Weekly Report for Week Ending March 30, 1999



 Project Control Meeting Agenda   Highlights   Hanford Observatory     Livingston Observatory     Detector    Project Office    System/Data Analysis    Administrative    Past Weekly Reports

The Project Control Meeting Agenda for Monday  April 5, 1999 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/Activity (10 minutes each)
Special Items:  NSF review planning


Special Announcements:

The Project Controls Meeting on April 19 will be cancelled to accommodate dry run sessions for the NSF Review to be held the following week.


Weekly Report Highlights
 
VIRGO-LIGO discussions re code development

initial BEWOULF tests

40m->HPSS data throughput tests
 


LIGO Hanford Observatory (LHO) Operations



 
General Items:
--------------
(Fred Raab)

In the past week, we had an unfortunate incident in which a number of safety
protocols were knowingly violated, resulting in someone being discharged from
employment at LHO. Otto and I find this duty very distasteful, but we cannot
tolerate knowing and willful disregard for safety regulations. Please
remember that everyone needs to be responsible for working in a safe manner at
LHO. We have weekly safety meetings at Hanford and the minutes are on file if
you should miss one and need to catch up. For visitors, your technical liaison
is there to help you know "the ropes". Please make good use of your liaison.
We have a "stop work" policy that says any individual can request that
an activity perceived to be unsafe be stopped until resolved safely. (There is
also an appeal procedure if you feel someone is abusing this rule.) In this
particular incident, the individual refused to cooperate with the stop work
policy.

Seismic Isolation Installation:
-------------------------------
(C. Gray, H. Radkins)

With the arrival of the shipment from HYTEC the installation at BSC4 continues.
The Scissors Tables, X-Fine Replacement Stages, and the Coarse X-Y Assemblies
have been assembled and installed. The remainder of the external hardware
(Crossbeams) should be in place before the week is out and then we are back
inside for the in-vacuum hardware.

For BSC 8, the Control Rack and associated cabling arrived along with personnel
from HYTEC. The BSC8 Actuation system has been actuated! A few minor hardware
items (1 hard disk & 2 wires) needed replacement or repair, and software
problems (lost with hard disk), were identified and rewriten. So, we can now
set the elevation of the Optics Table in BSC8!  Greg Hayman gave a group of
LIGO personnel an orientation to operation of the Software (and hardware) for
the actuation system: C. Gray, D. Gustafson, J. Heefner, L. Jones, R. McCarthy,
J. Meyers, & H. Radkins were present.

RGAs were taken of the Fluorel Spring Seats. One batch was the untreated Spring
Seats, and the other was treated via the "Oklahoma Process" (a Fluoride
Extraction Process, consisting of a "Valtron" soap wash, DI water high temp
bath, and pressure cooking). RGA test results showed that the treated seats
were noticeably more "Fluoride clean".  A cost estimate of processing all of
our untreated seats was reasonable, so we are investigating whether to
go ahead with processing all seats.

PreStabilized Laser:
--------------------
(Rick Savage)

The PSL shutdown unexpectedly again at about 3:40 PM on Saturday.  On Monday
the 10-W Laser power supply showed a "PS Fault" error message. Examination of
archived EPICS data revealed that the output of the photodetector inside the
laser head that monitors the main output power sometimes drops suddenly
(minutes or less) then recovers slowly (several hours). These power drops
occur at about 12 to 16 hour intervals.

D. Barker added all of the PSL EPICS channels to the list of channels being
recorded at 1 Hz and written into the "trend frames" by the data acquisition
system. These data were compared with the EPICS records that are being archived
at a rate of once per minute by the EPICS archiver tool. Once per minute is
often too slow to give much insight into what is causing transients. As time
allows, the trend frames will be closely examined for clues as to what might
have caused the power supply fault over the weekend.

When displaying data over periods of longer than 60 minutes, the CDS analysis
software calculates and plots the max, min, and rms value over each one minute
interval (60 data points). Plots of several PSL channels over the past 24 hrs.
indicate that the 10-W laser output power oscillated with a period of about 1
hour and amplitude of about 100 mW for two intervals of about 8 hrs. each. The
plots show that most of the time during the periods of oscillation the PSL
intensity stabilized output power also oscillated as if the intensity
stabilization loop was unable to maintain lock.

Measurements made with a recently purchased and calibrated 30-W calorimeter
confirm that the maximum PSL output power is only 7.2-7.4 watts. The maximum
power measured just outside the laser head is 10.6 watts (likely below the
spec. of 10W in TEMoo mode).  Approximately 2.5 W is lost across the
pre-modecleaner presumably due to either poor mode quality out of the laser or
poor mode matching into the pre-modecleaner.

Working with Biplab Bhawal on the end-to-end model for the PSL, we have
written the architecture for all of the PSL box files (PSL,MOPA, FSS, ISS,
PMC). We are in the process of entering the settings for the various modules
and beginning the process of validation. The latest versions of adlib and alfi3
have been installed and are running very smoothly (no crashes to date). Gnuplot
is not installed (properly) so we are using Matlab for plotting output.

Haisheng Rong is in the process of installing transparent plastic beam tubes on
the IOO/PSL table as a temporary measure until the permanent aluminum tubes
arrive from the UFL group.

J. Myers has completed the fabrication of a transition cable (2 BNCs to
4-pin Lemo) required to connect two of the PSL fast channels to the data
acquisition system. We are awaiting approval from D. Coyne and R. Bork before
running two temporary cables to connect the signals.

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

The RM in HAM 9 will have its OSEM's replaced today and will have its
alignment rechecked. We have had to reglue magnets and standoffs on the ITMx
and ITMy and the FMy this week. They have been balanced, cleaned and will go
into the bake oven Thursday at noon. Barring mishaps we will have them ready
for installation next week.

