Weekly Report for Week Ending August 30, 2001

The LIGO Executive Committee Agenda for Monday  September 3, 2001 will be:

CANCELLED DUE TO HOLIDAY
 

Special Announcements:

Weekly Report Highlights
 

LSC Issues (Weiss)

no report

LIGO I Construction/LIGO Laboratory Administration (Lindquist)

WBS 1.2 LIGO Operations--Administration

The following were discussed during the site teleconference on Thursday, August 30, 2001.

• A draft Proposal Budget and Justification for FY 2002-2006 has been sent to the NSF.  This was based on draft Proposal Budget forms received from MIT and modifications to the model incorporating some comments provided by Mark and Fred.  I have an action to initiate a staffing plan.  The details of the current budget model will be printed and distributed for internal review as soon as we get the NSF marching off towards approval of our FY 2002 funds.
• The Visitor's Program has some uncommitted funds for FY 2002.  We would like to promote visitors at the sites.
• The "gift agreement" has been executed giving the Weber bars to LIGO.  Within a few weeks they should be on the way to the sites.  Photos are being sent and will be provided to Hanford and Livingston.

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

• Assisted the Optics Engineer (G. Billingsley) with packing and shipping and preparation of a International Bill of Lading for two (2) Glass Substrates, 25mm  x 11mm, to CSIRO (Bob Oreb) in Sydney, Australia.  Account Number P157753.
• Assisted the Systems Administrator (L. Wallace) with packing and shipping of approximately 1500-1700 ft of fiber Optic Wire to LLO (S. Roddy). Account Number LIGO.00009-1.5.1-NSFLIGO.000002.
• Assisted the Systems Administrator (L.Bogue) with packing and shipping of two (2) Sun IPC Boards and Software to LHO (C. Patton) and to MIT (K. Beyer). Account Number P182498.
• Assisted the Data Analysis Group (S. Anderson) with the processing of a UPS claim for the loss of sixteen (16) AIT-2 50/100GB Tapes with the replacement value of $1381.28. Documentation was submitted to the UPS Claims Processing Center (GLF) in Forth Worth, TX for reimburstment.

>From: Linda Turner - turner@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. . .

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

• No report this week.  Linda will be out for several weeks but will be checking in with Cleveland periodically as well as keeping up with email during this period.

ACTIVITY

• Things were back to normal as the LSC has come and gone...
• Progress resumes on auditing of PSI drawings
• Electronic document activity was steady
• Progress continues on converting old financial account files located in storage from hard copies to electronic files

Press here to access the DOCUMENT CONTROL CENTER WEB PAGE.

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

Press here for ACCOUNTS PAYABLE HISTORY DATA.

From: "Brambila, Ruth" <Ruth.Brambila@caltech.edu>

• Closed out all PO's paid through June 2001.  Submitted some PO's with active encumbrances to Dorothy to see if they should be closed and the encumbrance removed.
• Completed C/O#1 to NTD, change order numbers 2 & 3 to Excel Group.  Added funds to the Crystal Systems C/O.  Completed the internal mod transfer of funds on MIT.
• Working on setting up a new blanket to Reliable Computer Supplies.  Working on the PO to Moon Security Services.

• Began preparation of Operations report for August; noted several new encumbrances and queried managers as to whether they were appropriately classified.
• Prepared an analysis at the request of Larry Wallace to make sure that all his equipment purchases for the Data Analysis General Computing group were correctly recorded, and to verify balance available.  He is planning some major purchases over the next several months.
• Investigation of continuing p-card charges to FY2000 Operations account revealed that it was because the default account number had not been changed in the system.  Provided Criselda Rodriquez-Brodeur with a list showing the equivalent new number for each of the old numbers, so that she could change the default values.
• Re-sent e-mail notice regarding explanations of appropriate expenditure types for LIGO equipment purchases, and responded to specific questions received from various people regarding the notice.
• Worked with Travel Audit department to close last remaining open Travel Encumbrance in FY99 Ops Accounts.
• Only remaining encumbrance in FY99 account is a minor balance to Louisiana Tech University, the balance must remain open because they still need to invoice for some additional expenses, but a decision was made to transfer the balance to current OPs account so that the FY99 accounts can be closed.

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

• Heraeus Optics, Inc.: CO No. 05, substituting an initial order for Suprasil with a more readily available material, was released to Purchasing.
• VME ADC Module: Two RFP addenda, clarifying the LIGO performance specifications, were released.
• Wave-Precision, Inc.: CO No.11,  adding four (off-the-shelf) fused silica samples (in support of ongoing coating analysis), was released to Purchasing.
• Goodrich: CO NO. 04, adding scope for compensation polish on one LIGO supplied sapphire substrate, is in Detector group review.

• The tax audit on the LIGO Hanford Observatory has been completed.  The Washington Department of Revenue has determined that from January, 1997, to December, 2000, we should have paid $14,697 in state sales and/or use tax.  They also determined that, during that same period, we paid just over $12,000 in sales and use tax that we should not have paid.  Unfortunately, it is our responsibility to recover those taxes from the individual vendors to whom they were paid.  The Caltech tax office is reviewing the results of the audit and will determine the threshold at which they will attempt to recover the tax credits.

