Weekly Report for Week Ending February 23, 1999



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

The Project Control Meeting Agenda for Monday  February 29, 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:


Special Announcements:


Weekly Report Highlights
 
 Hanford recycling mirror in!...and blowin' in the wind

First Hanford BSC downtube is in!

Some bad Kapton cables in HAM chambers

X1 cooling down after bakeout

ftp://ligo.caltech.edu/pub/Livingston/99_Weekly_images/site022699/index.html
 


LIGO Hanford Observatory (LHO) Operations


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

LHO LVEA will transition to laser hazard condition on Friday, Feb 26. (Refer to the applicable laser safety procedures for the requirements to work in these conditions!-GHS)
 

Facilities:
-----------
O. Matherny
 

Water System Modification: The 8000 gallon tank is installed and plumbed in.
The contractor is working on the controls.
 
 

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

SEI
The SEI system continues to serve its purpose as a support for Optics--the
2K Recycling Mirror was installed Monday and Tuesday. The mirror was aligned
with IAS's surveying equipment including the laser autocollimater. We found
significant noise in the suspension of the mirror during alignment that was
alleviated by installing the soft door covers or shutting the cleanroom off.
It slowed the process down some to have the cover reinstalled after each
adjustment of the optic but it was the only way to have a settled reading
for measurement.
 

BSC
The Support Tubes for BSC8 have been installed and the Bellows are currently
being installed. The Support Table/Downtube was about to be installed when
inspection revealed the same cylindrical contamination that was found in the
HAM chambers last week. This would suggest the source is the manufacturer's
cleaning or shipping process. The Assembly will be cleaned before
installation and the manufacturer will be reviewed for the source of the
contamination. After the Support Table/Downtube is installed, the Support
Tubes will be connected to the Crossbeams via the V-Blocks. The internal
hardware will then be supported by the external structure and the BSC dome
will be replaced and the Bellows will be leak checked.

(GHS note: The downtube was successfully installed today 2/25. It is quite a sight!)
 
 

Core Optics Support:
--------------------
(B. Weaver)
 

Since last week's installation of the IO baffle in WHAM 8, COS
on the Hanford home front has quieted.  Thanks to Larry J., Stan W.,
Mark B., Hugh, and Corey for helping me with the installation and alignment!
Until more COS stuff comes in, I've been continuing to help out with
the COCs as well as with the contamination cleanup in WHAMs 7, 8, & 9.
 

Optics & Lasers:
----------------
(B. Weaver)
 

Corey and I HEPA vacuumed, and then wiped down with isopropanol and
LIGO polyester wipes, the WHAM 8 & 9 tables on Friday.  Through
inspection with a close up light, this cleaning process seemed to do the
trick. There is still a bit of the glass fiber contamination on the inside
ledges of the table undersides that can be seen, but is very difficult to
reach.
 

Also during the late part of last week, we received the ITM and folding
mirror (large optics). Mark B. and crew cleaned both mirrors and glued
magnets to the ITM. Over the weekend, we came in to remove the gluing
fixture and found that a magnet had failed. Mark then reglued four new face
magnets on the ITM. David S. and I removed the fixture Monday morning and
found that all of the magnets had survived. Today we set up the ITM's LOS
structure and moved the mirror into place for suspension, which will
probably continue this afternoon.
 

I have also learned how to construct magnet/standoff assemblies and have
made up two sets for the folding mirror (hopefully one set will be a spare).
Thanks Haisheng for looking over my shoulder during this procedure!
 

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

The PC Photoreader is working again.  I suggest that the AutoCAD key
should be removed before plugging the Photoreader into the same slot.
They should be able to work piggybacked in the slot, but last time when
one broke, they both broke.  Having only one plugged in at a time will
only break one at a time.  Right now the Guest1 PC has the Photoreader
software installed.
 

One P5-90 PC for General Computing has been put out in the LVEA next to
the Vacuum rack on the Xarm.  The other computer is ready to be put out
next to the vacuum rack on the Yarm, just waiting for more hands to help
get it out there.  Thanks to Johnathan, one of the student helpers, for
getting the hard drive replaced.
 

The Matlab Control System toolbox has been installed on the server.  It
doesn't work, still waiting for technical support to get back to me.
The Sun Workshop compilers have been ordered.
 

Per Fred's request, all the LHO web pages from the LIGO web pages have
been copied up here to the LHO web server.  I created a way for Fred to
restrict, password only, access to certain web pages he is making.  Will
contact the LIGO webmaster to get all the links from the LIGO web pages
for LHO pages linked to the LHO pages on the web server up here.
 

I took pictures of Josh, Betsy and Jill for their Caltech ID cards.  The
pictures have been emailed to Caltech CCO and the cards should be here
soon.
 