We will be changing the way we sand the magnets to eliminate impregnating
their surfaces with foreign materials. The Teflon sanding guide fixture
leaves particles on the sandpaper which in turn get embedded into the
magnets. We have been using adhesive tape to pull loose magnetic particles
from the magnets, but by the same process we have deposited silicone
adhesive back onto the magnet. Ultra-sonic cleaning the magnets in acetone
does not remove all of the adhesive, weakening the bond. It requires a
mechanical wiping with acetone. Mark Barton's new and improved face gluing
fixture for the LOS optics shows great promise. We will be redoing the
gluing fixture, used to bond the magnets to the stand-offs as we are
contaminating bonding surfaces with Delrin. The PLX  periscope was damaged
in transit to LHO. Ken Mason is in Hot pursuit of a replacement.

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

Labview, the latest gnu compilers, and the latest Workshop compilers
have been installed on the server.

I have also added several new user accounts on the server, figured out
that the e2e .cshrc file wasn't working properly and fixed it, figured
out that gnuplot wasn't installed correctly and doesn't work, answered
several "How To" questions, did the weekly backups, and ordered more
licenses for Solaris 7.

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

The bake of X2 module commenced at 16:41 on 3/31/99.  We will be heating up
to our bake temperature of 168 C.  We have started to organize and package
some of the equipment for shipment to Livingston.

 


LIGO Livingston Observatory (LLO) Operations



 
 
Detector Installation: Hams 1 and 4 are buttoned up and leak checking is in process. We are staging and cleaning equipment for next week's activities (SEI installation). We are continuing picking up all unwanted items from the LVEA (trash). (Rich Riesen)

After bellows and feed throughs were installed in HAMs 1 & 4, the VE has been pumped down. Initial results indicate some problems with leaks. We are chasing those now. The base pressure of the system is 1.6E-6, which gives us good leak detector sensitivity. (Allen Sibley)

Beam tube bakeout: We continued to work on the arrangements for the shipment of the power supplies trailers from hanford to Livingston. We have arranged with United Motor Freight for the shipping to commence the week of April 19. Ed Watt arrived at LLO today to start staging equipment for beam tube insulation.  All of the lighting needed to conduct the insulation work have been installed along the X-arm. We continued to prepare for the safety review to be held starting April 6. (Cecil Franklin)

Optics & Vacuum Labs: (Jonathan Kern): Lab water quality has improved slightly. Culligan replaced the cemented hardware with hoses and clamps, raising the lab quality from 15 to 16 meg-ohms. The Barnstead unit improves the water quality to 18.3 at the optics cleaning station. PSL Safety Enclosure is nearly completed. Installation of the suspended ceiling, followed by electricals is all that remains. Laser Safety Signs are all up, and additional eyewash stations have been placed in both labs. The Optics Lab has been rewired to allow separate switching of the lights front and rear. The entire lab area has been plumbed with dry nitrogen lines.

LLO Networking and computer support: On the computer front, we have installed the Portmaster control software on the
Suns, and we are in the process of ordering Matlab and Mathematica. (Tom Evans)

Electrical installation (Rusyl Wooley, Juilien Svoboda): Received and installed 7.5KVA UPS; line and load wiring complete except for tie-in to bypass switch. Started installation of crates, power supplies, and cross-connection panels in 1x3, 1x6, 1x7 and 1x22.

Facilities (Gerry Stapfer): Hensel Phelps has completed the mechanical work to meet the contract QA  requirement. The as-built's for the mechanical drawings have been red lined and will be sent to Parsons for updating. The work included the water integration system and we are now using properly chlorinated water. Construction on the access road is ongoing.

Servo Test Stand: Baja 4700 processor boards received. VxWorks manual received. Mathematica received and installed. R. Bork and A. Rizzi completed Baja 4700 boot setup. Board is installed and functioning. Now need cross complier installed on Sun for baja 4700. (Anthony Rizzi)

Weather Station/Suspension Test Stand: Roger Mc Neil of LSU has been involved in weather station communication activities. Sun computer for Test Stand received. Russ Wooley and J. Kern moved crate into vacuum Lab. I have begun having appropriate cables run into room. New C code received from R. Schofield. I am now successfully communicating with Davis weather station thru RS232 port on 162-333 VME processor. Using c code compiled on LLO1 was able to read inside temperature, humidity and barametric pressure from Davis box. Obtained Epics manuals on state notation code and I/O record reference manual. A. Rizzi coordinated meetings with J. Phinney and R. Bork. Our discussions centered around best way to connect the weather station to CDS and to LSU's weather Network.
SDI-12 connections using two data loggers is being considered. Dust Monitor software resent and still does not unzip correctly. Met One is not supporting old free ware program because it is not Y2k compliant. James Phinney has weather station successfully sending signals to software on PC (not on VME). At present battery voltage and no weather is being sent. He is creating time stamped file which
useful for testing. (Anthony Rizzi)

LSU A course description was written for circulation at LSU to announce that A. Rizzi will teach a General Relativity course at LSU next fall. (Anthony Rizzi)
 


WBS 1.2, 1.3    Detector Group


40 m Interferometer (Bill Kells, Nergis Mavalvala)
---------------------------------------

After studying the TEM10 mode resonance in each
arm separately (low power build up) by injecting
a second side band tuned specifically for this
resonance, we have proceeded to lock up the full
interferometer. It behaves qualitatively as in all
past sessions: misaligned lock only with 1 fsb demod
for the RM, and aligned lock when switched to a
3 fsb demod. Now we study the same TEM10 resonant
probe for the fully locked system (high power build up).
The hope is to resolve a shift in this resonant
frequency corresponding to arm mirror coating heating
and thus absorption. This has worked with fixed mirror
high finesse cavities. We observe large fluctuations
(100's of Hz) in the resonance due to mirror alignment
fluctuations (no WFS, alas!). The mechanism for this
is not precisely understood, so that it remains a
dominant systematic, precluding a convincing determination
of absorption.

