Weekly Report for Week Ending May 12, 1998



Project Control Meeting Agenda    Facilities    Detector    Project Office    System Engineering    Administrative    Hanford Observatory    Past Weekly Reports

The Project Control Meeting for Monday  May 18, 1998 will be a Cost and Schedule Review
 
(Meeting time: 10:00 am Pacific Time)

Special Items:


Special Announcements: The Hanford Laser Safety Plan is now approved and posted at

http://www.ligo.caltech.edu/~sanders/Hanford_Operational_Procedures/Hanford_Laser_Safety_Plan_m980042_A_W.PDF

All members of LIGO who will work in laser areas should read this document and make sure that the required eye exam and training are carried out before initiating laser work at Hanford.


WBS 1.1    Facilities Group



 
From: "gerry" <gerry@ligo.caltech.edu>
Date: Thu, 14 May 1998 12:52:51 -0500

WBS 1.1.1 Vacuum Equipment(Worden)
 
    1. Gate Valves:
    The PSI monthly meeting was held in Livingston last week.
    The main topic was the GNB valve activities. In summary
    the current plan is:
    a. All valves will be inspected for bellows damage and
    proper O-ring retention in the gate.
    b. All valves will have mechanical stops installed to
    limit bellows travel in the event of limit switch failure or
    mis-adjustment.
    c. Bellows and gates will be replaced as needed.
    d. Bellows will be leak checked both on a fixture and once
    reinstalled and cycled in the vacuum system.
    NOTE that these activities require beam tube venting.
    Schedule:
    This week GNB is working on several valves which have yet to ship.
    They are also preparing fixtures and parts for the field work.
    Week of May 18 - work begins in WA at the X-end station,
    with crews moving to the Y arm end station the following week.
    Week of  May 26 - Livingston - temporary fix to allow CBI
    access through the beam tube without over compressing bellows.
    Week of June 1 - All Y-2 valves complete.
    July 30 - All WA valves complete - LVEA complete.
    August - PSI commissioning and vacuum tests in X-arm mid and end.

 
    2. Installation activities:(Kyle Ryan)

    X-arm end station:

    Scheduled to be the first location of the
    GNB 44" gate valve lead screw bellows re-
    trofit.

    X-arm mid station:

    Also, waiting for GNB repair/retrofit.

    Corner Station:

    PSI is in the "soak" phase of the bake out of
    the left beam manifold. The ramp down phase
    will begin tomorrow night.  The diagonal sect-
    ion is scheduled to be baked out next.

    Y-arm mid station:

    Waiting for GNB repair/retrofit

    Y-arm end station:

    PSI is performing the LN2 consumption test.
    Basically, this involves monitoring the rate
    at which LN2 is used during normal (i.e. 80K
    pump and dewer boil off) operating conditions.

3. Livingston Installation (Allen Sibley)
 

PSI has set the 80k pump and the BSC in the X end station. Alignment is
complete and has been checked by LIGO. PSI will continue to set equipment
in the X end until complete, before moving to the y end.

A LN2 supplier, for the 80k pumps, has been selected and a contract will be
issued this week. This will insure that we will have LN2 in time for PSI's
required date.
 

1.1.2  Beam Tube (L. Jones)

     a. Tube section fabrication status, Magnolia Beach shop
     (running totals):
                Leak     Leak
             Formed  Tested  Failures Cleaned    Shipped

     as of 5/5:    400     394     0   393    346
     as of 5/12:   400    400    0  400   364
 
     All tube sections have now been cleaned, and FTIR results
     have been evaluated; see chart below for comparison with
     Big Pasco results. Generally, every tenth tube section
     cleaned was tested. The criterion for acceptance was 1.0
     (x 1E-4 @ Z=2950); when this was exceeded, adjoining
     untested tubes in the cleaning schedule were then tested
     and the average reading was checked to make sure that
     the cleaning process was not deteriorating: all rechecks
     passed.
 
     Site    No. Tubes  No. Tubes    Peak   Avg.
          Tested    FTIR >1.0  FTIR FTIR
 
     MB        60       7       1.63  0.64
     BP        62       6       1.69* 0.59*
 
     *Does not include the 4.01 reading on tube section S001,
     which required a special cleaning process to produce
     acceptable results.
 
     The comparison shows that FTIR results from cleaning at
     Magnolia Beach were comparable with the FTIR results at
     Big Pasco.
 
         b. Tube section installation status (Livingston site):
         (running totals):
                      Inside Leak   Leak Final
           Welded Repairs Tested Failures Aligned

         as of 5/5*:    343     20    342      0      0
         as of 5/12*:   360    21   359     0     0
 
         * Includes gate valves as the finish "tube sections"'
         Installation will be complete when weld, leak test,
         and alignment all reach 404.
 
        Turbopumping of the X arm continues, with the beam tube in
        the E-7 torr range. An initial accumulation was made on 5/12;
        the related global calibration accumulation will be delayed
        until next week due to complications. Accumulation results
        have not yet been analyzed.
 
        BDF air flow performance since 5/5:
        Particulates (0.5u)/cu ft: 83 (max., any day)
        Dew Point, degrees F: 4-8
        Temperature, degrees F: 55-64
 
        Of the 358 tube sections installed, 325 have now been covered
        with enclosure sections.
 
    c. Planned meetings:
 
                6/2/98: monthly project status review, Livingston site
 
                7/1/98: Completion Review, Livingston site (performed
                early due to manpower availability)
 

1.1.3 & 1.1.4 BTE and Civil Construction (Fred Asiri)

>>Issues:
    Hanford:
    1.Water System Integration: All necessary documents are in
      Caltech. Request for Quote will be issued by Ed Jasnow, shortly.
      An announcement requesting potential bidders to advise Caltech
      of their interest for the receiving the water integration package
      will be posted in the local newspaper at the Hanford area starting
      May 18, 1998.

    2.Final Vane Axial Fan Testing: The vane actuator for fan
      #2 has been re-installed. The final field test documents were
      received from the contractor.

    Livingston:
    1.HVAC Chilled Water Coils/Fins Condensation: Water is
      blowing off horizontal fins past collection pans and on the floor.
          Coils were installed incorrectly (vertical instead of
horizontal).
      General contractor has formally been informed and has been asked to
          reorient the coils per the manufacturer'sinstallation instruction

      and its Mechanical subcontractor'sresponsibility to correct the
          problem. Bernhard Mechanical (subcontractor) has started to
fix-up
      the problem.

