Minutes of the GBT Commissioning Meeting 22 November 2002 Agenda 1. Actions arising from the GBT Review Meeting (update) -- Phil 2. PTCS project update -- Richard 3. Commissioning activities and plan -- Ron 4. Upcoming observing programs -- Carl 5. Spectral Baseline improvement program -- Rick, Roger, Dana 6. Spectrometer status -- Rich 7. Software development status -- Nicole 8. AIPS++ Single Dish status -- Joe M., Steve 9. Any other business 1. Actions arising from the GBT Review Meeting (update) Phil gave an update on actions arising from the GBT Review Meeting on 12 November 2002. As described last week, the meeting provided clear direction on priorities. We will declare only one, top priority in each major work area, and that priority will get first call in needed resources, which include both staff and telescope time. In the astronomical commissioning area, spectral baseline improvements are the top priority. Activities in this area are reported separately below. With this direction, we are making the explicit judgement that improvements in data quality are more important that overall completeness of capabilities. K-band commissioning is the second priority, and we believe that we can still achieve most of the desired objectives for this winter. Tests will focus on those capabilities needed for the majority of programs, and those needed for only a few programs may be deferred. For Q-band commissioning, we will still aim to get the receiver installed, characterize the receiver and telescope astronomical performance, and carry out some demonstration observing projects. We will probably not achieve routine Q-band observing capability this spring. The top priority project development area is the Precision Telescope Control System (PTCS), which is described in the next agenda item. To allow time for this and the baseline investigations, work on the 1 cm and 3 mm receiver projects will be put largely on hold for the next 3 months. The Beam Forming Array (BFA) project may be able to continue on an R&D level with CDL staff over the coming few months, but there will be little or any effort available from the GB staff until the baseline initiative concludes. A major BFA project assessment will be done in the spring. The final report from the GBT azimuth track review panel was received this week. The panel recommended a one-year initiative to model the wheel flex plate system, and to investigate means of strengthening the existing track in the splice joint area. In parallel, they recommend that design concepts for a new track be developed. The top priority of the Telescope Operations and Engineering group is to develop a plan to address these recommendations that we will evaluate during December. In the AIPS++ area, we are working to improve coordination between feature development and release in the M&C system and the corresponding data reduction requirements in AIPS++. Algorithm specification, documentation development, and testing will now be entirely under the aegis of the NAUG, as directed by Steve Myers. We are looking for expanded involvement in GBT activities of scientists from around the Observatory and expect to have some concrete proposals for this over the next few days. Given the priorities described above, wider participation from the Observatory staff is needed if the commissioning program and observer support requirements are to be met. Finally, we have undertaken a major overhaul of the way we plan our commissioning and project work. These changes have been discussed for some time, and are now required given the new priorities and management assignments. In brief, we are defining four planning stages: definition of the Long Range Plan; development of a 6 Month Forward Look that embodies the LRP; a 1 Month Plan with targets that do not change during that month; and a detailed weekly work schedule describing individual activities and the use of telescope time. These plans will be published on the web, and should allow for much better coordination among groups. To carry out this plan, John Ford has agreed to serve as Program Manager, and will be aided by a Program Management team consisting of most of the other Division Heads who serve as functional managers in their areas. Carl Bignell is the Program Scheduler and will perform the detailed scheduling in coordination with John. Ron Maddalena has been given full responsibility for organizing and managing the astronomical commissioning program. The Program Management Team met on Wednesday to define the 6 Month Forward Look, and will meet again on Monday to work on the December Monthly Plan. We hope to have this plan ready for release at the beginning of December. 2. PTCS Project Update Richard reported that there has been a major revamp of the PTCS project since the GBT review last week. Jim Condon has joined the PTCS project team, at approximately half-time. Richard's other GBT duties have been rearranged, so that he will also have approximately half of his time available to work on the project. We expect to draw heavily on other resources within Green Bank (specifically software development and electronics) as required, and this is being factored in to our site-wide planning processes. We will also make more focussed use of Fred Schwab, Lee King and Srikanth in CV as necessary. We are proposing to have a Conceptual Design Review, to be held some time after the 1st March next year. We are currently in the process of reviewing our task list and priorities to ensure that we can meet that goal. 3. Commissioning Activities and Plans Ron is working on the commissioning schedule for December. With scheduled observing programs, test time for baseline investigations, and maintenance time, the December schedule is already pretty busy. Remaining commissioning time will go to priority K-band commissioning tasks and for some training and program checkout sessions for staff scientists. Further details will be available following the December planning meeting to be held on Monday. 4. Upcoming Observing Programs Carl reported on the observing schedule for the next week. John Dickey is continuing his HI program over the weekend. Jay Lockman also has some 21 cm time next week. Radar observations of Titan are scheduled, and there is a VLBI run scheduled. Further tests of the pulsar spigot card are planned. PF1 has been removed and will not be reinstalled until the week after Thanksgiving. The Thanksgiving shutdown will run from 7 P.M. on Wednesday till 7 A.M. on Friday. 5. Spectral Baseline Program Rick reported that baseline tests were run on the S, C, and K-band receivers in the last few days. The stability of various IF components is being pursued. Two optical fiber drivers (microwave systems) showed abnormally large instabilities, and were removed for work in the lab. Two IF converter modules also shows gain instabilities and were removed for work. Roger noted that the general strategy of much of the current work is to isolate modules with abnormal gain behavior. The X-band receiver has been removed to the lab. Mike and Tom verified that the gain was coupled to cryo cycling. The LNAs will be replaced with the new-generation 3-13 GHz indium phosphide amplifiers, which the CDL expects to provide in about a week and a half. The new optical modulator that is hoped to reduce the 2.4 MHz standing wave problem has been received, and Steve has begun lab tests. Dana has set up some computer directories for storing test results from the baseline improvement program. 6. Spectrometer Status Rich sent the following report by email: The new paddle boards were completely installed Monday/Tuesday this week. These should significantly increase reliability in the short term; it will take a few months to see whether they provide a long-term improvement. Rich has been working with Ray and Dave Kaplan to continue debugging the pulsar spigot card. The data scrambling problem does seem to be a feature of the hardware and the data will have to be unscrambled in software. In discussion, Frank noted that he will be running tests next Wednesday to confirm that the LO blanking fix is working. 7. Software Status Richard reported for Nicole, who is working in CV today. Work for this development cycle is still on schedule; as expected, there is little specific to report this week, as the majority of the group are away at a meeting in Boston. The same can be expected next week. However, Toney is completing regression tests this week and we will have our first run complete by Dec 7 in preparation for the release of M&C v3.10 in December. Nicole and Joe Brandt have also been discussing the GBT M&C system with Tom Morgan of the EVLA project. 8. AIPS++ update Joe M. reported that the AIPS++ single dish effort is in a regrouping stage following recent staffing changes and a re-evaluation of priorities. The targets for the upcoming 6 month development cycle need to be checked and signed off on by GB management. There will be a series of Stable releases on a monthly basis during the 6 month cycle. The AIPS++ and GBT groups are working on improved coordination and in merging with the overall GBT plan. Steve reported that he has about 9 people signed up to do single dish testing and evaluation as part of the NAUG. 9. Other business Since next Friday is an Observatory holiday, the next Commissioning Meeting will be on 6 December. PRJ // 22 Nov 2002