Weekly Report for Week Ending February 17, 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  February 21, 2000

IS CANCELLED DUE TO A CALTECH HOLIDAY.
 

Special Items:


Special Announcements:


Weekly Report Highlights
 
 


LIGO Hanford Observatory (LHO) Operations


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

LHO vacuum bake oven load #76, consisting of the final three LHO BSC bellows
and hundreds of Arm Cavity Baffle fasteners, was released late last week.

Load #77, consisting of elliptical baffle glass, ETM telescope lenses, mode
cleaner beam dump assemblies, ETM telescope beam dump assemblies, mode cleaner
baffle assembly, pick off telescope Ag secondary mirror and ribbon cable
clamping components, is vacuum baking and is scheduled to be released this
Friday 2/18/00.

The constituents of load #78 are not known at this time but will likely
consist of stainless steel and should start on Friday 2/18/00 to be released
Tuesday 2/22/00.

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

I have been installing optical levers on BSC2 and HAM3 to monitor drifts
of the tables to compare their movements to the earth micro-seismic motions
and some longer term drifts. We mounted a fixed optic to each of the tables
and we will monitor and record the optical lever displays. I mounted the
fixed mirrors in the same position that the core optics will be located to
minimize future adjustments. I will have the calibration on them by weeks end,

I built a piezo-actuator to assist with LOS balancing. It will drive the
wire standoffs by 'buzzing' them into position. We will also use it to
tension the wire around the optic. I am working on an optical lever
calibration procedure for use with a new set of fixtures I had built. This
will basically follow M. Zucker calibration document, adopting it to the
new tooling and written in recipe form. I summited the two LOS installation
documents for approval with the lastest additions that were requested(rev C).
 

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

This week, Bartie and I finished assembling as much COS stuff
as we had on hand.  We attempted to do this, while still 2 months
away from needing these assemblies, so we could encounter any
problems ahead of time.  Sure enough, we found that we were
missing a few small items, ran out of a few nuts and bolts, and
galled a bolt in a critical piece.  Reworks, redlines, and orders to
correct these small problems are already well under way.  We will
proceed with this method until everything is assembled, wrapped,
and waiting at a chamber door for installation.

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

HAM3:  The stack, kapton cabling, and payload were installed last week.
Optics Table leveling and elevation were also completed.  This completes
SEI work for all HAM chambers for LIGO I!  One door was put back on the
chamber; the other door will be put back on after an Optical Lever Mirror
is installed on the Optics Table--this is for a Long-Term Drift Measurement
which will be conducted on this stack as well as the stack of BSC2.

BSC1:  Installation of the stack, payload, and cabling complete; Optics
Table was leveled.  Plans are to seal up this chamber today--SEI
installation complete except for the electronics and pneumatics of the
Coarse Actuation System (CAS).

BSC2:  The Support Brackets were removed--the level of the Optics will be
re-checked today.  Mirror for Long-Term Drift Measurement will be installed
on this Optics Table.

BSC9(x-end):  Adapter Plates have been aligned for beginning of Actuation
Stack build up.

BSC10(y-end):  Adapter Plates have been aligned for beginning of Actuation
Stack build up.

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

Put in a Purchase Request for 35 Exceed licenses.  Dealt with a problem
purchasing the two Sun Workstations.  Purchased latest Acrobat software
for the Control Room elog PC.  Interviewed two WSU students as PC Sys
Admin helpers.

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

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

CDS (D. Barker)

Completed installation of the ADCU in the right end station (EX).
Seismometer and tiltmeter data now being acquired from this station. All
5 seismometers at Hanford are now being recorded by the DAQS.

Updated CDS drawings under my control to DCC. Added new PSL and vacuum
compressed air alarms to site alarm handler. PSL alarms added to alarm
manager. Diagnosed PSL EPICS problem as a sequencer problem. Updated
operators alarm procedures in the case of invalid EPICS alarms.

Fixed ADC problem in MY, daughter card warped and lifted out of its
socket (known problem with some cards).

Added PEM EPICS dust monitor records to the end stations (EXEpics and
EYEpics).

Supported CDS activities at Louisiana and CIT. Usual system
administrative activities at LHO (backups, reboots, system changes, DAQS
reconfigurations, web page updates, etc.)

Redesigned ADCU code to optimize ADC readout and data transfer over
reflective memory network. Building 4k Interferometer ADCU for rack 1X5
in MSR to test out new DCU code. New code will have more diagnostics to
determine if new filters and increased RFM traffic is causing ADCU
problems.

Training up on CVS to use the LDAS configuration control system.