 

Electronics/Electrical Systems:
-------------------------------
(R. McCarthy)
 

Assisted with the installation of the 2k Recycling mirror.  During the
check out of the electrical connections we found a bad Kapton cable so on
Tuesday repaired the cable.  With the cable fixed we were able to control
the mirror with the LOS controller.  The repair of the cable was
accomplished by swapping unused wires with broken ones, therefor the cables
are not completely fixed.  We plan on swapping out the bad cables with new
ones when they arrive.
Tested all installed Kapton cables and found two more faulty, so made
necessary modification to facilitate IOO installation.
 
 

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

We began cooling down X1 beam tube module Tuesday (2/23/99), and will begin
setting up for the "post bake" RGA measurements.  We are ramping down from
150 C. to ambient at 2 C. per hour.  Next week Sun River will begin to move
the DC cables and electrical components and set up for the X2 bake.  We
have had Intermountain West out to clean the X2 module.

 


LIGO Livingston Observatory (LLO) Operations



 
 
Detector installation support activities: Kerry Stiff and Allen Sibley loaded two bellows into the vacuum prep bake oven. They are now halfway through bake and will be out sometime early next week. The PEM RGA has been installed and leak checked. The VE vertex volume is being evacuated for a base line RGA measurement (Allen Sibley).

(2) - 2" conduits were installed at each end station and RG-11 were installed at each for GPS. Russ ordered remaining parts to finish RG-11 installation at end and corner station. The new 480v systems at each mid station were energized; verified proper installation and operation of 480 and 208 distribution panels. Materials for the installation of the external wall mounted temperature sensors for the PEM were ordered. 300' of cable tray w/vertical and horizontal fittings for installation around PSL and HAM1 were ordered, along with remaining parts needed for the suspension test stand. (Russ Wooley)

Beam tube bakeout: (Cecil Franklin, Kerry Stiff) The Beam Tube Insulation Bid was open on 2-24-99 @ 2:00pm. The lowest bidder was Watt Insulation Inc. of Kenewick WA. with a total bid of $458K. (GHS note: This is a very good price!) We have inspected all doors along the X-Arm to insure proper operation before we turn the X-Arm over to Watt Insulation Inc. Excel has completed the installation of the 75KVA transformer, distribution panels, and plugs at the two Mid-Stations as a source of permanent power. We have requested Excel to install a small Edwards Chiller and Inst. Air Compressor at each Mid-station to support the Main Turbo pump and QDP-80 pumping at ports X19 and X21 and also Y19 and Y21 during the B/T Bake-out.

Optics & Vacuum Labs: (Jonathan Kern): Lab water quality is improving; we're maintaining 15 meg with the changes Culligan made last week. Installed the Barnstead Infinity Nanopure Base System, in series with the Culligan source and we have 18.3 meg water at the optics cleaning bench. Ordered quantities of clean room garments, supplies and solvents, as well as 2 large ultrasonic cleaners and a large Thelco air-bake oven in support of detector installation. Began final lab cleanup on Monday, but discovered when the janitorial service buffed the floor many of the floor tiles are loose, and lifting up. Gerry and Cecil are contacting the flooring installer. Moved the PSL table into the LVEA, and roughly positioned it. Approved the final layout of the Laser Safety enclosure, and it will probably ship Monday March 1. Enclosure installation will probably begin the week of March 6. Reworked the COS Conflat Viewports with Allen Sibley, and forwarded 2 new quotes to Mike Smith

Facilities: (Gerry Stapfer) We met with Hensel Phelps, discussing the close out of the construction contract. At this time, we have accepted the electrical work done by WYE Electric as complete under the contract. After considerable discussion, Hensel Phelps acknowledged that the mechanical work as done by Bernhard is still unacceptable. Their plan is to provide a HPC QA person on site
(Calvin Brownlow) to ride herd on the Bernhard work crew until the work is completed to our satisfaction. We also received the formal answer to the expansion joint issue and we have forwarded this reply to Parsons for their comments. As part of the visit, HPC "hoed down" some suspect leak roof spots and in the process identified one leak. They plan to be here today to caulk the suspect area.

Larry Wallace was at Livingston for several days, and he and Tom Evans have been working on transferring e-mail services for local users to here. (Tom Evans)

Anthony Rizzi: Anthony is looking into the details of setting up a servo controller test stand here. We will be receiving some 4700's on about March 12th per Rolf Bork . We plan to use one of those for the servo test stand unless/until it becomes evident that we need to have a dedicated processor for the servo test stand.  Ed Maros was given an intermediate fix for the problem the end-to-
end model was having when running thru Exceed.

A. Rizzi and Alex Marin setup PEM cart in LVEA to do measurements using a tiltmeter and and a Wilcoxen accelerometer
interfacing to Lab View. Verified correct software functioning with updated version of Labview. Overnight drift measurements taken
last night reveal volt level drifts.

