The LIGO Executive Committee is cancelled because of the NSF Review.
no report
STATUS OF LSC MOUs
(Petrac)
(LSC Research Plans through February 2005 and Progress Reports
through August 2004)
CEGG
EGO
Florida
GEO
MOU for Data Analysis
Goddard
IAP
Louisiana School of Math, Science, and Arts (LSMSA)
NAOC (Chinese Academy of Sciences)
NAOJ-TAMA
Rochester
SIOM
UTBRG
Orsay Group
VIRGO
SITE TELECONFERENCE (Jasnow)
A site teleconference was held on Thursday, November 4,
2004. The following issues were among those discussed:
PROPERTY MANAGEMENT (Chargois)
>From: Ed Chargois <chargois_e@ligo.caltech.edu>
DOCUMENT CONTROL CENTER (Turner, Mak)
>From: Linda Turner - turner@ligo.caltech.edu>
>From: Cleveland Mak <mak_c@ligo.caltech.edu>
COST SCHEDULE CONTROL SYSTEMS (Cunningham,
Brambila, Kaufman, Salone)
>From: Esther Cunningham <esther@ligo.caltech.edu>
>From: "Brambila, Ruth" <Ruth.Brambila@caltech.edu>
>From: Gina Salone <gsalone@ligo.caltech.edu>
>From: Florence Kaufman <fkaufman@ligo.caltech.edu>
Financial reports can be found at: http://docuserv.ligo.caltech.edu/~fireport.
(For passwords contact Florence)
SUBCONTRACTS MANAGEMENT (Petrac, Jasnow)
>From: irena@ligo.caltech.edu (Irena Petrac)
>From: Ed Jasnow <jasnow@ligo.caltech.edu>
SUPPORT (Baldon, Kammerling, Lloyd)
>Irene Baldon
>Sharon Kammerling
>Dorothy Lloyd
PROPOSALS and REPORTS (Lindquist)
Schedule of proposals and reports planned for the remainder of the calendar
year.
CHANGE
CONTROL/CONTINGENCY MANAGEMENT (Lindquist)
HUMAN RESOURCES
(Akutagawa)
>From: Cindy Akutagawa <cindy@ligo.caltech.edu>
Quality/Safety (Tyler)
>From: Bill Tyler <tyler@ligo.caltech.edu>
Nothing significant to report for QA and Safety this week.
.
Summary of Commissioning Activities at
LIGO Hanford Observatory (compiled by L.Matone)
These have been the highlights of the week:
H2
During the mini-run of last weekend, the AS2_Q channel was found to be
contaminated by a 10Hz oscillation that would come and go. This was traced to a
faulty whitening board which was replaced here.
The new quieter TCS chillers have been installed (see elog)
and the new TCS interface board was installed on the X-arm (see elog).
The digital filters (F2Ps) that decouple the force-to-pitch coupling of the
large optics were found to be incorrectly installed (on H1 as well). This seems
to be a remnant of the switchover from the 2kHz system to the 16kHz one. At the
same time, if these filters are turned off on H2's BS, the stability of the arm
powers is enhanced (see elog).
H2 is currently undergoing LSC/ASC code upgrades, features like gain ramping and
a common TCS servo replacing WFS5's filter bank are being added.
H1
The ISS photodiodes and servo have been installed, testing is underway (see
elog)
There was an attempt to run H1 at 4W but problems using the Bulls eye to
feedback differential TCS heating were found (see elog).
At the same time, WFS2's response to the angular degrees of freedom needs to be
re-visited (see elog).
Commissioning of the u-seismic feedback system has begun (see elog).
And the new OMC has been installed and more observations have been made (see elog).
The new F2Ps and T2Ps have been generated and have been installed on ITMx. An automated
script has been created to minimize the Pos-to-Angle coupling.
Big news this week; fixing that errant filter on the beamsplitter optical
lever has indeed restored L1 to about the S3 noise level (Hooray!). We're now
concentrating on the backlog of sensing and control upgrades to permit
higher-power operation, on improving the SNR and bandwidth of auxiliary length
controls, and tweaking up the WFS system. We are also continuing to knock off
remaining punchlist items from the EMC retrofit and HEPI installation.
HEPI commissioning is progressing steadily. Servo valve and accumulator
problems have thankfully tapered off, but the ADC "channel hopping"
issue remains a plague. Rolf Bork has developed a possible workaround which
should be ready to try week of the 15th; in the meantime, the bootfest never
stops.
This week Rich Mittleman is down from MIT helping out on HEPI, and Vuk Mandic
is out from Caltech working on LOS filter updates. Next week we will host Rana
Adhikari and Matt Evans from CIT and Jon Allen from MIT.