SUPPORT (Wood)

Graphic provided by Cindy.

• Processed the usual requisitions, invoices and receiving on-line. For more detail, see "Cost Schedule Control Systems" report by Esther Cunningham.
• Tracked and followed up on invoice problems.
• Reviewed and recorded payments processed by Esther the week of August 20.
• Continue to monitor contract and blanket order encumbrance and notify task managers when supplements are needed.
• Jim continues with data entry in the LIGO database and supports Irene (travel) in the mornings and Linda and Cleveland (DCC) in the afternoons.

• Placed Pcard orders, and reconciled several.  Continue to check status on some long-lead items.
• Compared the current LIGO roster to Caltech's directory, prepared P53 forms for people not listed in the directory.
• A different method for roster update is in development; did input to roster and am almost done with this task.  Proof reading now to capture every name and number.

• Processed the paper work for four (4) new/revised trips (including Advance Checks written and hotel/car rental authorizations filled out and FAXed to appropriate vendors in various locations).  I have eight (8) trips in various stages of completion before ticketing can be done. Worked on several trips that were changed or modified and assisted several more travelers with questions regarding their existing or potential travel.
• Jim Covington returned two (2) expense reports this week and has eleven (11) he is working on.  I worked on one (1) that was particularly difficult/time consuming and clarified a few more that Travel Audit and/or the traveler were having trouble with.  I completed thirty-five (35) reports and there are twenty-two (22) reports to be done.  I'm holding two (2) reports that need a check and three (3) that need additional information from the traveler before submitting.  I spent a considerable amount of time contacting travelers who have very old outstanding trips still open.  I will continue to contact these and other travelers as time permits.
• Reconciled thirty-one (31) items on my P-Card which required telephone calls to vendors who do not enter the traveler's name on their charges.  Assisted a few travelers with their reconciling and/or data entry.
• Worked on the preparation and distribution of the Travel/Vacation Itinerary for August 29, 2001.  Performed normal recording and filing associated with Travel and Reimbursement.  Also 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.

• Did a last minute submission for Albert’s proposal utilizing the ever popular FastLane system (tm, all rights reserved).  If you plan to prepare/submit your own proposals using user-friendly FastLane (tm, all rights reserved), please let me or SOMEone know your password in case you go out of town and something goes wrong with your proposal submission.  The Office of Sponsored Research can change the password, but that requires approval of the proposal's PI.  If the proposal's PI is out of computer or telephone contact, changing the password gets really tricky.  No, changing the password becomes impossible.
• If you have a visa or other immigration-related questions for the International Scholar Services office, the best time to call them directly is first thing in the morning.  And be patient.
• Did the paperwork for HR to hire a new employee up at Hanford.  Also did other personnel related work.
• If you want/need access to Millikan Library after usual business hours and your ID card isn’t working, please let me know.  One recent rumor suggests that the magnetic strip on the ID card may have been de-magnetized.

Advanced LIGO (Frey)

Progress Period from 08.24 to 08.30

Accomplishments:

• Weekly Advanced LIGO Project Controls meeting held Friday, August 24th at 9:30am at Small SCR.  Focus of the meeting will be the IO Second MRE Cost and Schedule Review.
• Advanced LIGO MRE Proposal (Highest Priority)
• Continuing the development of the Cost Estimate.
• Continue to pursue all other sub system schedules.
• Updated web site with latest data.
• The following is a summary of status by sub system:
• COC - Work on action items per second review continues.
• PSL - Work on action items per second review continues.  Peter King has provided his BOE data and processing is in progress.  Next meeting date has not been scheduled.
• AOS - Second review was held on August 20th at 1pm at LSCR.  Work on action items continues.
• IO - Second Review was executed on Friday August 24th at 9:35am at SSCR.  Issued revised meeting minutes.  Work on action items has started.
• SUS - Continuation of second review is scheduled for Friday September 7th at 9am.  Work on action items per second review continues.
• SEI - Efforts continue on action items.  Next review date has yet to be scheduled.
• All other subsystems have yet to be scheduled for their first review.  These dates are pending per direction from Gary Sanders and Dennis Coyne.
• Continue to update the TNI Schedule and incorporate any changes.
• Nothing new to report.
• Continue to update the LASTI Schedule and incorporate any changes.
• Nothing new to report.
• Project Plan for the 40-Meter Lab Upgrade continues.
• Per request by Larry Jones, I dropped off Wire Material for use by Santa Fe Textiles for executing their Purchase Order.  Also prepared a letter of transmittal to confirm delivery.
• Continue to test the Cost Book Tool.
• Continue to work with BK executing current action items.
• Continue to run tests on reports using other sub-system data.
• Mapping and formatting of OPS cost data for input on hold pending additional changes to budget data per NSF re-submit.
• Development of the Advanced LIGO Project Controls Guidebook continues.
• Project Web Site for posting schedule and progress related data continues to be updated with the latest and greatest.
• See http://www.ligo.caltech.edu/~tfrey/index.html