Anthony is working on incorporating tidal corrections into the end-to-end modeling of the PSL.
James Finney of LSU will install the weather station on Tuesday.

Views of current activities underway at LLO may be viewed at:

ftp://ligo.caltech.edu/pub/Livingston/99_Weekly_images/site022699/index.html
 
 


WBS 1.2, 1.3    Detector Group


40 m Interferometer (Nergis Mavalvala)
---------------------------------------
 

The damping gains of the BS and RM have been reset via
measurement after values restored via BURT logs did not
give good damping (logs were probably obsolete). EV
global damping paths were also restored.
 

Network problems continue to cause 40m controllers to
crash and we frequently lost control of the RM and BS.
 

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

Interferometer sense/control (Zucker)
--------------------------------------
Component fab/delivery status:
 

WISCT7 components    now through 3/15
2k ITM optical lever stands 3/15
LA viewports         3/15
LA grout plates        3/20
 

ISC initial alignment and sensing table assembly (MZ for K. Mason, M. MacInnes)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Completed full LLO ISC layout, including
    IAS monument locations/dimensions
    viewport locations & BOM
    chamber video locations
    chamber illuminator locations
    optical lever grout plate locations
to enable monument survey and installation of ports, video heads,
illuminators & optical levers at Livingston.  This dwg. will be placed
in /pub/kmason/D980499-0-S1 through S5 on the LIGO public FTP site (as
soon as snow-related ISP problems are cleared up...).
 

KM also worked on RM optical lever clearance problem (see Matt's report)
 

Myron has assembled and pre-aligned most of the subassemblies for IOT7 and
should be ready to integrate the few pieces still out at vendors as soon
as they come in.
 

ISC optical lever and sensing table fabrication (Matt Smith)
------------------------------------------------------------
The two vendors manufacturing the support structure for the optical
levers that are to be used for the 2K input test mass is on schedule to
ship one wek from Friday. I am planning a fit check at the shops on the
Thursday prior to shipping. Also I will plan on a trip to Hanford to
install this as soon as it is delviered.
 

The optical lever is not aligning with the 2K recycling mirror.  Further
investigation is required to determine the problem, however we have started a
work around.
 

    ##MZ NOTE: Late news from Rick is that there is indeed a narrow
    but usable corridor where this beam can snake out as designed.
    Hopefully this will obviate the need to put a periscope in vacuum to
    translate the beam. We will have to modify the external support
    brackets, however. The jury is still out on whether this is a
    case of really bad tolerance stackup or something (optical lever,
    chamber ports or core optics?) actually deviating
    from the print.
 

The piece parts for the ISCT7 table are either in house now or are due in by
March 5, except for one 50/50 beamsplitter that we are looking into a
substitue or may have some lying around the optics lab that can be used.  The
enclosure for this table is due to ship tomorrow to Hanford.  It should take
10-15 days to arrive.
 
 

ISC controls implementation & commissioning (Peter Fritschel)
----------------------------------------------
o Worked at Caltech with Jay, Ed, Rolf & Nergis on the ISC supervisory
controls development. Built and tested a large part of the ASC EPICS
controls screens and state code.
 

o Talked with Jay & Dale about the plans for the mode cleaner installation
and testing, identifying the electronics needs for this task.
 

ISC implementation (Nergis Mavalvala)
--------------------------------------
Participated in combined test of ASC supervisory controls
with front end servo codes.
 

ISC supervisory control code development (Ed Daw)
--------------------------------------------------
Today Jay, Rolf and I connected the ASC front end servo crate
to the ISC supervisory crate and the Caltech data acquisition
system prototype. Everything appeared to work well - my DDCU
(Digital Data Collection Unit 12) appeared on the DAQ system
epics display as a running system, and the data monitor window
displayed believable signals from a sine wave source connected
to Jay and Lori's front end system. Handshaking between the ISC
supervisory crate and the front end ASC servo allows
either crate to be turned on first - the front end servo code detects
when the DDCU crate is turned off and automatically stops injecting
test signals - although the servo itself keeps running
uninterrupted. The DDCU uses the latest, 'final` data acuisition
channel list and names.
 

    #MZ note: YEEEEE-HAAAAAAAA!
 

-------------------------------------------
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 PSL reference cavities have been ordered from REO.  These are
expected to arrive 05/01.  There is already a reference cavity in house,
which is to be installed in the LLO PSL.
 

- More pre-modecleaner bodies of the existing design have been ordered.
These are expected to arrive within two weeks.
 

- The vacuum viewports for the reference cavity vacuum chambers have been
ordered.  These are expected to arrive by 04/01.
 
 
 

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 (2/22)
    - suspended MMT3                complete
 

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

In Vacuum Alignment        3/8
 

Mode Cleaner Characterization     4/30
------------------------------------------------
 
 

2K Installation -
 

(1) PSL table
 

Long term exposure of the resonant EOM (under RF drive) continues; no
change in parameters (as expected).  PSL beamline is complete through the
exit of the PSL laser safety enclosure.
 

