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GBT Operations & Commissioning Meeting

18 January 2008

GB137 and by video-con from CV-Conf

AGENDA

• Operations
  • Scheduling Status -- Carl
  • Observing News -- Ron/Toney
    • January 3 - 10
    • January 10 - 17
  • Commissioning Plans -- Ron/D.J.
  • GBT Telescope Operations -- Bob
  • Mechanical Division Operations -- Dennis
  • Microwave Electronics Operations -- Steve
  • Digital Electronics Operations -- Randy
  • RFI Group Operations -- Carla
  • Software Operations -- Amy
  • Computing and Network Operations -- Chris
  • Business Services -- Mike
  • 43m Operations -- Glen
• Project and Development Work
  • Dynamic Scheduling -- Karen
  • MUSTANG -- Brian
  • PTCS program -- Marty, John
  • CICADA program -- John
  • K-band Focal Plane Array -- Steve
  • Other Project Notes
• Any other Business

• ---++ Upcoming Activities -- Carl

Operations

Scheduling Status -- Carl

Last Week
=========

Observations for proposals
   BB240     , GBT08A-043, GBT07C-020, 
   GBT07A-034, GBT07C-043, GBT05B-011, 
   GBT07C-068, GBT05A-027, GBT05C-047, 
   GBT07C-016, GBT07A-029, GBT07C-038, 
   GBT05C-048, GBT07A-009, GBT05A-029, 
   GBT08A-073, BB242     , GBT07A-051

Completed proposals
   GBT07C-038

Next Week
=========
Observations scheduled for **
  BB240      [ P ] Geoff Bower
       RIPL: Radio Interferometric PLanet Search         
  GBT08A-043 [  B] Jeremy Darling
       An OH Megamaser Survey at z~1                     
  GBT07C-051 [ P ] Dana Balser
       Pilot Project to Survey Galaxies for Young        
       Nuclear Star Clusters                             
  GBT07C-084 [F  ] Laura Kasian
       GBT Timing of a Young Highly Relativistic Binary  
       Pulsar                                            
  GBT05B-030 [ P ] Fabian Walter
       The Molecular Gas Content in z~6 Quasars: Probing 
       the End of Cosmic Reionization                    
  GBT07C-020 [F B] Fernando Camilo
       Studying the magnetar XTE J1810-197               
  GBT07C-054 [ P ] David Meier
       A K_a and Q band Spectral line Survey of          
       Molecular Gas at z = 0.685                        
  GBT07A-034 [ P ] Jim Braatz
       The Megamaser Cosmology Project: A Survey for H2O 
       Masers in SDSS and 2MRS AGNs                      
  GBT07C-043 [F B] Tom Bania
       The Electron Temperature Gradient in the Galactic 
       Disk                                              
  GBT08A-014 [  B] Jay Lockman
       On the Trail of Smith's Cloud                     
  GBT06C-026 [ P ] Clive Dickinson
       The spinning dust grains of LDN1622               
  GBT07A-029 [  B] Dick Crutcher
       A Definitive Test of Star Formation Theory        
  GBT07C-016 [ P ] Nissim Kanekar
       Using NH3 lines to probe changes in fundamental   
       constants                                         
  GBT05A-027 [ P ] Andrew Blain
       Detecting CO(1-0) in representative high-redshift 
       dusty galaxies using  giant gravitational lenses  
  GBT05C-048 [ P ] Jim Higdon
       Molecular Gas In Optically Invisible              
       Hyper-Luminous Infrared Galaxies                  
  GBT06C-017 [ P ] Miles Blanton
       Mapping the Galactic Center Lobe                  
  GBT07A-009 [F B] D.J. Pisano
       HI Emission from Gravitationally Lensed Galaxies  
       at z~0.5                                          
  GBT07A-071 [ P ] Nissim Kanekar
       A search for molecular oxygen at intermediate     
       redshift                                          
  GBT08A-072 [  B] Helene Courtois
       Bulk motions of filaments in the Local Universe   
  GBT08A-073 [  B] Viswesh Marthi
       A deep search for associated HI 21cm absorption   
       in red quasars                                    
  GBT07A-050 [ P ] Claudia Cyganowski
       Kinematics of Ionized and Molecular Gas           
       Associated with IR Dust Bubbles                   
  BB242      [ P ] Jim Braatz
       The Megamaser Cosmology Project                   
  GBT07C-060 [  B] Fernando Camilo
       GLAST timing at GBT: six key radio-faint pulsars  
  GBT07A-051 [F B] Mike Hollis
       A GBT Legacy Survey of Prebiotic Molecules Toward 
       SgrB2(N-LMH) and TMC-1                            
** Scheduled as F-ixed, P-rimary, B-ackup