• Next weekly Advanced LIGO Project Controls meeting scheduled for Friday, September 7th at 9:30am at Small SCR.  Focus of the meeting will be the SUS Continuation of Second MRE Cost and Schedule Review.
• Advanced LIGO MRE Proposal (Highest Priority Task)
• Highest priority is the development of the Cost Estimate.
• Will continue to pursue all other sub system schedules.
• PSL - Continue to input data per comments from Dennis Coyne and BOE data by Peter King, in preparation for next meeting TBD.
• AOS - Continue inputting changes to and prepare for next meeting TBD.
• IO - Continue inputting changes to and prepare for next meeting TBD.
• SUS - Continue inputting changes to SUS and prepare for next meeting scheduled for September 7th.
• SEI - Continue inputting changes and prepare for next meeting TBD.
• COC - Work in action items by Garilynn continues.  Anticipate schedule changes prior to next meeting TBD.
• Will import cost data and complete schedule integration.
• Will Continue to update the TNI Schedule and incorporate any changes.
• Will update the plan with progress as of 08.31.01 and  post to site by the 5th.
• Will Continue to update the LASTI Schedule and incorporate any changes.
• Will update the plan with progress as of 08.31.01 and  post to site by the 5th.
• Will continue updating the 40 meter schedule and incorporate any changes.
• Will update the plan with progress as of 08.31.01 and  post to site by the 5th.
• Cost Book Tool development continues.  (Highest Priority Task)
• Will continue ops cost data input.
• Will continue to work with BK importing data and executing action items.
• Will continue the development of the Advanced LIGO Project Web Site.
• Will continue the development of the Advanced LIGO Project Controls Guide Book.

WBS 1.4.1.2   Project Controls (LIGO Construction)

The end-of-August Quarterly Progress Report will be due at the end of September, and I have requested contributions by September 21.  This could be the last Quarterly Progress Report required under this Cooperative Agreement, although we will still have to provide some kind of Annual or Final Report.  Under the new Cooperative Agreement, we think that only an Annual Report will be required.

The following Change Requests have been submitted.
 

We have tentatively scheduled a meeting of the LIGO Change Control Board for Tuesday, September 11, 2001, at 9:00 am PDT in the Science Conference Room (SCR).  Anyone requiring a telephone hookup should let us know.

Press for the latest Contingency Needs Projection.

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

• Continued on the monthly CSSR (end-of-July) and preparing for the August 2001 quarterly report.
• Continued with construction contract/work package close out.

• I received the MIT invoice and the TWONK for the month of July, 2001. The data has been given to Esther for payment.
• Florence Kaufman and I have decided to put all the reports into one place (for your convenience)...so they can be found at:

http://docuserv.ligo.caltech.edu/~fireport

• I continue to review the open encumbrances on the Construction and Advanced R&D accounts to see if the requested removals have been made. I will continue to review these accounts weekly until all encumbrances have been removed.  (Remember, I can only get these errors corrected if the Task Managers point them out to me).

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

• The Invitation for Bid for the OSB East Building was released on Monday, August 27.  The job walk is scheduled for Wednesday, September 12, with the bid opening scheduled for Wednesday, September 26.

Quality/Safety (Tyler)

No report this week.
 

LIGO Hanford Observatory (LHO) Operations (Raab)

4k IOO/ISC Work
------------------------------
(C.Gray, B.Kells, M.Landry, G.Moreno, & others.... )
 

In order to squeeze in work before the "short-term bakeout" of the LVEA,
there has been of flurry of activity, on the 4k, focused on the ISC system
and the Mode Cleaner.
 

Bill has been working on getting the Anti-Symmetric Port Photo diode on-line;
this will greatly help out when we get the next chance to work on alignment
of the interferometer.  The work required for this involves getting much of
the LSC electronics also on-line.
 

We've also been working on measuring the internal resonance Q's for the
Mode Cleaner mirrors.  This has been done by exciting the mirror's Coil
Drives (UL,LL,UR,&LR); monitoring the optics via the "PSL Out Mon";
removing the excitation and recording the ring down on a scope.  We have
looked (and are still looking) at modes within a range of 20kHz to 55kHz.
Preliminary results are showing Q's from 3 x10^5--1 x10^6. We will post a
table in the e-log when work is complete.
 