    2.Vane Axial Fan Testing: Contractor has forwarded the fan test
      data to Parsons. P. MacCalden of Parsons is reviewing the fan
      test data. Up-on completion of his review, he will release the
      final report to Caltech.
 

Washington Construction (Otto Matherny)
 
   Levernier
     Consolidated Punch List

      Total punch list items remaining- 13
      Total Corrected-                 5
      Total Signed off-                5
 
   OTHER ITEMS
 
      Advertised three procurement actions in the local newspaper

       1) Completing and automating the water system

       2) Mechanical Maintenance contract

       3) Staging Building

Louisiana Construction (Gerry Stapfer)

    Weather: There has been no rain at Livingston for over two weeks!!

HENSEL PHELPS
--Working on outstanding notice to comply and punch out items.
BERNHARD MECHANICAL CONTRACTORS
--completed installing HVAC and balancing and testing in the storage
building.
AVALL0NE ARCHITECTURAL SPECIALTIES
--replacing break metal and fixing hardware at the front entrance to the
OSB.

WOODROW  WILSON
--Installing B unit doors and hardware along Arm 2.
--Grouting , patching bug holes and caulking around the installed BTE's
along Arm 1.
COASTAL BRIDGE
--Preparing service road subgrade and priming for chip and seal along Arm
2.
-- A total of 2,371 BTE's have been cast, 2,200 have been approved and
1,848 have been installed as of to day
LANEHART
--Painting doors installed on the BTE's on Arm 2.

Open Issues:

     Resolve power supply problems with Demco and Trane chiller shutdowns.
Resolve condensation and drainage problems with HVAC Air Coils.
Resolve outstanding Change Estimates
    1.  Duct work cleaning
    2.  Cleaning of Perforated Liners in AHU's
    3.   Reserve supply FM 200-Owner canceled work

Monitor completion of  As-Built  dwgs., O & M  manuals turnover,
outstanding compliance and completion matrix  items.

Water System Upgrade-Submittals are in, work commencing soon.

LA. State Fire Marshall compliance list.

Discharge Permit-Application complete, submitting to LA DEQ
 


WBS 1.2, 1.3    Detector Group


Date: Thu, 14 May 1998 18:37:44 -0400
From: David Shoemaker <dhs@ligo.mit.edu>

----------------------------------------------------
DETECTOR GROUP -- Whitcomb/Shoemaker

(WBS 1.2, 1.3)
----------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------
Implementation Group  -- Mark Coles/Fred Raab
-----------------------------------------------
 
40 Meter Status:

Venting of the 40 M to realign the east end following the most recent
earthquake was completed this week. Upon pumpdown, it was observed that the
light in the interferometer had decreased by about 75%. We vented again and
determined that once again the Pockels cell was the culprit. It exhibits
severe scattering. Strangely, the witness Pockels cell which is located
adjacent within the vacuum space is OK. Differences between the two are that
one of the PC's sees light, the other is dark. One sees RF, the other does
not. We measured the temperature rise when the RF was turned on, it's only a
few degrees, so unlikely to be a contributing factor. Also, we kept a dry
nitrogen purge flowing over the active PC, while the witness PC was
unprotected. Suggestions regarding what's going on are welcome.

We have replaced the PC with the witness cell and are now realigning in
preparation for pumpdown.

----------------------------------------------
Interferometer Sensing and Control -- M Zucker
(WBS 1.2.1.1.6, 1.2.1.1.7)
----------------------------------------------

IAS Initial Alignment (K.Mason)
-------------------------------
Submitted initial alignment drawings to DCC for initial release.  Myron
and I are compiling quotes on all fabricated and purchased componants
and will begin ordering this week.

ISC design/testing (Fritschel/Mavalvala)
--------------------------------------
Detection Mode Controls:
Tweaking design and code outputs as the documentation progresses.

Lock acquisition control design (Ware)
--------------------------------------
I implemented phase information in the SMAC transfer function
function, and started checking the results against Lisa's Design Tool
and Twiddle.  Proverb: Man with one clock knows what time it is; man
with two clocks is never sure.  The SMAC and Twiddle results are
similar, up to a yet undetermined phase offset which is probably both
pilot error on my part and in the Twiddle code.  Anyway, this
involved some fairly substantial recoding of SMAC, and Hiro modified
Twiddle to output the phase information.  I found a couple of SMAC bugs
in the process, one of which remains unfixed at the moment, though it
probably should be fixed.  It's complicated, though.

After I figure out which phase to believe (next day or two), I should
be able to resume designing controllers, with, one hopes, a better
idea of whether they are actually going to be stable in the SMAC
model, and thus, in real life.

PNI mixed-signal length control test (Fritschel, Daw)
-----------------------------------------------------
The digital loop for the Michelson is now
completely installed. We have so far not been able to lock the
interferometer for extended periods, but we think we're close.

BREAKING NEWS:

PNI LOCKS UNDER DIGITAL L- LENGTH CONTROL!

Thursday night Ed, Brian and Peter got it locked for 10-minute
stretches, using LIGO whitening, ADC, CPU, DAC and unwhitening system
prototypes and L- loop control algorithm.  Diagnostics and
characterization are underway.  In other news, Building 20 is still
standing (sort of).

Congrats to Ed Daw, Brian Lantz and Peter Fritschel for an outstanding
effort!

-------------------------------------------
Lasers and Optics -- J. Camp
(1.2.1.1.2, 1.2.1.1.3, 1.2.1.1.4,1.2.1.1.5)
--------------------------------------------

10 W Laser Contract -- Jordan Camp
------------------------------------

Nothing to report.
 

Prestabilized Laser -- Peter King
--------------------------------------------

- S. Seel has employed his tidal servo (where the PSL reference cavity
length is actuated at low frequencies through temperature control) to
keep the PSL locked to an independent analyzer cavity over a 15 hr
period. In this configuration the room temperature variations gave a
slow ~100 MHz frequency shift of the analyzer cavity which was tracked
by the PSL through the tidal servo. A writeup describing the tidal servo,
including gains and time constants has been prepared and will be
available shortly.

- R. Abbott is in the process of testing his laser diode current shunt
approach to intenstity actuation.
 