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

Interferometer sense/control (Zucker)
--------------------------------------
Site delivery status:
----------------------
ITMy,FMy optical levers installation in progress
IOT7         installed
ISCT7      installed
ISCT9,10       parts on order; assembly 4/26+ @LHO

LATE NEWS FROM LHO: Myron reports that our PLX lateral
transfer retroreflector arrived at LHO severely damaged.
This tool is next needed for installation of the beamsplitter.
We're working with PLX to see if we can get a fast repair
and recalibration (or a second unit) in time.

Chamber video
-------------
MZ set up a test rig for low-level IR diffuse scatter (e.g., as from
interior chamber walls when finding a misaligned low-power beam) and
tested a new Watec "ultralow-light" camera against our existing Sony,
Pulnix and Hitachi units (result: a little better than our trusty old
Hitachi, but not much; cheaper and smaller however).  Demo units were
also requested from Electrophysics and Ikegami (both intensified CCD's)
to join the shootout.

ISC installation alignment (MZ for Ken Mason)
----------------------------------------------
Installation procedures have been comprehensively reworked and updated
to respect newly discovered access constraints.  Direction and position
vector tables were also regenerated and included for remaining 2k and
4k core optics based on the revised access list.

Resolved ambiguity on the ISCT10 beam layout with Mike Smith (turns
out ISCT10 and ISCT4, functionally equivalent 2k and 4k versions
have different beam I/O 's after all).
 

ISC implementation (P. Fritschel)
-----------------------------------
o I've been considering the option of operating a long arm cavity
as the first stage in the buildup of the WA 2km interferometer.
Regarding the interferometer controls, I made a proposal to
implement a subset of the control electronics (mostly analog
hardware) to achieve length locking and angle sensing of a
2km cavity. The purpose of such a test, as far as the ISC is
concerned, is to get information about the length and angle
fluctuations over the long baseline, and to test some of the
length locking electronics and the angle sensors. Currently
Jay & Dale are working on a plan for designing and producing
the electronics.

o Ralph has produced 3 more 980 nm laser diode modules with
RF modulation capability, to be used for photodetector testing.

    #MZ NOTE: THESE TEST LASERS ARE EQUIPPED WITH FIXED ATTENUATORS
    TO COMPLY WITH CDRH CLASS IIIa REQUIREMENTS (i.e., not normally
    hazardous).

ISC supervisory control code & GDS interface (Ed Daw)
------------------------------------------------------
This week I worked on a client / server pair for the GDS
diagnostic system using sockets. This work will now be
extended to writing a simple socket server for the GDS
diagnostic system. I am becoming familiar with how diagnostic
software is structured so I know how to interface the
ddcu code to the GDS diagnostic engine.

ISC implementation (N. Mavalvala)
-----------------------------------
- Installation and alignment of ISCT7 was completed
except for the length and alignment photodetectors
and the modematching bull's eye detectors. The
enclosure was placed on the table, panels (some
with acoustic blankets) were mounted. Documentation
for table components was assembled.

- The IO electro-optic modulators were tuned for
resonant frequencies. The HP impedance test kit
measurement was compared to a measurement using
an AR directional coupler. The center frequencies
agreed well but there is some discrepancy between
the Qs of the circuit measured in these two setups.
This will be clarified shortly.

Optical lever installation (Matt Smith & Myron MacInnes at LHO)
---------------------------------------------------------
The optical lever support pier and laser fot the WA 2K folding mirror is
installed.  We need to rework the viewport adapter to eliminate some
inteference with the beam tube.  The wedge plate that supports the photo
detector for this mirrror is installed.  The as built position of the wedge
plate is different than the as design position.  In order to make the wege
plate work I need to have two 3" spacer bars made.

The table for the Input test masses on the Y arm is installed.  Holes need
to be drilled into the floor to install the hold down dogs.  We will
install the optical levers for the 2K input test mass today.  I am not
planning on installing the 4K input test mass optical lever.  Some of the
cable trays needed to be  relocated.

We will start the X arm optical lever table assembly today.

I disassembled the optical levers that were on WBSC4 so that Larry can
install the work platforms for the seismic installation.
 

-------------------------------------------
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
--------------------------------------------

- Replacement motion damper brackets arrived late last week.  These ones
are made from the correct material.

- There has been another schedule slippage for the anti-reflection coated zero
length vacuum viewports.  Originally they were supposed to ship 03/26 but
there have been delays at the coater.  They will now ship 04/12.

- RF photodetectors are currently under construction for the LLO PSL.
These should be complete by the end of today (03/31).

- Packing of PSL components for the LLO installation is underway.
 

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

Task                  Current Completion Date
__________________________________________________
PSL IOO installation
    - optics on table               complete
    - periscope on table            complete
    - beam alignment                complete
    - beam characterization         complete

Vacuum Prep
    - suspensions                   complete
    - nonsuspended optics           complete
    - suspended small optics        in progress
    - suspended MMT3                complete

In Vacuum Optics Installation           in progress (MMT3, several SOS)

In Vacuum Alignment        4/8

Mode Cleaner Characterization     5/8
------------------------------------------------

2K Installation -

All of the SOSs were retrofitted with reworked OSEMs.  MC3, SM1, SM2,
and MMT1 have been placed in the vacuum and positioned.  Four nonsuspended
steering mirrors were also placed and positioned.
 