Controls and Operations
(C. Patton)

Modified the site Critical Alarm config file to include the X arm
gatevalve autoclose alarms and full site instrument air pressure monitor
alarms.

Reviewed my driver code for the 115 DAC.  Need to add interface to run
with timing card and verify code is ready to be installed and used at
LLO next week.

Continued design of EPICS PID control for cryopump LN2 level control.
Continued with requested modifications to the Vacuum System EPICS
Controls.

Prepared training materials for Operator training on EPICS.
 


LIGO Livingston Observatory (LLO) Operations



 

IO Optics: We continued alignment of in-vacuum optics (on HAM 1 and HAM 2). We installed the Faraday isolator (a Faraday Rotator, two polarizers and two
half wave plates) assembled in the optics lab, but found that the beam reflected from MMT1 was clipping on one of the polarizer's mount. So we took the Faraday isolator out of HAM 1 to rework in the optics lab. The second polarizer and the half wave plate must be placed towards the Faraday rotator as close as possible. MMT1 was aligned so that the beam hit the center of MMT2. We also aligned the DLC mounted steering mirrors except for those take the beam reflected by the Faraday isolator. The output from the premode cleaner (PMC) on the PSL table became very unstable. The PMC was unlocked as many as three times a day. Also the power decreased from 7 W to ~ 4W. After this happened, the PMC could not be locked at TEM00. So, we realigned the beam going into the PMC. Now the output from the PMC is stable again at a power level of 4.2 W (for at least a half day). The power going into the PMC also dropped from 10 W to 7 W. (Sany Yoshida)

Detector installation support: Reinstalling doors on HAM#1&2. Mapping out and core drilling for optical lever table placement at the X end station, mapping out same in the LVEA (2 locations). Mapping and installing plumbing for well water to 1000 gal. storage at both end stations. Building lab area in storage bldg. and designing new 9 bay storage rack location. Assisting in the optics alignment in the LVEA. Sealing beam tube extrusion at the X end station (framing, dry wall, painting and baseboards). Completed safety items assigned by G. Stapfer. Rich Riesen

Beam tube bakeout: The dc power supply designated ps1 started the blow its circuit breaker last Friday. We chose to try to limp through the weekend and replace the breaker on monday. The breaker was replaced, but didn't solve the problem. We replaced the power supply trailer with the last spare trailer and have ramped back to 168c and are holding. We are investigating various fixes for the failed dc supplies, and will repair one as soon as we can identify the exact cause of failure. (Allen Sibley)

PSL: The pre-mode cleaner will be replaced the week of Feb 21. The laser will also be checked to see if it is functioning properly. (Joe Kovalik)

CDS Installation: Ran out cables for IO work next week. Worked on Steering Mirror controls problem. Completed hook-up and testing of particle counter breakout boxes in the LVEA.  Received and installed (3) - UPS's for the RGA computers. (Rus Wooley)

Added Solaris 2.7 patches to CDS gateway machine. Integrated dust monitor software for LVEA, End-X and End-Y into existing EPICS and DAQ system. I am in the process of modifying the internal circuits of all dust monitors on site to connect them directly with DC power supplies through the D connector, instead of using 9 V AC adapters. (Juilien Svoboda)

OPTICS: This week we've been busy winding up IO installation in Hams 1 and 2. I fabricated a target frame to bolt on the 84" HAM flange, duplicating the positions of the conflat centers. Made two for LHO. In the process, we discovered a discrepancy between the HAM doors and the PSI as-built drawings; the centers are 3" closer to the vessel than drawings indicate. The target frame has been modified to correct for the actual positions, so we'll be able to steer the beams out of the center of the viewports without dead reckoning. Measured reflectivity of the HR and AR surfaces of ETM-x and discovered that the HR surface Ken Mason planned to use for alignment is useless at 632nm (his laser autocollimator wavelength). But we get a strong signal from the AR (rear) surface so we'll plan on using that, allowing for the wedge of the optic. Fabricating some aluminum caddies to safely transport core optics from their towers in and out of the bake oven. Its been a worrisome procedure manhandling the optics; a risky 2-man hand off is involved getting them into the oven and we'll now avoid that. The labs are getting very busy with the various tasks disparate groups require. A reminder to all visitors that you need to submit a work permit BEFORE beginning your tasks when you visit. (Jonathan Kern)

Computers: We have installed a duplex attachment on our color printer so we can print double-sided pages. We are installing a conferencing video camera on one of the Suns as a test. We are beginning preparations for the conference next month.
Bake Oven: We are in the process of baking two loads of core optics. The current load of two core optics will finish this weekend, andthe next load will be two more core optics. (Tom Evans)