Contact Information for 01/31/2008 - 02/14/2008
=======================================
Proposal   PI                 Bands Email [NRAO contact]    
---------- ------------------ ----- --------------------
GBT08A-020 Jason Hessels      3     jhessels@science.uva.nl [Scott Ransom]
BR125      Tim Robishaw       L     robishaw@astro.berkeley.edu []
BB240      Geoff Bower        X     gbower@astro.berkeley.edu []
GBT08A-076 Nissim Kanekar     3     nkanekar@nrao.edu [Paul Ruffle]
GBT08A-054 Esteban Araya      K     earaya@nrao.edu [D.J. Pisano]
GBT07C-084 Laura Kasian       LS    kasian@physics.ubc.ca [Scott Ransom]
GBT08A-065 Don Campbell       S     campbell@astro.cornell.edu [Frank Ghigo]
GBT07C-040 Mark Birkinshaw    B     mark.birkinshaw@bristol.ac.uk [Brian Mason]
GBT08A-066 John Bally         K     John.Bally@colorado.edu [Larry Morgan]
GBT08A-077 Fernando Camilo    S     fernando@astro.columbia.edu [Scott Ransom]
GBT08A-011 Maura McLaughlin   8     maura.mclaughlin@mail.wvu.edu [Scott Ransom]
GBT07A-087 Paul Demorest      L     pdemores@nrao.edu [Scott Ransom]
GBT08A-056 Simon Dicker       P     simon.dicker@gmail.com [Brian Mason]
GBT08A-034 Bob Rood           X     rtr@virginia.edu [Dana Balser]
GBT07C-020 Fernando Camilo    S     fernando@astro.columbia.edu [Scott Ransom]
GBT06B-042 Nissim Kanekar     8     nkanekar@nrao.edu [Larry Morgan]
GBT07A-066 Jim Braatz         K     jbraatz@nrao.edu [Jim Braatz]
GBT08A-057 Jennifer Donovan   L     jen@astro.columbia.edu [Jules Harnett]
GBT07A-089 Fernando Camilo    8     fernando@astro.columbia.edu [Scott Ransom]
GBT08A-003 Steve Curran       3     sjc@phys.unsw.edu.au [Carl Bignell]
GBT07B-034 Robert Ferdman     L     ferdman@phas.ubc.ca [Scott Ransom]
GBT08A-014 Jay Lockman        L     jlockman@nrao.edu [Jay Lockman]
GBT07C-033 Jason Hessels      8     jhessels@science.uva.nl [Scott Ransom]
GBT05C-043 Nissim Kanekar     Q     nkanekar@nrao.edu [Dana Balser]
GBT07A-029 Dick Crutcher      L     crutcher@uiuc.edu [Toney Minter]
GBT07B-029 Michael Kramer     8     mkramer@jb.man.ac.uk [Scott Ransom]
BG170      Gabriele Giovannin QX    ggiovann@ira.inaf.it []
GBT08A-072 Helene Courtois    L     h.courtois@ipnl.in2p3.fr [Rick Fisher]
GBT07A-050 Claudia Cyganowski K     ccyganow@astro.wisc.edu [Toney Minter]
GBT07A-094 Scott Ransom       S     sransom@nrao.edu [Scott Ransom]
GBT07C-082 James Aguirre      3     jaguirre@nrao.edu [Brian Mason]
GBT07C-060 Fernando Camilo    S     fernando@astro.columbia.edu [Scott Ransom]
GBT07A-040 Larry Weintraub    B     lcw@astro.caltech.edu [Brian Mason]
GBT07A-051 Mike Hollis        3468A jan.m.hollis@nasa.gov [Larry Morgan]

Scheduled hours [backup]
========================
Category/Month-> January   February  
    Astronomy ~  631 [248] 611 [447] 
  Maintenance ~   45 [051]   4 [102] 
  Test & Comm ~   69 [008]  63 [047] 
  Un-assigned ~    0        18       