Both MCCMs are baking.  During installation, Sany noticed that MC1
(MCFM) had accumulated a film which could not be removed through CO2 snow
cleaning. The mirror was brought back to the optics lab where 2 magnets
were lost. Since this problem has plagued us for a while now, a thorough
investigation has been undertaken.  A complete history follows:

(1) Side magnet from MC flat MCFM01-1 (original MC Flat#1)
History: This is the first 3" optic we put magnets on. After the first
bakeout, two top magnets came off. We patched magnets (2/10/99), and then
rebaked (last week).
What happened: After the rebake, we cleaned the optic by the following
procedure.
Findings: Before the above-mentioned post bakeout cleaning, all the 6
magnets passed the razor blade test. According to the record, the side
magnets were not reglued after the first bake off. This means that they
survived two bakeouts. This fact supports the patching method (the other
method is "glue from the beginning").
(2) Influence of liquinox
We cleaned the other MC flat mirror (MCFM06-1, or spare MCFlat #1) that
lost one side magnet (magnet only) while the OSEM was being taken off, and
one top magnet-standoff combination during the razor blade test made
afterwards. To clean this optic so that we can put magnets back, we put
this optic in a liquinox solution (the whole optic was immersed in the
solution completely), heated the solution (without using an outer beaker)
to 62 C deg, kept it for 15 min.
Findings: Before we put the optic in the liquinox solution, we tried to
remove the epoxy residue from the magnet that came off. It was unusually
difficult to remove it, even if we used acetone and a razor balde to take
it off from the optic's surface. After cooking the optic in the solution
for 15 min, one top stand off came off by itself. All the other stand offs
came off very easily when we touched them by a finger. In addition, some
of the epoxy residues (from these magnets came off after the cooking) came
off very easily. This fact indicates that hot liquinox degrades the epoxy
bonding a lot.
(3) Stand off surface
We examined the surface of the magnet standoffs that came off by
themselves by micorscope and compared them with magnet standoffs that did
not come off themslves but we took off intentionally. There is no
substantial difference found between the two groups so far.
(4) B-field from top-magnets to side-magnets
We measured the B-field from the top magnets at the side magnet's
location using a Gauss meter.
Findings:
a) B-field component parallel to the thickness of the optic was measured
to be ~0.25 Gauss.
b) B-field component parallel to the optic top surface and looking toward
the center of the optic was measured to be ~1 Gauss
c) B-field component parallel to both the optic top surface and side
surface (i.e., parallel to circumference) was measured to be ~1.2 Gauss
Components a) and b) are expected to be small by the arrangement of the
top magnets where the polarities of neighboring magnets are opposite
to each other.
Because the side magnet has mu=0.0107 (A m^2), the (c) component of the
B-field tries to rotate the side magnet with a torque of
0.0107*1.2e-4=1.28e-6 (N m)

4K IFOs -

No significant activity to report.
 

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

4 of 8 measurements are complete for BS01 we should be able to ship this
optic by 9 April as promised.
 

Core Optics Coatings -- Helena Armandula
--------------------------------------------------
Magnet Bonding: There are still problems with the bonding of magnets. Steps
that we are taking at this time: We are reasonable assured that the process
and the bonding material work because in several instances glass has been
pulled trying to break a bond. Fixture problems and possible contamination
sources have been identified. The fixtures are being replaced or reworked;
cleaning procedures are being incorporated. At this time we are reducing
the number of people involved in the bonding process in order to establish
process control. Testing of failed parts (one magnet assembly) do not
reveal causes of concern, this type of testing will continue.
 
 

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

BEAM-DUMPS
Awaiting delivery of five sets cavity beam dump housings on 4/9/99.

PO TELESCOPE
Mike S. and Ken M. are continuing to identify and correct errors in the
first item for the PO telescope. All parts should be reworked and assembled
by the end of this week.

ETM TELESCOPE
Release of the shop drawings is pending. 7 sets of lenses have been received.

PO MIRROR
The PO mirrors for the 2K IFO were received. We are expecting delivery of
three sets of mechanical mirror mount assemblies by the end of this week.

VACUUM WINDOW
6 uncoated windows have been shipped to REO for high transmissivity AR
coatings.

NEW CONICAL BAFFLE at MID STATION
Design is pending.

CAVITY BEAM DUMP
Cavity beam dump mechanical parts are expected the end of this week. The
glass is being fabricated and delivery is expected 4/9/99. Craig C. has
sent the drawings for the vertical support structure to a shop, delivery is
expected 4/9/99. Paul K. and Craig C. are completing the layout of the
horizontal support structures and the flexure brackets for the beam dumps
in BSC8.

ELLIPTICAL BAFFLE/BEAM DUMP
We are awaiting delivery of the AR coated elliptical baffles for RM, ITMx
and ITMy. All mechanical parts are on hand and are ready for clean and bake.

ITM/ETM ARM CAVITY BAFFLE
Paul K. is in process of making 2D working drawings. Angel is assisting him
pro bono.

FARADAY ISOLATOR
Three Faraday isolator assemblies plus one spare TGG rod were received.
Bleed holes are being added at a local shop to eliminate several blind
holes in the mechanical structure.

INTEGRATED LAYOUT DRAWING
Paul K., Dave Tanner, and Mike S. added the current IOO layout to the
integrated layout drawing plan view. An up-dated plan view layout of the
beam dumps, PO mirrors, and LOS structures is being added.

