---

LSC Issues (Reitze)

LIGO Laboratory Administration (Lindquist)

PROPERTY MANAGEMENT (Luna)

>From: Rod Luna <rluna@ligo.caltech.edu>

• Requested expenditure type changes from Equipment to Supplies on twelve POs.
• Tagged and created property records for two File Servers, one Optical Table, two Lasers, One High Voltage Amplifier and one Dual Phase Lock-in Amplifier.
• Continued compiling vehicle data from LHO and LLO for the GSA vehicle report.

DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT (Mak)

>From Cleveland Mak <mak@ligo.caltech.edu>

• In the process of processing/uploading approximately 180 RAL SUS drawings into the DCC.
• Made access setting changes and modified the author list on 44 of the 2009 MOU Reports.
• Packaged/Shipped a maraging steel plate to Liberty Tool & Engineering.

FINANCIAL SYSTEMS (Lindquist, Oracion)

>From: Karl Oracion <koracion@ligo.caltech.edu>

• Completed FY2009 (PHY-0757058) LIGO Operations Report for July 2009 and posted report on the network.
• Issued monthly status reports for U. of Wisconsin , LSC Support, Low Noise award, U.Milwaukee, U.Glasgow, Outreach and four discretionary awards.
• Advised on labor distribution justifications.
• Currently working intra-award Advanced LIGO cost transfers and FY2010 accounts set-up.
• Link to LIGO Operations Accounts
• Link to Financial Reports

(for passwords contact Karl)

SUBCONTRACTS MANAGEMENT (Arvizu, Champagnie, Jasnow, Marroquin, Salone)

>From: Rudy Arvizu <arvizu_r@ligo.caltech.edu>

• See Advanced LIGO Report Below.

>From: Jacqueline Champagnie and Gina Salone

• See Advanced LIGO Report Below.

>From: Steve Marroquin smarroqu@caltech.ed

• See Advanced LIGO Report Below.

• Executed Changer Order No. 1 for the continuing services of consultant through 9/30/09.
• Executed purchase order contract to contractor for electrical work at LHO.
• Executed purchase order contract for sewer maintenance work at LLO (Tech Rep: Alan Sibley).
• Executed purchase order contract for fused silica supermirrors. (Tech Rep: Eric Gustafson).
• Executed purchase order contract for maintenance at LLO. (Tech Rep: Alan Sibley).
• Executed purchase order contract for the services of contract employee, Solidworks Draftsman for Design Suspensions at LLO. (Tech Rep: Bonnie Wooley).

PROPOSALS and REPORTS (Lindquist, Beckett)

> From: lindquist_p@ligo.caltech.edu

• Distributed presentation materials for the review of the financial status of LIGO FY 2009 Operations scheduled for the Excomm on Monday. Will be distributing more detailed information tomorrow as well as a first stab at a budget for FY 2010. On Monday a focus will be, “How come we can’t do better budgeting?”

> From: Dave Beckett beckett@ligo.caltech.edu

• During the week I received the last of the material needed to compose the July "highlights" report for the NSF. Phil and I just finished the final draft. The report will be ready for dispatch to the NSF on schedule.
• Fell a bit behind in editing the Annual due to this week's highlights report deadline. Now that that report is complete, I will resume editing the Annual at catch-up pace.
• For the LIGO news blog, I received six solid LIGO article leads from Jay and one from Riccardo. Reminder to all: these news tip-offs from any quarter are always most welcome.

CHANGE REQUESTS (Lindquist)

• Change Request CR-090005 is for budget for two additional design staff (WBS 1.3.1) for timely completion of R&D in support of Advanced LIGO, but it is for less than the CCB threshold in FY 2009.

HUMAN RESOURCES (Akutagawa)

>From: Cindy Akutagawa <cindy@ligo.caltech.edu>

• The monthly Staffing Committee meeting was held on Monday, August 10th. The minutes and action items from the meeting are in progress and when completed will be posted on the SC web page.

---

Quality/Safety (Nolting)

No report for operations-related activities received

---

LIGO Hanford Observatory (LHO) and Interferometer Operations (Raab)

Summary of activities at LIGO Hanford Observatory (compiled by M. Landry)

• One of the goals of the early S6 running is to understand new pathologies
  in the performance of the enhanced detectors. We've been investigating on
  several fronts, including the examples below.
• Analysis of the E14 data by the pulsar group indicates that there are many
  narrow instrument lines coincident in both L1 and H1 detectors (e.g.
  Powerflux finds strong bin-centered lines in 104Hz, 150Hz, 168, 170, 196,
  226Hz, 252, 270, 308, and 1038 Hz). We're following up on these and other
  instrument lines in S6 data. 2Hz and 4Hz combs are observed.
• Autoburt backups were found to induce glitches at the top of the hour,
  when the procedure was run. The glitches followed a rescheduling of the
  scripts to the bottom of the hour, confirming the effect. Spreading the
  (network) activity over roughly one half hour.
  appears to minimize the glitch effect (curious as people expected one problematic
  cpu and thus continued glitching). Studies continue in order to ensure elimination
  of the effect. It is not clear if the glitches are in the machine or the data recording.
• While this is not at the level of an important noise source, it is not
  observed at LLO and it is somewhat worrisome: the OMC readout channel and
  DARM_ERR do not agree.
  at the level of 1e-9
• We're preparing for the Sep 1 vent. In a new development this week, we
  will now swap DC PDs during the vent, an additional workload for the break.
  SmCo magnets were purchased to reduce TT sensitivity to 60Hz. Bakeloads are
  being readied.
• The H1 duty cycle was 63%, typically 15-17Mpc.