Livingston Outreach (MZ and John Thacker)
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday we had a full-day workshop to kick off the design of the LIGO
Science Education Center at LLO with our architects Eskew+Dumez+Ripple. We
covered a lot of ground and agreed to a very aggressive design schedule.
John adds:
11/02/04 Presented LIGO science material and discussed Science Education Center
at regional GEAR UP conference in Biloxi, MS;
11/03/04 participated in discussions with A&E contractor;
11/04/04 Conducted site visit by Baton Rouge Lutheran school. 21 students
participated in hands-on science activities related to resonance and EM waves.
Currently developing 1st draft of LIGO SEC Project Execution Plan.
L1 Interferometer Commissioning (Frolov)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
- BS oplev filtering improved the noise to the S3 level.
- installed the POX PD. The PD was tested using the POB read out path.
- measured the couplings and noise contribution from optical lever to the
asq.
- setting up for the MC length change to switch to the low noise oscillator.
L1 Commissioning (Gretarsson)
---------------------------------------------------------------------
The Beam Centering (BC) servo has been exercised. The
/Spiricon/Labview/ActiveX/Epics software works reliably and the WFS4, QPD's,
WFS2 and WFS3 do their job of moving the interferometer in response to the
servo'd input beam. We haven't yet set the gains correctly so the servo
still wanders and breaks the lock eventually. Ash has written a upgrade to the
Epics code that allows the servo to act on more than one optic at a time. This
makes it a bit more flexible, for example it can be used to get pure
translation by feeding back to both MMT1 and MMT3 or the servo could be used
for alignment of other cavities.
HEPI commissioning (O'Reilly)
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Work continues on HEPI commissioning. We continue to have problems with channel
hopping in the 110b's. This led us to believe we had failed valves on the BS
chamber when we probably did not. It also occasionally trips off a working
chamber. There is no good diagnostic, but one is promised soon.
On the 28th we moved ETMY in an effort to remove an rZ offset of ~312K counts.
The move was partially successful in that the offset required to align the
tank, with zero bias on the suspension sliders is now -100K counts. More
importantly the drive being sent to the actuators is only a couple of thousand
counts, so there should be no danger of using dynamic range due to the offset.
After the ETMY move there was a strong resonance in the vertical (Z) mode at 52
Hz. This appears to be a 50Hz resonance which moved. The notch frequency and
depth were changed.
We are slowly removing offsets that make no physical sense (basically
everything except rZ), from all chambers.
ITMY now has a blended controller thanks to Shyang Wen and Rich Mittelman. We
have also taken new data both to fill in gaps in the BS and ITMY and to account
for the fact that we found two bad geophones on these chambers.
The GS13 witness sensors were removed from ETMY and are now installed on ITMY
for the purposes of obtaining sensor correction data.
There are now blended controllers on HAM1, HAM2 and HAM3. Sensor correction
data is being taken for HAM3.
We continue to monitor accumulator pressures on a weekly basis. This week for
the first time there seemed to have been no significant loss of pressure.
A new oil-free compressor has been ordered by Allen Sibley. This is to allow us
to move the valve test stand out of the machine shop. We are concerned that
metallic debris is contaminating the valves.
Safety & security (Riesen)
---------------------------------------------------------------------
LASER SAFETY
Completed logic software fix for the functional inconsistency between laser
tables in the LVEA. Replaced a defective LSS controller relay board. Activated
the 4 LVEA laser tables for closing the PSL internal shutter if a table has a
forced door condition (non-swipe entrance).
##MZ NOTE: Re-enabling the PSL shutter requires LSO or management
authorization. REMEMBER TO SWIPE IN BEFORE YOU OPEN THAT DOOR!##
Submitted scope-of-work instructions and request for price quote to Excel for
laser safety system upgrades concerning the transmission monitors and the
photon calibration systems for both end stations. The 4 LVEA laser tables are
now unlocked. If locking a table door is deemed necessary, the keys are
in the control room key locker.
SITE SAFETY
Found no safety concerns during my weekly site safety tour. Sightings of rodent
and reptile pests have increased in the LVEA and the end station
buildings. I have increased rodent traps 3 fold in the LVEA and end
station buildings. This appears to be paying off.
TRAINING
Started training control room operators on the LSS software and hardware, plus
a refresher course on the site security system.
AdL and LIGO 1 Mechanical Engineering (Spjeld)
---------------------------------------------------------------------
- received hardware for Photon Calibrator shelf, working on assembly
- received last quotes for UHV Quad Cleaning Oven, working on review report
- brief meeting with Mike Zucker and Rusyl Wooley on HAM door remove fixture
- working on design requirement report for the Quad Suspension install.
fixtures
CDS Software (Parameswariah)
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Chethan is away on travel. See reports by Khan and Yakushin.