INSTALLATION PLAN
item                                completion          install

Mode cleaner baffle                                      done
IO baffle                                                done
Elliptical baffle 2KRM, HAM9         4/2/99                 ?
Elliptical baffle 2KITMy, BSC8        4/2/99                ?
Beam dump BSAR3, BSC8                4/15/99                ?
Beam dump FMYX, BSC8                 4/15/99                ?
Beam dump FMYY, BSC8                 4/15/99                ?
PO mirror 2KITMx, BSC4               4/12/99               5/7/99
PO mirror 2KITMy, BSC4               4/12/99               5/7/99
Beam dump RMHR3, BSC4                4/12/99               5/7/99
Beam dump BSHR3P-2, BSC4             4/12/99               5/7/99
Beam dump ITMXAR1, BSC4              4/12/99               5/7/99
Beam dump ITMXAR4, BSC4              4/12/99               5/7/99
Beam dump ITMyAR1, BSC4              4/12/99               5/7/99
Beam dump ITMyAR4, BSC4              4/12/99               5/7/99
Elliptical baffle 2KITMx, BSC7       4/2/99                6/7/99
Beam dump FMXX, BSC7                 5/12/99                6/7/99
Beam dump FMXY, BSC7                 5/12/99                6/7/99
PO mirror BS, BSC7                   4/12/99                6/7/99

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

Seismic Design (Mike Fine)
--------------------------------------
1. Electronics Rack:
The rack was shipped to LHO last Friday. On Monday, the ship arrived
and the rack was installed near BSC8.  The computer hard disk
failed as a result of shipping, but was replaced on Tuesday. Two of
HYTEC's crew are currently working on the installation and are near
completion.

2. Scissors Tables:
Hytec has been receiving a number of IDC vertical actuators
including those slotted for the mid- and end-station BSC's. Eight of
these actuators have been installed on eight scissors tables and
shipped to LHO. In the meantime eight more scissors tables have been
delivered to HYTEC from Hand Precision. Superior Jig scissors tables
will also be shipping their tables soon.

3. Near-Term SEI Hardware Delivery Schedule:
4 air bearings (Hanford)                                   4/2/99
2 HAM support tubes (Livingston)                           4/6/99
8 HAM bellows (Hanford)                                    4/8/99
1 set of BSC springs (Hanford)                             4/12/99
2 sets of HAM springs (Livingston)                         4/12/99
1000 # balance weights  (Livingston)                    4/14/99
1 set of HAM leg elements (Livingston)                     4/14/99
4 HAM optical tables  (Livingston)                         4/14/99
16 HAM stack shims (Livingston)                            4/14/99
 

Suspension -- (Janeen Hazel/Mark Barton/Mike Fine)
-------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Report form Janeen:
-Magnets and standoffs are glued on the ITMx. Mark has hung it in a
structure. He has glued the magnets on the FMy.

-Sent additional dumbbells and guide rods to LHO for air bake.

-Pierce Precision Sheet Metal may not get the bridge spanner, a BSC
alignment fixture, done before Monday or Tuesday, 4/5 or 4/6, so it
will have to be cleaned and air baked at LHO.
-twenty long (LOS) and 19 short (SOS) sensor/actuators should be in
the oven this afternoon. They will bake for 96 hours then be sent to
LHO for the ITMy and FMy suspensions.

-Working on redesigning the gluing fixtures for the SOS.

-Finishing up the drawings for the gripper magnet/standoff fixture.
Will send it to CES for fabrication.

2. SUS Hardware Delivery:
SUS Structure Delivery Dates: [numbers in parentheses are quantities.]
LOS1(for ETM, ITM, MMT): 4/15(3), 4/30(1)
LOS2: 4/30(2)
 

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

Global Diagnostics System
(Daniel Sigg, John Zweizig)
------------------------------
 

This week Zweizig continued to work on the Data Monitor Tool chapter of the
GDS Final
Design Report. I delivered a first release of the C-language interface to the
background monitor environment to Keith Riles for preliminary testing and
comment. The errors noted last week were fixed by Alex. I have continued the
development of interface routines for use in the root environment. The data
access and time series classes and drawing function are debugged to the
extent that I can now copy on-line data for a given channel into a C++ time
series object and draw the object inside root.

Daniel Sigg continued to work on the GDS FDR. Revamped the testpoint
manager and
added DCU initialization and update code. The testpoint manager now
implements the DCU functionality for LSC/ASC testpoint and excitation
DDCUs. It also updates the channel information data area to reflect the
selected test points. Worked with Ed D. on a sockets interface to the
diagnostics kernel (rather than the default remote procedure call).
 

Physics Environmental Monitor (Matt Smith, David Shoemaker & Alex Marin)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

M. Smith is in Hanford this week.   The PEM interface plates were installed
onto WHAMS 8 and 9.   Pem interfaceplates were fit checked onto BSC8 along
with the shaker assemblies.  Shorter screws are required and are on order
and should arrive Thursday.  The interface plates to the BSC's will not
require any shim plates.  There is an inteference problem on the eastern
side of the BSC where the large gate valve is.  The plates intefere with
the ribs on the valve.  There are 4 other holes available on the seismic
support beam about 12 " away that could be used to mount the shakers.

Material for the installing PEM stay clear zones, the Beam Tube interface
plates were to arrive this week, but as of Wednesday they have not arrived.
   Some of the electro-magnetic shakers parts were reworked.  They were
cleaned and reassembled.  They are now located in the PEM cabinet in the
clean storage area.
 

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

The contamination study manuscript has been submitted to Applied Optics.

The 2 cavities containing viton are under vacuum WITHOUT pumping.
They will be held this way for 1 week after which they will be
exposed to air, pumped down, and their losses measured. After
that we will run the chambers at higher temperatures as a more
aggressive means of looking for contamination.