(2) IOO suspended small optics preparation
 

Four mirrors (2 MC flats and 2 MC curved mirrors) are coming out of the
bake oven late today.   one Mc flat and 1 MC curved mirror will be cleaned
and suspended tomorrow and installed over the weekend; along with the rest
of the IOO suspensions. Fine positioning will occur wither this weekend or
next week, depending on progress with installation.
 

4K Interferometer -
 

Small optics suspensions and non-suspended mirror mounts are currently in
production.
 
 

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

We have made seismic and acoustic measurements in the Cosmic RayShack and found it
to be on the whole quieter than is 39 Lauritsen "on a good data day."  I
have plots of the seismic and acoustic data and will be happy to
fax/show/copy these to anyone interested.
 

We would like to be moved into a new location by the beginning of May to
make our schedule of characterization for the LA optics.  Our current
environment in Lauritsen is beginning to degrade, we are losing now
about 7 of 10 data sets to vibration, compared to 2 of 10 last month.
 

We plan to finish 2ITM04 this week and hand it off for cleaning and
scatter measurements on the 1st of March.
 
 
 

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

REO Contract - COC's coating: Received 4 Beamsplitters and two 4ITMs coated
from REO. Their  surface quality will be characterized today.
CO2 cleaning: While the testing of mirrors cleaned by the CO2 process
continues, I am looking into the most effective procedure to clean mirrors
"in situ" . We expect to implement the procedure at the Hanford site shortly.
Other miscellaneous tasks included: up-dating and revising cleaning
procedures arising from suggestions received after the cleaning of  COC's
by Hanford's folks. Editing of the Vacuum document, and team activities to
investigate the suspension glueing & fixturing (as it relates to
magnet/standoff reliability/robustness) problems.
 

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

BEAM-DUMPS
Craig C. is in the process of completing shop drawings for the cavity beam
dump assemblies. Drawings will be sent to a shop for production fabrication
next week.
 

PO TELESCOPE
Redesign of the primary mounting structure is pending.
 

ETM TELESCOPE
Release of the shop drawings is pending.
 

PO MIRROR
Ken M. is completing the shop drawings for the PO mirror assembly. Drawings
will be sent to a shop for production fabrication next week.
 

VACUUM WINDOW
A purchase order will be let for COS vacuum windows next week.
 

NEW CONICAL BAFFLE at MID STATION
Design is pending.
 

TRIPLE FLEXURE BRACKET for BEAM DUMP
Detail design is pending.
 

ELLIPTICAL BAFFLE/BEAM DUMP
Minor disasters: all 12 pieces of fabricated elliptical glass baffles broke
in transit from Hanford to CIT due to inadequate packaging. A packaging
procedure and specification is being written by Ed Chargois, which will be
used for all subsequent glass shipments. Hopefully that will eliminate the
recurring breakage problem. New glass baffles are being fabricated. Several
of the metal pieces for the baffle frame are being remade due to a design
error. This will delay the elliptical baffle readiness by about one month.
 

ITM/ETM ARM CAVITY BAFFLE
A further design change has been completed so that the universal design for
the arm cavity glass baffle support assembly also works for the LLO IFO.
Angel is finalizing the 3D drawings, in
preparation for Paul K. completing the detail shop drawings.
 
 

INSTALLATION PLAN
item                               completion          install
 

Mode cleaner baffle                done                  done
IO baffle                          done                  done
Elliptical baffle                 3/30/99
 
 

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

Seismic Design (Mike Fine)
--------------------------------------
1. Electronics Rack:
Hytec has been performing checks on the system and found that there is a noise
source that is sending a step signal to the NextStep drives.  They noticed that
this noise is only active when the computer, side panel, NextStep’s and MUX
are all energized.  After an extensive search, they have located the noise
source
and attribute it to one of the NextStep cable grounds. This problem was
corrected
and testing resumed. They have been performing some simple move operations
with
two NEMA34 motors to verify the signal condition to the motor.  All system
looked
good.  They are installing the pneumatics this week along with finishing limit
switch cables and anticipating connecting the rack to the BSC prototype
mid-next
week.
 

2. Scissors Tables:
Hytec is beginning the assembling of the next eight BSC scissors tables this
week. They have yet to receive the IDC actuators, but expect them early next
week.
The plan is to ship the eight scissors tables so that they arrive at LHO no
later
that 3/8/99.
 

3. BSC Hardware:
The BSC downtube unit 2 has passed the FTIR screening and is now in crate and
ready
for shipping next Monday with the unit 3 (of which the FTIR sample were taken
yesterday) if it passed the FTIR test.
 