General Computing (Roddy)
---------------------------------------------------------------------
In the process of setting up 3 new computers and 1 existing computer for
various network functions. These machines will replace services that some
machines are currently offering (DHCP, DNS, etc.) in order to upgrade some
services and fix stability problems with others (DHCP). Also, one of these
machines will be a dedicated IDS and netflow collector.
Working with Andri on some workstation issues.
Troubleshooting one machine which I think has a failing hard drive. SuSE Linux
definitely seems to be a stable and complete linux distribution. I am setting
up the above computers with SuSE 9.2 in both 32 and 64 bit flavors. So
far it is working well for general tasks. I will be standardizing the LLO
GC linux computers to run SuSE in the future barring some technical problem yet
to be discovered.
Ordered a laptop to replace a dying laptop. Stay away from Sony Vaios.
They have not been very reliable at all and tend to fall apart after a year or
so of use.
Various other items, such as planning for the NSF review, Pcard paperwork, etc.
Data analysis (Yakushin)
---------------------------------------------------------------------
LDAS/Condor admin:
1) The file system is upgraded both at LDAS and CDS side. Together with Chethan
we applied SAN, SAM-QFS and Solaris patches to our systems.
2) Controllers in 3510 were replaced.
3) The new servers are mounted by Excel.
4) The fiber between FC switch and L700 is put in place by Excel.
Data analysis:
1) Generated and processed LIGO-GEO triggers. The standard set of plots
can be found here:
http://www.ligo-la.caltech.edu/~igor/MDC/waveburst_on_S3_playground.html
(the new burst group password should be used).
2) Participated in S2 paper review telecon on Tuesday and Wednesday.
3) Redrawing injected vs detected hrss plot for S2 paper.
4) Processing S3 hardware injections with waveburst.
HPLF, L1 Commissioning, and AdL Modeling (Franzen)
---------------------------------------------------------------------
1) Unfortunately the IPG laser broke down again during last week. It has been
returned to the manufactorer for inspection and repair. The IAP visitors are
waiting for a diagnosis in order to decide on staying at LLO or to go home and
come back at a later date.
2) Have been working with Rich Mittleman with HEPI ITMY and BS SYS-ID. This had
to be redone since two geophones had problems and where exchanged. The data
quality is now more or less OK and we can go on to the next step.
CDS software (Khan)
---------------------------------------------------------------------
1) Implemented the Beam centering servo with additions that let you position
any of the large optics besides MMT1 and also allow you to bring beam from any
camera.
2) Fixing the medm status screens and database for the IOO WFS status
monitoring.
3) General CDS maintenance.
see also the CDS weekly meeting minutes in the commissioning archives:
Rolf Bork reporting
- Had a failure of a Pentek module in the ETMX controller at
the 40m lab (all channels read over 2000 counts with no input). I swapped this
out with a Pentek from my development system.
- Alex at LHO this week installing latest software, along
with software for useismic control. We are encountering some problems with the
small optics controller software on the 2K system, though it works fine on the
4k at LHO and LLO. We are continuing to investigate this.
- I have software running which reads data from ICS110B ADC
modules over its Front Panel Data Port (FPDP) instead of the VME bus. I am
waiting for another module to arrive from LHO to test this with 2 ICS modules.
If this works out, I would like to travel back to LLO the week of Nov. 15 and
install it into HEPI. At the same time, I would install the new Hepi watchdog
software and software to handle a second STS-2 at the corner station.
- Just received a new software request from S. Ballmer to
handle a bull's eye detector. Alex will code this up at LHO and test it there
with Stefan.
Rich Abbott reporting
1. Did measurements on the diodes used in the RFPD for
series resistance and capacitance. 6 units were tested.
2. Helped understand some of the remaining tradeoffs
on the RFPD design
3. Began writing documents on common LIGO procedures
such as, transferring a piece of electrical hardware from a remote design
facility to the sites
Jay Heefner reporting
Fiber Optic Timing Link (Sander)
=============================
- More phase noise measurements are in progress
Anti-Image Filters for Low Noise DACs (Todd)
=================================
- 12 more are being fab'd.
40 Meter (Jay, Ben)
===================================
- LSC drawings have been updated to show the new PD
numbering that matches the software.
- A laptop has been converted to Linux and loaded with linux
epics tools.
LSC PD Redesign (Ben)
==================================
- Prototype testing continues. The layout of the production
board will be changed due to things learned in testing. Tests should be
completed this week.
TCS Chiller (Mohana)
===================================
- There will be a discussion at today's CDS meeting to
answer some questions before a new interface board is completed.
