Weekly Report for Week Ending January 27, 2000



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

The LIGO Executive Committee Agenda for Monday  January 31, 2000 will be:
 (Meeting time: 10:30 am Pacific Time)

Open meeting 10:30 - 11:30

  1. Announcements
  2. LSC Issues (Weiss)
  3. Comments on Weekly Report
  4. WBS 1 LIGO I Construction (Lindquist)
  5. WBS 2 LIGO Lab Operations
  6. WBS 3 and 4  Advanced R&D and LIGO II (Sanders)
Executive Committee only 11:30 - noon
 

Special Items:


Special Announcements:


Weekly Report Highlights
 
 


LIGO Hanford Observatory (LHO) Operations



Announcements:
--------------
(F. Raab)

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

Load #72, consisting of  misc. Al clamps, IO beam dump glass, "little"
beam dump glass, ETM telescope lens and plate beam dump glass, was
released last week.

Load #73, consisting of three BSC bellows, was released earlier this week.
Release of this load was delayed as repairs were made to the RGA arm
portion of the system which required venting and independently baking out
this section.

Load #74, consisting of numerous LHO ETM Telescope and LLO ETM Beam Dump
parts, is currently vacuum baking and should be released by Monday, Jan
31.

Bartie observed this week that the UHV latex gloves in use here at LHO
were effected by prolonged exposure to Acetone.  I researched the
applicable procedures and discovered that no special mention was made
regarding this issue.  I have since e-mailed the vacuum board and am in
the process of proposing procedural changes that will describe protocol
to minimize the deposit of latex solute onto Class A and B parts during
handling.
 

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

This week, I have been helping the LOS group revise the optic processing
document.  I have revamped the optic process traveler to include every
step that needs recording from cleaning the optic to its final chamber
location.  Simultaneously, I have been rereading the LIGO cleaning
procedures document which is also in a revision stage with Helena. I have
found that we have numerous documents that cite other documents for
instructions or procedures, yet I have failed to find the actual
procedures in the cited documents. I have been trying to track a lot of
these cross references down for the cleaning document so that Helena can
add them in correctly.

Toward the end of the week last week, Rai, Nergis, Gabi and I made some
more measurements of internal resonances of the BS and ITMx mirrors.
After finishing the analysis of the ringdown plots, I made a table
of the Q values obtained so far.  The table (which will be continually
modified as measurements of other optic modes contnues) can be found at:
http://www.ligo-wa.caltech.edu/~bweaver/InternalQs.pdf

I have also been putting out a few fires for tasks to take place at LLO
this week and next.

Doug is currently knee deep in paper - literally - as he is switching
offices. This week he too has been madly revising documents.  He has been
finishing up the optic installation documents that will also be used this
week at LLO, and putting his two cents in for the LOS processing document
revisions.  He has also been trying to continue Gabi G.s efforts of
tuning the suspension controllers by running some preliminary tests for
her.

Seismic Systems:
----------------------
(C. Gray & H. Radkins)

HAM2: Isolation Stack work took place 1/24-26; this includes Kapton
cabling installation, 500-lb payload and balancing/elevation adjustment
of the Optics Table.
 

The z-pivot stages were installed for the 4k HAMs over the weekend. HAMs
7-9 are without and will be installed when there is down-time during
commissioning work.
 

BSC2:  Phase 3(Final in vacuum SEI work) is complete except for the
counterweights and Kapton cabling connections on the Optics Table which
will be done during Phase 3 of BSCs 1 or 3.  The dome was reinstalled
1-21.

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

Added several new user accounts, took care of the month end pcard paper
work, bought a zip drive for Betsy, sent out policy reminders about
backing up files and maintenance for staff PCs, dealt with a remote
matlab session that was using 80% of rainier's cpu, and installed a
shell script that will prevent anyone from running matlab on rainier,
the main server.

Continued network security maintenance, did the usual backups, helped
with several printer and PC problems, and kept the GC accounting paper
work up to date.
 