LIGO-TriNet SNE/LLO Project: We (Fred Asiri, Szabolcs Marka) visually surveyed the land around the arms to find possible sites for the LIGO-TriNet seismic station. There are several candidates with different advantages. Ultimately the ground noise level will be the decisive factor. This preliminary noise survey will start tomorrow (02/18/2000) to take advantage of the relatively quiet weekend and the excellent weather. The neccessary equipment is collected and weather-proofing shells for it are in construction. I am contacting local manufacturers to find the best deal for precast cement structures and other items for the permanent station. (Szabi Marka)

CDS: Found GPS cable. Installed BNC connector on it and could not lock to antenna. Checked GPS card addressing; it is correct..tried card in South end station and card worked.. just begining troubleshooting of GPS antenna. Got PemEX on line. Made two power cables for the anti-aliasing filter. Installed bnc and lemo anti-aliasing filter at south end station. Put filters 3 filters in south(Y) end station box and 3 straight thru's. Only got several more filters modules (because this is all caltech has) have to apportion them sparingly. Lemo filter box has some electrical problem...under investigation...
PEM Found some connectors for Guralp 40T 's looking for remainder...and missing at least one possibly two siesmometers.
(Anthony Rizzi)

Community relations: Boy Scout Troop 156 is camping out here Saturday night; during the day they'll plant 500 cypress trees Mark purchased from the forestry department. We'll supervise 20 or so 12 year olds (if that's possible) and plant the trees along the borrow pit of the West arm. The mayor of Livingston and approximately 20 members of the Kiwanis Club chapters in Livingston and Walker visited LIGO for a tour this week.
 


WBS 1.2, 1.3    Detector Group



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

LSC implementation (Zucker, Fritschel, Ouimette)
-----------------------------------------------
Dale O. is at MIT this week working through details on the length
sensing electronics. We made a lot of progress; some highlights
include
- the common-mode (mostly global frequency control) functions are well
enough defined to detail the design, and look like they will work out
OK in dynamic range, noise, etc. The challenge now is to build a first
article in time to test it on the 2k arm at LHO.
- the "bounce" mode of the MC mirrors will also need to be killed
in the common mode controller using tuned
resonant gain, since otherwise the frequency noise it causes eats up the
servo error point dynamic reserve.
- the "dewhitening" filtration required between the DAC and arm length
coil drivers looks extremely tricky. The vertical "bounce" mode of
the suspensions forces a painful dynamic range constraint at 12 Hz, and
the output noise needed is very low (~few nV/rHz). Dale and Jay are
both looking at feasibility and we are looking at performance
tradeoffs.
- some triggering features brought to light by Peter's discussions with
Matt Evans (who is now taking on lock acquisition modeling using E2E)
will be rolled into the new LSC photodetector interface, to make fast
intensity-change triggers available to the ISC CPU.

Initial alignment (MZ for K. Mason)
-------------------------------------
Jonathan Kern's measurement of the LLO ETMx reflectance at the laser
autocollimator wavelength indicates our normal alignment procedure will
not work (the autocollimator will not be able to lock onto the
return). It appears that for this particular coating run the 1064nm HR
came out as a good AR at 670nm. Jonathan has explored calibrating out
the wedge angle to use the back (nominally "AR") surface, which has a
healthy reflectance in the visible, or possibly using the visual
eyepiece autocollimator on the theodolite directly. Ken is doing
calculations to decide if these or other workarounds will provide
adequate precision to meet the target.
ISC implementation (Matt Smith)
------------------------------
I received 5 photo diodes from Jay Heefner and assembled them into their
boxes. Shipped two to Doug Cook for installation into the optical
levers for the vacuum chamber drift test. Worked with Doug to help
instal these optical levers for BSC2 and HAM3 in Washington. Shipped
out the missing pieces to him.
Myron and I just finished palletizing the last ETM transmission monitor
pier. It will be shipped out to Hanford tomorrow. It will take over a
week to get there.
 