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

Near Term Installation
===================
- PSL Installation @Livingston - April 5-9 and April 19 - April 30
 

Livingston Installation
===================
- Rolf at Livingston this week:
    - Completed setup of first two control room consoles
    - Installed vxWorks and licences for MIPS processors
    - Continued meetings w/LSU on weatherstation interfaces
    - Setup PSL VME hardware and software in preparation of installation
next week.
    - Modified Vacuum controllers to boot from the main server now that the
       networks are complete to end stations.
    - Continued work on getting the DAQS server operational
    - Installed one data collection unit for initial testing of system

Hanford Installation
=================
- Jay, Date and Mohanna at Hanford this week:
    - Completing IOO LSC installation
    - Completing IOO ASC installation.

PSL
=====
1.  Preparations continue for the upcoming PSL installation at LLO.  Boxes
are being packed, electronics is getting last minute checks, etc.

Suspensions
===========
- Continuing work on SOS rack wiring harness for Livingston installation.
 


WBS 1.4    Project Office



 

 1.4.1.2 Project Controls (Lindquist)


Change Control/Contingency (Lindquist)

The following change requests have been submitted:
 

CR-970035A WBS 1.4.4.2 Infrastructure Computers for Hanford F. Raab
CR-970036A WBS 1.4.4.2 Infrastructure Computers for Livingston M. Coles
CR-990001 WBS 1.3 Return Unused Budget for Construction Related R&D to Contingency P. Lindquist
CR-990004 WBS 1.1.4 Livingston Site Erosion Control and Landscaping G. Stapfer
CR-990005 WBS-1.1.4 Livingston Site Fiber Optics Cable Installation F. Asiri
CR-990006 WBS 1.2.1 Seismic Isolation System - Epoxy Filled Spring CO2 Cleaning S. Whitcomb
CR-990007 WBS 1.1.2 Beam Tube Closeout L. Jones
CR-990008 WBS 1.1.1 Vacuum Equipment Milestones and Changes J. Worden
Copies of the Change Requests have been distributed to the members of the Change Control Board (LIGO-L990124-00-P), and will be discussed at the next meeting of the Board (to be scheduled).
Press Here for the latest Contingency Needs Projection


LIGO Weekly Site Telecon (Jasnow)

A site telcon was held on Thursday, April 1, 1999.  The list of current actions assigned may be found at ACTION LIST.


PROPERTY MANAGEMENT (Chargois)

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

No Report This Week [Ed is on vacation -pel.]


DOCUMENT CONTROL CENTER (Turner)

From: the DCC <dcc@ligo.caltech.edu>

STATISTICS

March was a busy month for the DCC.  The following statistics for March give a clear indication of the amount of documentation that was processed within our group.  A total of 254 electronic documents were processed and made available on-line.  Additionally, 377 documents were added to the database.  The numbers by category are as follows: During the month, a total of 205 packages were received and distributed.  An additional 97 packages were sent out.  The DCC processed 257 incoming faxes and the project transmitted 339 faxes.  Twelve custom picture presentations were assembled during the month for lecture and publication uses.

Press here for an uptodate report on ACTIVITIES IN THE DOCUMENT CONTROL CENTER.


COST SCHEDULE CONTROL SYSTEMS (Duncan, Moore, Akutagawa, Kaufman)

From: Sarita Moore<moore_s@ligo.caltech.edu>

Press here for ACCOUNTS PAYABLE TABULAR DATA.

From: Kris Duncan <kris@ligo.caltech.edu>

From: Florence Kaufman <fkaufman@ligo.caltech.edu>
No report this week.

SUBCONTRACTS MANAGEMENT (Petrac, Jasnow)

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

Nothing to report this week.

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

The class on Passport card training was presented to the Livingston staff on Thursday, April 1, so that they may receive their credit cards.  Four of the seven eligible account managers have elected to receive the card.


TECHNICAL CONFIGURATION MANAGEMENT (Althouse)

From: wea@acrux (William Althouse)

No report. See Bake out.


1.4.2.1 Quality Assurance (Tyler)

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

LIGO QA worked with Rita Torres, Mike Zydowicz, and Elizabeth Wood to assemble the Review Committee books for next weeks Livingston Operations and Safety review. The books have been distributed to the sites and the committee members. Assisted with other review preparations/coordination.

Working with Mike Fine to establish the procurement for Fluoride extraction processing of Fluorel o-rings and spring seats. Supported the Vacuum Board discussions regard the need to continue with the extraction processing in light of recent outgassing test results. LIGO QA is planning an audit of Walker & Sons after the Livingston operations review. Helped coordinate o-ring and spring seat movements to and from Waler & Sons.
 
 


WBS 1.4.3    Systems Engineering / Data Analysis and Computing


Systems Engineering

The Vacuum Review Board met to discuss the results from RGA scans of H2O
pressure baked fluorel components. The decision was to proceed using this
process wherever fluorel is being used.

Nothing received

Modeling  & Simulation

PSL ( Biplab, Rick )

This week, Biplab is in Hanford to work with Rick Savage to develop the simulation
setup of the PSL subsystem. Using a correct parameters of the PMC, the model prediction
agrees well with the data. They have built all necessary framework setups. Now they are
filling in necessary parameters and validating the code.

Multi mode code ( Hiro )

Filling in various missing pieces, detectors, shot noise, modulators, telescope etc. During
Malik was visiting CIT, the comparisons were done between the e2e model predictions and
Malik's calculations. The shot noise, non stationally effect included, and the telescope were
found to be in good agreement. Minimal updates of documents were done, so that one can
see the summary of the latest updates in a couple of references, which are available from
the LIGO web page. The command line interface of modeler / modeler_freq are changed so
that the typed in keys are automatically saved in a file, and one can easily create the run
file.