- Right now the plan is to only have one system operational
for the engineering run. The other systems will be operational for the science
run.
ISS (Flavio)
==================================
- 2 more boards are stuffed. Dave is assembling the boxes.
Elect Shop (Todd)
=====================================
- 4 Bull's eye PDs shipped. 1 more being tuned. Another
board has been stuffed minus the tuning components and will be held in reserve.
-GPS clock driver test stand is being reassembled.
- A list of parts for common stock has been compiled and
approved for purchase. The parts will be ordered soon.
Ken Mailand, Phil Willems
Phil Willems, approved the LHO site laser chiller
performance. Ken is gathering parts for assembly at CIT of 5 more mechanical
units.
PeterKing
The fabricated high power photodetectors needed to be
disassembled as I had forgotten to install an insulator between the voltage
regulators and a mounting nut. Otherwise the mechanical assembly went
well. Now the 10-W laser is undergoing some tweaking.
During testing of the production
intensity stabilisation servo, there was some concern about the discrepancy
between the "theoretical" step response and the measured step
response of two low-pass filters used. The "theoretical" data
suggested a rise time of approximately 5 seconds whereas I had measured about
one-tenth that value. I modelled the section in PSpice and obtained a
value consistent the experimental value, although the agreement is still not
great (505 ms vs. 535 ms).
I also tried to model the differential input stage that
accepts the output of the photodetector. This required adapting the
vendor-supplied Spice model for the THS4151. The input stage was then
modeled but the model prediction differed from the measured result which I
think is due to a problem with the Spice model of the AD829J.
Mike Smith
I have completed the calculation of the recycling cavity
eigenmodes using actual installed radii of curvatures for the ITMx, ITMy, RM,
and BS. I analyzed two cases: 1) equal heating of both ITMs: the in-line ITM is
heated until the stable cavity eigenmode matches the IFO carrier beam size;
with this same heating of the reflected ITM, the reflected cavity is unstable,
and supports a mode that is a replica of the carrier beam. Minimum
ellipticities at the BS of around 20% are obtained for all three IFOs under
these conditions, 2) optimium differential heating of both ITMs; the
transmitted and reflected cavities are stable with their eigenmodes matched to
the IFO carrier spot size. Minimum ellipticities at the BS of around 20% are
also obtained for all three IFOs under these conditions. The 30-70 mW absorbed
power by the ITM to create the conditions in the analysis are quantitatively similar
to the observed data with the recent TCS experiments at LHO.
There is still unexplained evidence that the output beam
exhibits ellipticity and axis rotation in the absence of the recycling cavity
being locked.
A discussion with Garilynn and Hiro revealed that the two
different published radii of curvature of the BS HR resulted from a different
interpretation of the phase map data taken with the BS at 45 deg and at normal
incidence. Hiro is reviewing the procedure.
Lee Cardenas, Liyuan Zhang
OTF Lab. (W. Bridge)
The chamber has two samples, white Ceramabond, and disks of TRA-BOND #2254
color light brown epoxy. Cavity is locked.
We continue taking measurements everyday. No Change
Absorption Test Measurement prototype in standby
Scatterometer system in standby
The Inner test mass 2ITM04 fused silica mirror is in the scatterometer
enclosure.
We had an incident with our digital read out for the x-y motor travel bead.
The digital unit memory went out and all our previous information got lost.
I sent the unit to Sony manufacturing to be checked and it has a bad CPU board.
The board has to be replaced. It will take a week before the unit will
comeback.
The Quantronix 60 watt laser No change
OTF Lab at Lauritsen ROOM 38 No Change
Cavity #3
Chamber is pumping with (6) disks of TRA-BOND #2151 color blue epoxy and
(4) disks of TRA-BOND #2902 color silver epoxy. The cavity is
locked.
it has been already 17 weeks of testing and we'll continue taking daily measurements.
Cavity #2 in standby
Mounting all the components and preparing the new chamber is still in progress.
no report
no report
Simulation and Modeling
(Bhawal)
Weekly Physics Meeting
--------------------------------
Matt Evans described the procedure adopted for successful locking of Virgo and
its advantages and disadvantages and implication on adopting a good procedure
of locking for Advanced LIGO.
Commissioning Related
--------------------------
(Biplab) Started posting data for mode-decomposition of the phase camera images
taken at the dark port of H1 interferometer by Luca and Keita. Analysis-Files
corresponding to various sets of measurements are available here:
http://www.ligo.caltech.edu/~bbhawal/PC_modal_data/
[Mode decomposition is performed up to both 3rd and 4th order of Hermite-
Gauss modes (astigmatic basis). So, the images are fitted with 33 parameters
(for 4th order). Please read the '1README' file first.]