-------------------------------------------
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
--------------------------------------------
- Testing of a pieced-together intensity stabilization servo has resumed.
The test intensity servo, which uses the same circuit board as the defunct
AC current adjust intensity servo, suffered from having some components
soldered in the wrong place because some tracks were laid differently than
what was indicated on the circuit schematic. At present a problem with one
of the gain stages of the servo is being tracked down.
- Various problems with the LLO PSL have been reported. Most relating to
the beam from the pre-modecleaner (PMC). One obvious problem however was
that the laser was adjusted, and left running, in an area which may not
have been a mode-hop-free region. This bares out something not previously
considered, so that when the next software release for the PSL is made, the
operating point of the laser will be restricted by software. In
particular, the slow voltage --- which adjusts the thermoelectric cooler
bonded to the NPRO crystal --- will be limited to one or two mode-hop-free
regions at most.
Another problem associated with the PMC was that there was no TEM00
output. This is believed to be caused by the fact that neither the
frequency of the Lightwave laser or the length of the PMC was adjusted to
let the TEM00 mode resonate.
 

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

LHO 2K (Haisheng Rong)
Nergis, Joe K, David O, and Haisheng have re-measured the MC cavity
linewidth using both ringdown and transfer function method. Purposes of
these measurements are: to get information about cavity degradation by
comparing the results with previous measurements (1/2 year ago), to get
more people involved and standardize the measurement procedure with which
we can monitor the cavity degradation routinely.
Preliminary results show no sign of degradation. Detailed analysis is in
progress.
Servo noise of PMC induces significant intensity noise on its output
light, if the PMC is not exactly locked to the center of the fringe,
especially around 150 Hz, the servo u.g.f. By carefully adjusting the PMC
servo input offset, i.e., the locking point, one can reduce the
frequency-intensity noise coupling, and lower the intensity noise peak at
152 Hz by ~30db.
60 Hz line noise and its harmonics can falsify the ringdown/up traces.
Increase the modulation frequency helps to get clean ringdown/up results.
LLO 4k (Sany Yoshida)
Alignment of in-vacuum optics (on HAM 1 and HAM 2) continues; MMT aligned
through MMT2; a problem with the breadboard alignment of the Faraday
forced a slight modification of the layout, requiring re-optimization in
the Optics Lab.

Core Optics Procurement and Metrology -- GariLynn Billingsley
-------------------------------------------------------------
There are no new activities.
The three flat test is ongoing.
Attempts to get constant chilled water are ongoing.
 

Core Optics Support -- Michael Smith
------------------------------------
ETM TELESCOPE
The LLO ETMx beam dump parts are being cleaned and baked at LHO. A cleaned
and baked ETM telescope assembly will be sent from LHO to LLO as a
substitute for the ETM telescope at LHO which failed the bake load.
PO MIRROR MOUNT
The reworked parts for the 4K PO mirror mounts for LHO and LLO have been
received and will be sent to Allied by 2/18/00 for cleaning.
ARM CAVITY BAFFLE
Allied has been delayed in cleaning the arm cavity baffle parts due to
unavailability of Ameristat wrapping material. They will schedule a partial
shipment to LHO. Paul K. has completed detailing the glass drawings and is
working on the assembly and installation drawings. The glass cutter is
fabricating the arm cavity glass.
SPARE IR ALIGNMENT LASER
The spare alignment lasers were received, but the SMA fiber optic
termination is still incorrect, and the lasers will be sent back to the
vendor for rework.
PO TELESCOPE
Allied has been delayed in cleaning the PO telescope parts due to
unavailability of Ameristat wrapping material. They will schedule a partial
shipment to LHO.

INSTALLATION PLAN, LHO
item completion install
4K IO Baffle, HAM2 done ?
Elliptical baffle 4KITMx, BSC3 done ?
Elliptical baffle 4KITMy, BSC1 done ?
Elliptical baffle 4KRM, HAM3 done ?
PO mirror, 4KITMy, BSC2 done ?
PO mirror, 4KITMx, BSC2 done ?
PO mirror, 4KBS-1, BSC1 done ?
PO mirror, 4KBS-2, BSC1 done ?
PO telescope, 2KITMx done 4/00
PO telescope, 2KITMy done 4/00
PO telescope, 2KBS done 4/00
Beam dumps 2K done 4/00
Beam dump 4KETMy vac window done ?
Beam dump 4KETMx vac window done ?
Arm Cavity Baffle, X-vertex done 4/00
Arm Cavity Baffle, Y-vertex done 4/00
Arm Cavity Baffle, X-end done ?
Arm Cavity Baffle, Y-end done ?
Faraday Isolator, APS partial 4/00
INSTALLATION PLAN, LLO
item completion install
4K IO Baffle, HAM2 done ?
Elliptical baffle 4KITMx, BSC3 done ?
Elliptical baffle 4KITMy, BSC1 done ?
Elliptical baffle 4KRM, HAM3 done ?
PO mirror, 4KITMy, BSC2 done ?
PO mirror, 4KITMx, BSC2 done ?
PO mirror, 4KBS-1, BSC1 done ?
PO mirror, 4KBS-2, BSC1 done ?
PO telescope, 4KAPS done ?
PO telescope, 4KITMx done ?
PO telescope, 4KITMy done ?
PO telescope, 4KBS done ?
Beam dump ETMx vac window done 2/28
Arm Cavity Baffle, X-vertex done ?
Arm Cavity Baffle, Y-vertex done ?
Arm Cavity Baffle, X-end done ?
Arm Cavity Baffle, Y-end done ?
ETMx Telescope done 2/28
Faraday Isolator, APS partial 4/00

