Weekly Report for Week Ending August 4, 1998



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

The Project Control Meeting Agenda for Monday  August 10, 1998 will be:
 (Meeting time: 10:30 am Pacific Time)

  1. Announcements (5 minutes)
  2. Review of Action Items (10 minutes)
  3. Comments on Weekly Report (5 minutes)
  4. Field Change Orders/Contingency Liens/Change Requests (10 minutes)
  5. Review of ISSUES AND PROBLEMS by Subsystem (10 minutes each)
Special Items:  Bakeout readiness, Y-2 pumpdown


Special Announcements:


WBS 1.1    Facilities Group


From: "gerry" <gerry@ligo.caltech.edu>
Date: Thu, 6 Aug 1998 10:53:54 -0500

WBS 1.1.1 Vacuum Equipment(Worden)

1. Gate Valves:
Tentative agreement has been reached on the acceptance
process for the valves. All beam tube valves will undergo
an additional 50 cycles before acceptance. PSI is working
out details of a "soft closure" test.

a. WGV11 (Y-end) Passed in-situ leak test.
b. WGV12 (Y-mid BT) Passed in-situ leak test and 50 cycles.
c. WGV17 (Y-end BT) Passed in-situ leak test and 50 cycles.
d. WGV14 (X-mid) Complete except for in-situ leak test.
e. WGV18 (Y-mid) Complete except for in-situ leak test.
f. WGV20 (X-end) Waiting for gate replacement.
g. WGV16 (X-mid BT) New gate is on site.
h. WGV15 (X-mid) Waiting for bellows.
i. WGV19 (X-end BT) Passed 5 cycle test, 50 cycles underway.
j. WGV3 (LVEA-48) Waiting for bearing unit adjustment.
k. WGV5 (LVEA-44) Waiting for bellows.
l. WGV10 (Y-mid) Waiting for  bellows.
m. WGV6 (LVEA-44) Bellows ok. Five cycle test in progress.

2. Beam tube Y-2 is now under vacuum again. Roughing started
Tuesday afternoon and as of 16:00 on Wed. the pressure is 30 torr.
 

WBS 1.1.2 Beam Tube (Jones)

a. Livingston Installation

CBI completed the second global calibration on the X arm
on 7/30, with RGAs on both modules monitoring. Weiss has
analyzed the data and has accepted the vacuum performance
of the X arm. His preliminary estimates for the total air
signature (sum of two modules) is 1.5-5.5 E-7 tl/s,
depending upon which cracking pattern is used. The
calibration results on the X1 RGA varied by a factor of
two, degregating with time.

CBI has moved power panels to the Y arm to start roughing
on both modules simultaneously (pump carts and type "B"
hardware had already been installed and leak checked).
Initial pumping attempts have been thwarted by problems
with the chillers for the carts and continuing problems
with the P/T data monitoring system.

The Balzers replacement fiberoptics hubs were received
last week in Europe, and have been successfully tested.
CBI expects to receive them in late August. These are
intended for networking multiple RGAs on a module, for
leak testing or simultaneous accumulations on two
modules.

GPS calculations with precise ephemeris have now been
completed for all control supports except for seven on
the Y2 module. The transparent PVC caps for the GPS
enclosure penetrations have been installed.
 

WBS 1.3 and 1.4 (Fred Asiri)
 

>> >>Issues:
>>    Hanford:

1. Water System Integration: The water system integration contract was
   awarded to Apollo sheet metal.They will start the physical work in
   mid August.
>
> 2. New Staging and Storage Building. Design and specification are
>    being revised by the Architect to bring the estimated cost within
>    the budget.
>
> 3. The asbuilt drawings for the Hanford site has been completed.
   Copies of asbuilt drawings are being prepared and will be distributed
   shortly.

4. We are presently reconciling all the payments and credits for the
   construction contracts in order to close those contracts out.

>
>> Livingston:
>
>
> 1. The asbuilt drawing is being prepared by Parsons. The marked-up
>    drawings have been received from the subcontractors.

2. We are presently reconciling all the payments and credits for the
   construction Hensel Phelps contract in order to close this contract out.
>
>
>    I have been at the Hanford site this week to coordinate and participate
>    in the SEI Installation effort.
 

Hanford Construction (Otto Matherny)

   Levernier

      All the outstanding items are complete.Levernier has completed
      their contractual obligations. At the present time we are
      reconciling all the payments and credits for the final
      payment.
 
 

   OTHER ITEMS

      Last week's down pour uncovered several leaks in the roof. Kruger
      Sheet metal is fixing the leaks under the warranty.

      We also discovered during the high humidity last week that
      the drains from the cooling coils were designed incorrectly.
      The "P" traps are not sufficiently large to withstand the
      suction pressure of the fans. The drain lines are sucking
      air and the water is accumulating in the fan rooms. Apollo is
      fixing the problem.

      Siebe will start the mechanical maintenance contract next week.

Livingston Construction (Gerry Stapfer)

Still no rain this past week!

WWC has started the modification of the parking lot. Paving of this area and
the service road along arm-1 should start next week.

DEMCO is completing the construction of our substation. They want to run the
transformers without load for a day or two, which means we will be on the
new service sometimes next week.
 


WBS 1.2, 1.3    Detector Group


Date: Thu, 06 Aug 1998 18:52:12 -0400
From: David Shoemaker <dhs@ligo.mit.edu>

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

(WBS 1.2, 1.3)
----------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------
Implementation Group  --
-----------------------------------------------

40m (Jennifer Logan)
--------------------

The input power to the interferometer has continued to fall; we are now
down to only 40% of our usual power.  We have selected a replacement
Pockel cell to install in the system.  Dennis Coyne has been very
helpful in finding a place in the que for bake ovens to have the cell
scanned and to bake the beam-shutters which Jamie designed and built.
When we vent for the Pockel cell replacement we will install the
beam-shutters; these will be a great aid to us when studying and
aligning individual cavities in the interferometer since it will mean
that we will no longer be constantly misalinging and then realinging
optics.