LIGO Livingston Observatory (LLO) Operations (Coles)

Detector: Optics and Installation: The cabling for the Laser Safety Interlock system has been completed and the installation of the hardware will begin next week. Russ and I conducted a walkthrough with the vendor, Metropolitan Electronics this morning and signed off on the cables. We found last weekend that the ETM transmission beam failed to exit the COS viewport on BSC-4; it missed the window by ~1/2". We effected one of the easier fixes we've been able to do to correct this clipping. Allen and Kerry backfilled the Y-end Tuesday morning, in less than 1/2 hour the viewport was replaced with a larger optical window and by day's end the vessel was back down to 10^-8. Late news - the Y end is now locking well since about 5 pm Thursday afternoon. (Jonathan Kern)

LDAS: Started the tape script to make a new copy of the E5 data. The first copy was lost by UPS. After a couple of restarts, the script seems to be writing data to the tapes now. Reading documentation on the Stow utility. Looking at ways of integrating BigBrother with Stow and the directory structure used by LDAS. After looking at the scripts/config files last night, I think this can be done very easily. Received an email from APC concerning monitoring multiple UPSs with one machine. According to them, this cannot be done using their software. If we choose to stick with monitoring the UPSs over the network rather than serial ports, we will have to look at custom software via SNMP.
GC: Discussed with Tom several ways of setting up the network with the new T1. Also some long term plans with the network configuration and organization.
CDS: I ordered & received a tape drive to replace the GC Mammoth drive that had been placed on CDS. The replacement drive is a AIT2 external drive. (Shannon Roddy)

Other GC news: We have recently received two Blade 1000s. One was set up as a general
computing number cruncher, and we are in the process of setting the other
one up as a replacement for our fileserver.
We have installed CD writers in several machines available to general
users, including one Sun workstation. We have ordered current versions
of CD writer software, and are waiting for it.
We expect LSU to come next week to install the temporary router needed
to enable our second T1 line. They have been delayed due to networking
emergencies on campus. (Tom Evans)

PEM: Installed two microphones in the LVEA, one on BSC2 (beam splitter) and the other
on BSC3 (ITMX). I mounted another microphone on BSC1 (ITMY) but problems with
the microphone power supplies prevent it from being connected to the DAQ system.
Will trouble shoot the B & K microphone power supplies to correct the problem
that is common to all six units. Will install one more microphone on HAM3 by the
end of day Friday and once the power supply problems are dealt with the
remaining four microphones will be installed.
Setting up templates for all of the PEM reference web pages. I hope to have the
sensor documentation for each sensor up by the end of next week. (Doug Lormand)

Detector/Technical Support (Whitcomb, Coyne)

Nergis Mavalvala,Daniel Sigg

The common-mode servo, which comprises feed back paths from the REFL_I signal to the ETMs, the modecleaner length and the error point of the MC servo was made to work after much grief. We commissioned it using the AS_I signal from a single arm cavity. One change to note: the AS whitening gains were increased from 24 dB to 42 dB!!!

I. Summary of the important measurements/fixes

* setting MCL/MCAO relative gains and signs

* eliminating noise due to ~1 MHz oscillations in some opamps on MC servo board

* tailoring filters on the CM board for better stability and to lower HF noise

* implementing CM switch for ETM path gain and filtering with the LSC front end 

* further filtering MCL path above 10 kHz to eliminate ring up of 49 kHz internal mode of MC2

* writing script to automate CM loop engaging (so our fingers don't get sore)

details here (username: reader, password: readonly)

40 Meter Interferometer (Weinstein)

• PSL (Abbott, Ugolini, Vass, Smith): Dennis and Ben are on vacation. The PSL has been running unattended all week.
• Facilities (Vass, Jones, Smith, AJW):
• There was considerable discussion of the heights of the (10) optical tables around the lab. In the end, we agreed that all but 2 tables should be 32.75" above the (uneven) floor; 4" optics places the beam height at 36.75", which is the height in the vacuum chambers (tables at 31.25", centers of suspended optics 5.5" above the tables). The first in-air optical components encountered by outgoing beams would be a pair of mirrors to permit adjustment of the beam height and levelness in case of small movement (eg, after pumpdown, or an earthquake). The PSL and BS-PO tables are somewhat lower for various reasons.
• Larry is ordering the last table: a 5'x12' TMC table for $16K.
• Larry has drawings in to the CES shop (and submitted to DCC) for manufacturing sturdy legs for the remaining tables.
• A complete list of table dimensions and heights is in 40m Optical tables.
• Cables (Jones): Larry will have Santa Fe Braiding braid 25-conductor cables (12-twisted-pair plus one ground, braided copper shield) with 3 different kinds of vacuum-compatible wire (Cooner wire and 2 gauges of enamel-coated wire), to test flexibility and look for shorts. If it goes well, we've got a solution for in-vacuum, flexible cables! Larry is also custom designing cable clamps for the run down the seismic stacks to the vacuum feedthrough, and has drawn up the cable runs on the optical tables. He's hoping that the sites will be able to clean and bake all these parts, in the winter.
• Larry has assembled a detailed (success-oriented) schedule for obtaining / assembling / cleaning / baking cables, and finally installing the cables and seismic stacks in January or February 2002. Ultimate short-term goal: a working 12m mode cleaner married to the PSL, in spring 2002.
• Vacuum (Vass): Steve performed annual maintenance on all the vacuum pumps (replacing pump oil, etc). He installed the new SRS RGA right next to our old Dycor RGA, and has cross-calibrated them. He did an absolute calibration with a calibrated Ar leak.
• Optical Layout (Smith): Mike has finalized the calibration for the position and angle measurements of the PSL from the two QPD's now on the 40m PSL table. He will be adding mirrors on optical lever beams to ensure that the beams can be centered on the QPDs after some motion (eg, after pumpdown). He's looking into vacuum-compatible fast (PZT) steering mirrors: we'll need 2 pair, for steering into the IFO and into the output mode cleaner.
• Suspensions (Romie): Janeen is completing drawings for fixtures for all of our 3"x1" optics (MC1, MC2, MC3, RM, SM, BS), and is red-lining old drawings for our 5"x2" optics (ITMs and ETMs). She has prepared tables and diagrams to define: all optic dimensions, masses, wedge angles and orientations, suspension frequencies (pendulum, pitch, yaw, violin, bounce), beam 1ppm clearances. AJW has gone over and checked all the numbers.
• Core optics (Billingsley): Garilynn, Janeen, Dennis Coyne and AJW met to finalize the polish and coating specs for the core optics. We agreed on polishing specs, including optic radii of curvatures (ROCs) and tolerances. Polishing could be done by WavePrecision (formerly GO). Coatings are for transmittances that are identical to the current AdvLIGO design, see LIGO II Reference Design and Advanced LIGO 4K parameters. The coating could be done by REO or MLD. We noted that WavePrecision has already broken 2 of the 5 MC substrates sent to them; at that rate, we'll need lots more spare substrates, and Garilynn will order them.
• Computing (Ugolini, Bogue): Lisa and Mick have rebuilt two of our Sun Blade 100's as DMT and operator consoles.