Squeezer update (D. Sigg, S. Dwyer)

• Daniel was at MIT last week. A first draft of the noise document has been
  sent out. We are starting to get parts so that we can start building. Sheila
  has been looking at the layout again.
  

LIGO Livingston Observatory (LLO) and Interferometer Operations (Giaime)

General Operation (Rusyl Wooley):

• We have received and set into place the large parts washer for aLIGO.  We moved the 5 ton pallet jack into the warehouse.  We are trenching behind theHEPI enclosure so that we can install conduit which will carry voice and data communications to the warehouse and the HEPI enclosure.  We are processing parts needed for the work that will be done during the commissioning break.  We have also starting processing SUS parts for aLIGO.

Enhanced LIGO commissioning and S6 run (Valera Frolov):

• The bns inspiral range remained in 10-12 Mpc during the day and 12-15 during the night.

• The duty factor is 55% for the week down from previous weeks due to the nearby logging and several large earthquakes.

[JG note: the loggers are thinning the forrest in a 200+ acre tract adjacent to LLO's access road.  I expect that this will continue at least into the commissioning break, thereby limiting our daytime running.]

• The OMC photodetector, that was damaged and replaced, was tested for quantum efficiency in the optics lab. The QE was found to be 50+/-10%. A spare PD from the same manufacturer also showed a low QE in the same range. When this PD was in vacuum it was 10-100 times noisier than nominal but the photocurrent did not change from the time when it was not damaged. So it is reasonable to assume that the QE was not affected by the damage. The low QE is also consistent with earlier observations of higher than expected interferometer shot noise, low PD photocurrents, and low DARM optical gain. We have five PDs of the same size from different manufacturer on site. One of the PDs was tested and it has about 60% higher QE. We are in the process of testing more photodetectors.

• The standard PEM injections were performed. The coupling are mostly as expected from S5 or similar studies at LHO. Of note is the coupling of the fan in one of the electronics racks and the coupling of PSL periscope mirrors to DARM. It was found that the coupling of the magnetic field to TT mirror magnets and consequently to the mirror angular motion is similar to that at LHO (the coupling of the TT angular motion to DARM is lower due to the different mode matching telescope). This noise sources will be addressed during or possibly even before the September commissioning break.

• The FSS frequency reference card was replaced. It has reached its end of life cycle of a few years which is determined by the degradation of the amplifier reportedly from LHO due to the heat sink problem.

• The new BSC temperature sensors were installed one per each test mass to facilitate the test mass absorption studies.

LLO CDS (Keith Thorne):

• Hardware

• Carl Adams finished up testing the coil driver chassis for the test stand and has moved on to the satellite boxes.  He still hopes to complete that in the next few days.  He is coming up to speed on the longer-term Advanced LIGO projects regarding feedthroughs and cable routing.

  • Software

• Setup Linux workstation using Matrox video adapter originally purchased for three-display systems.  The available Linux driver for that card will not let it operate in concert with motherboard video, so only two displays can be used.

  Installed new main FOM (Figure-Of-Merit) workstation that replaces a old Solaris box.  Workspace rotation script was ported from Solaris to Linux using the wmctrl package.  The screen capture scripts to post FOMs and MEDM screens to the web was also partially ported. It now used built-in Unix functions instead of the old proprietary (EasyCopy) software.    This work was timely in that the existing software had stopped working (for unclear reasons).  The remaining two FOM workstations are ready with video cables in place.  We are waiting until the screen captures works to Xwindows on Linux (we can only grab Solaris displays at present).

  During Tuesday maintenance, corrected typos in names of EPICS channels going to frames so that now only valid, known EPICS channels are in the frame-writing lists.  This will help us monitor if critical EPICS servers or channels go offline.

  Found method to disable screen blanking on X windows under Linux.

  SunFire V490s to be used as new file servers installed in Mass Storage Room and started configuration. Ordered matching RAID array for backup server.  Selected expanded-capacity tape autoloader for purchase.

  Got completed quote for new GPS receiver and antenna to match that being installed at Hanford.

LLO Outreach:

(Amber Stuver)

• Gave a control room tour to a group of ~20 home school students and ~15 parents and gave an extended tour and Q&A to a group of ~15 incoming LSU physics majors.

• During the Tuesday maintenance, Jeremy Birch tried to get the 4 non-functioning accelerometer channels working by using alternate ADC channels.  However, the latest testing showed that no signals from those sensors were seen on the known-good ADC channels when switched to them.  He is regrouping to try to figure out why previous tests indicated those sensors were producing signals.

• Ordered two VMEVMI 3413s to increase spares pool for vacuum system.

Mechanical and Optical Systems (Coyne)

Riccardo DeSalvo, Andrey Rodionov

Tiltmeter Research (Lab 56) (Amanda, Morgan, Abhik):

the hysteresis-like behavior of the tiltmeter system is under investigation. Amanda and Morgan are continuing analyzing the response of the system to the excitation that has a form of a step function with a slowly increasing amplitude (the frequency of the excitation must be much less than the resonant frequency of the tiltmeter). So far the linear dependence of the amount of hysteresis in the system on the amplitude of the step-like excitation for the two different parameters of EMAS coefficient and for the two different frequencies of excitation has been observed.

During the last weekend of August 8th we recorded new data for checking the smoothness of the various trends of our system. The analysis of these data that Abhik will be performing is analogous to his previous analysis of the smoothness of the trends during the weekend of July 4th, but now the additional load masses on the arms of the tiltmeter are smaller (now we have 4 masses 22 grams each, while on July 4th we had 4 masses 39 grams each) and the new acquisition system (new Labview program) is used.