Since the fall-off in optical gain in the interferometer must be
compensated by increased elctronic gain, to carry out interferometer
studies requires chasing the following input power by constantly
re-establishing the correct servo gains.  Rather than spending time
doing this, we are looking at individual cavities  in order
to make some determination of what the biggest culprit is for the
fluctuations that we see at the output of the interferometer.
 

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

Interferometer sense/control (Zucker)
-------------------------------------
Held LSC FDR on 7/29.  Numerous insightful comments and
suggestions from the committee and spectators (even though
we gave them only 4 days to read the documents!!).  No
showstoppers or serious problems were evident. Nergis, Peter,
Ed and Brent did an outstanding job.

ASC Fabrication - (K.Mason, Matt Smith, Myron M.)
---------------------------------------------------
Recieved all components for optical levers with the following
exceptions:
-Blue Sky Diode Lasers (about 2 weeks late, trying to get hold of them)
-Support structures from Kenweld (just being repainted)
-4 5/8 dia. viewport from MDC
-Photodetector assemblies (Jay is ready to ship us a board; Matt has
    sent out mounts & boxes, machining in progress)

We will begin assembly next week for delivery of the first optical lever
(MMT3) planned on Sept. 1.

Recieved Grout plates for optical levers. Five will be shipped on 8/7 to
Hanford for mounting to the concrete floor.

Assembly areas for the optical levers and ISC tables are being prepared.

Completed changes from FDR to IO Sensing Table. Matt is collecting
quotes and will begin ordering for WA IOT-7, LAIOT-1, and WAIOT-1 next
week.
 

LSC Detection Mode Controls (Mavalvala)
----------------------------------------
Working on possibly publication-quality documentation of the detection
mode controls design presented at the LSC FDR.

ASC Wavefront Sensing (Mavalvala)
----------------------------------------
Setting up the software tools and necessary input parameters to design
the Guoy phase telescopes for the ASC wavefront sensing system.

LSC lock acquisition (Zucker for Ware)
---------------------------------------
Brent is putting in the changes suggested by the FDR committee and
further exploring the parameter space as a guide to detailed
implementation.  Brent will also attend a meeting at Hanford with
Sigg and Beausoleil discussing advanced acquisition models.

LSC digital controls (Zucker for Daw)
-------------------------------------
Ed has the VME crate & processors from the PNI test and the
(ex-) diagnostic test stand up and running in the new MIT control
room.  He's running tests on digital process delays,
"piggybacking" of Baja CPU modules, and DAC driver software.
Also rigging up a GPS timing module and antenna (it just ain't home without
something hanging off the roof....)
 

-------------------------------------------
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)
--------------------------------------------

Prestabilized Laser -- Peter King
--------------------------------------------
- The new 21.5 MHz electronics has been installed on the PSL and has
undergone some endurance testing.  The laser has remained locked to the
reference cavity for a period of three and one-half days before the lock
was interrupted to allow work to continue on other aspects of the PSL.

    With the exception of the change of modulation frequency, R.  Abbott's
electronics has been used to frequency stabilize three different 10-W lasers
in the past nine months, with only minor phase adjustments being made from
one laser to the next.  Each change of laser has yielded similar
performance levels from the electronics.

- Other VME based servos for the PSL are to be installed this week.  With
testing to continue from this week through to next.
 

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

2km IOO implementation schedule -

The schedule for UF people to go to Hanford is

Sasha Gorlenko -- Aug 4--22 (already there)
David Tanner   -- Aug 6--21                             Nov 6--12
Guido Mueller  --    Aug 15--29
Qize Shu       --       Aug 22--Sep 15;       Oct 10--24
David Reitze   --             Sep 10--25;     Oct 10--24        Nov. 7-20
Sany Yoshida   --                Sep 16--30;      Oct 24--Nov 7

Dates in Oct/Nov are of course somewhat tentative, and depend on
progress with IOO and with the vacuum and seismic isolation
systems.

Also, the first batch of IOO components for the 2 km IFO have been sent
from UF to Hanford. Small suspended optics are being coated by REO this
week and should be at Hanford early next week.

Mode Matching Measurement -

Mode matching sensor tabletop experiments are progressing. Even
though the bullseye photodiode is designed to be insensitive to the
first order misalignment (TEM 01modes), the higher order misalignmnent
modes (TEM 02) and the inbalance of the channels will still be reflected
in the bullseye signal. The preliminary tests of the detectors in our
setup showed following problems:

a) At low dithering frequencies (~ 1 Hz) of the mode matching lens with
little less than 100 micron travel, the misalignment noise is an order of
magnitude larger than the signal at each channel of the photodiode.

b) The symmetric dithering signal obtained (bullseye signal) is 5 to 10
times less than the antisymetric signals. The alignment of the
traveling lens relative to the laser beam is very critical even with small
dithering distances.

c) The offset of the cavity locking system put relatively large signal on
the photodiode segments and it varies with time and temperature.

d) The relative RF phases of the channels very by a small amount ( in
the order of 10 degrees) at different RF signal levels causes additional
uncertainty of the measuments. The mechanism is not totally understood.

To cope with these problems, we have to increase the dithering distance
while minimizing the misalignment noise. And also we have increased the
dithering frequency.  We made a magnetic driven translation stage with can
travel up to a few mm. At 20 Hz, it can travel about 300 micron. We made
some tooling for better alignment of the dithering lens to beam.

A big source of noise, we think, is the use of a suspended cavity to
mode-match to.  While the suspended cavity is quiet (and vibration free),
the rest of the optics are not, giving a low frequency contribution to the
TEM 02 misalignment signal.  TO get around this, we have finished putting
together the fixed cavity in vacuum. Measurements will begin on the
improved signal today.