Input/Output Optics -- Dave Reitze, UF
-----------------------------------------

Optical Metrology -

A group of physicists from the Institute of Applied Physics in Nizhny
Novgorod Russia has arrived at UF and is commencing phase interferometer
measurements on test blanks from the IO optics.  They have discovered that
the New Physics Building air conditioners limit the measurement
sensitivity to lambda/200 (lambda/1000 has been achieved in Russia, where
there are no air conditioners...).  The noise looks acoustical (60-100
Hz).  We are scheduling periodic shutdown of the air conditioners late at
night to facilitate measurements.

Mode-Matching Measurement -

Qi-Ze tried to lock the UF NPRO using the Caltech PSL servo board stuffed
by Tom Delker.  The reference cavity parameters (finesse) are different
enough from the Caltech design that a stable lock was not achieved.
The PSL servo loop is now using 3 Stanford preamplifiers and the
resulting loop gain is ~80 dB at dc with a unity gain bandwidth of ~50
kHz.

Rana has finished up nearly all the connectors,wiring,etc. needed for the
bullseye headboard and demod boards. Will start the bullseye measurment
tomorrow!

Procurement -

Quotes for the commercial parts in the IOO have all been received and
Purchase orders are being prepared.  A list of all the IOO parts has been
sent to Peter F., Peter K., Stan, Jordan, and Dennis C. as a check.

GO will have all of the 2 km small optics and two large optics finished
by the end of June.  A teleconference between Caltech, UF, and Dale Ness
at REO took place today to determine coating schedules for the IO optics
commensurate with LIGO construction.

Contamination -

A second FR (which will be used in the 2km IFO) has been sent to Caltech
for a vacuum bake and contamination check.

High Power Testing -

Measured depolarization (single pass) of EOT 12 mm clear apreture Faraday.
In the power range of 0.5 - 10 W, isolation ratio of 37 - 40 dB was
observed.
 

Core Optics Procurement and Metrology -- GariLynn Billingsley
-------------------------------------------------------------

General optics is ready to deliver the last ETM, we will be supplying a
shipping container for this use next week.

CSIRO is in the midst of certifying Beam Splitters for delivery at the end
of this month.  We have had considerable dialogue with them regarding the
Beam Splitter requirements and the method of measurement.  We are in
agreement and they are proceeding with the certifications.

Core Optics will be loaning carriers to IO for use in transporting the
large mirrors through coating and to the sites.  After delivery the
carriers will return for use housing the last Core Optics in the cycle; the
last three Recycling Mirrors.
 

Core Optics Coatings -- Helena Armandula
--------------------------------------------------

REO-COC coatings: We received a 50% BS coating sample from REO to be
characterized at Caltech because the noise in REO instrumentation is larger
than our specs. ETM01 and ETM02 have the HR coatings complete; ETM03 and
ETM04 are in process. A test run for the AR coatings will be done Friday and
then, REO will proceed to AR coat the 4 ETM's.
Caltech Cleaning Lab.: The reforms in the lab. are finished and the lab. is
in operation. Cleaning tests started on 3" optics. Handling fixtures are an
issue that we'll be looking to resolve next week.
 

Core Optics Support -- Michael Smith
------------------------------------

Mike is on vacation this week.

---------------------------
Isolation group -- M. Fine
----------------------------

Seismic Design (Mike Fine)
--------------------------------------
1. 1st Article Spring Fabrication:
Pegasus has completed the fabrication of 420 springs and used up all the
Dyad material that we have bought. More Dyad has now been ordered and the
delivery is scheduled for 5/20. The sheets of Dyad will then be waterjet-cut
into strips and shipped to Pegasus around 5/27. Because of a substantial
increase in cost for the damped coil spring, Pegasus is directed to
manufacture the remaining portion (30) of the 1st article springs and 20
additional units (50 in total) without epoxy bonding. (These springs will
rely on dry friction for shear load transfer.) These springs will be used
for qualification testing to determine the suitability for use in LIGO
environment.

2. Coarse Actuator System:
Hytec has concluded the axial and transverse stiffness test for the flexure
component, pending the reduction of the data. The data should be processed
and results are expected early next week. The scissors table testing will
begin on Monday. The software development for the CAS is proceeding well.
The software now performs single axis motion, for testing purposes, and
should have coordinated motion implemented by the end of this week.
Rudimentary fault detection and handling is being developed. The X and Y-
axis translation tables are being tested for accuracy, backlash, and
back-drive loads. The testing should be completed early next week

3. In-Vacuum Hardware:
Allied shipped 4 1st article HAM support tubes to Hanford yesterday. They
have completed HAM support table except for final stress relief and cleaning.
The HAM optics table is now 50% complete and expected to be finished and
shipped to Hanford in 2 weeks. The BSC components are being welded and are
staged to be joined to form a full BSC downtube/optical table/support table
assembly.

Suspension -- (Janeen Hazel/Mark Barton/Mike Fine)
-------------------------------------------------------------------
1. LOS Fabrication:
Janeen Fed Exed a complete drawing package to Brookfield yesterday with
detailed info on the correct revision with which they should be working.
The package included the changes to the recycling mirror structure's compound
angles along with changes to the mounting holes positions on the top and
bottom plates of the structure and height adapter.
2. LOS Fixtures and Assembly Fixtures:
Progressive Technology is dissatisfied with the first article OSEM heads
(long and short) they have produced: the parts took a long time to produce
and the small head still has chips on the outer diameter. They suggested to
use aluminum oxide instead of Macor. They have made a mandrel and hope to
have a first article of the Alum. oxide head by Friday. Janeen received the
magnet/standoff fixtures, the winch fixtures and the reworked suspension
block clamps from Schober's yesterday.

---------------------------------------------------------
Detector Systems Engineering -- D. Shoemaker/D Coyne
(WBS 1.2.1.1.9)
---------------------------------------------------------

Global Diagnostics System
(Rolf Bork, Paul Govereau, Mark Pratt, David Shoemaker, Daniel Sigg)
--------------------------------------------------------------------

Software development for GDS continues this week.  DS continues work
on the scheduler.  MP continues work on the excitation system in
support of the PNI test.  The digital excitation engine is now in a
configuration suitable for the PNI test and is being benchmarked.  The
EPICS controller is nearly complete.  PG is implementing reflective
memory controlled block transfers and benchmarking them together with
MIPS controlled BLTs.