(Matt) Worked on scripting tools (ezsine, ezsfft, ezrms, ezwait, ...) for use
in IFO automation, diagnosis and commissioning.
Beam splitter phasemap
-----------------------------------------
(Hiro) There was a meeting on Nov.1st afternoon, discussing the phasemap data
of LIGO beam splitter mirror. GariLynn, Mike Smith, Bill Kells and Hiro
attended. Gari explained how measurements were done, and why there are two ROC
numbers in Gari's as-built mirror home page. One is based on the 0 angle incident
measurements and the other is 45 degree incident measurements. Both have issues
to be considered, and Gari quoted an analysis done by a SURF student. Hiro is
looking into the analysis to obtain a more reliable phasemaps and curvatures.
Simulation of 40m interferometer
------------------------------------------------
(Monica) Implementation of all degrees of freedom in the 40m/advLIGO package.
Tests of transfer functions with both the configuration with EOMs in series and
in parallel: in particular, simulation of the transfer function between L_
(differential signal) and the dark port signal demodulated at 166 MHz to
compare it to the same transfer function simulated with Twiddle.
Hardware 128 bit floating on SUN machine
--------------------------------------------------
(Hiro) Stuart forwarded a mail from a SUN engineer who is interested in knowing
why LIGO simulation needs quad precision float. I replied to him outlining the
demand of huge dynamic range of mass motion (using layman's words). The team was
interested in seeing the code, and the location of the modeler source code and
how to install were explained to him. If the quad precision float is supported
by hardware, that simplifies the modeling of adv.LIGO.
Alfi
--------------
(Melody) Continuing modifications to display the FUNC_X variables in a
friendlier user interface. Currently working on the simple view which parses
the C++ code in the MemberDecl primitive setting. Working on assigning
default values for inherited nodes and functional consistency. Currently unit
testing the code.
Data Analysis Activities (Lazzarini)
Creighton:
Helped Naoki Seto (tapir) develop a technique for measuring distances to
gravitational pulsars through ``timing paralax''.
Shawhan:
I have been studying the H2 veto being proposed for the S3 burst search, in
particular to properly calculate the effective deadtime for different choices
of veto threshold and simulated signals with different durations. I also have
been working with Erik Katsavounidis to organize the Burst Group face-to-face
meeting this Friday and preparing for the LSC Meeting.
Yakushin:
1) Generated and processed LIGO-GEO triggers. The standard set of plots
can be found here:
http://www.ligo-la.caltech.edu/~igor/MDC/waveburst_on_S3_playground.html
(the new burst group password should be used).
2) Participated in S2 paper review telecon on Tuesday and Wednesday.
3) Redrawing injected vs detected hrss plot for S2 paper.
4) Processing S3 hardware injections with waveburst.
Lazzarini;
Over time I had amassed a body of Mathematica code used to perform
post-processing of the stochastic search measurements. I invested the time to
completely port the analysis into matlab so others in the stochastic group can
use the tool and maybe improve on it.
LIGO Data Analysis System
Software Systems (Maros for Blackburn)
[LDAS]:
The focus for this week has been on stabilizing code in preparation for the
code freeze this Friday. The list of open problem reports scheduled for closure
for ldas-1.3.0 was reviewed and several of the problem reports have been
scheduled for the ldas-1.4.0 release.
The cmonClient has been modified to display a directory tree of the diskcache
mount points.
The diskcacheAPI has been modified to detect 'lost' threads (PR#2730). Although
this does not provide a solution to the problem, it does provide an audit
trail. Also, several members are working with UWM to understand the slow loop
time observed at UWM using lsync (a standalone application based on the
diskcacheAPI). Several discoveries were made. The LD_ASSUME_KERNEL=2.2.5 is
needed and a custom version of tcl which has threads enabled must be used. Work
is now being done at CIT to try and reproduce the large number of directories
to determine if this is the cause of the slowing.
Work to support searching for and reading of FrStatData structures from a frame
file via frameCPP is nearly complete.
Testing continues as the system tests were run against ldas-1.2.55. This
revealed one error in the frameAPI library which was fixed early in the week.
The new RDSVerify script can now be executed as part of a 'make system-check'
directive. It is currently being modified to also run as a loop test.
The performance of the LDAS on ldas-dev was observed to be slower than usual.
After the dmt tables and indexes were reorganized via db2 utilities, the normal
performance returned.
Documentation is being reviewed and updated.
[Tcl/Globus]:
Work continues on the globus_xio_register_read() and
globus_xio_register_write() functions. These two calls are more complex than
any others that have been SWIG wrapped to date. This is due to the asynchronous
nature of the calls. Work is estimated to be completed by the end of next week
on these two calls.