Hysteresis Research (Lab 04) (Gong Pu, Luigi and Andrey):

The GAS-filter mechanical system, LVDT driver, actuator coil driver and the controlling computer were connected together with the bus cables (we are still waiting for a laptop computer from Larry, so we are using temporarily the server tower-computer for controlling the experiment). Labview program from Lab-56 was modified so that it can control the LVDT coil current and actuator current (kick and step-function excitations) in our GAS-filter.

The relationship between the height of the aluminum cylinders supporting the actuator coil above the LVDT coils and the resonant frequency was measured firstly without adding shims, and later with added shims to the supporting aluminum towers (by adding shims we were varying the vertical position of the actuator coil) in three different days. Since the room temperature fluctuates during different days of the week by 1-2 degrees, we cannot bring the working point voltage to zero once for all the times by selecting the specific height of the supports for the actuator coil (at least until the installation of the styrofoam panels outside of the GAS- filter will be done). We glued together such the box made of the styrofoam panels, it is now drying-up.

Replacement of lead capacitors to the surface-mounted capacitors in the LVDT-driver has been carried out.

See Advanced LIGO

Controls and Data Systems (Bork)

See Advanced LIGO

40-Meter Interferometer (Adhikari)

No report received

---

Thermal Noise Interferometer (Black)

Akira continues to set up the undoped/optimized measurement, and he is at the same time preparing the doped/optimized mirrors for installation once that measurement is done.

Greg and Rob have the cavity-assisted photothermal experiment set up and are in the final stages of aligning the beam to the cavity. They are able to get flashes, but no clear spatial modes are evident. They are going to try inserting a cover slip inside the cavity to look at the modes next, a technique we have found useful in this experiment in the past.

---

LASTI (Mittleman)

Monolithic

• Mark(LHO), Liam(Glasgow), Alan(Glasgow),Gary(LLO), and Janeen(LLO) were here this week practicing and learning how to build a monolithic suspension.  The trip was not a success, both of the test hangs broke during the suspension process. The monolithic team is now working to determine what is different between the setup and/or process here at MIT and at Glasgow, where building monolithic suspensions has been successful.

LASTI

• We have gotten the Okay from MIT facilities to install the new ceiling crane and that is scheduled to happen next week. This crane is needed to remove the second door on the X-end HAM chamber so that we can install the new HAM-ISI into that chamber.

CIT Science Group (Weinstein)

__________

Peter Kalmus:

generalizing flare pipeline for V1 & G1, in preparation for S5y2+A5 SGR search

preliminary investigations for an X-ray burst search (with Leo Singer)

__________

Antony Searle:

Testing CBC Bayesian localization and significance code with SURF Munier Salem

Reimplementing bursts Omega pipeline to use new Bayesian LAL implementation.

__________

Drew Keppel:

adding the ability to return m-order coincident triggers in n-order coincident time (m < n) to ligolw_thinca

looking at the memory requirements of ligolw_thinca to produce coincident triggers from 10201 time-slides in 30,000 seconds of data

updating code used to predict constraints on the mass of the graviton we will be able to achieve once there are BBH signal detections

__________

P. Ajith:

Working with Aaron on the instrumental veto code.

Working with Anahita on the network parameter estimation code.

Testing the new IMR spinning waveforms in LAL.

__________

Stephen Privitera:

I have been learning about version control with git.  I am creating a] branch for my calibration simulation code.

I have been learning about job control using condor.  I submitted an ihope dag for the S6 week2 highmass search.

__________

Cristina Valeria Torres:

Integrate new functions into tracksearch to track drumhead mode using OMC channels which are already available in raw frames.

Continue with 3rd wk study of OMC gain shifts and if they correlated with unknown lock with unknown causes for that week at LLO.

Supervised my student who is working on the case studies of S5 data classifying glitches using AUTOTRACK.  A results wiki page is now under construction for these case studies.

__________

Amber Stuver:

Working on converting the current burst MDC efficiencies into an astrophysically based rate/parsec^3 for an isotropic distribution.

Beginning preparations to generate burst S6/VSR2 MDCs.

Began streamlining my existing code to perform in-depth MDC interpretation for S6.

Continued collaboration with MatApps team in preparations for the repository conversion from CVS to SVN.

__________

Anand Sengupta:

Working with Tristan, Kari on the MVSC player. Co-ordinating efforts to include veto channels as inputs to the veto player. Organised a telecon with the DQ guys.

Attended a INDIGO satellite meeting over VC held at IUCAA, Pune

Presented a remote talk at the IUCAA ReUnion meeting

Working with Anahita Maghami on network Fischer matrix calculation code

__________

Joseph Betzwieser:

Worked with Pinkesh to solve a minor problem with integrating his lalapps_ComputeFStatistic_resamp code into the wide parameter search code and followup code.