High Power Testing -

Redesigned the Faraday isolator section of the IOO. We have noticed that
we need another halfwave plate before the Faraday rotator in order to
deliver the beam coming back from the core optics to the viewport in a
horizontal plane (parallel to the optical table) through the polarizer.
All the purchase orders necessary for this change have been placed.
 

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

CSIRO has shipped the final 2ITM as well as the two coated transfer flats
for the IR interferometer.

Veeco has sent for a third ground glass screen to install into the
interferometer.  The first two have been out of balance.  Veeco believes
they know why the screens have gone out of balance and have a fix for the
problem.  Acceptance testing will continue once we have a balanced screen
in place.  Veeco is working responsibly to fix problems as they arise.

We have more data on the vibration in the Metrology lab, and are slowly
chipping away at the sources which are within our control.

Our last SPETMs have been delivered from General Optics, these will ship to
NIST for testing.
 

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

REO Contract - COC coatings: Four coated beamsplitters are at Caltech. They
were coated in pairs; reflectivity of BS03 and BS04 (a pair), as we
measured, is 50.3% +/- 0.5%.
The surface of all coated parts shows different grades of staining due to
cleaning problems prior to coating.
BS03 has what appears to be splashing stains covering the AR side; the BS
coating (surface 1) looks OK.
BS04, on the AR side, has a coating fixture mark extending about 1/5 of its
circumference, where there is no coating on 1/4" from the edge. It also has
splashing stains. Surface 1 (BS coating) is not stained; there are 2
scratches about 1-1/4" from the edge. One scratch is about 2 in. long; the
other about 1 in. long.
BS01 is worse case for the stains on both surfaces, there is a 1-1/2" center
area free of defects.
BS02 has streaks that we were not able to remove by wiping the surface, both
sides are also stained.
A decision has to be made whether to accept these parts.
 
 

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

ETM PO BEAM RELAY LENS:
D. Rose is redoing the calculations for a shorter focal length relay lens.
M. Smith is completing the write-up of the description of the lens and
conceptual mounting drawing, to be sent to ISC.

ISC TELESCOPE:
A data package has been sent to ISC for the ISC telescope.

PO TELESCOPE
Detail drawings for the remaining PO telescope subassemblies and components
will be begun shortly by A. Rosa . J. Kern is reworking the specification
for the primary and secondary mirrors, to be sent out for procurement.

ETM TELESCOPE
J. Kern is preparing a specification package for procurement of the ETM
telescope.

STEERING MIRRORS
J. Kern is preparing a specification package for procurement of the
steering mirrors used with the PO telescopes.

BEAM-DUMPS:
A. Bagdalian is continuing the ACAD placement of beam-dumps in BSC 7.

ITM BAFFLE:
A. Rosa is proceeding with the detailed component design of the combination
ITM baffle/beam-dump, which will be placed in the spools
WBE5 and WBE6.

TEST EQUIPMENT:
IR AUTOCOLLIMATOR
A successful test was completed; in which a 10 mW, 950 nm, IR LED
illuminated the reticle of the stock Davidson autocollimator, and the
autocollimator beam projected a focussed IR image of the reticle onto a
target 4.5 m away. The projected reticle and target were viewed with the IR
camera, and the reticle position on the target could be determined within a
fraction of a millimeter. This demonstrated the mode of operation which
will be used to align the positions of PO mirrors, beam-dumps, and PO
telescopes in the IFO. A focussing attachment has been designed using stock
lenses which will enable the projected reticle to be focussed at any
position within the COS equipment range of 9m to 26m. One IR autocollimator
with an IR camera viewer is needed to provide the alignment beam. A second
IR camera is needed for viewing the projected reticle, and for viewing the
transmitted alignment beam through the PO telescope.

The IR autocollimator is also being evaluated for possible use in the
initial alignment of the PO telescopes.

STEERING MIRROR MOUNT TEST:
J. Kern and M. Smith will begin testing the stability of the PO telescope
secondary mirror prototype.

--------------------------
Isolation Group -- M. Fine
--------------------------

Seismic Design (Mike Fine)
--------------------------------------
1. Scissors Table Testing:
A significant insight was revealed last week that can explain the lower
transverse stiffness values uncovered in the test results. Hytec modified
the FEM model to assume that the load would be carried through a select
number of fingers (or tabs) on the scissors table. The effect showed a
significant decrease in transverse stiffness. These pieces are precision
machined to reduce the possibility of pieces not engaging properly.
However, they appear to not be operating at their full effectiveness.
The scissors table transverse stiffness dropped to .5 e6 lb/in when two
fingers carried the load, which is close to the measured value of the
prototype table. The impact this has on the system fundamental frequency
was calculated to be a reduction from 23.1 Hz to 19.6 Hz.

2. HAM Coarse Actuator--Manual Operation:
Hytec has completed a design with manual adjustments and is working on
the cost estimates now and expecting to present it to LIGO next week.

3. Flexural Pivot Assembly:
Hand Precision has delayed a week to deliver the coarse actuator flexure
to Hytec because they damaged one of the pitch flexure pieces during
machining operations.  The replacement material has been ordered and
is expected to arrive at Hand Precision shortly.  Hand is now expecting
to deliver the hardware just about the time Hytec will need them
in the 1st article BSC assembly.

Suspension -- (Janeen Hazel/Mark Barton/Mike Fine)
-------------------------------------------------------------------
1. LOS Fabrication:
The 1st article LOS1 and jig plates for drilling were CMM-inspected
at JPL. Several non-conformance were noted, mostly minor and correctable.
Brookfield is authorized to proceed with production of LOS1 structure
and all the height adapters. Craig is still completing LOS2 and LOS3
structure drawings.