ROBOdoc has been chosen as the documentation tool to use. It will be installed
on the system late this week or early next.
Hardware Systems (Anderson)
Caltech
-------
(Dan Kozak)
* Spent time with Hari learning about Grid/Condor/LDR/etc. stuff. As a
test that I'd learned something, republished some files that had had their
containing directory renamed and added 2 grid users to the cluster.
* Worked with Sun on the problem (at CIT) with SCSI timeouts and retryable
errors on two of our 3510s. Sun engineer Jeff Reed suggested setting
ssd_max_throttle lower than the default 256 (we finally settled on 32) and this
seems to have addressed the problem. The line,
was added to /etc/system onldas-archive and LLO's gateway &
dataserver (since they were being rebooted anyway).
* Assisted in the big LLO Sol/SAN/SAM-QFS upgrade.
* Worked with Stuart to fix the incorrect cache mode (writethrough rather than
writebehind) on 3 T3s at LLO.
* Gave some assistance to Ben at LHO in setting up his new /archive and new
tape drives.
(Al Wilson)
* Replaced disk drives in datacache 2,7.
* Doing prep work for the second 200g hard drive installed in the nodes
* working on modifying HTML code in BB for a more covenant display.
(Stuart Anderson)
* Installed and tested new CISCO switch which came with the wrong version of
the software pre-installed.
* Helped with LLO Solaris/SAN/SAM/QFS upgrade.
* Installed Ganglia on LDAS-TEST cluster and worked with Brian Moe at UWM to get
all the Lab clusters to appear on the LSC Data Grid page as separate clusters.
* Worked with Dan to solve a SCSI timeout problem after our recent
Solaris/SAN/SAM upgrade.
* Picked up a few GRID related tasks.
MIT
---
(Keith Bayer)
* Installing 1U servers into racks.
Livingston
----------
(Igor Yakushin)
* The file system is upgradedboth at LDAS and CDS side. Together with Chethan
we applied SAN, SAM-QFS and Solaris patches to our systems.
* Controllers in 3510 were replaced.
* The new servers are mounted by Excel.
* The fiber between FC switch and L700 is put in place by Excel.
Hanford
-------
(Ben Johnson)
* Most of my time has been spent working on the LSCfileAdd utility this past
week. 90% of the work involves checking of command line parameters in various
combinations to make sure the metadata entries are kosher.
* Created the /archive filesystem on the 5 3511's at LHO. I can copy and read
files to/from gateway and dataserver via /archive, and said files can pass
FrCheck.
* 15 nodes how have an additional hard drive. The larger part of the cluster
will have to wait until after the LSC meeting, in case folks want to perform
last minute analyses at LHO.
* All tape drives are are rev. 1.34.408 and the additional two are recognized
by Solaris (cfgadm -c configure cX:WWN).
General Computing (Wallace)
MIT:
(Keith)
-Prep work for LSC conference
-Getting visitors internet access
-Testing out new Dell projector
-Investigating dataviewer problems to LHO
-Investigating new wireless access method via 'authpf'
Livingston:
(Shannon)
-In the process of settingup 3 new computers and 1 existing computer for
various network functions. These machines will replace services that some
machines are currently offering (DHCP, DNS, etc.) in order to upgrade some
services and fix stability problems with others (DHCP). Also, one of these
machines will be a dedicated IDS and netflow collector.
-Working with Andri on some workstation issues.
-Troubleshooting onemachine which I think has a failing hard drive. SuSE Linux
definitely seems to be a stable and complete linux distribution. I am
setting up the above computers with SuSE 9.2 in both 32 and 64 bit
flavors. So far it is working well for general tasks. I will be
standardizing the LLO GC linux computers to run SuSE in the future barring some
technical problem as yet to be discovered. Ordered a laptop to replace a dying
laptop. Stay away from Sony Vaios. They have not been very reliable at
all and tend to fall apart after a year or so of use.
-Various other items, such as planning for the NSF review, Pcard paperwork,
etc.
Hanford:
(Christine)
- Network usage can be seen at
http://www.ligo-wa.caltech.edu/~christin/mrtg/
198.129.208.1_198.129.78.122.html
- Contacted a couple other networkproviders for quotes on network
service. Our current network provider will be changing their service next
year, so it is a good time to look again at other services.
- Received a quote to buy our own site licenses for AutoCAD as opposed to
buying licenses from Caltech ITS. It's too expensive to buy our own,
Caltech says they are re-negotiating their contract and will be upgrading to
the latest version inthe next few weeks.