GW signal generator ( Matt, Hiro )

Discussed implementation of a GW signal injector for E2E.

alfi ( Ed )

1) Released Version 3.3.3
    1.1) Fixed crashing bug caused by activating right-mouse button on edit canvas.
    1.2) Corrected problem in adding icons to primitives.
    1.3) Corrected problem with parameter setting in a derived box.
    1.4) Corrected error that prevented destination port from being displayed.
    1.5) Corrected problem of line drawing stopping when line passes over a box.
    1.6) When Save All is active, keep track of files that a user has opened. Only
            these files will be saved.
2) Used several packages (LeakTracer and Electric Fence) to track memory problems.
3) Worked with xlab to try and generate automated testing.

VIRGO-LIGO collaboration discussion (Andrea Vicere', Giancarlo Cella, Hiro )

Andrea sent us an email note inquiring about possible collaborative work between VIRGO and LIGO.
[AL NOTE: This communication appears to have been vetted by VIRGO management]. The
content is very encouraging, and he proposed to itemize major topics where we can
bemutually beneficial. He suggests that the collaboration can go into the shared code
development. Mechanical systems modeling is one of the areas where we can start to work together,
because Giancarlo, who is developing code for us, is in Pisa. Vicere' expressed interest in
coming to USA in the near future.

Data Analysis

LDAS Software:

 (JKB) Wrote Moriond Conference Proceedings paper on "The LIGO Data
       Analysis System".

 (JKB) Worked with Phil, Dave & Bruce to develop several little demo
       test cases to exercise the managerAPI/assistant manager/frameAPI
       combination.

 (JKB) Met with Albert, Stuart and Larry to determine the Hanford LDAS
       hardware that would be needed first to support early LDAS software.

 (JKB) Continued search for qualified software engineers.

 (JKB) Reviewed the MPI communications model to determine bandwidth bottle
       necks in the dataflow pipeline. MPI_Bcast will communicate data to
       all nodes will a performance that is proportional to
       (network bandwidth) / log2(#nodes).

 (DF)  I have been validating the FrameCpp library and preparing it for
       release.

 (DF)  I have also been working on the C++ portion of a demo for the
FrameAPI
       which creates reduced frames.

 (DF)  Met with Kent, Phil & Bruce to discuss FrameAPI demo.
 

 (PSE) Continued working on the managerAPI.tcl

 (PSE) Continued working on the frameAPI.tcl

 (PSE) Met several times with Kent Blackburn, Bruce Sears, and
       David Farnham to discuss managerAPI/frameAPI issues and
       to prepare demonstration of frame retrieval functions.

 (EM)  Met with Xiao and Bruce Allen to discuss modification and loading of
the
       binaryinspiral table.

 (EM)  Installed MySQL on spica and added accounts for Xiao and myself.
 

 (XHU) worked on 40 meter data digestion.

 (XHU) Current working on loading data into the binaryinspiral
       table. Bruce Allen suggested to add few columns to the table.
       Data will be loaded soon.
 (XHU) worked on mysql database manager
       Creating tables use mysql and trying to figure out what kind
       of capability mysql has.
 (XHU) worked on database queries

 (BK)  Continued work on the web application for CDS.

 (BK)  Developed web pages for searching and displaying channel
configurations.
       Based on a conversation with Rolf, redesigned the tables and now am
       modifying the web pages to be able to edit and store named channel
       configurations.

Bruce Sears

    *    Continuing work on the definition of Inter-API communications in LDAS
processes

    *    Continuing communication with Kent Blackburn, Phil Ehrens, Dave
Farnham,  and Ed Maros to discuss this and clarify the TBDs in implementing
inter-API communications.  Currently writing pseudo-code scripts
for further discussion and later translation into an actual implementation.

AL Notes :
Kent, Tom and I have started plannig for the upcoming NSF review.
B. Schutz from GEO has sent a draft outling proposal for an MOU between
LIGO and GEO for data sharing, etc.
I have started work on a specification defining the style for algorithmic
code developed by the LSC at large which can be incorporated into LDAS
and elsewhere in LIGO (e.g., GDS).

LDAS Hardware:

Anderson/Wallace:

1)      The networking performance of the LDAS Beowulf cluster was improved
by ~30% for large messages (>1 kByte), and work is on going to improve
short message performance. Running /ldcg/mpi/bin/mpirun -nolocal -np 16 prog
from the Beowulf server (kitalpha) will now launch 1 copy of prog on
each of the 16 processors in the cluster.

2)      An initial test was run on the recently upgraded CACR HPSS system
to test its stability and performance by asking the following question:

Can HPSS reliable archive the 40m data stream as it is being generated?

Running a set of Perl/TCL/Expect scripts on an LDAS computer,
24hours of 40m data in the form of 1440 60sec frame tar files where
sucessfully archived into HPSS at the average rate of ~1MB/s
(the current 40m frame build rate). The transfer occurred in short bursts
(~5MB/sec) and totaled ~75GB of data. 5 errors where reported, but
the Expect scripts successfully re-ran ftp to get those 5 files
into HPSS. The relatively small 57MB files where retrievable from
HPSS at ~3MB/s (without any attempt at pre-staging, or running
multiple requests).

Conclusion: In another week or so, when the larger StorageTek SILO is fully
integrated, the upgraded CACR HPSS system will be ready for a larger test
using the higher capacity Redwood tape drives.

3)    Have ordered the rack and a number of SUN boxes. Going over the quotes for
the FORE equipment and cabling. Sent in a request for quotes on the PC's to be
ordered.
Asked representatives from FORE to come and present information on some of
the  latest equipment that now have to offer.
Participated in a number of meetings going over the hardware configuration
and requirements for LDAS.
 