SURFs: 5 of our 6 SURFs have finished their work, prepared final papers of varying completeness, and taken off (with the promise to finish their papers, if necessary, next month). Richard George is remaining for another week or 2 to continue to try to get error signals out of E2E/DRLIGO that agree with Twiddle predictions and/or expectations.

Thermal Noise Interferometer (Libbrecht)

no report

LASTI (Zucker)

no report

Data Analysis and Computing (Lazzarini)

Simulation and Modeling (Bhawal)

E2E for LIGO-I Meeting
----------------------
This month's 'E2E for LIGO-I' meeting among simulators and hardware
people took place on 28th, Tuesday.
Details will be available in http://www.ligo.caltech.edu/~e2e

LIGO simulation
---------------
(Hiro) Finalizing the expanded version of Han2k, which includes
(1) thermal noise (2) full stack (6x6) (3) easy switch of input power
(4) many internal improvements for ease of development, maintenance and
speed.

W2k LSC characterization effort
------------------------------
(Luca) After having measured the noise performance and filtering properties
of most of the LSC system (analog and digital, reflected port), we began
to model (analytically) its filtering properties with Matlab.

Each analog board was modeled, analytically, according to its
schematics. The model's filtering parameters were adjusted to best fit
the xfer fn measurements of the board in question. Each digital filter
(included or not on the LSC control screen) was also modeled and
compared to measurements.

As a result, the xfer fn measurement between the Whitening and Anti-Imaging
board allowed us to estimate the delay in the ADC/DAC process. Good
agreement was found between this measurement and what the model predicts
if a delay of 80us was assumed.

To do list:
o Write a technical note summarizing the characterization completed so far;
o Understood origin of digital stop-band filter at ~9.5 kHz
   -> still need to include it in the Matlab model;
o Two new digital filters in place at Hanford;
o Analysis of one-arm E5 data (E5 control configuration?):
   - Estimate mirror motion. How?
   - Estimate frequency noise. How? Correlation between MC_F and arm
     control signal?
   - Virginio will work together.
o Measurements of Open Loop xfer fn in Closed-Loop of "simple" systems
   (Michelson, One-Arm) -> quantify coil-driver/pendulum xfer fn
   - This will be done with Michael Landry

Mode mismatch
-------------
(Biplab & Hiro) Comparison with FFT brought out some differences in results.
We're trying to understand how the modal model calculation up to 2nd order
in e2e simulation could differ from an exact solution. We're deriving
analytical expressions at steady states when a mismatched beam enters
a very high finesse cavity and trying to understand this situation and
some critical issues related to the cavity resonance conditions through
various e2e runs.

Noise issue
-----------
(Hiro) Worked with Bill Butler to resolve issues related to psd of
simulated noise curve.

Alfi
----
(Bruce)
- Continuing implementation of Alfi box and primitive file parser
  for Alfi5.
- Completed initial implementation of main Alfi class (ALFINode).

(Melody)
- Implementation of graphics portion of alfi5 is proceeding as planned.
- Worked on creating and displaying new nodes.  Also worked on the
  popup menus and window functions for the editor frames.
- Working on displaying ports and the primitives.
 

LIGO Data Analysis System
 

Software Systems (Blackburn)
 
 

This week has been focused on closing out development of LDAS
at a stable point which will support the requirements of the
Burst & Stochastic MDC next week at MIT.