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

Seismic Design (Mike Fine)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nothing significant to report.
Suspension -- (Janeen Hazel/Mark Barton/Mike Fine)
-------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Report from Janeen:
- As of monday, the Livingston ITMy, ITMx, BS and RM were ready to go
into an oven bake. There will be two bakes.
- Working on the new osem design.

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

No GDS or PEM report this week.

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

No report.
 


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-000001 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, February 17, 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 Purchasing Department (G.Salone) with the return of a piece of test damaged equipment to Newark Electronic for replacement. Prepaid.  Account Number RMA185180.

Assisted the Detector Group (M. Smith) with the preparation of Caltech Physical Plant Project Request  for two (2) shipping crates for Pick Off Mirror. Account  Number 5F515.

Assisted the System Administrator (L.Wallace) with shipping five (5) Sun Monitors to Computer Work for estimate prior to repair.

Acquired a Street Sweeper from Ridgecrest (China Lakes Navy Weapons Station) for the LIGO Hanford Observatory. Delivery date yet to be determined pending transportation.

Assisted the Caltech Laser Safety Office with the inventory of all Lasers 3B and above. Two (2) Safety citations were issued:
 1.  The lack of available safety glasses
 2.  The Black-out Curtains did not extend to the floor
These situations were encountered in the Synchrotron Hi-Bay area.


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: Esther Cunningham <esther@ligo.caltech.edu>

Press here for ACCOUNTS PAYABLE HISTORY DATA.

From: Ruth Brambila

This week worked on:

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>

Resume's are continuing to come in, and interviews are being conducted, in the search for a Primavera scheduler for LIGO II.  It is expected that a selection will be made this week.

A draft of Caltech's reply to the appeal brief filed by Acme has been received.  Sandy Pool and Ed Jasnow will review the draft on Friday, February 18.  The Caltech reply is due to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals by Friday, February 25.



 
 


WBS 1.4.3    Systems Engineering / Data Analysis and Computing


Simulation and Modeling

LIGO Lock Acquisition:

On Feb.15, there was a meeting discussing about the Lock Acquisition
work planning. Attendees were Peter (MIT), Matt, Hiro, Biplab, Luca,
Bill Kells (CIT). In this meeting, current status after Matt's visit
to MIT and future direction were discussed. The following is the summary.

In the previous meeting, the action items for the Lock Acquisition work
were identifed to go (1) understand, (2) evaluate, (3) patch and (4)
redesign.

Matt Evans visited MIT and worked with Peter Fritchel and completed
(1) and (2). Matt is working on (3) now using e2e as a design tool.

Matt Evans and Peter Fritschel have reviewed the most recent LIGO I
lock acquisition strategy and control parameters.  They found that
while the locking sequence presented in the Final Design is probably
viable, more detailed modeling than was available at the time it was
written brings the presented controlers into question.  Matt Evans is
currently developing a new set of controllers which take into account
the dominant system non-linearities which were not previously considered.

LHO 2K FP modeling:

Luca Matone is working to model the LHO 2K control system to apply e2e
to the on-going expriment, (1) to validate the model and (2) to help the
operation of 2K FP.

He made the 2km LIGO arm cavity model, including:
          o the optical configuration;
          o the suspended mirrors;
          o the local damping of the mirrors;
          o and the electronics for the locking.
This model has been simulated with both e2e and matlab
and the results are in good agreement.

RSE modeling:

Luca also worked building e2e model to simulate the optical
configuration of a power-recyled michelson with signal-recycling, a
first step to the full RSE table-top configuration.

Mechanics Modeling:

Giancarlo Cella is visiting CIT from Feb.12 to 28 to update the MSE
(Mechanical Simulation Engine) code which has been developed for e2e.