Controls:
---------
(D. Barker)

Added one arm test signals to Hanford daily auto-BURT backup. Added burt
backup of onearmtest data to the site overview, it is now a single
button press to perform a backup.

Elog: discussed with Bruce Sears changes to the elog system to add an
API which will allow other software to make elog entries. This facility
will be used initially to automatically elog burt outputs.

Performed power down boot of the DAQ in preparation for channel
verification activities.

Wrote perl tk applications to allow operator confirmation of vacuum
controls gate valve operations.

Installed new dataViewer, Version 2.5. Installed Perl TK. Wrote user
guide to the DMT BitTest program for operator reconfiguration.

Supported CDS installation at LLO.

Moved ASC hardware and software from MY to MX to support X arm tests.
 

(C. Patton)

In medm, created an Annulus Ion Pump summary (44 ion pumps) display
which is attached to the full site vacuum medm screen.  This required
trying several different display options to achieve the look John Worden
needed.  The final design required adding a calc record to each annulus
ion pump epics database which will calculate the log of the ion pump's
current.  The value from this log record is the value displayed in the
summary screen.  All the annulus ion pump databases needed to be
recompiled.  In order to implement the changes, all of the vacuum
systems will have to be re-booted.

Modified the epics databases and State Notation code for Gate Valves GV8
and GV13 in order to add the Autoclose safety feature.  This software
monitors the vacuum in the beam tube and will automatically close these
gatevalves if the vacuum rises above 1e-5 or if any of the cold cathode
pressure gauges are malfunctioning or turned off.  The software also
generates alarms for each of these states.  Modified the medm screens
for GV8 and GV13 to display the alarms and to add enable/disable buttons
to turn the safety software on and off.  This software will be tested on
GV8 and GV13 by using the software to open the gatevalves and then
shorting out the cold cathode signal to simulate a cold cathode
malfunction and by injecting voltage into the cold cathode connection on
the vacuum rack to simulate an overpressure condition.  The software
should close the gatevalve and raise alarms in each of these
situations.  Implementation of the autoclose feature required modifying
the epics databases, writing and compiling the State Notation code, and
will require a re-boot of the MX and LX vacuum systems to load the new
software.

Started creating new epics databases and medm displays for instrument
air pressure monitors which will reside in each building.  Created the
generic database and config databases which will be used to build the
multiple copies of the databases.  Added medm meter widgets for each
pressure monitor to the full site vacuum medm screen.  Waiting for
Richard McCarthy to provide the channel and signal numbers corresponding
to the wiring of these signals into the vacuum racks.

Put together and presented Operator training on LHO Computing and
Networks.  This was a one hour training session covering an overview of
the networks at LHO, why separate networks, function of each network,
how they communicate with each other, what hardware and software is
available on each network and some tips on how to use Unix for file
transfers, window management and printing.

Contacted Gateway Computer to buy a CDS PC for the Control Room.
Provided a recommendation to Mark Lubinski for a scanner and software to
be purchased for the Control Room.

Put together requirements for the Sun Ultra10 Workstation to be
purchased by CDS and used as the software application license server
between all of the networks (CDS, GC, LDAS, GDS).

Helped the other Control Room Operators with learning Unix commands.
 


LIGO Livingston Observatory (LLO) Operations



 

Course Actuator System: Completed installation of the Course Actuation System (CAS) for BSC#1,2,3.
Optical Levers: Installed the "Optics Lever" Table including drilling, setting anchors and dogging the table down. Installed the Optics Level Pier to the table. Mapped out the location of the ETM Transmission Pier and installed same. Anchor drilling and installing Stay Clear Zone barriers. Staging all equipment needed for Optics installation Monday(1-31-00) Installed Hepa filter fans on 2 portable clean rooms. (Rich Riesen)