__________

Igor Yakushin:

The following improvements to cWB online pipeline were implemented:

1) declared burst injections are matched with triggers to investigate what injections were not processed (because they are outside of triple UP time or some other reason), processed but not detected. For detected injections we compare properties of injections and triggers, in particular sky coordinates;

2) error regions are now graphically represented; for example:

https://ldas-jobs.ligo.caltech.edu/~igor/S6_ONLINE_1/JOBS/9335/933587186-933587246/OUTPUT.merged/TRIGGERS/error_region_933587187.5116_inj.gif

3) a separate table with LUMIN triggers that pass all category 1-4 DQs and vetoes is created per users' request

__________

Diego Fazi:

Adding xml output to the sqlite-based post-processing pipeline

Setting up a project report page for spinning binaries and PTF

__________

Kipp Cannon:

working to complete the analysis of 2 months of the S5 high mass search

working with Drew Keppel on improvements to the inspiral coincidence tool to allow an increase in the number of time slides it supports

working with SURF student Mireia Crispin-Ortuzar on implementing a new

\chi^{2} statistic in LLOID

working with SURF student Dan Stratman on the development of techniques for image deconvolution in omni-directional aperture synthesis problems such as the stochastic radiometer search.

__________

Kari A. Hodge:

Had a telecon to discuss DQ/MVSC stuff

SciMon duties

Laboratory Computing (Anderson)

-----------------------------
LDAS Software Systems (Maros)
-----------------------------

Analysis of the diskcacheAPI when it was in a dead lock situations has lead to a solution. Although this solution of having read locks timeout is less than optimal, it does prevent the dead lock of the diskcache by not allowing the lock to be held unless it is going to succeed. With this modification in place, there are many times when user requests for information timeout.


A new approach is being implemented to try and address this issue by
reducing the number and time the locks are required.

-------------------------------------
LDAS System Administration (Anderson)
-------------------------------------

Caltech
-------
(Josh Abadie)

Led upgrading the disks on 92 compute nodes.

Monitored and managed cluster.

Worked with Sun to fix some issues.

Brought online a spare node.

Continued working on the Nagios monitoring system.

Tidied up the machine room.

MIT
---
(Fred Donovan)

bates setup continuing, running condor 50 nodes, installing ldg
server software; worked with Brennan to get globus cron jobs running on ldas-grid@caltech.

Livingston
----------
(Igor Yakushin)

/archive stopped releasing data due to a mistake when labeling tapes: when used tapes are labeled an extra --old option should be used (not needed for new tapes) to erase the existing content. As a result Disk2Disk, createRDS, online hoft/XML transfer to LLO had to be stopped for couple days until the problem got resolved. Everything is back to normal now.

Hanford
-------
(Greg Mendell

Worked with Dan Moraru on how to export and import tapes from the L700 tape library.


Assisted LLO in restarting Disk2Disk, RDS, and LDAS hoft generation, after this week's problem with writing to the archive.


Assisted Fred Donovan with preparations to install the LDG software on the cluster at MIT.


Followed up on gaps reported in the data.

(Dan Moraru)

Received Cisco 6509 switch, installed x6704 line card fitted with DFC module, returned X2 transceivers for swap with XENPAKs, and ordered backup power supply.


Worked with Sun to determine cause of amber light indication on StorageTek 6140 disk array.


General cluster maintenance, cleaned up cabling, hooked up more UPSes and PDUs to network.

General Computing (Wallace)
MIT:
(Fred)

setting up a couple of new arrivals w\solidworks;

some oyster nis+ issues;

spec new laptop po,

ordering 2 more solidworks machines;

setting up parallel matlab stuff.

Livingston:
(Dwayne)

installed new HP Color LaserJet 5550dn printer in SEC

VPN account for Tom Gentry

mail account for J. David Barker at LLO

worked with Carl to repair network connection to bsctest in SB High-bay.


compiled GC sysadmin weekly for a vacationing Larry Wallace (it's about time he took some time off)


little progress this week with LIGO.ORG GC shell account login. †server to provide /home/{user} directories is alive, but the disk array hardware I was going to use is malfunctioning. †I am currently pricing replacement solutions.


current /home directory filesystem had one drive fail, which was manually replaced with hot spare. †Spent most of the week trying to get Solaris/ZFS to accept the replacement hot spare. †Called in backup from Dan Kozak, Stuart, and Shannon. †Finally have somewhat of an explanation of what is going on, but work still remains.


due to the above two items, I am thinking about being overly cautious and ZFS mirroring two hardware RAID5 + hot spare systems for LIGO.ORG GC account /home directories. †I have spent much of this morning pricing solutions, and have my choice but would like a second opinion.


successfully destroyed two test Solaris installs with patches. †Both times on ZFS root filesystems. †On UFS root filesystem, did not have failure. †I was able to track down the cause to one particular patch. †After installing all patches that don't require a reboot first, the switching to single-user mode to install all but one patch, rebooting, and then finally installing the SMA patch, I was able to successfully upgrade a Solaris 10 install on ZFS root filesystem using PCA. †I need to spend more time testing this to confirm. †I noticed some chatter about a kernel patch breaking installs as well, so this makes me doubt my findings.


applied patches to a couple more servers


attended a few meetings


worked a couple small procurement items


numerous usual/unusual user support requests


cleared spam trap daily

(Shannon)
GC/Sys/Netadmin:

Reconfigured LDAP server for Glue and Translucent proxies. Tested changes


Helped Dwayne with a RAID issue, and also a ZFS issue. †Extensive work on this... †still issues to be resolved.


Wednesday reported BGP session down with Charter. Worked with them to resolve the issue and restore BGP


Working with foundry on getting latest version of controller code. Received the latest version of code, will apply soon.

Moved NDS ports for Keith

Planning fiber/network for new warehouse.

Hanford:
(Jonathan)

User support Mary Kurtz, Alan Wilkins

Configured laptops for new hires

Expanded cfengine config to include all sol10 and centos servers

finishing admin node as requested by Abe

moving the ups monitoring software to a different server to repurpose a box

building a new central log server

CIT:
(Mike)

Loaded a x2200 with Centos to be a new license server.