2. LOS Assembly Fixture:
Schober Will deliver the 1/2-13 conductive teflon screws tomorrow along
with a number of other articles. Their contract should be completed next
week.
 

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

Global Diagnostics System
(Rolf Bork, David Shoemaker, Daniel Sigg)
--------------------------------------------------------------------

No report.

Physics Environment Monitor (Alex Marin)
-------------------------------------------

The PEM hardware (and staff) got a workout in the HAM SEI first article
tests.

Optical Contamination (Daqun Li)
--------------------------------

Measured coating reflectivity of REO beam splitters 03 and 04
(S1: OX779; S2 (AR): OX783) as 49.0% +/- 0.6% for p-polarization
at 45 +/- 0.5 degrees at 1064 nm.

Finally three contamination cavities are up and running
simultaneously.  Following is a summary of the current running
status of the three cavities:

Cavity One-- loaded with vac-seal for two weeks.  Neither scatter
nor absorption loss has been observed on cavity mirrors so far.
Another two weeks is needed to complete this testing;

Cavity Two-- loaded with viton seals for one month.  However, it
was recently found that the viton seals outgas so much that the
ion pump cannot handle (luckily, the ion pump was found still
functioning when viton seals were absent), and therefore a turbo
pump has to be used instead.  This cavity is relocked and data
taking has restarted;

Cavity Three-- empty. Qualification running just starts.

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

No report.
 


WBS 1.4    Project Office



 

 1.4.1.2 Project Controls (Lindquist)


CHANGE CONTROL (Lindquist)

The following change requests have submitted and will be discussed during the next meeting of the Change Control Board:
 
CR-980031 WBS 1.1.2 Beam Tube Taxes, Cleanliness Tests, Clear Caps, and Work Stoppages L. Jones
CR-980032 WBS 1.1.2 Beam Tube, Purchase of Equipment Used for Fabrication and Potentially Useful during Operations L. Jones
 


LIGO Weekly Site Telecon (Lindquist)

We discussed having brief minutes for the Weekly Site Teleconference to foster action on some of the items discussed. It was decided to maintain a list of action items assigned and their current status, and to publish the open items in the weekly status report.  The action list from the meeting today (August 6, 1998) is as follows:
 
Action No. Description Responsibility Assigned Date Due Date Priority
1 Prepare DRAFT Operations Work Plan Budgets for FY 1999 Proposal P. Lindquist August 6, 1998 August 20, 1998 Medium
1a Provide information for 1 above F. Raab/M. Coles August 6, 1998 Medium
2 GSA Vehicles for Hanford E. Chargois August 6, 1998 Medium
3 Vehicle Safety - Incorporate into Orientation Process M. Coles, F. Raab August 6, 1998 Medium
4 Proceed with Credit Cards for Sites E. Jasnow August 6, 1998 High
5 Determine how we pay BO tax due State of Washington E. Jasnow August 6, 1998 Urgent
 


COSTS AND COMMITMENTS AUDIT (Lindquist)

Preliminary accounting reports were made available to the audit team this week, and it appears that most of the correction submitted have been entered. As was mentioned last week, the corrections will relieve approximately $15.8 million in excess open commitments.  Also there are several hundreds of thousands in excess actual costs that will be removed, primarily extra amounts retained instead of paid from retainage or excess overhead charged.


PROPERTY MANAGEMENT (Chargois)

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

Provided the two (2) Observatories with the Activity Address Code and a point of contact and telephone number(s) for their nearest GSA facility.

Assisted the Livingston Observatory Manager with the shipment of thirteen (13) cartons of office files, with a scheduled arrival date of  8/7/98. (Acct # 5N501)

Assisted the Mechanical Engineer with the shipment of two (2) Jigs and one (1) Structure Weldment to Brookfield Machine (Attn. J. Bergeron), confirmation received of safe arrival on 8/5/98. (Acct #5F518)

Assisted the Optics Group with the shipment of carton of equipment to the University Of Florida (Attn: Qi-Ze Shu) with a scheduled arrival date of 8/7/98. (Acct# 5E513)

Updating the Hanford Observatory Property Database with 156 items that must be provided to Caltech Insurance Adjuster and Caltech's Property Branch.

Conformation received from Livingston Observatory of the delivery of two (2) forklifts from JPL.(Acct #5D532)


DOCUMENT CONTROL CENTER (Turner)

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

STATISTICS ACTIVITIES
COST SCHEDULE CONTROL SYSTEMS (Duncan, Rianda, Leonhardt, Akutagawa)

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

No report this week.

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

No report this week.

>From: James Rianda <jrianda@ligo.caltech.edu>


SUBCONTRACTS MANAGEMENT (Petrac, Jasnow)

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

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

No report this week.


TECHNICAL CONFIGURATION MANAGEMENT (Althouse)

>From: wea@acrux (William Althouse)

Nothing to report.


1.4.2.1 Quality Assurance (Tyler)

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

LIGO QA (R. Vincent) continued to provide QA support to the Hanford site PSI/GNB valve inspection and rework activity. Mr. Vincent has indicated that this valve effort is going well, although there have been some schedule impacts due to bellows delivery delays. He has submitted a work summary report for last week to the DCC for distribution.

LIGO QA (W. Tyler) participated in the PSI Hanford gate valve rework acceptance meeting. LIGO gave a "conditional acceptance" for the three reworked gate valves presented as complete by PSI. The conditional acceptance was deemed necessary by LIGO due to remaining unresolved issues/questions including gate valve warranty vs latent defects and "punch
list" items. Additional discussion of the conditional acceptance and actions required to complete the valve acceptance was done during the PSI Monthly Status held this week.