There have been a significant number of last minute requests for
new functionality as search code are only just now coming on
line and usage models for what LDAS must provide are seeing
first light in the community. We have responded very well to
these but will have to leave all that showed up after Monday
of this week as impossible to add the new functionality in time
for a stable release. Probably the largest of these is the
ability to return results in the multiDimData from the search
codes in frame file format.

We have been able to get LDAS up and running on the MIT system.
It is currently running a pre-release version for the MDC. A
minimal number of tests have been performed on this system to
demonstrate that basic functionality is working. However, the
full testing is waiting for the remaining bug fixes needed by
Tuesday Morning next week.

There have been daily problems during this release cycle. We
have been able to resolve each new problem this week. The latest
problem showed up last night in with the eventMonitorAPI hanging
for an hour at a time. This is coupled to the wrapperAPI not
starting on the beowulf and is most likely related to the NFS
delays in starting jobs on a system that has dropped its auto-
mount points. This cascades into the mpiAPI and then into the
eventMonitorAPI. A possible fix has been identified but it will
not be tested in time for this report.

The LDAS-TEST system was also brought back into line, now
having a a working pre-release version of LDAS fo rthe first
time in nearly three months. The test system is still being
dedicated to hardware testing, but it is closer now to being
configured for running LDAS than it has been since the
migration to openSSH and Redhat Linux 7.1

The dataConditionAPI has run remarkable well this week. This
is mostlikely due to kernel changes made to the datacon and
beowulf hosts over the past two weeks. It does still on a
daily basis fail from a thread problem and we are still using
the known non-thread safe release of GCC.
 

Hardware Systems (Anderson)

LDAS Administration
-------------------

Caltech
-------
(Dan Kozak)

Lots of HPSS hand-holding--constant tape re-packing, a couple of bad
tapes needing recovery, added some Redwood tapes using recycled
labels (off old bad tapes).

Finished testing of the shared reader mode of QFS with a single T3.
Discovered that putting the metadata on a separate LUN (i.e. a 1+1
mirrored arrangement for metadata and a 6+1 RAID 5 set up for data)
helped with consistency.  There's still some variation in performance
caused (I believe) by contention for metadata access by the reader and
writer, but this arrangement brought the worst case for write speeds up
from ~30Mb/sec to ~47Mb/sec.  The best case remained ~70Mb/sec.

Set up a QFS configuration using all the T3s in the test system and the
loaner FC cards from Sun.  Despite trying a bunch of different
configurations in terms of where the metadata lives (separate LUN or
partition of a T3) and how the T3s are striped in QFS (one stripe group
across all, two stripe groups so that it never talks to two T3s in the
same zone at the same time) I was unable to get more than 110Mb/sec
writes.  This seems low and I'm asking Sun for a response.

The best performance was with 5 T3s striped in one group with a 1+1 LUN
from the 6th T3 for metadata.  The other 7 drives on the 6th T3 went
unused.

(Al Wilson)

Keeping on top of the cfdef files and makeing sure that MIT is ready to go
for the MDC, also trying to see if VA Linux System Imager could be made
a bit more automatic and test some adds to the beowulf cfdef files.

(Stuart Anderson)

LDAS is now running at MIT and integrated into the distrubted administration
tasks of LDAS.

Worked on an upgraded rsync script to offer finer control over what software
is mirrored from one LDAS system to another.

Began planning the upgrade of the existing LDAS Fiber Channel disk storage
into a Storage Area Network (SAN) to provide higher speed access from
the CDS frame builder and mutliple high speed read-only clients (DMT?).
After a technical meeting with Sun it was determined that this is possible
without a potentially expensive upgrade to the existing disk units. However,
additional Fiber Channel switches will be needed to connect additional
servers.

MIT
---
(Keith Bayer)

Assisted in bringing up ldas system at MIT.
Hooked up AIT-2 tape drive to E450
Received 2 penguin computers
 partially setup computers
Received flat screen sun monitor
Ordered pc cables for extra pc's and sun monitor.
Copied reduced data set frames onto ldas T3
 

Livingston
----------
(Shannon Roddy)

Started the tape script to make a new copy of the E5 data.  The
first copy was lost by UPS.  After a couple of restarts, the script
seems to be writing data to the tapes now.  Reading documentation on the
Stow utility.  Looking at ways of integrating BigBrother with Stow and
the directory structure used by LDAS.  After looking at the
scripts/config files last night, I think this can be done very easily.
 Received an email from APC concerning monitoring multiple UPSs with one
machine.  According to them, this cannot be done using their software.
 If we choose to stick with monitoring the UPSs over the network rather
than serial ports, we will have to look at custom software via SNMP.
 

Hanford
-------
(Greg Mendell)

1) The primary work has been writing dynamic shared object (DS0) shared
object code to search for known pulsars, to run under LDAS.  This week I
installed the latest versions of /ldcg, LAL, LALWrapper, and LDAS and
debugged the part of my code that generates FFTs.