Physics Environment Monitor (Alex Marin)
-------------------------------------------
We are continue to work for the preparation of the PEM equipment to be used
for the 1st SEI test. It was decided to order a second DAQ/PC system, which
will become later the Livingston PEM DAQ cart. We are writing software for
those tests. New accelerometers are under investigation (Wilcoxon).  The U
of Oregon group will participate in the design   and construction of some
of the PEM subsystems. For now, the coil excitation system is under
discussion.

Optical Contamination (Daqun Li)
---------------------
oss Scanner (RTS Scanner, formerly named)
has been improved in terms of cavity continuous locking stability
and enhanced cavity stored power.  Current cavity configuration
employs a CVI 3" flat mirror and a REO 1" concave mirror (R=2m)
with another REO flat mirror as folding mirror.  Since the losses
of the REO mirrors are negligible compared to the CVI mirror, the
total cavity loss is dominated by the 3" CVI mirror.
The Loss Scanner is more lossy than the contamination cavities, thus
yielding a broader fringe linewidth.  To better resolve the peak of
a broad fringe as required by mode spacing (absorption) measurements,
we employed frequency modulation technique to instead resolve the
zero crossing point with a lock-in amplifier.  Following summarises
some preliminary experiments carried out for the coating surface of
the CVI 3" mirror:

Total Loss:3200+/-32 ppm (R=99.7%; CVI specified R=99.5% minimum)
Transmission Loss: ~ 500+/-25 ppm
Absorption Loss: ~ 100+/-20 ppm

The third contamination cavity bakeout has been completed.  Loading
and reloading materials into contamination cavities one and two are
underway.
 
Non-Optical Contamination (Matt Smith)
--------------------------------------
This work will be henceforth reported in connection with the SEI tests. Bon
courage, Matt.

-----------------------------------------
Control and Data System -- R. Bork
(WBS 1.2.2)
-------------------------------------------

Vacuum Controls.
=============================
Processed change request for Vacuum controls of Pirani Gauges. Pirani
under voltages are now permitted.
PID testing on regen heaters continues.
Control algorithms submitted to PSI.

DAQ
=============================
ICS110B testing continues. Data transfer speeds and interrupt
capabilities
have been tested. Include files for Reflective Memory IPC complete.
One Ultra60 in control room is now operational. The second unit
still awaits return to Sun Microsystems.

Hanford.
=============================
Working with US West in getting T1 line connected to ATM system.
Ultra10 public server (e-mail, ftp) is being installed.
CDS ATM network has been extended in mid and end stations into
the Mechanical Rooms. FMCS will connect to this LAN to enable
remote monitor/control from the control room.
Control room furniture has been ordered.
Solaris System Administration Training package has been ordered. DB and
CP will take this training and certification.

IO CDS: Dale Ouimette
=============================
Some progress on MC servo prototype, RF photodiodes and EO shutter control
prototype. IO CDS PDR complete.

#DHS and a fine review it was. Thanks, Jay and Dale.

Suspension
============================
Preparations for next week's FDR continue

SOS Controller layout complete. Quotes for fabrication complete.

Vacuum feedthroughs for WA 2K IO received.
 


WBS 1.4    Project Office



 

 1.4.1.2 Project Controls (Lindquist)


CHANGE CONTROL (Lindquist)

A Change Control Board has been scheduled for Tuesday, May 19, 1998 at 9:30 am PDT in the Science Conference Room. The following change requests are on the agenda:
 
CR-970037 Rev A WBS 1.4.3 LIGO Data Analysis System (LDAS)
CR-980007 Rev A WBS 1.1.5 Beam Tube Bake, Adjust Budgets to reflect experience
CR-980011 Rev A WBS 1.1.5 Beam Tube Bake, Electrical Power
CR-980012 WBS 1.1.5 Beam Tube Bake, Leak Detector, Redundant Valves
CR-980015 WBS 1.1.1 Miscellaneous Vacuum Equipment Mods to reflect changes to the PSI payment milestones
CR-980016 WBS 1.1.4 On-site Telephones, Hanford
CR-980017 WBS 1.2.2 CDS Spares, Suspension Test Stands, Travel
CR-980018 WBS 1.1.3 Asphalt Surface for Service Roads at Livingston
Copies of these Change Requests have been distributed to members of the Change Control Board (LIGO-L980248-00-P, LIGO-L980255-00-P).
A Technical Review Board is scheduled for Friday, May 15, 1998 at 11:00 PDT to discuss the Vacuum Equipment GNB Gate Valves.

PROPERTY MANAGEMENT (Chargois)

>From: Ed Chargois <chargois_e@ligo.caltech.edu>


DOCUMENT CONTROL CENTER (Turner)

>From: Linda Turner <turner@ligo.caltech.edu>

STATISTICS.  A total of 38 documents were electronically submitted to the DCC.  They were reviewed and placed on-line.  Two large ensembles of drawings were also submitted, one from Hittle and the other from MIT.  These drawings represent approximately 120 additional submittals still awaiting review and entry into the DCC database.  Also, a total of 102 documents were added to the database.  The following figures summarize these new additions by category:
 
C
27
D
10
E
9
G
2
L
20
M
27
T
7
A total of 43 packages were received and distributed.  An additional 12 packages were sent out.  The DCC processed 72 incoming faxes and the project transmitted 69 faxes.

ACTIVITIES

Significant effort was dedicated to scanning all the MOU’s between LIGO and our collaborators.  In addition to the primary agreements, all related attachments for each MOU and all six-month progress reports received for the past reporting period were also scanned. Annotations were added to include titles and LIGO numbers for each. This activity involved over 120 documents.  Barbara Kratochwill has published them all on the web.

A list was received from PSI of all documents submitted to the DCC.  An audit is being conducted to ensure that all were received by the DCC.  A CD of the latest "released" revisions was also received from PSI.  It appears that PSI’s latest revisions may not all agree with our records.  Hopefully, time will allow for a more careful review.