Loading a new laptop for a user.

Worked on trouble shooting one of our mail servers that had some hardware issues.

Took care of some printer issues.

Reloaded a linux workstation for a surf student.

Ordered a few items for users.

Setup new pdmworks accounts.

Tested out new Microsoft patches, and will be deploying them today

More than usual onsite/phone user support, and other sysadmin tasks.

(Melody)

Catching up with work which accumulated while on vacation:

DCC: Granted user access, changed access levels, and removed files (per user request).

LAAC: Fixed an error when the user first logs into the wiki. ††Copied some entries from the old LAAC Thesis Topics to the wiki. †Granting user write access.

myLIGO: Worked on closing some RT tickets.

(Veronica)

Ongoing work on the old DCC migration. †Field-by-field transition, field generation in the docdb, issues with the old metadata (access settings, etc.)

More work on the PAC wiki.

Updates of the LIGO/ LSC web pages/ apps.

DCC admin support.

User support -- Helped Cindy with posting of pictures at the roster webpage.

(Larry)

Worked on some p-card issues. Resolved all current p-card expenses and cleared up some minor items. Also, worked on the investigation of the new P-card system CIT is looking at. Working on the purchase of a new multi-core server. Basically, doing price comparisons along with checking out a new company that provides the equipment being looked at for purchase.

Some minor wrap-up items from the mou meeting were taken care of.

Assisted Mike with some licensing issues.

Assisted a user at LHO with a license issue.

Worked on a couple of installs that had some OS items that needed to be cleared up.

Some remote user assistance

Distributed (Grid) Computing R&D (Blackburn)

Distributed (Grid) Computing R&D (Blackburn)

Grid Application Development:

Einstein@Home on the OSG

Ran prototype E@OSG automated job submissions to LIGO_CIT using Condor-G for 5 days uninterrupted. During the test 96 job slots are being utilized through Condor-G. The load on the gatekeeper is down from ~30 (GT2) to ~1 (Condor-G). Now ready to test on other OSG sites.

Recent Average Credits for the past week were 233,293 credits, slightly up from last week's 226,459 credits; Weekly rank based on Recent Average Credits dropped by one to 8th; Cumulative rank for total credits is still 20th, up by one from last week.

Binary Inspiral Application on Grids

Running the new ihope workflow provided by Duncan on the LIGO Data Grid cluster at Caltech

Corrected all Frame File URLs in the ISI RLS server to reflect the true SRM location.

Successfully ran small workflow using SRM data and symlinking parameter in Pegasus.

Attempted to run a larger workflow, which failed with an error in the segment finder server. Recommended that the Syracuse segment finder server be used instead of the Caltech server. Working with Ping to be able to Syracuse server.

Open Science Grid Integration & Validation Testbed:

Running new version of Hadoop (0.20) on the Caltech ITB cluster. No issues have been seen.

Currently have 4.7 Terabytes of gravitational frame data on the Caltech ITB cluster, using 21% of available storage. This is available for binary inspiral workflows under Storage Resource Management (SRM).

Made various improvements to the E@OSG code.

Grid Management:

Set up new "action items produced by the OSG Council" pages under the OSG Website. Populated the page with the 10 or so action items currently identified by the council, including preliminary remarks, and owners.

Succeeded to fill the remaining open council representative seat in the collective VO: Tom Furlani of NYSGrid.

Attended and lead the OSG Council Face-to-Face meeting in Chicago this week.

Prepared 3 presentations for the Council meeting.

Went to Fermilab for several OSG meetings following the Council meeting

Met with Jim Herbsleb and James Howison of Carnegie Melon to discuss their plans for a project to study how virtual organizations develop software and computing infrastructure while at Fermilab. Ruth suggested that a view VOs under the OSG would make for good case studies (US CMS, LIGO, SBGRID, Engage).

Met with iSGTW (international Science Grid This Week) editors and the communications officer for Teragrid to discuss collaboration on electronic newletters and other forms of communications. Discussed strategies for supporting this activity.

Met with OSG Project Manager, Documents Manager, Council co-Chair and Executive Director while at Fermilab to discuss elements of OSG's future.

Began transcribing minutes from the two day OSG Council face-to-face meeting.

Followed up with new iSGTW editor on an article drafted for inclusion prior to  taking this post. Answered questions she had regarding the draft.

Assisted several LSC users with certificate and LIGO Data Grid Account managementissues.

Advanced LIGO and Supporting R&D (Shoemaker)

Advanced LIGO Management (Carol Wilkinson)

Project Controls

There were no change requests processed this week.

Interviewing of candidates continue for 2 real time programmers for the sites, 1 ME at CIT, and 1 assembly tech at LHO.

A second drafter at MIT has come on board to help with the drawings for Seismic Isolation procurements. A third drafter has been approved.

A contract designer has been brought on board for the SUS design work at LLO and interviews are taking place for the drafting position for AOS.

CDS is interviewing candidates for an outstanding EE position to support project work.

Project management has evaluated the need for additional ME, mechanical designer/drafter, and EE staff for AOS, SUS, SEI, ISC, DAQ, and PSL. Several slots for in-scope, temporary help for 1-2 years have been identified. They can be filled using project contingency funds allocated through change control. Discussions are under way with LIGO management for support of identified positions that are outside project scope. These positions typically require ops support for ~6-9 months of remaining development and design tasks before the new hires transition to project tasks and funding.

Procurements

For Steve Marroquin

Submitted RFQ solicitation for SM-153 “OMC SUS Structure Fabrication (Tech Rep: Doug Cook/Betsy Bland, Procurement ID SU-313a).