LIGO QA (W. Tyler) observed/monitored some of the 10 inch VAT valve torque checks, inspection and readustment work in progress by VAT and LIGO personnel. A thorough and detailed techinical summary of this work has been reported by Bill Althouse. Some hardware issues are still pending action/explanation by VAT ( for example, "quality" of gate o-rings, excessive noise/ "chattering" of the gate mechanism during opening and closing and possible change of o-ring preload over time or due to the bake).
 
 


WBS 1.4.3    Systems Engineering


Date: Thu, 6 Aug 1998 14:47:32 -0700
From: kent (Kent Blackburn)

1.4.3  Systems Engineering

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

The Vacuum  Board met on Tuesday to review latest results from cleaning SEI HAM
support beams. Latest results indicated revised tube cleaning
procedure was able to reduce HC partial pressures by ~1000X. In addition, an
method was proposed to track level of cleaninliness using
FTIR techniques, similar to what was done for the BT.
 

__Integration Planning: Nothing to report

__Analyses: Nothing to report

__Reliability: Nothing to report

__Integrated Layout/Drawings: Nothing to report

__Mock-ups: Nothing to report
 

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

(Modeling)

1. adlib single mode field
The michelson cavity transfer functions showed discrepancy between e2e
model prediction and twiddle. The difference was tranced down to find that
the time difference to travel two arms is not properly taken into
account. The field propagator is modified to put the information of this
time difference to the field, and when the field is reflected by the
mirror, the mirror position is calculated using real time needed to travel
through the arm. After fixing this, the transfer functions of the
michelson cavity are properly reproduced. But the recycled michelson
transfer functions cannot be properly calculated - there are difference
between twiddle and e2e. The problem is now being studied.

2. mechanical modeling
This week, G.Cella prepared a workplan for the modeling of the mechanical
system in e2e. Roughly speaking, 3 months for building the framework in
e2e environment, 3 months for including all dynamics he worked for the
VIRGO suspension modeling into the e2e framework, 6 months for the
refinement. And on and on.
The description of the mechanical strcuture is very much like e2e. I.e.,
the model handles not a fixed shaped object, but handles strctures users
construct by combining builing blocks.
There were discussions how to integrate this mechanical model into e2e and
how to handle the GUI, and it came out that, with minor modifications,
both the simulation engine and GUI can adopt the mechanical model.
Some work was done to modify alfi, the GUI of e2e, to include the
mechanical structure. A new concept was "clamp", touching point of a
mehanical object and others.

3. data visualization
ali - the visualization tool of e2e - was improved to support 2 plots. Big
forward step support many many lines. modeler and modeler_freq were
modified so that auxiliary data is saved in a data header file (dhr) so
that the plot curve can be defined using the port names.

(DATA ANALYSIS)

KB:
The weekly Data Group meeting again addressed the pros and cons of the
various database needs for LIGO. SM is working on a summary report of
the various options in the commercial and public domain database market
place and will present to the group his findings this Friday. A status
report of FCL was also given at the weekly meeting by Walid.

KB met with the new group of software developers in the data analysis
group on two separate occasions this week to go over a series of tasks
for PE and DF related to the Generic API model and to present a summary
of the way the Generic API will be used as a building block for all the
speciallized APIs in the LDAS. One of the lower level functions of the
Generic API is to support Store and Restore of the API's state which
will be done with objects but requires a mechanism for separate TCL
packages to register thier objects with the generic package. DF has
identified a pointer passing mechanism in a wrapper tool called SWIG.
KB also identified to PE that the TCL layer of the Generic API should
run several safe sub-interpreters to allow separate event loops for
commands, errors, exceptions and widget management. PE has been asked
to look into the overhead of supporting separate event loops in this
way.

KB partitioned his Pentium workstation and reinstalled the Windows98
OS on the last partition and Linux (Redhat 5.1) on the middle partitions.
All Redhat patches have been installed and the OS is up and running at
this time with only a few configuration items such as print services
and sendmail still remaining.

KB met with Patrick Brady to discuss the status of recent changes to the
paper being prepared on analysis of the 40 meter dataset from Nov 94 for
binary inspirals.

KB has been asked by the Warren Anderson of the ASIS to give a summary
presentation of the LDAS to that groups members at the LSC meeting in
Boulder next week.

KB met with all the software developers on the 6th floor of Millikan to
determine the set of software development packages and tools that should
be placed on Polaris (as the development server) once it is moved up to
Millikan. The suggestions of the meeting were passed along to a larger
group for comments and suggestions. KB later met with AL to discuss the
set of development tools identified and why they were important.

SMAK:
o Configure NT workstation
  Problem connecting with all network resource. Unable to connect to the
  Web and unable to print.

  Network connection still yoyoing up and down as of this morning.(I'll
  let Sam know). Sam is still working on printer problem.

o Ingres II and Jesmine Database reviewed
  Unable to find any useful information from Computer Associates' Web site.

o Free RDBMS
  Start evaluating other free RDBMS
 
DFARNHAM:
I've successfully compiled the ObjectSpace package (without threads) on
both m27(intel linux) and sadan(alpha linux). I was unable to get the
code to compile when multithreading was enabled because I am not certain
if the glibc library routines are reentrant.

I have since been working on implementing the C++ portion of the generic
API.  It looks like by using the SWIG package interfacing the c++ code
with Tcl/Tk will be greatly simplified since it will allow the c++ code to
pass pointers to the Tcl layer and to use these pointers as arguments in
other procedures. I have tested this and it works.

I have written a static clas which implements some of the generic api.
specifically, it creates and connects sockets between different instances
of the code running on different machines.  I have successfully interfaced
this with Tcl/Tk (in a wish shell) and have been able to connect sockets
together on different machines using the extended Tcl/Tk commands.

PEHRENS:
* met with Kent and Dave and discussed message logging
  and the requirements and specification of the generic
  API.
 