- The file and e-mail servers wereshutdown over the weekend to install patches
and security hardening measures. All of the Sun computers are being
patched, security hardened, root passwords changed then I'm running scans and
password cracking software to check the security measures. The Windows
computers will be next.
- Other misc. user support.
CIT:
(Veronica)
- LIGO website:Most time spent redoing the old PAC website and testing it on
various platforms/browsers. Updates to the meeting website. Updates to
the NSF Review webpages. Working on a new website for NSF reviews per Stan's
request, and on a website for the Aspen05 Winter Conference. Updates to
the LIGO webpages. Updatesto the roster database.
- LSC website: Updates tothe November meeting website and usual upkeep.
- Project Science: Updates to the past workshop webpages.
- CaJAGWR: Updates/support.
(Hiro)
Macintosh support
Installed OSX and severalsoftwares ( Caltech has site license of these
softwares ) on Syd Mechkov's iBook, and configured for ease of use. Helped
Riccardo DeSalvo to diagnose and backup his powerbook so that he can replace
the internal harddisk, which exhibited erratic performance.
(Mike)
-Ran end of the month ghost backups on all NTSRV's.
-Sharon Kammerling: Workstation infected with a virus. This required a complete
rebuild.
-NTSRV: Problems with the LLPDMWORKS server. This turned out to be a hard disk
issue that I am watching closely. This server is backup and running.
-MarcoTarallo: I am currently loading a PC for him.
-Other onsite user support.
(Larry)
-Resolved a number of procurement issues. The SUN maint. contract has been
renewed. Presently, going through the Matlab license contract. Working with
Foundry to get all of the equipment put on the same contract and set to expire
at the same time. The new tape library has arrived. Specialty items for
different people have arrived and most have been delivered. Working on a new
printer for the DCC.
-Worked on a number of PC's. Most were having spyware issues. We are putting on
adware/spyware detection programs on more of the machines. This is starting to
be a problem with performance of the units and allowing viruses to gain access.
-Assisted the DCC with a number of issues. Location of files. Downloading and
conversion of files and printing.
-Assisted Sharon and Cindy with a couple of PC and printing issues.
-Still cleaning up old accounts and clearing off files off the systems. This
project is going to take some time to wrap up.
-Installed another server system for the admin group to use for testing out
different items.
-Worked/working on a number of different document related items. Most dealing
with my trip to MIT aswell as the NSF review.
-Worked with the mail services but Lisa will have that in her report for next
week.
-Assisting with the setup for the NSF review.
-The regular assistance for user accounts.
From: "Thomas
Frey" <tfrey@ligo.caltech.edu>
Progress Period
from 10.29 to 11.04
·
·
See http://www.ligo.caltech.edu/~tfrey/index.htmlfor
a complete listing of all project related cost and schedule data.
Accomplishments:
·
·
Sub-system PLANNING activities
§
§
Continued work on preparing web
space for posting Adv. LIGO reports. ("The Whole Enchilada")
§
§
Finished the input of changes /
preparing RFIs / responding to RFIs, as a result of the meetings with Carol and
the Subsystem Teams.
§
§
The 40-Meter schedule remains to
be completed with changes.
§
§
Finished work on updating
database coding to account for scope being added to the request amount.
§
§
Issued preliminary cost
integrated schedule curve data to Carol for review and comment on Friday the
29th.
§
§
Started and continue to work on
updated request curves inclusive of some schedule changes received on Tuesday
the 2nd.
·
·
ROSTER DATABASE:
§
§
Continued to work with Irena to
provide Barry with information regarding FTEs and Institutions.
§
§
Assisting Irena as needed on
record changes.
·
·
COST BOOK DATABASE:
§
§
Posted revised cost data as a
result of the meetings with Carol and the Subsystem Teams.
From: Larry Jones <ljones@ligo.caltech.edu>
Advanced LIGO Seismic Structure
SEI Structure:
A change request is being submitted to the Change Board, proposing to limit
the ASI contract activities to the completion of the SEI structure Design
Package. Further studies will be performed to help determine future actions,
involving performance, cost and other options. ASI has been given authorization
to proceed with completing the Design Package.
Rai Weiss is providing consultation on determining the best means of evaluating
the outgassing levels of large parts that cannot be RGA scanned.
Actuators:
PSI traced the high-pot test failures to a breakdown of the Ceramabond 835M
adhesive used as a potting compound. An attempt to remove the potting compound
from one of the bobbins resulted in damaging the coil wire, which will require
rewinding. I've asked Jay if we can provide any relief in PSI's 100 MOhm at
500VDC high-pot requirement, which may save substantial rework and potential
damage. PSI is checking to locate the availability of high-pot testors with adjustable
resistance levels.