Proposal Checkouts #[hrs]*
=========================
Awaiting checkout - 0[0]
  Active checkout - 0[0]
          On Hold - 0[0]
         Schedule - 114[3621]
        Completed - 537[6566]
* All but completed queue applies to GBT only proposals


Current backlog of Reg & RRS proposals [hours prior to 07C*] = 870
   [2005:126(10), 2006:274(12), 2007:470(22)]
   Backlog includes 367 hrs of monitoring projects
                    181 hrs of vlbi projects
Total time to discharge [hours] = 5602
   Includes 525 hours++ of monitoring (not Large or Spec) after trimester 07C
            2397 hours of Regular & RRS proposals 
            2847 hours of Large proposals 
            358 hours of VLBI proposals 
* Includes projects that are on hold for trimester 07C
++ Time is counted in other break down as well. 07C

Observing News -- Ron/Toney

January 3 - 10

We support 14 projects observing in 31 sessions including one VLBI run. There were two commissioning runs taking up 16 hours and one maintenance day taking 8.5 hours. Of the 143.5 hours of astromonical observations, 8.8 hours of time was lost which amounts to 6.1% of the time. The causes of lost time were:

• MM Converter - loose connection: 1.95 hrs
• Weather
  • T < 0 degrees: 1.67 hrs
  • Wind: 0.76 hrs
• Network switch: 2.08 hrs
• Active surface power supplies (2 instances): 0.25 hrs plus an entire VLBI run
• astrid
  • malformed fits files: 0.03 hrs
  • observer could not submit scripts: 0.17 hrs
  • not showing pointing data properly: 1.05 hrs
• Observer error
  • VNC connection: 0.6 hrs
  • astrid error message not understood: 0.08 hrs
• Spectral Processor hung in stopping/aborting: 0.05 hrs

We spent 8 hours commissioning the C-band receiver (for unknown reasons to me). [This turned out to be an error in the operators log and the commissioning time was for Mustang.]

The VLBI run had an Active Surface power supply that had failed for the whole VLBI run. We will have to wait to see if this caused a loss of data from the GBT.

January 10 - 17

We supported 19 projects in 34 observing sessions including tow VLBI runs. There were three maintenance days taking 24 hours. There was one commissioning session for Mustang, lasting 8 hours. There was one receiver checkout for PF2 lasting two hours. There was a total of 134 hours of astronomical observations with a lost time of 2.74 hours or 2.0% of the time. The causes of lost time were:

• Weather - rain while observing at X and Ka: 0.71 hours
• Spectral Process hung in aborting: 0.35 hours
• Software Manager died:
  • Antenna Manager: 0.27 hours
  • Spectral Processor Manager: 0.35 hours
• Antenna - turret failed to lock: 0.17 hours
• Observer error:
  • problem starting VNC session: 0.25 hours
  • astrid not showing CCB plots - observer forgot setup script: 0.26 hours
• Astrid:
  • not responding (3 occurences): 0.51 hours
  • could not see scheduling blocks: 0.07 hours
• ACS bad setup: 0.04 hours

There have been many instances over the last two weeks of VNC problems or (mainly) astrid problems were the operators have run scripts for observers to help reduce lost time. This has greatly reduced the amount of lost time from these problems.

Commissioning Plans -- Ron/D.J.

MUSTANG tests went well last week. We hope to install Zpectrometer at the end of January.

• Dec 8 - week of Jan 15 : Mustang tests -- dynamically scheduled, A weather, nighttime.
• end of January: Ku-band removed, Zpectrometer installed
• Feb 3-13: SDD software tests for Feb 13 release
• late March, early April: remove Zpectrometer and MUSTANG, install Ku and C band.

GBT Telescope Operations -- Bob

Mechanical Division Operations -- Dennis

• See http://wiki.gb.nrao.edu/bin/view/Mechanical/WebHome for shop work schedule - updated 1/15/08

Microwave Electronics Operations -- Steve

• Testing of modules from the Arecibo radar back end revealed one bad amplifier and one weak amplifier. Contact with Don Campbell at Cornell for decision on fixing here or shipping to them. They have a near-Earth asteroid project tentative for Jan. 28th.

Digital Electronics Operations -- Randy

Jason and J.D. repaired one "H-Drive" unit which re-activated the 8 actuators mentioned in last week's report.

