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Software Development Metrics & Information Summary for C5 2007

1 July 2007 through 15 August 2007

The Plan of Record used for this cycle can be found at PlanOfRecordC52007.

Overview

9 SDD members worked ~2417 hours in C5 2007 over 32 days (6% division administration and planning, 59% cycle commitments, 2% preventive maintenance, 1% GBT operations and user support, 9% overhead, and 23% excused absences). Operational and User Support was minimal this cycle (1%) due to the GBT azimuth track shutdown.

overvieweffortC52007.jpg

Project Allocation

The cycle commitments were allocated over 10 major projects: Dynamic Scheduling, PTCS, Business Office System, Spectrometer, Software Continuing Maintenance and Enhancements (CM&E), e2e, Future Pulsar Backend, Zpectrometer/Ka Receiver, Mustang, and RFI. In the chart below, "other" is used as a catch-all for those cycle commitments which are not associated with a major project.

projecteffortC52007.jpg

The projects are further broken down into the individual commitments in the next section.

Cycle Commitments

The cycle commitments for C5 consisted of 45 commitments. A summary of each major commitment is discussed later in its own section. Of the 45 commitments, 42 were met satisfactorily (of these 34 were part of larger efforts which will continue into future cycles). 3 were not completed as expected and continued over into the next cycle. The following commitments were not completed as expected: Implement PFM5 Revised Pointing/Focus Model, Port Holography Manager to Linux, and Complete Pointing Processing Description Memo. The first item is currently undergoing sponsor testing and we expect sponsor sign-off early next cycle. The second item can be completed after sponsor acceptance of the first item.

commitmentsoverviewC52007.jpg

Operational and User Support

The items listed below pertain to time spent supporting GBT operation. These tasks usually involve helping users, fixing/troubleshooting system problems, and fixing/troubleshooting lab test environment problems. Note: Effort estimates reflect total time elapsed, i.e. how long did it take to fix the problem start to finish - not the sum total of each person's time. Operational and User Support was minimal this cycle due to the GBT azimuth track shutdown.

Items:

Key:

Commitment Highlights

Evolve Dynamic Scheduling Proposal

Information on the Dynamic Scheduling project can be found at the Dynamic Scheduling Project Page and Dynamic Scheduling Web Home. The effect of weather conditions, both wind and opacity, on high frequency astronomy is well known. Currently, the GBT is using a fairly basic dynamic scheduling system which neither allow for rapid changes in the weather nor for long spells of good or bad weather. To maximize our use of good weather, we need to implement a true dynamic scheduling system on the telescope. The design and implementation of such a system is the goal of this project. This cycle, the Dynamic Scheduling Project team spent most of their time developing project planning materials for the upcoming proof of concept tests.

This task was allocated ~133 person-hours of effort, but expended only ~53. This cycle the effort slowed down due to the Ka-band receiver and Mustang preparations for high frequency season. This task will be continued into next cycle and throughout FY08.

Business Office System

The creation of an NRAO-wide reservation system is aimed at consolidating the disparate systems used in Green Bank and Socorro for visitor accommodations and support. The name of the system has been changed to the BusinessOfficeSystem because the project now involves more than just reservations.

This cycle, we continued implementation of five Modification Requests which capture all of the changes necessary to deliver a viable Business Office System for both the Socorro and Green Bank Business Offices. We will deploy the final system on October 1, 2007. There will be a code freeze for deployment on August 31. We expect sponsor signatures on the various MRs to be in place by the code freeze. Most of the effort next cycle will be devoted to the mechanics of deployment.

We allocated ~92 person-hours of effort for this task and expended ~173. Much of the overrun was due to extensive support of sponsor testing.

Implement PFM5 revised Pointing/Focus Model

This Modification Request details the work to be done to incorporate a new pointing and focusing model in the antenna manager. The changes related to this work will be released for tests on or before August 1st, 2007.

We allocated ~85 of person-hours for this effort and expended ~94 person-hours this cycle. This item is complete pending sponsor approval. We expect sponsor approval early next cycle.

Port Holography Manager to Linux

The holography backend was originally deployed years ago on a VxWorks system with an MCB interface. The system was limited to 200 ms dumps due to the combination of the VxWorks OS and the MCB interface. We need the backend to dump much faster in order to properly map the GBT's panels. A new host platform and operating system is required (Linux), and a new interface to the data stream and the command stream will be created. No new manager parameters or sampler values will be needed, that is, the external interface to the M&C system will remain unchanged, except for the volume of data recorded, and the legal command values for integration time.

We allocated ~255 of person-hours for this effort and expended ~248 person-hours this cycle. We expected to have this item completed this cycle, but there are some unfinished tasks left to be done. Therefore, this item will continue into the next cycle as part of the PTCS project.

Complete GBT Spectrometer Cross-Polarization Documentation

The GBT Spectrometer records correlation data for both auto-correlation (correlations between the same sampler) and cross-correlations (correlations between different samplers). Only half the correlation is produced (positive lags). The correlations are transformed from the lag (time) domain to the frequency domain. The treatment is correct for the auto-correlation case, but incorrect for the cross-correlation case. Cross-correlation is also referred to as cross-polarization because the two samplers come from the two polarizations of the same feed and IF (e.g. X and Y or R and L).

We allocated ~26 person-hours of effort to complete this task and expended ~31 person-hours of effort. This task was continued from last cycle and is finally complete.

Data Analysis Planning

The goal of this activity is to evaluate the current effectiveness of the GBT data reduction package, GBTIDL, identify its current deficiencies, and to plan for the future of GBT data reduction. We expect this effort to continue into the coming cycles and evolve into an effort to implement the recommendations which sprout from the analysis. We allocated ~38 person-hours of effort for this task and expended ~46. This item did not receive much resource allocation as the Ka/Zpectrometer project work took precedence.

RFI Known Sources IDL Application

This applcation is designed to create a visual display of the known RFI sources in the RFI database. Specific features include displaying the sources graphed along a frequency axis as bars, the width of which designate the occupied bandwidth; each source is color coded based on its mitigation status; entry boxes allow the user to specify a frequency at which to display any known sources of RFI.

We are providing a low level of support for this effort and utilized an REU student for the project. We expended ~76 person-hours of effort on this task this cycle.

Mustang

Mustang is currently controlled and read out using NASA's freely available, java-based Instrument Remote Control (IRC) system. This system has served admirably during early testing and commissioning of the instrument, but for long-term operations we would like to replace it with software written in-house. The primary reason for this is that, generally, IRC duplicates the functionality of the Ygor monitor and control system. The maintenance and upkeep of this separate monitor and control system entails significant work, which we can greatly reduce with an up-front effort to port the specific DAQ and control capabilities to our M&C system.

Work began in earnest this cycle on creating an Ygor Manager for the Mustang receiver. We allocated ~576 person-hours of effort this cycle and only used ~300. Of the 276 person-hour discrepancy, ~8% went to the RFI application, ~15% went into general work-related overhead, ~17% went to the Business Office System, and ~50% went into unexpected excused absence.

Ka Receiver Rework + Zpectrometer

Software changes for the Ka receiver software and Zpectrometer support spanned 12 Modification Requests and tasks this cycle. We allocated ~408 person-hours of effort this cycle and only used ~220. The primary reason for the discrepancy is because many of the Modification Requests for the work were not completed in time for implementation this cycle as the details of the Ka receiver changes were greatly dependent on ongoing lab testing. Other factors included some unexpected excused leave and general work-related overhead.

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