2) Discussed with Maria Alessandra specification for producing short
time baseline FFTs (SFTs).  We are working on a short document to
distribute to PULG.

3) Worked on usual system administration tasks.  This last week the
admin box crashed, but restored itself on reboot, and the beowulf server
was upgraded to RedHat 2.4.6smp kernel.

4) Assisted with getting RDS data from fortress onto tape, and the start
of the rewriting of E5 raw frame data at LLO (which is now underway).
Also tested the latest cmonClient GUI for running and monitoring the
tapecontrol script.
 

Data Analysis Activities
 

[Vicere':]
* I continued my work on an algorithm for burst detection. I have
extended the method to a network of detectors in presence of correlated
noise, and for arbitrary noise color. I am in the process of completing
a report on this work, which may eventually become a publication.
The next step shall be to code the algorithm and test it on the PEM
data exchanged between LIGO and VIRGO.
* I started working with M.Tinto on the optimization of the multi
template search algorithm for coalescing binary events.
* I am working with A.Lazzarini on modeling the correlation of
power lines across the Livingston and Hanford detectors, trying to
estimate the level of residual noise, applicable for instance to
a search for stochastic GW signals.
 

[Marka:]
External Data Triggers:
We created a new database table called External_Triggers. It is up and available at
DEV:CIT_test.
We are testing it with real time ALLEGRO events (based on data from 2000) and GCN GRB
alerts recently received. The table was designed to be flexible enough to accept
events from a wide range of outside sources, including GRB, neutrino, optical
observatories, bar detectors and other possible sources. The TCP/IP communication
code connecting ALLEGRO is being tested and seems quite reliable. The DMT class to
access the table is being developed based on John's TrigEnv class.
(Szabi Marka, Peter Shawhan, Hareem Tariq)
 

[Lazzarini:]
I attended  a meeting at NSF convened by Marv Goldberg to look at strategies for PMA to take advantage (beyond GriPhyN) of the next round of ITR2002 monies that were announced today. Scott Koranda (UWM&NCSA) and Erik Katsavounidis also attended. We will draft a memo for circulation to the Lab. and LSC leadership.
 

General Computing (Wallace)

MIT:
(Keith)
-Assisted in bringing up ldas system at MIT.
-Hooked up AIT-2 tape drive to E450
-Received 2 penguin computers
-Partially setup computers
-Received flat screen sun monitor
-Ordered pc cables for extra pc's and sun monitor.
-Copied reduced data set frames onto ldas T3
-Worked with LIGO CIT in setting up the VRVS system.
More testing will be done even though the first tests worked out.

Livingston:
(Shannon)
-Discussed with Tom several ways of setting up the network with the
new T1.  Also some long term plans with the network configuration and
organization.
-I ordered & received a tape drive to replace the GC Mammoth drive
that had been placed on CDS.  The replacement drive is a AIT2 external
drive.
(Tom)
-We have recently received two Blade 1000s. One was set up as a general
computing number cruncher, and we are in the process of setting the other
one up as a replacement for our fileserver.
-We have installed CD writers in several machines available to general
users, including one Sun workstation. We have ordered current versions
of CD writer software, and are waiting for it.
-We expect LSU to come next week to install the temporary router needed
to enable our second T1 line. They have been delayed due to networking
emergencies on campus.

Hanford:
(Christine)
- The main file server, rainier, is being replaced with a new computer.
There will be periodic down time on 8/29 through 8/30 and again on 9/3.
During the down times there will not be any email, web access, or user
login.
- Made some changes to the access list for the TRINET computer.
 

CIT:
(Mike)
-Donna's computer was locking up; solution I ended up reloading the OS
and software plus restored all users data.
-Tried to get a Seagate backup tape drive to work there is something with
this software that is causing the tape drive to hang up. Still looking into
this problem.
-Went over with Windy on ghosting laptops.
-Millikan, installed more memory on a sparc for Stuart.
-Working on video conference software; we are having a big problem with
run-time errors, I am still working this problem out. The computer needs
to be completely reset once you get the error.
-Moved NTSRV's out of PC room into server room with Larry .
-Dennis Coyne, had a problem with the registry computer would not boot OS.
Solution I had to reload his engineering workstation; OS and general
computing software and additional needed software.
-Created accounts for Mathieu's and Charlotte on the engineering
workstation M6 to run AutoCAD and Ansys software from M6.
-Millikan, reloaded computer in conference room to load VRVS software plus
added an addition hard drive for LINUX.
-Loaded SSH software on Laptop for Melody to work from home.
-Onsite and phone support with users that included printing problems and
working out minor glitches with there computers.

(Wendy)
-On vacation--worked on loading/imaging laptops a bit before leaving though.

(Barbara)
- Installed new version of the public document search tool so that it is
updated daily rather than monthly.  I had an overnight revelation awhile
back about an easy way to do it.
- Installed a change to the roster database to support multiple staff
locations for the directory.  Rita is about finished with the entry and the
new roster should be available soon.
- Posted more LSC transparencies.
- Began working on an entry form for new line items in the Access view of
the costbook.

