Spider's Web from Ursa Major to Polaris
GBT06C-035 [ P ] Jim Braatz
The Megamaser Cosmology Project: A Survey for H2O
Maser Disks in SDSS AGNs
GBT06A-049 [ P ] Tony Readhead
Definitive Detection of Excess Arcminute Scale
CMB Anisotropies
GBT06C-058 [ P ] Gary Fuller
A Centimeter Spectral Survey of the SLS Sources
GBT06C-003 [ P ] Tony Remijan
Additional Transitions of Interstellar Methyl
Isocyanate (CH3NCO)
GBT06C-026 [ PB] Clive Dickinson
The spinning dust grains of LDN1622
GBT06C-038 [ B] Jay Lockman
GBT Mapping of HI Clouds in the Disk-Halo
Interface
GBT05C-026 [ P ] Tom Devlin
Polarization of 30 GHz emission from
extra-galactic sources
GBT06C-049 [ B] Karen Masters
Mapping Matter in the Nearby Universe with 2MASS
GBT06C-016 [ PB] Fernando Camilo
Studying the magnetar XTE J1810-197
GBT04A-027 [ P ] Brian Mason
Determining the High Frequency Properties of mJy
radio sources
GBT06B-018 [ B] Michael Kramer
Timing and General Relativity in the Double
Pulsar System
GBT06C-017 [FP ] Miles Blanton
Mapping the Galactic Center Lobe
GBT01A-005 [ P ] Barry Turner
A High-resolution Spectral Survey Of Tmc-1 At
Q-band
** Scheduled as F-ixed, P-rimary, B-ackup
Contact Information for 01/25/2007 - 02/08/2007
=======================================
Proposal PI Bands Email [NRAO contact]
---------- ------------------ ----- --------------------
GBT07A-074 Jack Hewitt X j-hewitt@northwestern.edu [Ron Maddalena]
GBT07A-020 Scott Schnee K schnee@astro.caltech.edu [Jim Braatz]
GBT07A-042 Andrea Tarchi K a.tarchi@ira.inaf.it [Jim Braatz]
GBT06A-053 Scott Ransom S sransom@nrao.edu [Scott Ransom]
GBT06C-051 Lincoln Greenhill K greenhill@cfa.harvard.edu [Jim Braatz]
GBT07A-098 Fernando Camilo S fernando@astro.columbia.edu [Scott Ransom]
GBT06A-054 Paul Demorest 8 demorest@astron.berkeley.edu [Scott Ransom]
BG169 Lincoln Greenhill K greenhill@cfa.harvard.edu []
GBT06C-020 Rachel Friesen K rfriesen@uvastro.phys.uvic.ca [Toney Minter]
GBT07A-001 Alberto Bolatto A bolatto@astro.berkeley.edu [Frank Ghigo]
GBT05C-043 Nissim Kanekar Q nkanekar@nrao.edu [Dana Balser]
GBT07A-102 Lincoln Greenhill Q greenhill@cfa.harvard.edu [Toney Minter]
GBT07A-003 Vincent Fish S vfish@nrao.edu [Frank Ghigo]
GBT06B-034 Jacqueline van Gor L jvangork@astro.columbia.edu [Frank Ghigo]
GBT07A-015 Jeff Mangum CU jmangum@nrao.edu [Frank Ghigo]
GBT06B-024 Jeff Mangum K jmangum@nrao.edu [Frank Ghigo]
GBT06C-012 Steve Curran A sjc@phys.unsw.edu.au [Carl Bignell]
BB229 Andreas Brunthaler K brunthaler@mpifr-bonn.mpg.de []
GBT02A-054 Ingrid Stairs L istairs@astro.ubc.ca [Scott Ransom]
GBT06C-035 Jim Braatz K jbraatz@nrao.edu [Jim Braatz]
GBT07A-104 Peter Martin L pgmartin@cita.utoronto.ca [Jay Lockman]
GBT06A-004 Bill Reach K reach@ipac.caltech.edu [Toney Minter]
GBT06B-036 Jim Jackson K jackson@bu.edu [Dana Balser]
GBT06B-015 Larry Morgan K lmorgan@nrao.edu [Larry Morgan]
GBT06C-048 Nissim Kanekar 8 nkanekar@nrao.edu [Toney Minter]
BG162 Jonathon Granot X granot@slac.stanford.edu []
GBT06C-037 Charlie Lada K clada@cfa.harvard.edu [Frank Ghigo]
GBT06C-004 Tony Remijan KQ aremijan@nrao.edu [Larry Morgan]
GBT06C-049 Karen Masters L kmasters@cfa.harvard.edu [Larry Morgan]
GBT05C-037 Nissim Kanekar A nkanekar@nrao.edu [Glen Langston]
GBT06C-038 Jay Lockman L jlockman@nrao.edu [Jay Lockman]
GBT06C-016 Fernando Camilo S fernando@astro.columbia.edu [Scott Ransom]
GBT06C-028 Brenda Matthews K brenda.matthews@nrc-cnrc.gc.ca [Ron Maddalena]
GBT07A-009 D.J. Pisano A dpisano@nrao.edu [D.J. Pisano]
GBT05C-027 Jeff Mangum QU jmangum@nrao.edu [Dana Balser]
GBT06C-017 Miles Blanton U mcb39@physics.unc.edu [Frank Ghigo]
GBT03C-028 Fabian Walter Q walter@mpia.de [Dana Balser]
Scheduled hours [backup]
========================
Category/Month-> January
Astronomy ~ 625 [329]
Maintenance ~ 57 [038]
Test & Comm ~ 62 [005]
Un-assigned ~ 4
Proposal Checkouts