Working on draft RFQ solicitation for SM-154 “OMC Suspension Machined Parts” (Tech Rep: Betsy Bland, Procurement ID SU-313b).

Selected vendor for RFQ No. SM-152 “LIGO 8-Channel Valve Drive Assembly” (Tech Rep: Ben Abbott, Procurement ID SI-2AE)

Executed purchase order contract for Bake Main Oven Pumping Station (Tech Rep: Bonnie Wooley).

For Rudy Arvizu

Timing Distribution System DA-290 : On going terms negotiations with Caltech 8/13/09 response to Columbia’s 8/11/09 comments.

Property Management (Rod Luna)

Working with Customs Broker and the Export Compliance in exporting two unpolished pieces of glass to support ADL coating for Core Optics.

Assisted B. O’Reilly with filling a claim with the Office of Risk Management for a damaged Seismometer.

Continued working in gathering financial information for the initial LIGO elements upon decommissioning for Advanced LIGO requested by the NSF Property Administrator.

Continued working with Adilia Koch in classifying the Suspension parts that are being shipped by the UK Collaborators.

NSF Acquisition Approvals

NSF approved award of three out of the 4 awards for SI-148, the HAM SEI small mechanical parts. AdL team members are responding a question regarding the procurement of the pods.

A third request for approval, for long term labor contracts for technical specialists that cannot be hired as CIT staff, is in preparation for submission to NSF next week.

Progress Updates

The Advanced LIGO Project Monthly Report for July was submitted to NSF on Friday, August 14. The project is about a six weeks behind the plan. No schedule contingency has been used to date. The delay uses schedule float and does not impact major milestones and critical path activities. The project is looking for ways to accelerate the schedule. In particular, it is pursuing hires of temporary personnel to prevent schedule slippage in current tasks and to head off slippage in future tasks. The project is forecasted to end on time and on budget.

Meetings & Reviews

The next Monthly Progress Reporting Meeting will be on Thursday, September 10, at 8:30 AM PT. Subsystem leaders or their delegates need to attend.

AdL Systems

Dennis Coyne <coyne@ligo.caltech.edu>, Peter Fritschel <pf@ligo.mit.edu>, Calum Torrie<ctorrie@ligo.caltech.edu>, Matt Evans <mevans@ligo.mit.edu>, Ed Chavez <chavez_j@ligo.caltech.edu>,  Bob Taylor <taylor_r@ligo.caltech.edu>,  Mike Smith <smith@ligo.caltech.edu>, Mike Zucker <mike@ligo.mit.edu>, Hiroaki Yamamoto <hiro@ligo.caltech.edu>

See the Adv. LIGO Systems wiki

Design/Readiness Reviews:

   For a list of reviews, see the main AdL wiki page

   reviews currently underway:

Optical Lever Design Requirements Review & Conceptual Design Review (DRR/CDR): initial questions/comments has been issued by committee. Meeting with team pending (Mike L. chair)

Review of the UK provided ETM/ITM quadruple pendulum suspension electronics continues (Jay H., Vern)

Procurement Techncial Reviews: see the procurement wiki

Technical Review Board (TRB): see the TRB log

UHV & Vacuum Review Board (VRB): see the VRB log

   Bake Temperature for Copper Alloys: (Dennis) Determined the maximum allowable bake temperature for UHV processing of copper alloys (see T0900368-v1). The recommended time and temperature will be included in the pending revsiion to E960022.

   Quad Weldment RGA: (Dennis) RAL's contractor has performed an RGA scan of the cleaned and baked upper structure weldment. The outgassing rate calibration is based solely on an estimate of the pumping rate (not a calibrated leak). The outgassing rate seems higher than the criteria established in E080177-A (by a factor of about 5). This quad upper structure will be shipped to LLO (Tom Gentry) with coordination through Rod Luna. LLO (Janeen) will visually examine the welds and the cleanliness of the part and then take an FTIR sample and have it analyzed by JPL to see if the quad upper structure is clean enough to accept. If it is not, LLO will look into cleaning, air baking and FTIR qualifying the part.

UHV Prep Lab: (Bob)

I have cleaned the second set of COC optic containers. They will go in for a bake tomorrow after they finish drying today.

I have shipped a 10" cavity chamber to MIT for Rana.

I am taking care of the 40Meter duties for Steve while he is on Vacation.

I talked with Jodi yesterday about JIRA training. She is going to make arrangements to come to Caltech to get me started on learning the program and entering some of the jobs that are in process at the present time.

I may need to go to LHO at some point to follow up on the in house training, see their cleaning and baking facilities and to look at the possibilities of build an FTIR lab at LHO.

I talked with Mark Anderson about setting up a time to visit his lab at JPL.

I taking care of the OTF cavities while Liyuan is on vacation. The new cavity is coming along as planed. We have received the cables for the laser power supply and now are waiting on the power supply to arrive.

I have received the Inproclean 1300 for the parts washer. I have cleaned some aluminum parts with it and it leaves a brownish discoloration on the parts which i have to remove with aluminum brighteners after cleaning.

Optical Contamination Cavity Testing: (Bob T., Liyuan)

cavity 1: 7 production BOSEMs, soon to be removed & replaced with Masterbond low outgassing epoxy (EP30AN-1). Master Bond epoxy still has not arrived, but was supposed to have been shipped.

cavity 2:  First Contact(TM) samples (cavity mirrors also cleaned with FC)

cavity 3: being set up and should be available next week; Krytox samples will be placed into this chamber. The cables for the laser on Cavity 3 have arrived and I will be working on that cavity today.