(Mick)
-Compiled list of LIGO PCs to keep track of which have been ghosted.
Rebuilt m55, successfully loading old ghost image; updated settings,
installed NAV and created an updated ghost image.  48x CD drive still out
of order.
-Tracked down some inventory ghosts brought up by property audit.
-Moved equipment: tape cabinet, etc., to free up space in server room.
-Worked on properly formatting the inventory data file to be used as
a database.
-With Lisa, reloaded and configured two 40m Blade 100s to be put on Martian
network, installing 100 Mb Fast Ethernet card into one.
-Wrote up a new webpage with Eudora-ssh tunneling instructions.
-Began webpage for NAV setup instructions.

(Larry)
-Worked on a number of orders. We now have a couple of workstations as well as
more disks for home accounts on order. Took care of updating the licenses for
Ansys and Ghostview. Purchased another PC workstation to be used with the VRVS
system on the 3rd floor of WestBridge.
-Spent some time with Ed C. working on the equipment audit being performed by
Caltech.
-Worked on the VRVS system with Mike and Keith. So far things are looking pretty
good. The systems ran well for a few days and then crashed when trying them from
the 6th Floor of Millikan, two systems crashed and one of them twice. Mike was
able to figure out how to get the systems completely reset without rebuilding
them from scratch. Once the vic.exe error started we could no longer get things
to run without completely resetting everything.
The quality of the video is much better with the EVI cameras than with some of
the other cameras we were using. Using the polycom phones for sound has
presented some problems because of sensitivity and feedback and that problem is
being worked on.
-Working on the Blade1000 replacement for Sargas. Installed the latest MU
(maintenance update pkg. 5) on the unit and a couple of other machines.
Installation on the Blade1000 takes about 2 hours and on the Ultra 10's about 4
hours.
-Delegated more of the documentation out. Presently, everyone in the group now
has some items they need to work on, that are to be incorporated into the WEB
pages.
-Moved a number of home accounts to a larger disk system over the weekend.
-Worked with Mike on a number of PC issues.
-Worked with different members of the group moving equipment, desks and
cabinets.
-Still receiving notices from people getting viruses via e-mail but so far no
major problems this past week. The virus-scan s/w appears to be picking up the
problems.

(Lisa)
- Created a shared samba disk on sirius to use for backing up PCs before a
rebuild. This is a much needed administrative resource.
- Tried to get the USB harddrive recognized during ghost, but there is no DOS
driver available from the manufacturer
- Helped Mick inventory the synchrotron server room
- Regular round of user account/alias maintenance
- Rebuilt 2 blade 100s in the 40meter.  These were on the GC network for the
summer.  They are now configured for the 40m CDS martian network.
- Put together a pile of equipment for surplus and gave the list to Ed.
-Moved out of Bill Tyler's office into room 36.

LIGO II/Advanced R&D (Sanders)

LASTI
Jay Heefner
- Two satellite amps are being tested and should be shipped by 8/31.
- 64 conductor cable for the connection between the controllers and the satellite amps has been shipped to MIT.
 

Advanced LIGO Optics Modeling
Bill Kells
worked on FFT modeling of stability (Guoy phase choice) and mode matching design for LIGO II -like ifos.
 

Advanced LIGO Suspensions
Mark Barton
I did more stuff in support of the advanced LIGO suspension design: a
calculation of the effect on path length of tilt of optics such as FM
which aren't normal to the beam, and more reverse-engineering (and
commenting) of the suspension model.

From: GariLynn Billingsley

Dennis and GariLynn spoke with Bob Oreb and Achim Leistner of CSIRO about polishing for the flat top beam.
Achim feels confident that CSIRO could take a good shot at that sort of thing.  The important issue is the tolerance and the aperture of interest.  They will be able to respond better if they know how exactly the surface must replicate the stable flat top beam.  They currently polish to within 10 nm of our desired surface figure.  A complex surface might well need a looser tolerance.  They are willing to give it a try if we can come up with some definition.
 

Goodrich has promised an official quote this week (today actually, but I still haven't got it.)  Over the phone Joel Askinazi told me that the quote for compensating polish will come in at $46,662.

From: Helena Armandula

Silicate bonding

Sapphire/sapphire bonds:
Sapphire/sapphire (1/2" dia.) bonds made with sodium silicate solution are very strong when tested under tension.
Bonded substrates were pulled to an average of 160 kg.
Even bonds made with substrates that were not flat, on which fringes could be seen after bonding, proved to be very robust taking a pulling force of 117 kg before coming apart.

Tested the effects of baking at 120 degrees C for a 24 hr period on:
Silica/silica bonds
Baked bonds are stronger than un-baked bonds.

Sapphire/silica bonds:
Baked sapphire/silica bonds showed prominent stress, however, they were considerably stronger than the un-baked bonds.
 

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