OPTICS: We're moving the installation hardware and fixtures to the Y-end station this week. Mike Smith and Ken Mailand are here to assemble and align the ETM telescope this week. Completed some rework on the beamtube and shutter between the PSL enclosure and Ham-1 for the U of F group, which is here this week aligning IO components in Hams 1 and 2 this week. We transitioned the corner station to Laser Hazard condition yesterday, and will remain so until next week. Have also found a new mechanic to service our vehicles and towed the little Ford there yesterday. It did not break a timing belt as reported; rather the idler pulley loosened and allowed the valve timing to skip a tooth. Should be back in service in a day or two. The electrical problem in the GMC hasn't been located, but I'm replacing the head gasket and it'll be back as well. (Jonathan Kern)

PSL: The PSL is functioning and providing a beam for the IOO installation. The drift of the output beam from the PMC is creating the need for realigning the beam in the IOO. This should be resolved in a few weeks with the installation of a new PMC. (Joe Kovalik)

IO Optics: We started to align the optics in HAM1. PSL beam was realigned so that it goes through the beam tube between the PSL enclosure and HAM1. The beam is now going through the center of the beam tube and hits the first steering (fixed) mirror on HAM1.

CDS: Juilien is mainly working on installation of dust monitors at the Optic lab area. Internal circuit modification to connect monitors with DC power supply has been done in three monitors. Few short cablesare made for connecting monitors to its breakout boxes. One DC power supplyhas been ordered for supplying power to all monitors in this area. Cables have been installed from MSR to the lab. Some EPICS software is in the process of being installed and modified (previously I installed EPICS software for LVEA area only). (Juilien Svoboda)

CDS Jay, Rusyl and I wired the X4 rack in the LVEA which contains electronics for the WFS sensing for the ASC. We tested the rack using Jays test boards and everything in the crate we tested now works.
LSC Modeling I have completed a Differential mode block diagram of the LSC. Work continues on the Common mode block diagram.
Seismic Analysis using GRASP Tom and I successfully got one of the old P5 90's working and successfully got LINUX working on it. We modified the appropriate files and mounted the relavent grasp directories remotely and got multifilters working using the P5 as a node. I talked to the LSU administrator of the cluster of 15 computers with LINUX on them and cleared the way for us to begin testing on that cluster. Passwords should be in place.
Weather James finney to come out to check if putting a different PC to serve the Web weather will make it more reliable.
PEM Working with Ed daw to design interface of seismometers to CDS. (Anthony Rizzi)

Bakeout: All prepairations for the y1 bake are near completion. We did have a failure of one of the power supply trailers and replaced it with one from
the x1 bake. Calibration of the RGA is underway. (Allen Sibley)

Computers: We have been doing some PC repair, and have installed Linux on a second PC to test some multi-process software. We have installed AutoCAD (under Caltech's site license) on many of our PCs.We are checking site licenses for virus detection software.
Bake Oven: We are currently baking the beamsplitter LOS, which should be done the first of next week. This is the final LOS. We have just finished baking two LOSs.The load prior to the LOSs was aluminum ETM telescope parts. This load did not pass, and a visual inspection of the parts did not find any obvious reason for the failure. We intend to re-clean the parts and bake them again. (Tom Evans)
 


WBS 1.2, 1.3    Detector Group


NO REPORT RECEIVED


WBS 1.4    Project Office


 WBS 1.4.1.2   Project Controls



Reports (Lindquist) Change Control/Contingency (Lindquist)

The following change requests have been submitted:
 

CR-990028 WBS 1.1.3 Beam Tube Enclosure Closeout F. Asiri
CR-990029 WBS 1.1.4 Fencing Road at Livingston (Info Only) G. Stapfer

Press for the latest Contingency Needs Projection


LIGO Weekly Site Telecon (Jasnow)

A site telecon was held on on Thursday, January 27, 2000.  The list of current actions assigned may be found at ACTION LIST.


PROPERTY MANAGEMENT (Chargois)

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

Assisted the Detector Group ( M.Smith) with packaging and shipping of several crates of containing 4K IO Baffles to the LIGO Livingston and LIGO Hanford Observatories via Allied Engineering & Production  (S.Jones)  for cleaning. Account Number: LIGO.5F500-2.5-NSFLIGO.5F5000.