* Installed the Tcl Plugin, and all the *interesting*
  Tcl/Tk packages I could find.  Played with all of 'em.
  BLT, expect, and the TclGD (gif) package look particularly
  promising.
 
* experimented with the dynamic loading and namespace
  functions of Tcl/Tk 8.03.
 
* studied and discussed exception handling issues between
  Tcl/Tk and C++ and SWIG with Dave and Kent.
 
* Wrestled mightily with scoping issues between interpreters
  and slaves on different machines.
 
* discussed tcp/ip and socket issues with Dave and Ed Maros.

WMAJID:
I have spent much of the week trying to get the Fcl ready for its first
release.  I implemented IO for the remaining classes.  Added support for
data types in the specification.  Collaborated with Virgo to consolidate
our differences and incorporate their changes to the package.

I have also continued to improve the web-based documentation for Fcl.
There is now a Postscript version of the class description on the web site.
This effort to build the documentation will continue for the rest of this
week.

I also met with Soma to hear about her efforts on the Kalman filtering
techniques.  I am studying this subject and will try to understand the
problems of line removal techniques.
(Stuart Anderson)

Work has started on integrating the precise radio pulsar timing software
(TEMPO) into the LIGO pulsar folding application. The basic software
architecture is C/MPI/GRASP/FRAME to fold data in short integrations
(order 1hour) and write out SDF (LIGO light weight data format files).
A separate MPI program is then used to apply any post-facto corrections
(e.g., the radio pulsar timing model has been updated because a glitch
was observed), and combine multiple SDF files to generate a "grand"
profile for each pulsar of interest.
 

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

(J.D. Romano)

1. Continued writing a draft of a paper with Sam Finn comparing the
cross-correlation and maximum-likelihood statistics for stochastic
gravity-wave searches.

2. Continued writing a draft of a paper with John Whelan describing
a model problem for binary inspiral.

(Soumya Mohanty)

The algebra behind the transfer function for my model suspension is nearly
getting over. After that the validity of the SEI/SUS formalism can be
tested more realistically.

1.4.4.2  General Computing (LW/TE)

MIT:
1. Due to a problem with a network switch, approximately one third of
our machines were off-line for two hours Wednesday afternoon.

Hanford:

1.  MATLAB arrived and will be installed this week.

2.  The Tape Robot arrived and is being setup.

3.  Placed orders for MSProject98 and Acrobat 3.0.  Ordered
miscellaneous cables and connectors.  Tracking E3000 service contract
renewal order.

4.  Added several new user accounts.  Moved user accounts around,
modified server software, and performed other system maintenance tasks
to free up user disk space and make user accounts accessible over the PC
network.

5.  Moved computers and software around to free up two laptops for use
by staff members.
 

Livingston:

1. Over the past week we have had a variety of problems with Cecil's PC, which
has failed repeatedly.  The Sparc 30 for Juilian came in and seems to be
working fine.

2. Working on getting another copy of Autocad 14 for the PC's.

CIT:

1. Trade-ins were picked up and the new server has arrived. The new server is
going to take about three weeks to get everything loaded and on-line.
Also, since SUN is no longer send replacement keyboards and mice the search is
on for a place that sells the items at a lower cost. Many of the keyboards and
mice are starting to fall apart.

2. Resolved various printer issues on the PC's.

3. Samantha has been heavily involved in getting the Windows NT and Windows 98
PC's on-line. This included finding a procedures used the clear up the network
problems on the new PC's.

4. Ran more ethernet cables to various offices.

5. Called the safety office to get rid of batteries. Many of the batteries from
the laptops are no-longer usable and need to be thrown out and CIT's policy on
such items is being checked-out.

6. Resolved multiple issues relating to PC problems. Covering viruses to cables
being disconnected.

7. Completed work on new web site.  Sent copy to Dr. Sanders for his review.

8. (Barbara K.) Confirmed with the folks at administrative computing that
Caltech has asite license for Oracle.  Have a meeting set up next week to
discuss LIGO's needs.

9. Began working on the NT server to get it operational.

10 (Barbara K.) Helped DCC when possible with the computer problems they've been
having.

11. Suresh completed the monthly backups of ligo, gsparc, kater and is finishing
up the backups on sirius.

12. Sirius has been having hardware problems which have in affect causing
problems with communications to other computers. Currently, we are replacing the
items that appear to be causing the problems. This problem also caused a major
glitch with e-mail and WEB services, both which appear to be resolved at this
time.

13. Working on cleaning up more of the accounts as well as the usual of adding
and changing of accounts.

14. The LDAS SUN programming server is in the process of being rebuilt. The OS
and patches have been loaded. After a few other pkgs. are loaded the unit will
be turned over to Kent B. and moved to Millikan to continue loading the
applications needed.

15. Working on getting purchase requests back on schedule. Many of the purchases
are well behind the dates they should have been purchased.
 


WBS 1.4.4.1    Administrative Group



Dorothy Lloyd

Entered AP30 reports into the database.

Continued processing purchase requisitions, POs, change orders, check request, etc. as well as an extremely heavy load of invoices.

Followed up and tracked problems with invoice payments.

Continued to monitor and support the temp.

Provided clerical support were needed.

 

Elizabeth K. Wood

Met with Donna and Bob of the phone office to clarify which phones are moving where in Bridge. We took a tour of the second and third floors and the basement. We can expect these changes to be implemented in about three weeks.

Discovered it is possible to transfer two phones to each other without confusing the system (Gari's phone and Richard Fischer's phone).

Incorporated all the latest information I had for the web roster.

Met with Riccardo on the status of his office.

Met with Joann of the PMA office on the status of Riccardo's office.

For the checklist group, wrote up the instructions on how to hire a regular Caltech employee and student employees. Also had a short discussion with Bill Tyler about escorted and non-escorted visitors to the LIGO sites.