4. Near-Term SEI Hardware Delivery Schedule:
2nd set of BSC in-vacuo hardware (Handord)                 3/5/99*
3rd set of BSC in-vacuo hardware (Hanford)                 3/5/99*
BSC SEI rack (Hanford)                                     3/12/99*
3 sets HAM support tubes and support tabels (Livingston)   3/17/99*
3 sets HAM optical tables                                  3/31/99*
7 BSC bellows (Livingston)                                 2/26/99
8 HAM bellows (MIT)                                        3/5/99
 

*new date
 

Suspension -- (Janeen Hazel/Mark Barton/Mike Fine)
-------------------------------------------------------------------
1. LOS Suspension:
After receiving structures with rust-like residue, Brookfield has worked
with their subcontractor for pickling, Westfield Plating, and optimized
the process to produce noticably cleaner pickled structures. Brookfield
has fallen behind schedule on delivering structures, up to a month.
It appears that two of the height adapters sent to Hanford were mislabled.
The two folding mirror height adapters, D970569, are missing and it is
feared that they were labeled as D960145 s/n 001 and 002 height
adpaters. Doug is researching this.
 

2. Installation Fixtures:
Fabrication of the chamfer stops has slowed suspension work at Hanford.
Schober's machine shop in Alhambra is working on chamfer stops for the
LOS1s and LOS3s. Janeen is working with Doug Cook on chamfer stops for
the beamsplitters (LOS2s).
 

3. Alignment Fixtures:
Alignment fixtures should be here today. They will be disassembled and
cleaned. New parts will be fabricated and installed.
 

4. SUS Hardware Delivery:
SUS Structure Delivery Dates: [numbers in parentheses are quantities.]
LOS1(for ETM, ITM, MMT): 2/25(1)*, 3/15(1)*, 3/22(2)*, 4/9(2)*, 4/23(1)*
LOS2(for BS): 3/4(2)*, 3/18(1)*
LOS3(for FM): 3/15(2)*
 

* new date
 

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

Physics Environmental Monitor(Matt Smith, David Shoemaker & Alex Marin)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
    More work has been done in ordering various components for the
installation of the PEM system at LHO. Daniel have a crucial role in
this issue.
    Matt is working on the redesign of the support plates for the PZT
shakers, as well as ordering components.
    At LLO, Marc C., Anthony R. and Alex M. discussed in detail the
plan for the PEM instalation. We will obtain from LHO details on the
instalation of the Triatek T monitors on the external walls, as well as
other installation drawings for various PEM components. The PEM PC has
been upgraded with LabView 5.01 and currently is used for the evaluation
of the LVEA tilts, using a tiltmeter mounted temporary near HAM 1. A
seismometer will be added in this setup. Preliminary, we may conlude that
the LLO LVEA is quiter than the LHO LVEA. Anthony will continue this
effort. Meantime, Marc is evaluating the seismic noise at one of the LLO
end stations.
    Allen Sibley installed a brand new RGA head at HAM5 (see LLO
report).
 
 

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

The qualified air baked steel parts were unloaded from cavity two. This
cavity has been loaded with viton seats (two chopped viton seats were
even placed into the glass spacier for direct line-of-sight). The initial
ringdown and mode spacing data did not show an increase in losses. Data
taking is continuing.
 

No data change in either ringdown or mode spacing measurements has been
observed from cavity one since its mirrors were cleaned with CO2 snow two
weeks ago.
 

A second turbo pumped is being baked and will be available early next
week. This is needed to conduct viton testing simultaneously in two
cavities.
 

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

Near Term Installation
=======================
March 7 - 12: Continued CDS infrastructure installation @Livingston
March 8 - 12: Continued IOO ASC installation @ Hanford (Jay)
March 22 (?): Begin mode cleaner testing @ Hanford
 

MC LSC:
===========
The first MC Servo Amp is being tested now. Two more boards are being
stuffed. The Demod Board and Servo Amp will be tested together next week
and ready to install at Hanford. The AC and DC wiring are complete in 2X8.
The three RF generators are installed in this rack. There is more cabling
that needs to be run from 2X8 to 2X6 which will have to be coordinated with
the activities in HAM7. We have a temporary RF amp to use with the RF
modulator until the final circuit (now being developed) is completed.
 

Timing System:
=============
The GPS Clock Driver is in PCB layout. I added one more feature this week.
We can now gate off the 2^22 Hz clock which goes to the Pentek ADCs. This
is necessary in the start up procedure of the ADCs. We are building one
more of the Version 1 GPS Clock Driver and one more fanout to use at LLO
for the initial Data Acquisition tests. Four more GPS receivers will be
shipped from JXI this Friday.
 