Assisted the American Audit Agency with the inventory of LIGO Campus property in support of the Campus wide inventory being conducted to prepare for an up coming Federal Audit.

Assisted the Detector Group (M.Smith) with the preparation of a CALTECH Physical Plant Project Request for a wood crate to transport a manufactured tool for cleaning to Allied Engineering & Production. Account Number  LIGO 5F500-2.5-NSFLIGO. 5F5000.

Assisted the Detector Group (M. Smith) with packaging and shipping of two (2) Cameras and Television Monitors with connecting and power cables to LIGO Livingston Observatory (J.Kern).  Account Number P96937.


DOCUMENT CONTROL CENTER (Turner)

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

Web pages for the DCC give simple how-to's for document numbering, easy access to the latest on-line documents, and search capabilities for the DCC database. Take a look. . .

ACTIVITY HIGHLIGHTS

From: Cleveland Mak <mak_c@ligo.caltech.edu> Press here to access the DOCUMENT CONTROL CENTER WEB PAGE.


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

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

Press here for ACCOUNTS PAYABLE HISTORY DATA.

From: Ruth Brambila

Just finished updating Ligo's fiscal year POETAs on the subcontracts and blankets yesterday.  Florence had also given me another list of POETA transfers which have also been completed.

I just received from Cindy a new list of amounts to be removed which I need to start working on.

I have requested Tom Currier and Jose Tiana (Acq) for a form to send out the award notification to the vendors on the LIGO subcontracts, rather than the Oracle printout. {Currently, I am using the changer order supplement which I mentioned to you last week.}

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

From: Florence Kaufman <fkaufman@ligo.caltech.edu> From: Cindy Akutagawa <cindy@ligo.caltech.edu> SUBCONTRACTS MANAGEMENT (Petrac, Jasnow)

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

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

No report this week.
 


WBS 1.4.3    Systems Engineering / Data Analysis and Computing



 

Systems Engineering

Dennis has requested changes to be made to the iLog electronic notebook system
in order to consolidate a number of detector related sub-notebooks into a single one.
Bruce Sears will be looking at how to do this in the most sensible manner.

Simulation and Modeling

physics simulation work

     A teleconference was setup on Friday (1/28) with Stan, Mike and others to discuss the possibility of the application of the simulation work
     for the LIGO lock acquisition.
     Matt, Biplab and Hiro started working to understand the lock acquisition process.
         A LIGO COC e2e simulation setup was made using real parameters (Thanks to Dennis, we could use as_build parameters).
         The full simulation of LIGO with all degrees of freedoms activated, runs very slowly. By changing the development schedule, several
         action items were identified to focus on the speed up of the simulation
              Filtering out unnecessary side bands. A module has been developed by Biplab.
              Intermediate state data are stored, and the simulation can be resumed from that point.
              Instead of storing data in ASCII format, we will store data in binary format.
         twiddle was used to generate various transfer functions ( 6 mirrors x 4 detectors x (In and Quad phase demodulation) x 8 resonant
         conditions) for 2K IFO.
     Biplab continued working on the improvement of the recycling michelson summation cavity module.

GUI work

     Hiro and Ed discussed the development and release of the new version of Alfi, which are now developed by Ed Maros and Bruce
     Sears.
         Target release date of the first test version is 31 January 2000.
         The minimum features in this first release is the support of multiple directories plus all alfi3 functionalities.
         Test matrix before the release was discussed.

LIGO Data Analysis System

[Kent Blackburn]

* (JKB) Work continued this week to finalize a 0.0.8 alpha release
        of the LDAS system. The release is very near to being complete
        with only a few remaining problems to resolve.

* (JKB) LDAS began using a problem tracking system universally by all
        developers this week. There were nearly 30 problems reported
        during this time and to date, all but 8 have been closed out.