A meeting was held with Jack Fennel and Steve Farrell of Benchmark.  Negotiations secured a new arrangement for charges incurred by the numerous desktop copies currently leased through Benchmark.  Currently, any machine with a volume higher than allowed by the monthly lease incurs overage charges per page, while machines that don’t use the full allotment are still charged for the anticipated monthly volume.   Benchmark has agreed to meld the total volumes of all machines and the average will be the volume used for monthly billings. This arrangement will be especially beneficial as
staff is moved around and machine usage fluctuates.

At the same meeting, information was exchanged for an analysis of the project’s possible use of a digital copier.  Benchmark will be doing an assessment of the current use of copiers in light of LIGO’s goal to convert as much as possible to an electronic environment. Costs and  justifications will be addressed in the coming weeks.

STATUS.  The DCC has been extremely busy with several additional tasks taking priority.  The increase in electronic submittals and scanning requests over the past few weeks has increased the backlog in the processing of the normal influx of documentation.  An estimated 350 - 500 documents are waiting to be added to the database and filed.

With the impending closure of several significant subcontracts, volume for incoming documentation is anticipated to be extremely heavy in the coming weeks, adding further to the backlog.  Parsons’ drawings needed to be audited to ensure that all "as-built’ versions have been received.  A documentation review with CBI is scheduled the first week of July in Livingston.  Several large boxes of documents will be shipped to the DCC as a result.  Numerous operation and maintenance manuals are being received from Hanford, and similar manuals are anticipated in the near future from Livingston.

Finally, while the Facilities’ activities are closing out, the Detector subcontracts are growing and generating significant
documentation.   Concern continues that the DCC is not receiving all the documents received and generated between staff and the subcontracts.  E-mails and faxes still seem to be haphazardly forwarded to us. 


COST SCHEDULE CONTROL SYSTEMS (Duncan, Rianda, Patlan, Akutagawa)

>From: Cindy Akutagawa <cindy@acrux.ligo.caltech.edu>

I have been working on the monthly reports, numerous odds and ends, various troubleshooting, miscellaneous error searching and correcting, and helping out in whatever way I could.

>From: "Britt Leonhardt (T)" <brittl@FINANCE.caltech.edu>

Darryl from KPMG and I are currently in the process of evaluating Hensel Phelps, Levernier and Stranco Contracts to try and correct remaining encumbrance problems as well as trying to pay as many invoices as possible to keep up with demand.

 >From: Kristin Duncan <kris@acrux.ligo.caltech.edu>


SUBCONTRACTS MANAGEMENT (Petrac, Jasnow)

>From: Ed Jasnow <jasnow@acrux.ligo.caltech.edu>

>From: irena@ligo.caltech.edu (Irena Petrac)

Personal Note: I will be away from LIGO Project during the week of May 18th. All Detector Group procurement issues of urgent nature should be coordinated with Ed Jasnow and/or Rita Torres.


TECHNICAL CONFIGURATION MANAGEMENT (Althouse)

>From: wea@acrux (William Althouse)

Nothing special to report this week.


1.4.2.1 Quality Assurance (Tyler)

>From: "William H. Tyler" <tyler_w@ligo.caltech.edu>

LIGO QA (Tyler and Vincent) participated in the PSI monthly status meeting. Of particular interest was the discussion of the plans for the GNB gate valve inspection and modifications to be performed at GNB and the LIGO sites. A TRB will be set up to review and "concurr" with PSI's plans for this valve effort. Bob Vincent will visit GNB prior to the TRB meeting to learn more about the complexities of performing the valve modification and the state of GNB's readiness, etc.. LIGO QA assisted J. Worden with preparations for the TRB and provided comments for the PSI valve modification plans.

Operational procedures editing/formatting effort continues.

 


WBS 1.4.3    Systems Engineering


Date: Thu, 14 May 1998 20:50:07 -0700
From: lazz@ligo.caltech.edu (Albert Lazzarini)

1.4.3  Systems Engineering

1.4.3.1  Systems Engineering & Integration (AL, BB, CC, JK, DC)

__Integration Planning: Nothing to report

__Analyses: Doing a ("final") re-analysis of the 8 BTVE interface
marker locations at Hanford to provide marker offsets for Detector IAS.
IAS has requested a somewhat different representation of the
information than what Althouse and Lazzarini had been carrying.

__Reliability: Nothing to report

__Integrated Layout/Drawings:

Cable Tray Specification

The cable tray specification has been reviewed.
Bill Baldwin will be going to LHO for a site walk-through next week to
finalize the cable tray runs design against the installed hardware. He
will investigate cable tray routing around the installed vacuum
equipment.  Photographs of the installation seem to show several
departures from the VE drawings.  Information gathered from this trip
will be used to update the draft cable tray specification.

HAM 84" ACCESS & 14" ("E") NOZZLE GUARDS W/COVERS
    Drawings are being evaluated by Rick Savage.

OPTICAL LEVER LAYOUT

    This project is now on temporary hold due to the possible
    change to the Louvre Baffles in spools numbers BE-5 & BE-6. No
date of completion is projected. However will probably be laying out
Ken Mason's levers & the spools just to get a jump on as much of the
vertex area in 3-D as we can since we have a temporary body who can do
it, maybe sometime next week.

WASHINGTON OPTOMECHANICAL ILDs

    The Mid Station xrefs are set up waiting for input from the
    various groups (IOO, ISC,COS). When time permits, will also set
up End Stations.

PSL/IOO XREF LAYOUTS FOR ILDs

    This is not started yet due to current priorities. Will start
    assembling the Optical Enclosure (PSL/IOO table) package near
the middle or end of this month, and hopefully receive input on the PSL
and the IOO layouts by the middle of next the month.

__Mock-ups:

ELEVATED PLATFORM MOCK UPS

    Have received a couple of replies & one catalog on
    platforms/ladders.  Other projects had been injected ahead of
this project but, will now try to finalize purchasing information today
& tomorrow. When Jonathan Kern returns next monday we will be
organizing the mock ups in the High Bay area for the upcoming IOO run
through by UFL as well as future mock ups for other tests.

1.4.3.3 Modeling & Data Analysis (KB/HY/AL)

Hiro:

Giancarlo Cella of VIRGO has been here for one week. He explained his
SEI/SUS modeling work for VIRGO. He also demonstrated the simulation
run using SIESTA. The intefrace for defining the configuration of the
stack/suspension was very impressive. The discussion with Soumya is
scheduled so that Cella's work could be included as a part of the
SEI/SUS work of the End to End model.