Summary of the work since his last visit

1. Implementation in the MSE code of thermal noise generation, both in
   the time domain and in the frequency domain. This work is near the
   completion (in a couple of week). In the frequency domain the power
   spectrum of noise is evaluated using the fluctuation-dissipation
   theorem. In the time domain a set of appropriate Langevin-type
   stochastic forces are added to the dynamics.
2. Implementation of structural damping inside mechanical objects. Also
   this work is near to be completed. The actual modelization of structural
   damping is obtained with an effective viscous-type matrix, which is
   constructed in such a way to reproduce the correct damping strength
   near the resonances. This should be a good approximation for transfer
   functions, but can have some problem in the low frequency tail.
3. Validation. The results of MSE models have been compared with a set
   of analitically soluble examples, to check for the correcness of code,
   expecially for the generation of internal modes. We obtain a very good
   agreement, and the models for internal modes demonstrates good
   convergence performances.

Outline of the future work:

1. Completion and validation of code for structural damping and thermal
noise.
2. Introduction of a more physical approach to structural damping, based
   on the composition of set of damping elements.
3. Study of the best approach to include in the library internal modes
   of massive bodies (like a mirror).
4. Addiction of "Black box" classes to include in the simulation the
   results of experimental measurements.

adlib improvements:

Biplab Bhawal and Hiro Yamamoto worked to improve the simulation engine.

ALFI Development:

Ed Maros and Bruce Sears are still working to deliver a version of
alfi4. The program is not stable enough and they are tracing the bug.

Talks:

Hiro Yamamoto and Giancarlo Cella went to Stanford Univ. and gave a talk
about e2e and MSE.
 

LIGO Data Analysis System

[Kent Blackburn]

* (JKB) This week was spent preparing for a new release of LDAS
        which incorporates the fixes to the C++ socket class
        library. Ed has been able to significantly improve speed
        and fix the bug that was causing the data transmission
        between solaris and linux to fail. We will spend Thursday
        and part of Friday system testing this release. In addition
        we will add a few more fixes associated with the metadataAPI
        before having a fully committed rebuild of 0.0.9 on Friday.

* (JKB) The mpiAPI and wrapperAPI software requirements are now in
        draft form. These are the LDAS components responsible for
        managing and carrying out parallel computation on the LDAS
        BEOWULF machines. There remains a couple of rather large
        issues related to the requirements and interfacing to LAL
        which will need to be studied. However, it is not clear at
        this time if these issues will impact the requirements.

[Masha Barnes]

* (MB) ILWD bug fix:
      - Changed to use a system defined numeric limits instead of
         hardcoded ones.

* (MB) Assisted Mary to analize a bug report 67( empty Table issue ): empty
          different constructor should be used when instantiating an empty
          lstring.

* (MB) MPI:
       - Read The wrapper API's baseline requirements.
       - Traced the exception throwing bug in MPICH to be an issue of
         compiling C and C++ files with gcc and g++ and linking object files
         with g++.  MPICH error handlers are written in C which throw C++
         exceptions.
       - Implemented parsing of one additional command line argument for the
         wrapperAPI.
 

[ Phil Ehrens ]

*(PSE) Finished adding support for getElements to frame API.

*(PSE) Integrated testing and system testing to support 0.0.9
        release of LDAS software.

*(PSE) Testing Tcl official release version 8.3.0.
 

[Alex Ivanov]

* (AI) made frameAPI changes requested by Phil

* (AI) made frameCPP bug fixes

* (AI) carried out frameCPP unit testing on Linux, Solaris
       and cross-platform
 

[Barbara Kratochwill]

* (BK) Began work on web pages for the LDAS block diagram.
 

[Mary Lei]

* (ML)  Reloaded lho_1 database with new tables that are
        created with IBM db2 6.1 using the putMetaData
        command with ilwd format because LIGO_LW format does
        not work due to slowness of the data socket.

* (ML)  Closed problem reports related to metadata tcl.
        cvs changes and test file changes.
 
* (ML)  Converted multi-table ilwd to xml. Updated db2 web page
        with the new example.

* (ML)  Created test driver to send commands to ligolw for
        conversion of ilwd and xml files. Reported problems
        with filenames and file join command in ligolw.
 
* (ML)  Tested getMetaData and descMetaData commands at Hanford
        with ilwd and xml format; the LIGO_LW format often results in
        expired thread unless the data sent is real small.
        Switched to non-threaded version for accept and recv
        and was able to get good throughput for the user commands.
        Updated getILwd.ligolw macro to be current with ligolw
        functions. Tested putMetaData with xml format.
 

[ Edward Maros ]

* (EFM) Implemented Object Space buffering

* (EFM) Built 0.0.9 version of software for System Testing.
 

[Omar Rashad - LDAS System Administration]

* (OR) Ironed out final bugs in gnats's configruation.