* (JKB) Revised the mpiAPI baseline requirements to more accurately
        reflect the usage of "mpirun", its command line options, the
        "wrapperAPI" and its command line options.

* (JKB) Began capturing the requirements for the wrapperAPI as they
        have solidified through meetings with Grace Hu and Masha Barnes
        into a baseline requirements document.

* (MB) Wrote an Introduction.html for the ligolwAPI documentation.

* (MB) MPI:
       - Wrote dynamic intracommunicator class.
       - Implemented -nodelist command line argument to be
         passed in one of the following formats:
         * range of nodes;
         * list of nodes.

[Alex Ivanov]

* (AI) wrote zero suppress compression for FrameCPP vectors

* (AI) wrote extensions to the frame builder to allow it to start up in
       offline mode and serve data from a directory;at Daniel Sigg's request

Stuart:

        Configured a direct high-speed ATM connection from the new LDAS database
server to the CACR HPSS network.

        Updated the LIGO data archive at,
http://www.srl.caltech.edu/personnel/sba/ligo/hpss/index.html
to open access to the recent 1999 40m data run, create additional LSC ftp
accounts, and add additional user information.

Lazzarini:

Kent and I are participating with ANU to help them develop a data analysis proposal to their funding agency, ARC.

We have began exploring access to space for LDAS equipment as it is procured.
Several options are being explored, including CACR, Millikan, SRL and Bridge.

General Computing

MIT:
Nothing to report.

Livingston:
We have been doing some PC repair, and have installed Linux on
a second PC to test some multi-process software.

We have installed AutoCAD (under Caltech's site license) on
many of our PCs.

We are checking site licenses for virus detection software.

Hanford:
Added several new user accounts, took care of the month end pcard paper
work, bought a zip drive for Betsy, sent out policy reminders about
backing up files and maintenance for staff PCs, dealt with a remote
matlab session that was using 80% of rainier's cpu, and installed a
shell script that will prevent anyone from running matlab on rainier,
the main server.

Continued network security maintenance, did the usual backups, helped
with several printer and PC problems, and kept the GC accounting paper
work up to date.

CIT:
So far we have not seen any major Y2K problems. Some of the problems we have
seen may be related to other things but nothing major.
Thanks to Matt, Sam, Suresh and Barbara for keeping on top of the issues and
making sure Y2K issues were kept to a minimum in the general computing and DCC
areas.

Sam has been reworking the cabling in her office area as well as reworking a
number of PC's that have had some s/w problems.

Barbara spent more time working on the LSC Roster database.  Database will
include LIGO LSC members.  We'll use it to generate email distribution
lists.  Added another entry form.  Helped Rita with some reports and outputs.
Set up web pages for the inauguration videos.  Worked with the DMC to
solve the blip problems.  Rita Colwell's talk will be reedited.  (Lesson
here is to make the editor show you all edits before you accept the tapes
and leave the studio.) All segments will be re-encoded at highest speed to
take advantage of DMC's new variable bitrate encoding software.
Rebuilt WebDocs and PubDocs.  No Y2K problems except the sort on the
Year pull-down.
Helped with some DCC issues about document locations.
 

Suresh is evaluating the HP Openview 6.1 for solaris package received from
Hewlett Packard. This includes Network Node Manager module which graphically
represents all network connected devices and also polls various network related
statistics
using Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP). This enables network manager to
quickly troubleshoot network problems.
Worked with Larry and installed two video switches in master/slave mode that
connect several Sun systems and be accessed by single monitor and keyboard.
Also, helped redo some of the shelving and computer arrangements in the server
room.
Worked with Stuart to establish an ATM connection to CACR for a LDAS server
by creating a permanent virtual circuit (PVC) in the ATM switch.
Attended a meeting for the planning of new documentation server (docuserv).
Installed solaris in two Sun machines.
Set up several user accounts. Fixed some network problems.