Communicated with John Rousseau about problems with the Millikan elevators. It should be possible now for people to get up to the sixth floor of Millikan using the north elevator without using a card between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. The glitch Gary reported on Thursday, in which neither elevator would go to the sixth floor, appears to have been just that---a glitch. According to Rousseau, things should be running smoothly now.

Continuing on-going discussions with Miriam of HR about relocation of employees to Pasadena and to the sites.

With Donna T., was finally able to get Gary, Stan, Dennis, and Barry's voice in the same room at the same time.

Attempted to assign LSC visitors to offices when they come next week after the LSC meeting in Boulder. We are extremely short on computers; the best I can do is give visitors desks, some with actual working phones. Not everyone will get a computer or at best, people will have to share.

 

Irene Baldon

Arranged and processed the paper work for 15 trips to various locations.  Of these 15 trips, 5 were for last minute travelers to the LSC Meeting in Boulder, CO, and considerable effort to put together due to flight and hotel availability.

Worked on the ever present backlog of Expense Reports.  New trips were moderate and I was able to complete a significant number of reports.

Performed miscellaneous duties as requested by various members of  the LIGO Project here at Caltech, as well as for members of the staffs 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, terminations and the processing of Vacation/Sick Leave accounting.

 

Rita Torres

For I. Petrac did preliminary edits to change order No. 4 to Brookfield Machine, Inc.  Did Addendum No. 2 to RFQ IP-301 for Cable Tray Fab. & Install. JPL work order 97828, Supplement 3.  Did change order No. 3 to U.S. Civilian Research & Development Foundation for the Independent States of the Former Soviet Union -- formerly International Science Foundation.

For E. Jasnow did memo to Source Selection Review Committee on recommendation for mechanical maintenance contractor at Hanford.

For P. Lindquist did updates to forms for Operations Program.  Also updates to the Draft Ops plan, then distributed for input.

Got a chance to file, and organize parts of my office. Obtained supplies from the bookstore including white board erasers for the 6th floor Millikan, also did a simple map of that floor.

Distributed:  Change order No. 2 for Corning.

 


LIGO Hanford Observatory (LHO) Operations



 
 LHO Weekly Report
-----------------
(Fred Raab)

General:
--------

Beam-tube Y2 is headed down in pressure and bakeout is scheduled to
commence on Aug 17. (See report below!) We have experienced a number of
computer problems this week and the waiting line for computer access is
growing. We have a draft-1 of the general computing design document released
for internal review and we hope to review this with Larry prior to
scheduling a CCB to fund additional equipment purchases. Chris is trying to
identify whatever happened to orders already out. Unfortunately we are
losing a lot of time to hustling after dropped balls. The good news (I
think): Many balls remain in the air... Otto and I have struggled with
trying to reduce the costs of the additional staging building as revealed by
the bid submission several weeks ago. We have some estimated $80K in savings
by cutting into muscle; now it seems hard to get further gains.

Front Office:
-------------
(J. Berry)

This past week I have concentrated heavily on getting invoices to Dorothy.
Since July 30, Celina and I have matched up, processed and shipped 143
PO's/invoices, to be paid by Caltech.  We have received 57 more invoices in
just the past three days alone!!

Petty Cash wise, I have paid 17 vendors/employees, and have 16 yet to pay
this week.  I am also in the process of closing out Otto's Petty Cash
account. I hope to have all the figures by the end of next week, to close
it for good.

As for PO's/PR's, the load doesn't seem to be lightening at all.  We have
assigned 41 Purchase Req's over the past week, and they keep coming in.

I am also working on the reporting that I give to Fred and Otto from Access.
I need to figure out how to get the totals to automate (then we won't have
to do them by hand anymore! *yeah*).

REU Projects:
-------------
(R. Savage)

TECHNICAL SLAB CHARACTERIZATION (T. Islam)

I have finished making the first set of measurements in order to
see if I can determine the general type of motion of the concrete slab. I
did not expect to see anything I could analyze, and in fact after all the
analysis I could make I could not (save that the motion of the slab goes
down with increasing distance from the vibration source). I have instead
strongly considered making 20 measurements, 4 each on different axes,
radially from the fan itself. I will make those measurements at the 3
harmonics in order to determine whether there are specific modes of
vibration. This implies that 60 measurements need to be made. This will
require at least 2 days, or 20 hours, of measurements to be made. I have
already gotten the voltage sensitivity of the -1000 accelerometer and I
therefore plan on using it to make relative phase measurements between
them in order to characterize the vibration better.

After this, I will measure the chiller yard vibrations. That will
require turning as much equipment off as possible, as the chiller yard
vibrations are concentrated at 60 Hz. I will see if I can make several
simple measurements at the other stations. I also plan on making a
measurement run, with a mechanically shorted air handling fan, at the LVEA
(if possible). The main objective of my study, I see, would be to
determine what role the air gaps may play in vibration isolation.

I have also begun writing my report in earnest. I will need to go
find some more papers, besides the ones I have, that talk especially about
any observations that air gaps may play. I will also have to talk to Dr.
Macalden. Fortunately, all my relevant data has been organized into a
legible, concise form.
 

Bake Oven:
----------
(K. Ryan)

The bake oven was successfully baked using a 36 hour heating profile which
ramped from 25C to 125C for the first 12 hours, soaked at 125C for 4 hours,
ramped up to 200C over the next eight hour period and then ramped back down
to 25C over the remaining 8 hours.

I (Betsy is on vacation) learned a lot as to the thermodynamic behavior of
our system and will make changes before the next test.  Briefly, we found
that we could maintain a +/- 2C variance between heat zones during the ramp
up and soak portions of the heating profile but could not maintain this for
one of the three heat zones (zone 2 85% of the total mass 20% of the total
surface area) during the ramp down.  Also, we found our system was better
controlled when certain thermocouples were used in the control loop as
opposed to others.