* (OR) Ironed out more migration issues when a user moves
       from Solaris to Linux.

* (OR) Learning more about cfengine and our cfengine setup.  Minor
       configruation issues with various servers are awaiting a
       sufficient level of cfengine proficiency.

* (OR) Started looking into setting up drives on kitalpha in RAID
       configuration. Further work is delayed until software gets
       upgraded and software upgrades are delayed until the build finishes.

* (OR) Starting to test install Workspace to see if MPI behaves better
       under a different compilation.
 
 
[Stuart Anderson]

* (SA) Continued work on coordinating the detailed software schedule for
       Mock Data Challenges to integrate LSC software within LDAS.

* (SA) Re-opened discussions with CACR on the possibility of increasing
       the LIGO archive storage capacity from 2000 to 6000 tape slots.
 

[Larry Wallace]

* (LW) Getting more quotes on the 200 units wanted for the beouwolf system.

* (LW) Ordered a 4CPU unit for the LDAS testing of s/w.

* (LW) Tracked down the order for the shelves to be installed at the
       Observatories and discovered the orders had been lost (somewhere
       at the vendors location) so they have been re-ordered and should
       arrive next week.
 

General Computing

MIT:

Nothing to report

Livingston: (Tom Evans)

We have installed a duplex attachment on our color printer so
we can print double-sided pages.

We are installing a conferencing vidio camera on one of the
Suns as a test.

We are beginning preparations for the conference next month.

Hanford: (Christine Patton)

Put in a Purchase Request for 35 Exceed licenses.  Dealt with a problem
purchasing the two Sun Workstations.  Purchased latest Acrobat software
for the Control Room elog PC.  Interviewed two WSU students as PC Sys
Admin helpers.

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

CIT:

(Barbara Kratochwill)

  Installed the media server and determined that it works.  The next task
is to assemble all the pieces -- web pages, media files, and metafiles.

  Reworked the LSC Report outputs to remedy some problems that Rita was
seeing.

  Helped Linda Turner with the Quick Guides for document locations and
submittal.  With Larry's help, moved the LSC "M" and "L" documents to the
public document directories.  Now we no longer need to copy them to the
LIGO server and can create links to the "Z" attachments on the rosters and
participation pages.

  Began work on the DCC changes to check out a revision number.

  The overnight job to link the document database with the electronic
files seems to be working reliably except for a brief time late last week
when we lost access to the document directories.  Added the
orphan-PDF-files report (PDF files without database records) to the
overnight steps.

  Make some changes to the LSC web pages to fix a problem with the
navigation buttons and to add a page/button for Data Analysis.

Sam tested and moved a number of monitors. Resolved a number of minor PC issues
for different users.

(Suresh)

  Setup lsc-all mailing list with the help of Barbara. This includes both the
LIGO and none LIGO members involved in LIGO science community.

  Worked with Larry for installing Artestak backup system in a workstation.
This was interrupted for a couple of days due to the backup s/w not being
completely compatible with the newer versions of Solaris. The daily incremental
backup of mail and users home directories is now working.

  Fixed some problems with applications in sirius. This includes ghostview, GNU
emacs speller, CDE desktop menus etc.

  Installed Solaris 7 in two Suns. Helped users initializing themselves as NIS+
client with server.

  Helped users in various ways (network, mail, accounts, printing etc).
 
(Larry)

  Worked a number of procurement issues. Including more quotes for laptops,
PC's, SUN boxes and tape units.

  Fixed a number of PC printing issues, most of the problems were the network
tables were not updated with the correct gateway. Also, re-installing the
drivers on a couple of machines were necessary.

  Working a number of issues with DCC which includes setting up a new internal
ftp server for the LIGO community. Also, trying to get some printing problems
resolved with a number of PDF documents. The documents appear fine on the screen
but will not print on any of the printers. Work on this problem will continue
but from initial information from Adobe there are number of problems with PDF
and Postscript printing.

   Worked with Barbara and Suresh on new mail aliases for the LSC.

   Worked with Christine in resolving a mail-relay issue at the Hanford
Observatory.

   Contacted the networking providers at both Livingston and Hanford to see what
progress has been made on improved connectivity. Albert and Larry will be
meeting with a group from Bellsouth and LSU in March to go over a few of the
issues there. Meeting with the Hanford group will take place later.

   Working with Ed C. to get old un-used equipment surplussed out. Ed has also
sent in a number of monitors for repair.

