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Software Development Metrics & Information Summary for C8 2006

The Plan of Record used for this cycle can be found at PlanOfRecordC82006.

Overview

8 SDD members worked 2038.1 hours in C6 2006 over 32 days (47% cycle commitments, 3% GBT operations support, 12% administration and internal improvements, and 38% 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.

overvieweffortC82006.jpg

Project Allocation

The cycle commitments were allocated over 7 major projects: Dynamic Scheduling, PTCS, Balancing, Spectrometer, Software Continuing Maintenance and Enhancements (CM&E), Preventive Maintenance, and Zpectrometer. In the chart below, "other" is used as a catch-all for those commitments which are not associated with a major project.

projecteffortC82006.jpg

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

Cycle Commitments

The cycle commitments for C8 consisted of 25 commitments. A summary of each major commitment is discussed later in its own section. Of the 25 commitments, 20 were met satisfactorily (of these 13 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. We have encountered further complications as well as communication issues between us and our stakeholders. Thus, we will carry all 5 MRs over to next cycle. We expect completion by the end of C1.

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 additional reliability and robustness issues were uncovered and addressed as part of this effort.

commitmentsoverviewC82006.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 ~390 person-hours of effort, of which ~247 were actually used. The discrepancy between allocated and actual effort is primarily due to the Astrid hang-up investigation which continued into this cycle unexpectedly and impromptu vacation days. 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. As a result of servo testing support, we have created a modification request entitled, "SCCU Servo Changes," which contains the results of the investigation as well as a proposed plan forward. This modification request will continue into the next cycle. We allocated ~24 person-hours of effort and expended ~33.

Upgrade PTCS Pointing Model Pre-Processing Software

The focus of this task is to upgrade 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.

We allocated ~178 person-hours of effort for this items and expended ~120. The discrepancy between allocated and actual effort is primarily due to the holiday schedule and impromptu vacation days.

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," continued into this cycle unexpectedly and was not officially allocated time at the C8 planning meeting. 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 expended ~151 person-hours on this effort.

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, blossomed into 5 separate efforts, which were continued over from last cycle. 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 ~51 person-hours of effort to complete this task and expended ~128 person-hours of effort. Because we have encountered further complications as well as communication issues between us and our stakeholders, we will carry all 5 MRs over for at least another cycle. We expect to release this changes in our next software release at the end of C1.

Zpectrometer Support

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

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 scheduled ~80 person-hours of effort for this task and expended ~85 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 ~25 person-hours of effort on this project but only expended ~7 as most of the writing modification request duties fell upon the project manager, Frank Ghigo.

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. At the beginning of the cycle, the aim of the project was 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 the information needed in order to integrate with PeopleSoft. We needed further information from the MIS department in order to be able to finish the charter and generate a series of MRs, which will describe the work needed. 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 ~20 person-hours of the ~103 allocated. However, we expect to make greater progress next cycle because we obtained the needed information at the end of C8. As a result of this new information, we have abandoned the imperitive to integrate with PeopleSoft and have offered a more manual alternative, which will eliminate the rekeying of data. We expect to start writing modifications requests next cycle.

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