A simulation of End to End run on sadan (600MHZ Dec ALPHA machine).
Some minior bugs, related to initialization of member data, were found
when porting to DEC/Alpha linux. The run result on sadah was the same
as that on rana, as has been reported by Ed before using different
run.

The basic implementation of the mode decomposition matrix is done for
the tilt and displacement case. The physics and mathematic behind this
implementation is now being documented in the E2E manual.

Systematic validation of E2E is in progress by comparing with twiddle
output. Along this, the E2E overview manual is being expanded and
updated, including preparing good examples for writing new modules.

In the validation process, Alfi is used extensively. Bug fix and
improvements in GUI and functionality of Alfi are going on to make it
more robut and easier to use.

twiddle function - multicalcandwrite - was modified for ware to compare
the phase as well as amplitube between twiddle and SMAC. During this
process, one improper setting was found for the twiddle test run, which
caused twiddle output messed up.

Kent:

KB carried out a series of modal calculations using the code based on
theory of continuous elastic media for the beam splitter at the request
of Dennis Coyne. This was to compare to modes he's calculated using
finite element models. Most modes overlap well, though there were
differences between the two. The finite element model supports
including the wedge to the beam splitter while the TCEM model requires
cylindrical symmetry and thus only approximates the true geometry.

KB continued to carry out and assist outside teams in performing FFT
benchmarks this week. Alta, Inc., a company that produces Alpha LINUX
boxes has shown interest in providing units for LIGO's future Beowulf
system and carried out FFTW benchmarks on their hardware at KB's
request.  The Alta engineer provided results for GCC on a 533MHz Alpha
with a much smaller cache but the same Alpha motherboard as is in
LIGO's 600MHz Alpha. The results were slightly lower than expected for
these condition.  KB provided Alta with his benchmark results which
included SUN Ultra30 results indicating that SUN's CC compiler does
about twice as good as the GCC compiler on the Ultra30. This inspired
the ALTA engineer to compile the benchmark code on a DEC Unix
workstation using DEC's CC compiler and statically linking in all the
code which can then be run on the Alpha Linux workstation and compared.
This resulted in code that runs an average of about 15% faster than the
GCC code and as much as 33% faster for some problem sizes.

KB also carried out several benchmarks using codes provided by Bruce
Allen. In these tests the Native GCC compiler was compared with the
code compiled by BA on a DEC Unix workstation using DEC's CC AS WELL AS
code using DEC's optimized FFT library routine. The results showed that
GCC using FFTW and DEC's CC using FFTW delivered roughly the same level
of performance (a contradiction to the results from ALTA above).
However, when using the DEC optimized FFT routine statically linked in
and run on the LINUX workstation there was about a 20% speed up. KB
spoke to BA about this contradiction and the theory is that the code
provided was optimized for a different generation of the DEC Alpha
CPU.  KB is has obtained access to a DEC Unix workstation and will try
to compile these code for the generation here at Caltech and see if
this makes a difference. (NOTE: BA's Alphas are a different [earlier]
generation of the CPU than what is in the 600MHz Alpha).

KB was able to fix half a dozen or so additional bugs in the socket++
class library this week. Several of the classes are now functional and
KB was able to send integers, floats and strings between the Sun, PC
and Alpha workstations using this library. There are still problems in
IP name resource, pipe, and subprocess classes in the code. While
debugging this code KB hit upon a bug in xxgdb. KB found a report of
the same bug in ddd as well as a patch for this particular bug and
installed the patched version of ddd (which requires the public domain
version of Motif) and will begin further debugging of this code using
ddd once he learns the basics of this debugger.

KB tried installing the latest versions of TCL/TK and BLT on the Alpha
workstation. These compiled and installed without incident but would
not work properly on the alpha linux box. KB has decided to wait for
the release of Redhat Linux 5.1 (due out soon) which is reported by DEC
to have both internal DEC software engineering support and many bug
fixes to 5.0. (remember from last week, DEC's advise to B. Allen to use
4.2 until 5.1 is released).

KB met with Bruce Sears, Roy Williams, Walid Majid and Albert Lazzarini
to discuss issues in the Data Analysis effort. Bruce Sears presented
his models for server/client TCL application and KB and BS discussed
how these applications would communicate in the LDAS model. BS has
reported in an email server/client TCL prototypes which will be further
discussed later this week.

Sanders:

I have been configuring a machine as a test case as part of evaluating
linux for use in LIGO computers as an operating system. The goal
is reducing or eliminating use of Microsoft Windows and possibly
reducing the use of Solaris based clients. Linux is likely to be used
in our analysis computing systems and is growing in use at Caltech and
in other institutions where high performance technical computing is
carried out.  Linux is a "copy" of Unix constructed by an open
collaboration of individuals around the world. It is, thus, an economic
competitor to proprietary Unix implementations. For a lab like
LIGO, we need to understand whether the use of an open system is
appropriate for broad use. Scientific research is the most common
activity in which freeware is used for mission critical work.  Our goal
is ease of system administration and more effective and stable
computer tools. But we must understand whether we can accomplish
general computing functions under Linux. AutoCad, for example, is
no longer distributed for any Unix platform. Thus some Windows machines
will undoubtedly remain in use.

During the past week I have installed Red Hat 5.0 Linux on a Toshiba
740CDT. In order to stay within known limits on Linux compatibility on
the Intel platform, I did not use a docking station or any plug n' play
peripherals. I do not expect that this limit is important as most LIGO
computers are fixed configuration desktop machines.

I found the installation to be simpler than installing a Windows
system.  This includes configuring partitions, specifying the hardware
to be included in the kernel build, and Red Hat's ability to
recognize the hardware. I configured root and two users, implemented X
Windows with several Windows Managers, implemented and tested printing,
network configuration and use on the LIGO network, Netscape and mail services.

Difficulties to date have been some instability in X (which may be an
X server/hardware interaction), and I have not succeeded
in executing ppp connections with Red Hat's procedures. I may be measuring
Linux limitations, or my own.

In the next week or so I will attempt to make ppp work using alternate
procedures uncovered on the internet, debug X by carefully reviewing all
of the scripts and configuration files, run X sessions
on the LIGO network, do NFS mounts, install Common Desktop Environment,
and then go to work trying out NYS for use as a client NIS+ system.
Beyond these, I will test Applixware as a substitute for Microsoft
Office.