 Queue:

Krytox low vapor pressure lubricant (we have samples)

other low outgassing epoxies, if/as needed after testing EP30AN-1 (Masterbond EP30-2, EP37-3FLFAO, EP65HT-1)

Copper & polyimide clad fiber optic, IVG Fiber CU1300. Brian Lantz wants to test this material for use with an optics table, optical lever system. Could be used for ALS etc. Likely "inherently" vacuum compatible, but worth checking since it has a polymer.

Torr-Seal (Varian adhesive -- proposed replacement for Vacseal)

Barrierta-IS (a German Company low vapor pressure lubricant alternative to krytox, that New Focus thought may be cleaner) (we have samples)

Retest ADE position sensor materials (2 Tra-Con epoxies) due to the anomalous test results (no samples in hand)

Nedox solid lubricant (for potential BSC-ISI tooling use (class b) but perhaps useful in vacuum as well) (had small sample -- likely inadequate in size)

Tungsten carbide/carbon (WC/C) sample (for potential BSC-ISI tooling use (class b) but perhaps useful in vacuum as well) (had small sample -- likely inadequate in size probably inherently vacuum compatible)

Cesic sample (composite ceramic of SiC, Si and C) possibly inherently vacuum compatible application is not clear (high stiffness to weight structure) (sample size adequate?)

Configuration Control & Documentation:

helped answering technical questions on the OMC technical weldment RFQ (Dennis)

reviewed and approved the OMC machined parts RFQ (Dennis)

Design/Planning:

Optical Layout (Ed) I created the models for the VE Layout for each of the following stations

LHO X-End

LHO Y-End

LLO X-End

LLO Y-End

Each of these models includes the corresponding Chambers (VE only) along with adapters and building structure. I had the models for the adapters and the building structure model for LHO X-End (I had to create the rest). These models will be used later to create a 2D Drawing where we will include a BOM for each station. I used each of these models to update the Overall Layout for each station. There are 2 configurations: one calling the Top Level Assembly from each Chamber and another one calling just the VE corresponding to each station, including the building and adapters. Presently I am creating the model of the Corner Station for Livingston (which is the simplest of both observatories), I already created the building, and the next step is to include the different tubes or adapters connecting each of the chambers. Then I will update the Overall Layout.

Damping Strut(Kurt) Has designed some viton damped struts to use for initial testing on the suspension structure mockups. Will be built in the Caltech machine shop soon.

COC HR face shield (Kurt) The physics shop has the drawing.

Interfaces: See the RODA status page and the Interface Control page.

Modeling and Simulation

From: Hiroaki Yamamoto hiro@ligo.caltech.edu

Static IFO simulation (Hiro, Logan, Ray, Muzammil)
---------------------------------------------------------------------

Astigmatism introduced by the folded structure of the stable Michelson cavity was analyzed quantitatively. The modeling method is explained in†
T0900331, "SIS Physics : Reflection by curved mirror with arbitrary incident angle"
and physics analysis is discussed in
T0900384, "Astigmatism by the stable Michelson cavity"

Ray Beausoleil and Hiro are studying the loss due to the thermal bumps on test masses. The qualitative result that the loss is larger when the absorptions by ITM and ETM coating are imbalanced, but there is disagreement in quantitative loss values. We are using a simpler system to nail down the cause of the difference.

Hiro reviewed the paper of the extension of the ABCD formulation for a complex cavity by Muzammil of UF. The virtues and limitations are discussed for better use of this method.

Time Domain simulation (Hiro, Seiji)
------------------------------------------------------

Seiji found reasonable signals which can be used to lock the dual recycled Michelson which are insensitive to the resonance condition of CR and SBs in the arm. These signals could be used to the full advLIGO like IFO locking without extra hardware addition. This study will be continued in Japan with the help by Hiro.

Safety

From: David Nolting dnolting@ligo-la.caltech.edu

Coordinating with a third party vendor to conduct equipment safety training for LHO personnel.

Preparations are being made to detail Operating Procedures and Job Hazard Analysis for the new Clean & Bake equipment for both LLO and LHO.

Quality Assurance

From: Mick Flanigan flanigan_m@ligo-wa.caltech.edu

QA:

Picked up instruments this week to perform tests on the HEPI actuators next week.

Parts Washer for LLO seems to have some concerns about the welding and the sizing. Our spec called for a size 84x84x124, and the bid came back with a size of 84x84x99. However the delivered units were 84x84x102, slightly over the size quoted, yet still under our spec. There appears to be a fitment issue for this unit now at LLO, and I need to find out more information on what was missed where. As far as the welds, the LLO unit was not fully fabricated during the time I performed the inspection at the factory, as the vendor was running behind. We delayed the trip a week to hopefully get both units inspected, however when I arrived they were still not completed with the subsequent unit. The inspection of the LHO unit went well with the exception of a small overflow due to un-calibrated diverter valves, and they were working on that as I was leaving. I need to do a comparison of the LLO unit as received to the LHO unit, as there seems to be a significant discrepancy in the perception of the weld quality, am hoping the second unit was not rushed out to meet shipping deadlines, and subsequently suffered quality issues.

I will be joining Janeen at a vendor in Florida next Thursday, and we will be inspecting the first articles of OSEM heads.

Inventory Control System:

We were expecting to release a large build today, Thursday Aug 13th, however we are trying to clean up a few bugs all related to Bulk parts, where the system seems to keep bunching like parts at two locations into a single location, and is not properly tracking the parts through loads. This has turned out to be a bit of a redesign effort, our original architecture did not support some of the added features. I am hoping, but not 100% confident, that we will get this released tomorrow, Friday Aug 14th.

