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Software Development Metrics & Information Summary for C7 2006

The Plan of Record used for this cycle can be found at PlanOfRecordC72006.

Overview

8 SDD members worked 2024.2 hours in C6 2006 over 33 days (65% cycle commitments, 8% GBT operations support, 20% administration and internal improvements, and 7% vacation/sick/holiday). Note that the 1 FTE spent on management of the division is not included in the previous numbers nor the subsequent numbers.

overvieweffortC72006.jpg

Project Allocation

The cycle commitments were allocated over 8 major projects: Dynamic Scheduling, PTCS, Penn Array, Balancing, Spectrometer, Software Continuing Maintenance and Enhancements (CM&E), e2e, and Zpectrometer. In the chart below, "other" is used as a catch-all for those commitments which are not associated with a major project.

projecteffortC72006.jpg

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

Cycle Commitments

The cycle commitments for C7 consisted of 25 commitments. A summary of each commitment is discussed later in its own section. Of the 25 commitments, 18 were met satisfactorily (of these 14 were part of a larger effort which will continue into future cycles). 7 were not completed as expected and continued over into the next cycle.

Of the commitments that were not met, 5 were part of the cross-polarization/cross-correlation work being done on the GBT Spectrometer. These 5 MRs will be continued into next cycle. Originally, this effort consisted of a single ModificationRequest (MR). However after further investigation, we found that we had underestimated the impact of adding the new features and the amount of effort involved. Thus, we will carry all 5 MRs over for at least another cycle.

The commitment on the C7 POR entitled, "Investigate & Fix Cause of Astrid Hang-ups," is continued into the next cycle. This was primarily due to the nature of the problem, i.e. the hang-ups are hard to reproduce, but also due to the fact that other reliability and robustness issues were uncovered and addressed as part of this effort.

commitmentsoverviewC72006.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.

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 task was allocated ~440 person-hours of effort, of which ~385 were actually used. This task will be continued into next cycle and throughout 2007.

GBT Antenna Servo Test Support/Analysis & Answer Questions Related to GBT Track Model

This task is in support of the servo testing and analysis activities of the PTCS group for C7 as well as work on the GBT track model. The effort required to address the item was grossly overestimated. We allocated ~72 person-hours of effort and expended only ~32!

Learn PTCS

To support the revitalization of PTCS, we have allocated the project our newest employee, RonGrider. Because he is new to the NRAO, this task was simply to become familiar with the PTCS project and with the GBT. Two specific items have emerged as a result of this activity. The first involves upgrading the PTCS Pointing Model pre-processing software, currently written in Glish. This item has been captured within a modification request and will continue into next cycle. The second involves resolving where apparent offset value discrepancies are arising between the Glish pre-processing software and a Python application which provides similar functionality. This item is resolved.

We allocated ~213 person-hours of effort for these two sub-items and expended ~210.

Resolve Astrid Hangups and Upgrade Communication of LPCs/LFCs in GFM

A common complaint among our user community was with the reliability and robustness of our observer's interface, Astrid. Our users reported that Astrid sessions would "lock up" and require that Astrid and/or the observation execution process to be restarted on a regular basis. Additionally, interactions between our real-time data display and observation execution process that set the Local Pointing Corrections (LPCs) and Local Focus Corrections (LFCs) were failing at an unacceptably frequent rate. Two ModificationRequests were created to address these two issues.

The commitment on the C7 POR entitled, "Investigate & Fix Cause of Astrid Hang-ups," is continued into the next cycle. This was primarily due to the nature of the problem, i.e. the hang-ups are hard to reproduce, but also due to the fact that other reliability and robustness issues were uncovered and addressed as part of this effort. The second commitment entitled, "GFM/Turtle Upgrade - Remove use of LPCs.conf file" was completed but not released as it was directly tied to the Astrid hang-up ModificationRequest. We expect to release both commitments in our next software release - v7.1.

We allocated ~321 person-hours of effort for these two items and expended ~304.

GBT Spectrometer Cross-Polarization

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).

What originally started as a single ModificationRequest, has blossomed into 5 separate efforts. These efforts involve many of our software systems, including: GBTIDL, AIPS++, SDFITS, and GFM (our real-time data display). Each is aimed at a separate portion of getting cross-correlation mode in the GBT Spectrometer working properly and offerred as one of our standard observing modes. We allocated ~113 person-hours of effort for this task and expended ~113 person-hours of effort. Because we underestimated the impact of adding the new features (i.e. a single ModificationRequest versus 5 separate requests) and the amount of effort involved, we will carry all 5 MRs over for at least another cycle.

Penn Array Receiver (PAR)

Details on the Penn Array Receiver can be found on its project page. The focus of our work this cycle was to support the commissioning of the PAR on the GBT. We grossly overestimated the effort required for the support task. We allocated ~50 person-hours of effort and expended ~16.

Zpectrometer Support

A description of the Zpectrometer Project can be found at ZpectProject. Zpectrometer software development can be tracked at the ZpectSoftwareDevelopment status page.

We completed a ModificationRequest (MR) which specifies the changes needed to SDFITS and GBTIDL for Zpectrometer data reduction when the Zpectrometer is being commissioned. The writing and implementation of this MR began last cycle. Most of the work involved this cycle involved ironing out kinks in the communications between U. Maryland code and our Manager as well enhancements made as a direct result of engineering/commissioning work.

We slightly overestimated and scheduled ~98 person-hours of effort for this task but only expended ~84 person-hours.

Balancing Project

This project aims to critically examine the requirements of IF balancing for the GBT and to evaluate the difficiencies our our current approach to balancing. The goal for this cycle was for the software division to characterize the system and the effectiveness of the prototype balancing API. Then, we were to provide the scientific staff with a gap analysis and recommendations for ways forward. As a result of these activities, the scientific staff decided to do IF system balancing at the API level (i.e. not at the control system level). Next cycle, we expect to capture the work needed to evolve the balancing API in 6 separate Modification Requests. We allocated ~65 person-hours of effort on this project and expended ~71.

Business Office Systems (formerly: Create NRAO-wide reservation system)

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

Green Bank currently uses a system called CRAINS and Socorro currently uses a system called BARS. This project is currently in stage 3. A history of stages can be found at: ReservationsStageOne, ReservationsStageTwo, and ReservationsStageThree. The current aim of the project is to seamlessly transfer reservation information and basic business transactions performed by the respective business offices into PeopleSoft where fiscal can access the information. Most of the work this cycle focused on updating the project charter with this new information. We need further information from the MIS department in order to be able to finish the charter and to generate a series of MRs, which will describe the work needed to achieve scenario 3. This information has been hard to obtain and slowed down by end of fiscal year obligations on the part of MIS. As a result we only expended ~59 person-hours of the ~143 allocated.

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