==================
Awaiting checkout - 26
Active checkout - 2
On Hold - 16
Schedule - 74
Completed - 590
Current backlog [hours prior to 06C*] = 754
[2001:2(1), 2002:0(4), 2003:19(1), 2004:75(21), 2005:468(22), 2006:190(13)]
Total time to discharge [hours] = 3645
Includes 1037 hours of monitoring after trimester 06C
* Includes projects that are on hold for trimester 06C
Last weekend we had a hardware failure in the LO Reference Receiver module in the Analog Filter rack. A spare module was installed. No other operational problems were reported.
Design work continues for the C-band integrated receiver package. The PCB
purchase order was placed, and the housing design peer review started.
Work on the high dynamic range power detectors for the Converter Modules and an expanded IF system for the Lab Spectrometer continues.
Cryogenic and engineering support for the MLLN group continued this week; the upgraded receiver was installed on the 43m Wednesday and system tests are being done.
PF2 installation is scheduled next week, and receiver preparation is underway.
Digital Group Status 06-JAN-07 THRU 12-JAN-07
***Operations, Problem Summary***
Lab Spectrometer
Roger reported that the Lab Spectrometer was issuing sporadic "data interrupt" errors. It turns out that the problem was related to an intermittent failure of a function generator used to provide a local 1PPS signal. This problem was corrected by simply replacing the function generator.
Active Surface Maintenance...
One LVDT module was repaired which re-activated a total of 16 actuators on IIOP 5.
***Development***
Caltech Continuum Backend (CCB)...
- Construction of CCB #3 is now complete and the unit has passed all preliminary bench tests, including our benchmark "demo_client". Further lab tests required to characterize stand-alone noise performance will be coordinated with the Scientific Staff next week.
- CCB #1 has undergone repairs and is once again fully functional.
- Plans to construct a 4th unit as a testbed for future troubleshooting efforts have been changed. Instead, we intend to test and tag all remaining spare boards and assemblies and place them on the shelf as spares. These efforts should be completed by 19-JAN-07.
- We've ordered a new enclosure fan rated at 50% higher capacity in order to explore improved cooling. Although this isn't a critical issue, it's felt that this may lead to improved reliability over the long haul. These tests should be completed by 26-JAN-07; at which point a decision will be made whether to replace the fans on all three units.
Spectrometer LTA Re-design...
Design of the new FPGA Adapter PCB is nearly finished. Samples of the new PCB pins were received yesterday and will be evaluated today. Assuming that this evaluation pans out, the design files will be finalized early next week.
ALMA...
On-going efforts are continuing fairly smoothly on the ALMA front.
MISCELLANEOUS...
Troubleshooting of the Science Center's fire alarm system has progressed smoothly. In fact, the system has been enabled during normal business hours every day this week with no false alarms being reported. We intend to continue these efforts at least through next week...
***Plans***
- Complete testing of CCB #3...
- Continue to evaluate improved cooling of CCB's
- Complete design of new LTA FPGA adapter circuit board...
- Continue ALMA efforts as required...
- Continue troubleshooting of Science Center's fire alarm system...
Randy
We are in week two of the first development cycle of 2007 which can be viewed at PlanOfRecordC12007. We are scheduled to release mid-February 2007.
Operational and user support was relatively light this week and included:
- An observer's GFM stopped plotting data, but data looked fine in GBTIDL. Got user back up by running separate instance of gfm, and adviced restarting astrid when convenient.