WA 2K Input Optics
===============================
- New whitening boards for the input optics alignment signals have been
designed
and will be layed out starting next week. These new boards are required
because
the new final DAQ signal list contains many signals that were not included in
the original design. The new whitening boards will not be ready for the first
tests and operation of the mode cleaner, but should be available some time in
April.
- An I&Q demodulator board is being fabricated to support the proposed test
plan
for the mode cleaner. This board uses a modified WFS demod board and should be
ready by 3/8.
 

Suspensions
===============================
- The final terminator boards needed for the satellite amplifers have been
received. These boards will be stuffed and sent to Hanford where they will be
retrofit into the existing satellite amps.
- ~60 kapton cables have been received from MDC. It has been discovered
that MDC
mirrored the pins on the connectors. The connector on one end of each cable
will
have to be flipped prior to cleaning and installation. Paul Russell is
handling
this.
- Testing of the WA 2K COS suspension rack (2X14) hardware and software has
been
completed and the rack is ready to support the installation of of optics. It
should be noted that out of more than 2000 internal rack connections and
terminations, not a single wiring mistake was found.
 

Data Acquisition
=================
- Code modified for Livingston installation (single reflected memory network)
- Received approved signal list from Shoemaker/Sigg. Loading this
configuration
into the DAQS gives the following data rates per IFO:
    - Framed Data: ~360 channels @ 2.8MByte/sec
    - Total data, with GDS: ~510 channels @ 5.5MBytes/sec
 


WBS 1.4    Project Office



 
 NO REPORT DUE TO NETWORK FAILURE AT CALTECH!


WBS 1.4.3    Systems Engineering / Data Analysis and Computing



Systems Engineering
 

LIVINGSTON OPTOMECHANICAL LAYOUTS
    Optomechanical Integrated Layout release was held to update PSI
vacuum drawings
    which were out of date, and to add in the new location of the ITM
baffles, which are
    being finalized.
 

HANFORD OPTOMECHANICAL LAYOUTS
    Optomechanical Integrated Layout is being held for inclusion of the
new pick off
    telescopes & mirror mounts, as well as the final beam dumps.
 

INPUT OPTICS (IO) BAFFLE
    The majority of the details and assembly are completed. Minor
dimensioning of a couple of parts and completion of assembly bills of
material
has been rescheduled to be completed and released after the ILD's,
possibly by 3/5/99.
 

ITM/ETM ARM CAVITY BAFFLE
    Detailing with materials lists has been rescheduled to start by
3/4/99.
 

LIVINGSTON ALIGNMENT
Althouse, Jones and Lazzarini met to review the data we have for
Livingston alignment. We have developed and approach
to regress the alignment data to obatin best descriptionfor the global
coordinates for the site.
 

Modeling
 

Alfi : Ed released a new version of alfi with greater stability. The
program still has problems on rare ocassions, notably on Univ. Florida
machines. Ed is
debugging the code remotely on the machine at Florida.
 

Adlib Multimode : Biplab and Hiro debugged the summation cavity code.
Peter King sent us the data of the premode cleaner. The data include the
 

transmitted power as the length is changed and the intensity noise
before and after the pre mode cleaner. We met together to clarify about
the data. Biplab started comparing the data and the model prediction.
 

Mechanical subsystems : G. Cella is visiting CIT between February 23 til
March 3, then
goes to Florida between 3rd to 10th and goes back to Italy. He explained
 

his strategy of the development of the mechanics part of the simulation.
 

His code for the End to End model will be based on a class library. This
 

library has three main parts, (1) building array, which gives the
definition of the mechanics structure, (2) Evolution, which calculates
the
time evolution and (3) Transfer Matrix, which handles the calculation of
 

the frequency domain. This structure nicely fits in the e2e framework.
Also, the class library approach makes the work more portable, i.e., it
can be used under other simulation environment and other people can
contribute to this work.

Others :
 

* Hiro met with Peter Fritschel and explained the situation of e2e.
Peter wants
to use it for the lock acquisition study, and Hiro will going to install
 

e2e codes on MIT machine soon after a new account (e2e) and softwares
(egcs) are available on the MIT machine.
 

* Bob Svoboda was visiting CIT and Hiro met with him and explained
the basics of E2E, and explained the distribution of the
program. His background in HEP will be very useful for the future
modeling
activities.
 

Data Analysis
 

* (JKB) Met with CACR/LIGO to discuss strategies for
        LIGO HPSS storage needs/options.
 

* (JKB) Met with President of Alta Technologies to
        describe the depth of the problems we have
        been having with the 8 node/16 CPU cluster.
        Alta has promised to act quickly to get us
        a fully functional system by sending complete
        replacements for two nodes. [as an aside, the
        company identified developers of "datawulf"
        systems and provided contacts]
 

* (JKB) Started a dialog with IBM's Watson Research
        Center for co-authoring a new IBM SUR proposal.
 

* (JKB) Prepared presentation materials for two talks
        this week (LIGO Science Talk and LSC/LDAS Talk).
 