Larry has started the order process for the computer projectors. The order
should be placed today. Two will be for CIT and one each for Hanford, Livingston
and MIT. There will also be one stationed at CIT that will be used as a roamer
for various locations. Orders for the computers and cart that will be used with
the projectors should be out next week.
Worked with the DCC group covering a number of issues on document locations and
new methods to make document access easier and still be secure.
Ordered a couple of new NT servers to be used for specific WEB applications.
Placed the maintenance contracts for the FORE equipment at Caltech and
Livingston. Still working out some details for the LDAS equipment at Hanford.
Tracked down a couple of orders and found them at shipping. Worked with the
group doing the CIT equipment inventory. Trying to make sure everything goes
through Ed C..
Installed a version of Staroffice 5.1 on a Solaris box. So far it has had a
number of problems. The Staroffice product is suppose to work under Windows 98,
NT, Linux, Solaris and a few other operating systems. SUN still has a few bugs
to work out on each system but NFS and NIS appear to be the biggest conflicts
with the software.
Fixed a number of PC's with viruses. Also, recovered a number of files that one
of the Virusscan programs deleted and cleaned them using another program. Found
that keeping the latest virus data file on the system does make a difference
with the latest viruses. Also, Norton and McAffee leapfrog on which one has the
better routine for cleaning viruses. If one indicates a file must be deleted and
can't clean the file try using the other virusscan utility it may be able clean
the virus without deleting the file.
 


WBS 1.4.4.1    Administrative Group


Irene Baldon

No report due to sick days taken and catchup. Will report thoroughly next week.

Dorothy Lloyd

No report due to child having emergency appendectomy.

Rita Torres

For I. Petrac formatted Attachments C & D to MOU with Galileo at Stanford. More input to LSC list; additional task - input information for people at CIT, MIT, LHO, & LLO. Also captured August LSC reports, sections apparently missing from first capture. Did Vecco change order No. 4, obtained an Oracle requisition number, then distributed signed document. Did edits to change order No. 6 to MIT accounts page. Re-entered Southeastern University to obtain a different Oracle requisition number per R. Brambila. Formatted Procurement Justification for change order No. 8 with Galli & Morelli, obtained a DCC number for this; also did Chronology of modifications to the contract. Formatted change order No. 8 with University of Florida, showed complete Poetas for CIT Purchasing.

For E. Jasnow finally obtained PO number for contract with Seimens Building Technologies, placed that number on every page of the contract for Mechanical Maintenance at LLO. FedExed the contract for signature, and distributed in-house.

Distributed LIGO Address Roster to administration. Updated site trips schedule on the web. Ongoing P-Card purchases, chased several details. A bit more update to PO log for D. Lloyd, still doing as time permits.

INFORMATION - From Caltech Weekly Update for 1/24 to 1/30
Acquisition and Payables Move — to the first floor of Keith Spalding. The new mail code for the entire department is 103-6.

Elizabeth K. Wood

Ed Chargois and I accompanied two well-dressed gentlemen whose job it was to label as Caltech property everything that is Caltech property.

Directed Jane Dietrich, Engineering and Science guru, to our website where the photos of the Inauguration resides. Looks like we're getting a little bit more publicity. Okay, so it's one picture. Better that than nothing.

Investigated how to use FASTLANETM in advance of anyone needing to use it in the future. You know, changing .ps, WORD, and EXCEL files to .pdf and then submitting them to the NSF through FASTLANETM.  I will continue learning what I can about FASTLANETM just in case LIGO needs to submit another proposal to the NSF.

Made labor distribution changes in advance of some salaries being charged to the PMA default salary account. I think everyone's salary now falls under the correct account.

Attended a PMA division meeting to discuss the issues (usually ORACLE related) that keep our lives so interesting. Despite the incredible investment of time and money Caltech put into the ORACLE system, the different modules don't share information. You enter information in one module; someone else at a different time in a different place enters the same information in another module. Now that Caltech has gone paperless with the ORACLE system, we are beginning to run out of filing cabinet space to put all the paperwork. Wait---that doesn't make any sense.
 


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