- Active Surface aborting due to illegal values. Reset Zernike model and errors reset.
Modification Requests:
- MRs ready for integration/regression testing:
- Change scaling for the Autocorrelation Spectra in the Spectrometer (ModificationRequest6C706)
- Done (except for documentation changes and release notes). Now in integration. GFM appears to work fine with these changes - note that because GFM displays total power values that these raw numbers are 2x larger than they were before these changes, as expected. Tim Robishaw has verified that this is correct.
- GFM/Turtle Upgrade - Remove use of LPCs.conf file (ModificationRequest4C706)
- Ready for release. Waiting on the Astrid hang-up MR.
- Investigate & Fix Cause of Astrid Hang-ups (ModificationRequest9C706)
- Tested the new version on the telescope and found that we can still cause hangups from interaction of turtle and gfm dialogs, no detection of LPC/LFC transfer errors and switching control during a scheduling block affects LPC/LFC transfer capability. Work continues with the simulator.
- MRs ready for sponsor testing:
- Modify SDFITS and aips++ to correctly process Spectrometer cross-polarization data (ModificationRequest2C706)
- Tim Robishaw reports that the fix isn't correct. We are waiting on feedback as to what might be wrong.
- Change GO fits file so that RA is in degrees (ModificationRequest15C705)
- Code checked in. Must update documentation next.
- MRs under development
- SDFits Changes - Add target position and HIGH_CAL keywords to sdfits and other requested sdfits changes (ModificationRequest3C706)
- Minor update to the MR after reflection on an e-mail from Robishaw (change in how the first 1024-lags will be used in x-corr case - checked but not fixed, just flagged if bad). We spent a lot of time tracking down historical COORDSYS usages - TRGTLONG and TRGTLAT now done.
- GBTIDL Changes necessary in support of related sdfits tool changes (ModificationRequest8C706)
- Develop New Pointing Pre-Processing Application (ModificationRequest5C706)
- Completed the focus processing portion of application. Testing new additions to curve fitting code, to return mean error information required by PTCS Pointing Models in MATLAB.
- MRs under CCC review:
- MRs being written:
- Extract Sampler Information from Log Files & Create Antenna Characterization Database (ModificationRequest3C107)
- We met with ToddHunter and FrankGhigo to discuss requirements and create a draft MR. Based upon those discussions, we are currently investigating candidate designs.
- Configuration Tool: Modify Default IF Target Levels (ModificationRequest1C107)
- We would like FrankGhigo to update his signature as writer of the MR and then Melinda will sign as checker and Jim as sponsor.
- Configuration Tool: Default Value Changes (ModificationRequest4C806)
- We would like ToneyMinter to sign as writer of the MR and then Melinda will sign as checker and Jim as sponsor.
- Other Activities:
- Dynamic Scheduling - Mark and Paul will review the usefulness of the current requirements object model. Amy and Melinda will begin work on a requirements document. Additionally, DanaBalser and Jim Condon are expanding draft versions of two memos: "Weather Characterization and Stringency for the GBT" and "Scientific Requirements for Dynamic Scheduling". We sent an email to gbstaff soliciting comments on the Dynamic Scheduling Overview. Please read it and send your comments to KarenONeil and AmyShelton before the end of the month.
- Zpectrometer Support - None this week.
- Servo Test Support & Analysis - Conducted sponsor tests with the telescope. We are still working with JohnFord on other telescope control related issues such as investigation of glitches in the commanded velocity command.
- Complete Pointing Processing Description Memo - No progress this week.
PTCS -- John, Todd, et al
- Engineering
- Servo work this week included testing friction compensation. Todd reports that in spite of some command glitches, the friction compensation appears to work, at least for daisy scans and a sawtooth that Todd developed. We need to investigate the command glitches that are in the command stream and determine if they are a problem. I also think that we need to find the optimal friction compensation value. I think our values we used in our tests were too high. See the following MR for plots and such: http://wiki.gb.nrao.edu/bin/view/Software/ModificationRequest1C806
- Had meetings this week with Kim Constantikes on LRF development, Inclinometer data processing, and wind modeling instrument requirements.
- Astronomy
- Had a pointing run scheduled for last night. Weather and el motors did not fully cooperate, but some progress was made in collecting data to sort out the hysteresis effect.
- Todd and Kim met to discuss the new pointing models.
MIT/LL 43m Project -- Glen
The Dewar was successfully installed and they are completing calibration. We will run astronomical tests this weekend and start tracking next week. Exact tracking times are not yet decided.
Revision r1.8 - 12 Jan 2007 - 14:59 GMT - JohnFord
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