W. Majid:

Developed a toy package that sends data, at some specified rate, from
VME to a Sun workstation via a Reflective Memory network.  Once the
data arrives on the Sun, it is packed into a shared memory mapped ring
buffer.  A consumer process on the Sun, which has accessed this ring
buffer grabs the incoming data.  This package, which contains C code
under vxWorks and C++ code under Unix, is now running and stable.

Next step is to replace the data with the DCU data, produced by the
ADCs and transfer this data all the way to this ring buffer, where a
Frame builder process grabs the incoming data and builds Frames.  This
step requires a full setup of Tornado (vxWorks 5.3), EPICS, and DAQ
RM,which now is available in a bench setup at the Wilson house.

Continued to work closely with the VIRGO team on their contribution to
the Frame Class Library.  Held a weekly phone conference with them,
where we discussed some Fcl design issues, as well as a possibility to
interface ROOT with Fcl.  ROOT is an Object-Oriented package from CERN,
that provides an extensive set of tools and functionality for handling
large data analysis tasks.

Put together a simple display of raw WFS signals at the 40m, using an
EPICS based strip chart display tool.

Have started looking at the problem of line identification and line
removal from the 1994 data set collected at the 40m.  This project is
aimed at a feasibility study for a targetted pulsar search.

Stuart:

More network/HPSS testing:

HIPPI:  James(Patton, CACR) has determined that the problems with HIPPI
between the
    Paragon and the HP are the fault of HP generating out of spec
    packets.

ATM:    Higher speed ATM test of real data (5-6MB/s) into HPSS are
generating
    a larger frequency of ATM interface errors on the HPSS
    servers.  James is planning on reconfiguring HPSS to use the
    SP2 this weekend, and I am encouraging him to put the 2nd
    micro-channel ATM card that CACR has into a second HPSS data
    mover (and upgrade the ATM drivers) so we can try parallel ftp
    transfers over ATM (pftp).  Hopefully the new drivers will fix
    our reliability problem, but if not, they are the first
    necessary step in the bug report process to IBM.

100BaseT        100Mbit/s ethernet is looking pretty good. I have been
    able to pull out 5-6MB/s of data from HPSS into the HP.

The Ultra30 slated for the 40m and the new RAID box showed up Monday
morning, so I abandoned my plans to configure one of the older Ultra2
boxes, but it turns out shipping and receiving does not deliver on
campus when it rains!  Hopefully we will get our U30 today and I can
start hooking it up to the RAID box, and put it on the ATM network
(Larry has the PCI ATM card that we need).

Tilav:

I installed D.J. Bernstein's time manipulation library -libtai-, and
start testing it. The library manipulates dates and times between TAI,
UTC and modified Julian day. I'm now adding routines to this library to
handle GPS time as well.

I am also searching for a signal processing library which can be
incorporated into ROOT/PAW environment.

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH (LS Finn, Mohanty, Mukherjee, Romano)

No report received due to Sam's absence.

1.4.4.2  General Computing (LW/TE)

MIT:

1. We are continuing to prepare for moving to the new building.

Livingston:  Nothing to report

Hanford:

1. The hardware for the T1 installation is being done at this time. We
are just waiting for the MOU to be signed off to get the IP addresses.
We will have some temporary IP addresses to use for testing.

2. Getting ready for the SURF students.

3. Meeting on May 18th to go over the GC items needing to be
purchased.

CIT:

1. Barbara finished the web-based application for reserving a DCC
document number. Tested the error conditions and added defensive
programming to the pages.

2. Barbara resumed work on the Access outgassing application.
Reorganized the table relationships slightly. Adding several new fields
to the tables, forms and reports and adding equations to the report
logic.

3. For the web site: (Barbara)

- Added an MOU page with over 110 hyperlinks to the web site.  Worked
with Linda Turner to reconcile and organize the MOUs and attachments in
Beth's, Syd's, and the DCC files.  - Made minor changes to the
organization chart page and the Organizations/Committees page.

4. The fiber connections to the second floor of West Bridge and Bridge
Annex basement were tested again by the company that installed them and
replaced nearly all of the connectors between the two locations. Only
two of the connections were good all others were bad or marginal at
best.

5. Installed another network cable in the 40M north Annex in
preperation to getting them switched to another subnet.

6. Multiple hardware issues worked. A bad power switch on a PC from
Gateway is being replaced. Gateway knows of the problem and many of the
newer cabinets have the problem. They are sending out new switches when
ever a bad one is called in.  Two of the tape drives that are bad
should be swapped out in the next few days the replacements have been
sent.  A new CD player will have to be purchased in-order to replace
the one that no longer functions.

7. The loss of e-mail and printing on Monday was due to a FORE fanout
box failing. The mail sever is temporarily on another fanout box and
the one that failed has been replaced. We want to test it (the FORE
unit)for a week or so before we swap the mail server back.

8. Intalled Islanddraw and Islandpaint on the Unix side. The
command-line is not yet working but using the pull-down menu under
ligo-applications does work.

9. Resolved various Netscape version 4 issues on the UNIX side. It
appears that some of the font tables are not being accessed correctly.
We will modify the global .cshrc file to include some libraries that
should resolve the problem.

10. Testing out a new version of Acrobat reader for the UNIX boxes.

11. Looking at another communications package on the PC that uses ssh
(secure shell). It appears to have more features and is cheaper.
F-Secure from Data Fellows Inc., they have a 30 day demo you can
download for anyone that may want to help check the pkg. out.

12. Multiple accounts have been added and modified. Suresh has gotten a
handle on that process and is now working those types of issues.

13. There have been a couple of meetings to go over the new locations
here at Caltech. The plan has July 18, as the date the 6th floor of
Miliken will be ready for LIGO to start moving things in.  As far as
the move to the 2nd floor of West Bridge things are still being
discussed and looked at.

14. Resolved and resolving some property and purchasing issues. Trying
to get the right equipment sent to the correct locations.  Just as a
note shipping and receiving do not deliver large items on rainy days
unless really pressed.

15. Received two Ultra 10's and we are in the process of putting them
together and configuring them for use on the third floor.

16. PNNL has been able to provide us with temporary IP addresses (25 of
them) which can be used to set up the LHO network (ligo.hanford.edu) on
the T1 link via ESnet. The hardware ordered from US West should be in
house next week. Once linked up, we will contact SDSC to set up routing
tables for ligo.hanford.edu packets from LHO to Caltech.
 