* (JKB) Met with Xiao, Barbara, & Ed to discuss establishing
        DBS tables on a local LIGO LAN computer...our connection
        to Bill in CACR has been poor at best making developent
        of client applications based on WebBase difficult.
 

* (JKB) Met with Dave and Phil to discuss the status of the
        FrameAPI...what modifications were needed, how to
        implement several of the requirements, etc. Dave now
        has a nice container for Internal LDAS lightweight
        data implemented in the GenericAPI used by the FrameAPI!
 

* (PSE) Finished up debugging the problem with egcs
        on Solaris, and built a Tcl binary which is
        capable of loading c++ .so's with exception
        handling code.
        I do not believe we have actually *solved*
        the problem -- but this fix doesn't seem to
        break anything else, i.e., it is not necessary
        to compile extensions in a particular way.
 

* (PSE) Wrote a CDS frame filename server which
        broadcasts the newest frame file name found
        in a directory structure on a socket.
        It does not depend on a known directory
        structure at present, so is very inefficient.
        When the dir structure is known it will gain
        efficency.
 

* (PSE) Wrote a skeleton background frame processor
        which polls the frame filename server and
        "processes" (currently does nothing) the
        most recent frame.
 

* (PSE) Continued working on the frameAPI.tcl.
 

* (PSE) Entered all my current code in the central
        CVS repository on SPICA.
 

* (DF) Implemented a variety of functions in the generic API to
       manipulate container objects.  the container objects are
       used by the Frame API to return sets of data.
 

* (DF) Continued debugging the Internal Light-weight data library.
 

* (DF) Continued working with John Zweizig validating the FrameCpp
       library.
 

* (XHU) worked on database table documentation
        I added description to the script directly.
        A separated document using Framemaker will
        be produced soon.
 

* (XHU) worked on prototyping database views
        Database views are logical representation
        of physical database tables. Using views
        may facilitate database queries.
 

Anderson:
 

I Have successfully installed and performed initial testing on NIS+
client
software running on a Linux box. This will allow the Linux boxes
identified
in the LDAS design to be fully integrated into a network environment,
and if all works well, will more readily enable the use of Linux boxes
as
desktop machines within the LIGO project at large.
 
 

Bruce Sears:
 

* Continuing work LDAS preliminary protocol specification for
communications
        between end-users and the manager API, and between the manager
API
        and the APIs needed for the data retrieval and processing
requested
        by the end-user.  I.e., how do we talk to the manager API, and
how
        does it then communicate these instructions to the other LDAS
APIs
        to complete the requested task?
 

        Met with Ed Marcos, Phil Ehrens, and Dave Farnham in order to
start
        clarifying the methods we will be using in the API to API
        communications, most specifically in regards to passing data
between
        APIs and the instructions required to be implemented in each of
the
        APIs in order to understand what to do with the passed data.  Am
 

        writing a synopsis on this discussion in order to define the
process
        more clearly and determine what issues still need to be resolved
 

        (which are many at this preliminary point.)
 

Walid:
 

While implementing my own 1D parallel (MPI based) transform using the
FFTW
machinary, the developers of FFTW released a beta version of their code,
 

which also implements a 1D parallel transform and asked me to check
their
new code.  I have now successfully tested the new feature, comparing my
results with non-parallel version and it seems to be in agreement.  I
have
performed these tests on the 16-node 256-cpu HP Exemplar machine at
CACR.
 

Lazzarini:
See report from kent on our meeting with AltaTechnologies to resolve QA
issues with Beowulf system.
 

Members of LSC, GEO and LDAS met on Thursday to discuss implementing
algorithm libraries.
It was agreed to continiue the discussion next week at Gainesville.
 

The LDAS PDR will be chaired by D. Shoemaker and takes place the morning
of 11 March 1999.
 

There was a LIGO-LSC interchange meeting with a focus on data analysis
issues on 26 February at Caltech.   (A future happening? - GHS)
There will be a report given at Gainesville next week.
 

On Monday, Wallace and I met with LSU and BellSouth representatives to
get things
started on a fiber optic link from LLO to LSU. It appears that by summer
LSU (and we) will be on vBNS.
 

General Computing
 

MIT:
Working on installation of new SUN boxes.
 

Livingston:
The OS has been loaded on the new SUN boxes. One has become the NIS+
server with
the home directories of the existing users. The client boxes have all
been setup
with NIS+ also.
The mail server for Livingston has been installed and all of the
perminant users
have been moved over to the new server. By next week all of the users
should
have their connections redirected to the new server. Those that have
been moved
and tested it are pleased with the improved performance.
Web services for Livingston are still functioning but a few more items
need to
be changed before it replaces the Livingston service at Caltech. Also,
the new
installation of samba has been started which will help with the PC's
access to
home directories. Tom will be working on finishing the installation next
week.
A number of software loads and fixes were performed on the PC's.
The network switch was modified to handle additional GC seats.
Some work was done on checking out and changing some of the setups on
the modem
pool.
 