RFI Group Operations -- Carla

Software Operations -- Amy

• Operational Support:
  • Minor BOS and GFM support
• PlanOfRecordC12008
• I found an error in my effort metric calculations for last cycle for the Mustang project; I forgot to include the time spent on general Mustang support. I have corrected the error and updated the MetricsC82007.
• Next software release planned for the week of February 11, 2008 during a maintenance day.
• Our new software engineer, Mark Whitehead, is expected to start on January 28 and work on Mustang.

Computing and Network Operations -- Chris

Business Services -- Mike

43m Operations -- Glen

• Normal Spacecraft tracking, except for Thursday, when canceled due to weather
• Working on a Newsletter article with MIT/LL
• Phil Ericson's equipment was mentioned in the National Research Council's Solar Distributed Arrays book. Has a picture of 43m.

Project and Development Work

Dynamic Scheduling -- Karen

• Accomplishments:
  • Completing retrofit work initiated with Eric last week: most of the unit tests are running again as of Thursday morning and versions of both nell (GBT scheduling and project web application) and antioch (generic telescope scheduling module used by nell and to be used by Dana's simulations) in our integration directories (/home/dss).
  • New software code has already taught us lessons about scheduling and has shown us to be getting some low efficiency projects onto the schedule in rare cases. This will be investigated
  • Software release #3 today
  • Learned about new weather predictions put out hourly by weather service for 2.6 sq km regions; will be contacting charleston weather bureau to learn more about this (http://www.erh.noaa.gov/forecast/gridpoint.php?site=rlx )
  • Larry states that he had a total of 1 question about DSS at the AAS meeting last week; I do not know how many brochures were handed out; No panicked emails about DSS have been received
  • Regular biweekly project meetings resumed after a holiday break
  • Summer vacation calendar for team is in place, being filled out
• Risks:
  • Reduced software effort for first 6 weeks of Q2; will result in less ease-of-use for June tests
  • All desired user docs for June tests are still not complete, but are rapidly getting there
• Upcoming
  • Next cycle will give results needed to compare sdd software with Dana's simulation code
  • Feb 1 software cycle will work on bringing old potential carryover proposals into the database for testing

MUSTANG -- Brian

• Items/actions completed:
  • Updated project milestones
  • Approximately 100 GB of data has been collected from the various observation runs

• Decisions made:
  • Ongoing tactical/design decisions on YGOR development.
  • Construct a wiki page to consolidate the observation notes and data links

• Items/actions in progress:
  • Tower reliability has improved since the insulation was added
  • analysis of commissioning data
  • Ongoing tests of support software, 2.6 kernel, and modified drivers on “Spider”
  • Drafting of housekeeping document/spec (Simon)
  • MR approvals

• Near-term activities (next ~2 weeks):
  • Complete phase one YGOR development
  • Create plan for observations to be attempted in February.

• Items awaiting decisions by others:
  • [080104] Approvals for some MRs

PTCS program -- Marty, John

• Items/actions completed:
  • Updated project milestones
  • Continued ongoing design meetings for servo replacement project

• Decisions made:
  • Postpone steering meeting due to weather. Attempting to reschedule 23-Jan.

• Items/actions in progress:
  • Agenda and materials for sub-project prioritization meeting

• Near-term activities (next ~2 weeks):
  • Refine Servo Project hardware and software requirements
  • Establish appropriate meeting schedule for PTCS sub-project participants
  • Update documentation/wikis (>2 wks)

• Items awaiting decisions by others:
  • [080104] Approvals for some MRs

CICADA program -- John

• Work continues on design for PFB/FFT. Simulations completed this week.
• John and Glen will begin work on the 10 Gb Ethernet interface on the BEE next week.
• iBOB #3 and #4 installed into chassis and getting ready for use. #3 is running and available for testing software.
• John, Paul, and Ron met this week to flesh out software design for controller and data taking software. John will work on the lowest layers that talk directly to the hardware, while Ron works on higher level code. Paul will write the data collection and processing software.

K-band Focal Plane Array -- Steve

• Feed testing delayed one week(weather related)
• Successfully testing of HEMT amplifier bias circuits.
• CDR members being contacted, no date yet selected.

Other Project Notes

Any other Business

Servo shut-down at 0degF

-- RichardPrestage - 17 Jan 2008