WBS 1.4.4.1    Administrative Group



 
 Dorothy Lloyd:

Processed numerous PRs (approximately 86), coming in extremely heavy from
Hanford, as well as MIT, Livingston, and Caltech. Continued to processed
POs, Change Orders, Check Request, etc. as well as an extremely heavy load
of invoices. Followed up and tracked many problems with invoice payments.
Began training temporary help to help ease some of this load. Provided
clerical support where needed.
 

Irene Baldon:

Arranged and processed the paper work for 17 trips. Worked on the ever present backlog of Expense Reports and completed a significant amount
of reports.

Performed miscellaneous duties as requested by various members of
the LIGO Project here at Caltech as well as members of the staff of
each of the two (2) sites.

Prepared and distributed the Weekly Travel/Vacation Itinerary Report
for LIGO Staff and Visitors.

Processed Staff Payroll, incorporating various recent changes, new hires
and the processing of Vacation/Sick Leave accounting.
 

Rita Torres

Continued organizing office in 357WB, attempting to make it more
functional for users.  Familiarized myself with the document library
on the 3rd floor.  Ordered supplies from the bookstore, such as a
reliable 3-hole punch, and supplies from ITS.

For I. Petrac did edits to change order No. 6 to Research Electro-Optics
then FedExed for NSF approval.  Verified with bidders receipt of RFQ
IP-294, Fabrication of LOS Suspension Installation Fixtures; also
transmitted copy to NSF.  Did subsequent Addendum No. to IP-294
which we faxed then sent hard copies to bidders.  Edits to change order
No. 3 to Univ. of Oregon, change order No. 1 to CDI Managed Cadd
Services, and to change order No. 3 of Lightwave; this required a letter
and fax to NSF.  Helped close files for closed contracts.  Did change
order No. 1 to March Metalfab, and PC2690407 with KTI, Inc. for
Electron Beam Welding of Damped Coiled Springs.

For E. Jasnow and W. Althouse helped final Source Selection Memo.
Pulled together PC269012 with Sun River Electric for Electrical Services
for BT Bakeout at Hanford; this required several hours over two days.
Am currently making cosmetic changes after NSF review, before
submitting the contract for Sun River signature.  Did change order
No. 1 to contract with J.R. Orr for LIGO operational procedures.
Started PC269547 with BOC Gases to Supply Liquid Nitrogen to
Livingston site.

For W. Tyler did edits to procedure for Valve Seal Replacement.

Distributed:  Change order No. 6 to Research Electro-Optics, change order
        No. 2 Allied, change order No. 4 to University of FL, change order
        No. 1 to J.R. Orr.  Distributed material to Science Groups here and
   at MIT.
 

Elizabeth K. Wood

Began the task of finding summer office space for visitors and SURF students as well as planning for future relocation of LIGO employees on the second floor of West Bridge.

Obtained a tentative list of personnel moving over to the sixth floor of Millikan Library.

Processed personnel requisitions for a technical helper and a Sr. Electronic Engineer at Livingston.

Prepared current personnel action paperwork for HR.

Contacted HR and Faculty Records to obtain information about academic versus regular staff positions to determine positions appropriate for potential LIGO employees.
 


LIGO Hanford Observatory (LHO) Operations



 
Date: Thu, 14 May 1998 17:59:26 -0700
From: Fred Raab <raab_f@ligo.caltech.edu>

=========================================================
LIGO Hanford Observatory (LHO) Operations (F. Raab)
=========================================================

General Items:
--------------

All equipment has been installed to implement the T1 connection to LHO
through ESNET. We now have IP addresses to start testing our T1
connectivity to Caltech. (Permanent IP addresses still await NSF/DOE
signatures.) We have also begun implementation of the site laser safety plan,
with our first laser operating in the optics lab (see below).

Lab Setup:
----------

We have our optics tables in the lab now. The lab is being wired for safety
lights. Laser safety curtains are here and will be installed soon. Doug Cook
is waiting is coordinating with Helena to continue with clean station setup.
We are doing particle counts in the optics lab to determine air qualities and
to help establish the clean room policies/procedures. Daniel is setting up
his 980Nm laser to do his calibration procedure. Lab casework shipped on the
13th so installation should still happen the weekend of the 23rd.

Summer students:
----------------

Deposits have been placed on two apartments in north Richland for the four
summer REU students.

T. Islam (REU student), P. MacCalden (Parsons), and R. Savage will meet at
Parsons in Pasadena on 5/27 do discuss the technical slab foundation
analysis project.

HAM 1st-Article Test:
---------------------

Alignment of the piers was conducted for HAM and HAM Mock up (Hugh R., Bill
M., Corey G.)

Pin holes on top surface of piers were reamed (David H., Rick S.)

Bill Miller, from Hytec, arrived on 5/12 to offer assistance.

Worked with crossbeam and way of having it supported during procedure (Bill
M., Corey G.)

Four pairs (xy & z) of Dummy Actuators arrived.  Still need to determine
whether another 4 will be needed for the mock up to support its rail system.

Matt Smith using one of the E-nozzle flanges of HAM.  Removed the last one
and put aluminum covers on all four nozzles (David H., Corey G.)
 
 

Beam-Tube Bake Out:
-------------------
(M. Lubinski, M. Guenther, K. Stiff and W. Althouse)

Electrical Support Services Contract:

The Electrical Contractor (Sun River) will begin work very shortly for the
bake out.  The NSF review which occurred via teleconference Tuesday
(5/12/98) for approval for funds was successful. (GHS note: The NSF
expressed concern over the safe conduct of the bakeout. This is a
hazardous operation and we will review the procedures during reviews in
June. The bakeout is not worth doing if we cannot do it safely.)

Cryopumps:

All of the cryopumps, compressors and miscellaneous fitting have arrived on
site.

RGA:

The acceptance test of the RGA's for the bake out were completed 5/8/98 and
were witnessed by Rai Weiss and Mark Lubinski were very successful.  The
units will be shipped to Hanford very shortly.

Data Acquisition and Temperature Control System:

Work continues on the completion of the data system hardware and software
for the process control.


For additional information about this report, contact sanders@ligo.caltech.edu