We met with representatives from LSU and Bell South to go over the fiber
 

installation at the Observatory. The Bell South reps. will be working
out the
logistics and costs which will be presented to LIGO.
 

Hanford:
Installed the new Matlab Controls toolbox, but can't get it to work.
Will call technical support to figure out why.  Ordered the latest
version of Sun Workshop compilers.
 

Copied all the LHO web pages off the LIGO web site to our web server at
LHO.  Changed all the internal links to LHO.  Will contact LIGO
webmaster about changing the links from the LIGO web pages to point to
the LHO web pages at LHO.  Setup a way for people to post restricted
access web pages.
 

Helped with numerous email and PC "how to" problems.  Did the normal
weekly backups.
 
 

CIT:
 

Suresh has worked a number of hardware issues including the replacement
of a CPU
and and disk drive on a SUN box. This also required re-installing the
OS.
Worked on a number of orders and assisted in resolving a number of
network
issues. Ran more network lines and moved a couple of computers to new
locations.
 

Samantha has been working on a number of PC issues requiring OS
rebuilds. Once
again the units from Micron have been requiring a great deal of time to
resolve
their issues. She hopes to install the new DVD burner this next week if
time
permits.
 

Sean has been working on some issues with the modem pool and the ligo
server
replacement. He has also been working on a IP database for ligo usage.
He is now
moving in to his office and his extention is 8739.
 

Working a number of procurement issues for CIT and the observatories.
 

We have been battling failure of network and server hardware at Caltech.
Unfortunatelym part
of the failures occurrred while Larry was at LLO. Several unrelated
problems arose, such as failure of
key ethernet hubs (possibly due to loss of cooling in Bridge basement),
web server unavailability due to communications
problems between sirius and ligo.ligo


WBS 1.4.4.1    Administrative Group


 Irene Baldon

Worked on preparing the paper work for various new trips taken recently (25 Purchase Requisitions and 12 Advance Requests). There are 6 additional new trips pending completion of travel arrangements. There have been a great deal of last minute reservations being requested for the LSC Meetings in Gainesville, FL, which require more of my time since the hotels do not cooperate with Vee when using a special conference rate.
(GHS note: And this results in higher airfares! Trips must be booked early, as soon as possible, or we will restrict travel to stay within our budget and government guidelines.)

Completed 34 Expense Reports. Some of these were still not taped or completed by the Traveler and required more time for completion. Received in the mail (yesterday Feb. 24th) 3 new Expense Reports. These will be completed today and sent out for approval and then forwarded to Travel Audit. I also have 3 expense reports that are pending additional information and/or receipts before I can complete them. I am still experiencing an influx of expense and advance checks which requires recording, filing and distribution to the individual traveler.

There are still 17 - 1998 folders to be cleared and sent to DCC for permanent storage. These are folders containing Visitors, Job Applicants, Consultants, and various conferences. While pulling the 1998 individual files I found a number of trips not completed with the submission of an expense report. I have been contacting these individuals as time permits. Please submit your receipts if you still have an outstanding trip. I have only received a couple of 1998 expense reports. Please send me your receipts as soon as possible.

Prepared Travel/Vacation Itinerary for the Week of February 22nd, 1999.

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. Also worked on a number of problem issues which required a portion of my time.

 

Rita Torres

For I. Petrac did edits to MOU with University of Pisa, and change order No. 2 to CC Design Development. Began preparation of RFQ IP-310 for Cable Tray Fabrication and Installation for LLO, RFQ still in work. Am now printing for Irena's files unsigned MOUs from the DCC. Last week I printed out only signed documents.

For S. Meshkov did edits to MOU Attachment A with University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

For P. Lindquist distributed Annual Progress Report, then FedExed to NSF.

Have taken the responsibility for pagers (Dorothy Lloyd no longer has), have set up a database to keep track. Spent some time on the telephone with the two companies to obtain information on their procedures. Today one helped me to replace a lost unit.

 

Dorothy Lloyd

Continued to work on reconciling the status reports. Processed the usual heavy load of purchase requisitions, POs, change orders, etc. Continued work on invoice problems needing to be resolved, and 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.

 

Elizabeth K. Wood

Handled numerous and various payroll and personnel matters including preparing a job announcement and tasks associated with Florence Kaufman’s review of LIGO’s accounts.

Began a review of the Caltech phone book to see what corrections/alterations need to be made. There are many, for instance, a substantial number of people at Hanford were left out completely. There’s got to be a better way to list us.

By the way, I have been unable to copy the roster on the LIGO website due to problems here at Caltech. I have been updating it regularly; I’ll copy it to the website as soon as I am able.
 


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