RGA scans of the baked system look promising.  The sum of the partial
pressures for AMUs 41, 43, 53, 55 and 57 (hydrocarbons) looks to be just
under 2 x 10E-11 torr.  This can only be improved upon as we continue to
clean up the RGA (it was crapped up via venting "backwards" through one of
the turbo pumps) and with continued pumping at elevated temperatures during
subsequent testing.

Progress should be hastened next week as I have put in a request for a
temporary person to help with the misc. items that have to be done before we
can "open for business".  Also, I hope to visit the 40m lab next week to get
a better idea of what is required to process real items on a day to day
basis.

HAM 1st-Article Test:
---------------------
(C. Gray)

Two types of corner brackets were designed by Warren Johnson to help with
raising and lowering of Optics Table.

2 Support Tubes shipped out 8/4--down at Allied within a week.

Shaker/dynamic testing ended 8/4.

High Frequency tests were conducted w/ Accelerometers on lower leg element
and Support Table.

The Optics Table was raised and lowered again.  The springs were
alternately clocked so that the "end of springs" would alternately point in
and out radially--this was an idea for reducing possible rotation.  We
conducted one raising and lowering and there was noticeable rotation of
whole system again.
 

Optics:
-------
(D. Cook)

The balance of the Vacuum Prep. Lab Counter tops have been installed. Some
minor changes have be added to the DI water system to monitor the water
quality in the Optics Lab rather than at the unit itself. The balance of
the Optics cleaning station equipment delivery was delayed until this Friday
and should be set in place by Monday. The rest of the laser safety issues
for the Optics Lab should be completed by the end of next week. The rest of
the laser safety and cleanliness procedures are still on going. Laser
safety glasses will be mandatory in the LVEA starting approximately 9-8-98,
along with laser safety training. We have Laser safety glasses available
here for the 10 watt Yag laser, but due to the thickness of the glass
filters, frames etc., you will probably want to bring a retainer strap as
they get heavy as the day wears on.

Shoe cleaner is in place, and hopefully will help keep the gowning room and
LVEA cleaner. We will put the sticky mats down as needed. LVEA over-all
cleanliness has been Class 10k or better with the on going activity.

Computing Systems:
------------------
(C. Patton)

MATLAB arrived this week, as did the tape robot.  Both will be
installed/setup this week.  Still no backup software to go with the tape
robot.  The software used at Caltech is not compatible with the new
Solaris 2.6 Operating System software.  It will take some more research
and time before I have the software to automate the backups on the
robot. I'm still trying to track down what has happened to the order for the
E3000 server service contract renewal. Also, no resolution yet to the
Gateway PC delivered by mistake several months ago. The Caltech Bookstore
will have the MSProject98 and Acrobat 3.0 ready for pick-up by the middle of
next week. I put in an order for miscellaneous cables and connectors, we
never seem to have enough or the right kind.

One PC was attacked by a virus this week. Re-installing Windows seems to
have gotten rid of the virus. This virus was not detected by the version of
McAfee virus scan that was on the PC, but was detected by Norton Anti-virus
on another PC, which prevented the virus from being spread to more than just
the one PC. This brought up the need to keep virus scan software current and
possibly to have more than one kind. Also, Norton Utilities or something
similar would have been very useful for this and several other PC problems
encountered this week.

I moved computers around over the weekend to free up laptops for staff to
use. I modified the Samba config file to get it to export the new user disk
to the PC network. The main user disk space was again over 90% full, so I
deleted everyone's netscape cache files and moved another user to the new
user disk. I was able to get the main user disk space down to 67% full, but
by Monday evening it was back up to 88%.

I added two new user accounts. Dealt with multiple PC problems and
software troubleshooting. Answered multiple questions about networking and
email. Dealt with problems caused by limited computer and software
resources.

Electronic Systems:
-------------------
(R. McCarthy)

Installed fourteen of the twenty electronic racks in preparation of
installation of SUS equipment the week of Aug. 9.

Finished installation of tripods for lightning protection air terminals.
They were needed to protect the air terminals from damage during high winds
and blowing tumble weeds.

Rewired CDS vacuum equipment racks to accommodate the watchdog board
installation.

Worked on the software and communications to the utility meter.  Began
automated downloads of the data and conversion to Excel spreadsheets for
interpretation.  We show a definite trend of high demand from 1530 to 1800
daily of course this being the hottest time of the day makes sense.
 

Beam-Tube Bakeout:
------------------
(M. Lubinski)

Electrical Support Services Contract:

Report from Sun River

Accomplishments:

Completed second set of Power Supply trailers and the completion and
placement of the 45 KV Transformer on the Y-1 leg.

No problems or concerns this week.

Mski note:  Both DC power supply flatbed trailers are on site and in place.
Sun River has finished setup of the 45 KVA transformers and the L & I
inspection have begun.  PUD(Public Utility District) will be on site to
begin the wiring and power up of these transformers.
 

Cryopumps:

The Cryopump and Turbo pump have been installed at Y2-1. The Roughing pump
is currently installed at Y2-9 and pump down of Y2 module is in progress.

Data Acquisition and Temperature Control System:

Report from Mark Guenther:

Much of this week was spent in preparation for the upcoming bake test with
the power supplies and Y-2 module. This included a DC power supply control
voltage test, a check of the calibration to be applied to the current
shunts, and the PowerTRAC 480VAC monitoring configuration. The power supply
control software was also expanded to allow simultaneous control of both
the PS1 and PS2 DC power supplies.  In addition, thermocouples were
connected on the termination anchor heater blankets in the end station; on
the port 2, 3, and 4 heater blankets; and connex box transformers and power
supplies.
 
 


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