   Installed StarOffice and a SUN box and a PC. Both installations went smoothly
as long as the setup command was used. If the install command is used things
just will not work. All of the packages appear to work ok and the files pass
between the different platforms. The one shortcoming I did notice was the lack
of converters/translators (No PDF).

   Spent time getting the backup units working again. The backup s/w installs
and appears to work on Solaris 2.6 but in reality it doesn't. Built a Solaris
2.5.1 machine and have the backups running off of that unit. Presently, checking
out new s/w pkgs. to replace the existing one.

   Checking out a new version of ghostview for the PC's and Netscape 4.7.
Netscape 4.7, may have some problems with the Oracle items so those using the
Oracle system should keep with the old recommended version.

    Working the new SDRC master series 7 problems. So far we have been able to
resolve most of the issues. There is a big difference between series 5 and
series 7, the upgrade of the databases has not gone as well as advertised.
 


WBS 1.4.4.1    Administrative Group


Dorothy Lloyd

No report. Her mother passed away this week.

Rita Torres

For I. Petrac collected, formatted, and numbered incoming LSC reports (5). After review, these will be submitted to the DCC for posting on the web. Did letters to ACIGA and Michigan to transmit their respective Attachments No. 2. Formatted Procurement Justification for MIT, change order No. 7; also did edits to budget summary. Did change order No. 8 to Galli & Morelli, obtained an Oracle requisition number. Did letter to FedEx Attachments B, C, D, & Z with Stanford University.

Did a few requisitions in D. Lloyd's absence. Did trip updates to the sites, these are on the web. Completed first round of input to subsystem drawings, dates and titles; project to continue. Ongoing P-card purchases, reconciling, and chasing after details. For one purchase, input 29 lines of description and unit prices. Completed update to PO log for D. Lloyd, however there is illegible information on several entries; need Dorothy's input.

Irene Baldon

Worked on preparing the paper work for 15 new trips taken recently or upcoming (15 Payment Requests and 8 Advance Requests). There are approximately an additional 21 new trips in various stages pending completion of travel arrangements before the paper work can be completed. Also worked on an extremely high number of problem issues which required a good portion of my time.

Completed 23 Expense Reports, some of which were extensive, involving 2-3 or more pages each. Some of these reports were still not taped or completed by the Traveler, and required additional time for completion. Worked additionally on a number of problem issues associated with these which required a good portion of my time. There are 20 Expense Reports still to be done. I'm holding 3 completed Expense Reports which require a check from the Traveler before sending to Travel Audit to clear. Rita/Liz completed 5 Expense Reports previously given to them.

I still have not seen any significant change in the time lag for receiving checks. They still continue to hold checks in Disbursement Audit for up to an additional week after the check has been issued. This additional time lag adds significantly to the lag that already occurs in Travel Audit/Accounting. I have started receiving T numbers intermittently. We'll have to see how long this lasts this time.

Performed normal recording and filing associated with Travel and Reimbursement.

Prepared the Travel/Vacation Itinerary for the Week of February 14, 2000.

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. I continue to do MIT's travel to the sites for installation activities and also to assist them wherever possible.

Elizabeth K. Wood

Found out that it is indeed possible to have a financial crisis without using the DEBACLE system. For the past few months, Dorothy and I have been trying to figure out how the petty cash amount got to be $850.00. Where was the missing $650.00? We found it. Just a matter of not turning in some receipts. A year late, but turned in nonetheless. Now we just have to get the petty cash amount returned to its original amount.

In December, I received a message from a student wondering where his paychecks from August had gone. I contacted payroll, bank reconciliation, and payroll again to get things straightened out. I sent a message to payroll, as I had been instructed, to get the student his missing paychecks. Silly me---I thought everything had been solved. When the student wrote me again in February telling me he still hadn’t seen his paychecks, I proceeded to call the same people again to find out what had happened. Needlesstosay, nothing had happened. However, I believe by now, the checks have been found, but the student hasn’t written me back to say he has them in hand yet. I’ll be able to sleep at night when I know he has his paychecks.

Made arrangements for a job applicant to visit Livingston.

Had a nice chat with an IRS forms lady in Sacramento.

Along with the denizens of the sixth floor of Millikan, I continue to query security about why LIGOites can’t get into the library after hours. Gregg Henderson at first suggested that the problem might be security’s computer configuration. It appears that there is a conflict in providing 24-hour access to Millikan but limiting access to the Fairchild library. That’s what I’ve been told so far. The saga continues.

Dealt with some personnel issues.

Hey, everybody!!! The next NSF site review is right here at Caltech, May 9-11. That’s Tuesday through Thursday. Mark your calendars. Join in the fun.
 


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