Displacement Sensors:
ADE is proceeding with fabricating and testing the 14 displacement sensors
for the BSC prototype structure. They have provided a quote for two calibration
blocks.
Accu-Glass is proceeding with fabricating and testing the 3 feedthrough flanges
for the BSC chamber at LASTI, with 16 feedthrough fittings each.
Seismometers:
Nothing new.
Galling/Dusting Test:
Nothing new.
From: Janeen Romie romie_j@ligo.caltech.edu
Advanced LIGO Suspensions
Working on quad structure design and analysis with the design team.
Met with Ken Mason and Oddvar Spjeld at LLO about the quad installation fixture
design. Oddvar, Gary Traylor and Joe Hansen are considering designs for an air
lift for vertical translation and tilt and using the air bearings for
translations and rotations.
Met with Ken Mason and Mike Zucker and toured the
Preparing for NSF Review.
Working on Primavera update for the end of October.
Coordinating with Justin and Caroline for their visits here the week of Nov
29th. Coordinating travel plans for the
Initial LIGO Suspensions
Ordered the spare quartz wire standoffs yesterday. They have an 8 week lead
time but due to a facility move, may be delivered in 12 weeks.
Gin Gin
Working with Ed Chargois on customs issue.
From: Helena
Armandula <ahelena@ligo.caltech.edu>
Indium Cold Welding
I was able to join a large nickel plated magnet to an aluminum flag with
indium.
The bond , obtained by using a very rudimentary process, seems to be fairly
strong. These parts do not hold any weight and are only exposed to accidental
knocks.
The surfaces were processed to remove the top oxide layer, the bond was made by
applying pressure.
From: ctorrie <ctorrie@ligo.caltech.edu>
Advanced LIGO SUS
1. QUAD Update
Helena and I have been testing the ergonomic arm with the controls
prototype test mass. Aluminium main section with glass face plates that are
held in place with 4 screws and VITON washers.
A view of the Quad as it is being built is available at http://131.215.114.242/view/index.shtml
Tests on "GEO-style" wire clamps with 1mm wire (the size of the wire
in the top stage of a quad) lead us to believe that we should adopt an approach
similar to that used in VIRGO and in the seismic system. Virginio and Ricardo
have donated some "dumbbell" steel wires for us to test in our set
up.
2. Visits
Ian Wilmut arrives from RAL on Monday for 3 weeks.
3. FEA of Structure
Analysis continues on the structure of the QUAD ETM. At the time of writing
we have a 1st resonance of 75 Hz for the overall structure with non-suspended
mass and are well on the way to meeting our goal of >100 Hz for this first
resonance.
We have already met our goal of > 200 Hz for the 1st resonance of the upper
section of the structure with non-suspended mass on its own. And with RAL are
working on the lower section having a 1st resonance of > 100 Hz. The next
stages wrt to the upper structure is to consider the use of U section instead
of box extrusion and to incorporate the table cloth fixtures and the mounting
of the top stage. RAL and in particular Tim Hayler are supporting our existing
effort.
4. E -Drawing
We have built an e-drawing of the overall Quad ETM suspension in a tank. it
is available at: -
http://www.ligo.caltech.edu/~ctorrie/ETM/
D040400_Assembly_ETM_Suspension_Structure_&_Assembly_Fixtures_02NOV04.EASM
5. Design Meeting
For a review of this week's design meeting please refer to the following
link: -
http://www.ligo.caltech.edu/~ctorrie/QUAD_ETM/quad_etm_setup_page2.html
6. NSF Review
We have prepared several jpg's of the current suspension effort. These are
available at: -
http://www.ligo.caltech.edu/~ctorrie/ETM/
From: Riccardo
DeSalvo desalvo@ligo.caltech.edu
Marco (3nov)
I began my work on Monday (1 November) with Phil Willems:
for the moment we have tested the alignment of the laser beam first in the
optical bench and then in the cavity.
I’m studying
also the PZT driver circuit for a new design by DXP software which I’m
beginning to learn.
For the next week I will work improving the output layout in
the output bench, draw a servo circuit scheme whit Phil for the cavity signal
feedback and, if I can, continue the work on the new PZT circuit board.
Juri
I am working on the problem of thermal noise for finite
mirrors in the case of Mesa Beam in order to have a better estimation of the
improvements in the sensitivity of the interferometer. I am writing a
Mathematica notebook for the thermoelastic noise for finite mirrors. Moreover I
am taking measurements for the “creep” experiment.
Nicki
Creep measurement now at 40 degrees, next step 90 degrees
For additional information about this report, contact whitcomb_s@ligo.caltech.edu