General Computing
 
MIT:
Nothing to report.

Livingston:
(Tom E.)Installed the Portmaster control software on the Suns after a disk
failure on the PC which used to perform this task.
Ordering several Matlab licenses for the Unix and PC systems, and we are
getting
prices for Mathematica for the Unix system.

Bonnie is working with a number of people at CIT to resolve connection
issues to
where they can use the PCARD system on a number of PC's and not just one.
Larry
W. a number of people from ITS and the accounting department are all
involved.

[AL Note: We received a quote from Bell South for the pricing structure
for trenching in a FO link to LLO and the monthly "phone bill" for T3
service (T3 = 30x T1, or ~ 5.5MB/s)]

Hanford:
Labview, the latest gnu compilers, and the latest Workshop compilers
have been installed on the server.

CIT:

The general use PC with the CD burner and scanner has been rebuilt and now
has a DVD burner also. Samantha still has a few tests to run on the DVD burner
but the other items are all working correctly.

Samantha is running a more detailed Y2K diagnostic program on the
PCs. This process will take some time since she has started classes again.

Barbara K. developed a prototype web application for submitting LSC
progress reports to see if MS Office & WebBase are feasible tools. Was able to enter
some formatted prose on a web form and confirm and submit the entries.  Then was
able to generate a PDF file with the prose in the same format.
Created and installed the web page for the March LSC presentations.
Made some quick changes to the Amaldi web site.  Investigated adding a
field for abstracts to one of the forms.  (Right now abstracts are
registered online but submitted via email).
Updated WebDocs database and document directory on Antares.

Ed Maros installed latest version of texinfo package on Sirius.

Suresh install a 18 GB ultraScsi hard drive to pollux and trasfer data
under directory /export/data2 in canopus and 40 meter data (data4om) from gw home
directory. This will eventually replace the aging 9 GB drive in canopus and
give the data online area more space.
Worked  with Larry to configure printer services in system kuma
(Ultra 10), which will be our next mail and print server.
Taking care of monthly servers backups.
Performed some user accounts set up as usual, resolved system related
issues and pursued some paperworks for purchases.

Sean S. is working on a number of scripts that have been assigned to him as
well as working on some of the logistics to upgrade Kater.

Presently, we are working a number of networking issues and investigating
methods that may be used in the future for redundancy access to the
observatories.

Resolving a number of procurement issues for both General Computing and
LDAS.


WBS 1.4.4.1    Administrative Group



Dot Lloyd

Continue to work on reconciling the status reports and entering AP30 reports into the database. Processed the usual heavy load of purchase requisitions, POs, change orders, etc. Processed many invoices and receivers for payment. [See Cost Schedule Control Systems report submitted by Sarita Moore for further details.]

Continued to monitor and support the temp.

Rita Torres

For I. Petrac did change order No. 9 to Butler Services Group, then distributed the signed document. Did change order No. 30 to MIT, and did edits to various MOUs. Spent one hour copying 1998 Telos invoices for resolving a billing issue.

For R. DeSalvo copied and distributed science paper. Ongoing updates on the web page for site trips.

Contacted our pager company, Pagenet, to arrange email/voice capability. Have had poor response from them, will continue to pursue over the next few days.

For Safety committee, did a form in FrameMaker: LIGO Observatory Incident/Mishap Report. Did edits to 45-page safety manual in preparation for the April 7 safety review. Also for the review, obtained LLO safety procedures via email and printed out.

Coordinated more details (carried over from last week) for eye exams resulting in prescriptions for the laser glasses.

Irene Baldon

Worked on preparing the paper work for various new trips taken recently (18 Purchase Requisitions and 11 Advance Requests). There are 8 additional new trips in various stages pending completion of travel arrangements.

Travel arrangements continued with a number of late reservations for the NSF Review at the Livingston, LA, site. LIGO has a block of 50 rooms at The Hampton Inn and the NSF has requested a separate block of 20 rooms at The Holiday Inn Express. At the moment I am reserving cars for the NSF participants and encouraging the travelers to share with someone else who might be traveling on the same, or close to, flight. We will not be reserving any vans for this excursion.

Completed 42 Expense Reports. Some of these were still not taped or completed by the Traveler and required more time for completion. Also worked on a number of problem issues which required a good portion of my time. Received yesterday and late Tuesday, but not yet completed my audit, 9 Expense Reports. These should be completed today barring unexpected delays.

Continued to clear 1998 folders, sending them to DCC for permanent storage. I still have a few 1998 individual files not completed with the submission of an expense report. I will continue to contact these individuals as time permits. Please submit your receipts if you still have an outstanding trip.

With the recent mailing of delinquent letters from Travel Audit, I continue to receive calls from the traveler requiring my help in solving problems created by Travel Audit intermingling T numbers or failing to notice the submission of an Expense Report in the last month or so.

Prepared Travel/Vacation Itinerary for the Week of March 30, 1999.

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

Elizabeth K. Wood

Got the Safety Meeting manuals put together and mailed off to Livingston.

Met with Barry Barish to discuss the on-going preparations for the NSF review.

Talked to Lenore Freise in HR about tours of LIGO for "Bring your kids to work day" on Thursday, April 22. We don’t know who what or where yet, but some of you will be the next to know.

Please note that the Project Controls meeting on April 19th and all other meetings in the SCR that day have been canceled and have been replaced by the NSF presentation dry-run. I would like the transparencies of your talks by 8:00 a.m. on Wednesday, April 21 so I can get them copied and put in binders for mailing on Thursday.

Mailed out attachments to MOUs for Syd.

Typed up PAN forms reflecting even more account distribution changes and sent them off to HR.


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