Auxilliary Optics

From:   Michael Smith <smith@ligo.caltech.edu>

Work under Project Budget

OPTICAL LAYOUT

Luke is working on H2 layout

Work under Operations Budget

OPTICAL LEVER

The optical lever group together with Doug and Cheryl discovered that by bending or otherwise stressing the body of the optical fiber used to connect the laser to the telescope in the optical lever test setup at LHO cause anamalous displacement readings on the QPD.

Iain Barr successfully "talked to" one of the water-level sensors brought by Dick Gustafson. He was able to both determine what signals the proximity detector expects to receive and delivers to the user, and get one of the units up and working. Dick sent us a second unit by fedex.

Eric contacted Peter Fritschel to clarify the oplev objectives, and Peter's recommendations will be incorporated into the design requirements and sent to the design review committee.

Craig has completed a layout of a new flexure mount concept for holding the optlev telescope on the pylon. Riccardo will decide which telescope mounting structure we will prototype.

OUTPUT FARADAY ISOLATOR

Jesse is using Riccardo's temperature-time parameters and is in the process of baking the maraging steel blade springs for the Faraday Isolator SUS.  

ETM Telescope

Ken completed a preliminary layout of the ETM telescope and transmon table and sent the mass properties to Virginio; he will revise the layout to incorporate the 2000m off-axis telescope design that Sam used for his Guoy phase calculations. Virginio used the OMC matlab suspension software from SUS and calculated the motion transfer functions for a two stage suspension suspended ETM/transmon table. He will compare these results to the requirement derived by Sam Waldman.

Sam calculated the sensitivity of the ETM 2000 meter telescope defocus to the Guoy phase measured at the transmon QPD's and found that a 0.060 mm defocus distance is allowable. It appears that the invar spacers for the ETM telescope will provide adequate temperature stability for the telescope.

TCS

Josh Lawman did a vibration analysis of the periscope leading from the CO2 laser on the TCS table, using the new hammer with impulse sensor and 3-axis accelerometer in the vibration analysis lab to gather data concerning the resonances of the periscope. The effect of different mounting approaches and the use of damping material was investigated.

Facilities Modifications and Preparations

John Worden is out this week.

Seismic Isolation

From: Ken Mason kmason@ligo.mit.edu

aLIGO Project Activities

SEI  Electronics Design and Fabrication

We have sent the Pump Servo PCB out to PCB Express.  It should be here early next week for stuffing.

I have been playing with the SBC, and the epics PID record.  It seems to be working fine, but some excess noise on the input is making it hard to work with.  When the Pump Servo PCB comes back, I plan to make a better setup.

The Trillium 240 to STS-2 Interface panels have arrived, and the boards have been put it into a chassis I plan to ship it to Brian O'reilly and Jeff next week.

We shipped one STS-2 Interface chassis to Jeff for his experiment.

We redesigned an Anti-Alias front board for Jeff to free-up some extra channels so he can read in his new STS-2.  The board should be back next week for stuffing.

We have selected a vendor to produce the 8Ch. Valve drivers.  I'm going to bring them the kit this afternoon.

Sam is stuffing 10 of the Pier Interface Chassis.  The remaining ~80 will most likely be stuffed at a stuffing house like the Valve Drivers are.

We have started work on the GS-13/L4C Geophone Interface chassis.  I'm getting a noise curve from Brian Lantz which will help me figure out necessary gains and whitening.

Sam is currently stuffing the internal boards for the ISI Coil Driver prototype that Mohana left before she went on leave.  We'll put them through some testing when they're done. . ~Ben A.

Hepi Procurement and Assembly

HEPI--Eric Allwine Jim Warner Hugh Radkins

Pump Stations--All parts in hard, final assembly on-going.

Actuators--Shipping from KineOptics, Production build restarting.

Kaman Sensor testing starting at LHO.

LHO Housing builds ~1/10 complete.

Mezzanine piping plans in progress.

HAM ISI Procurement and Design

Mark Mazzella is beginning to update assembly drawings for advanced LIGO HAM ISI.

Purchase orders have been issued for the pod housings, HAM spring posts, and flexure rods this week.

Brian O'Reilly, Joe Hanson and Tom Gentry visited PSI , the supplier of the HAM electromagnetic actuators, for acceptance testing of the first delivery of 32 actuators. The test results and quality of the actuators were much better than the units received for eLIGO. Tom  will issue a report later this week.

BSC ISI Design and Test

Stage 2 redesign: Making more modifications to the redesigned parts, focusing on making it easier to assemble. ~Andy

Celine has completed a draft fabrication drawing of the new BSC stage 2 large plates. Celine and Ken will visit a shop next week  for machining recommendations  and to evaluate their capabilities.

Suspensions

From Janeen Romie and Norna Robertson (romie_j@ligo-la.caltech.edu, nroberts@ligo.caltech.edu)

Operations Work

Created a list of acceptable machining fluids and posted it to the DCC (<https://dcc.ligo.org/cgi-bin/private/DocDB/ShowDocument?docid=4479>).

HLTS - Structure will go to Bob Taylor for cleaning then to CES for installation of self-clinching nuts, then to LLO for assembly. Many parts are on order for fabrication or out for quote. Some fixtures still to be designed.

HLTS & HSTS - working on an AOSEM mounting design.

HSTS - current focus is on the test mass and intermediate mass designs.

Project- funded activities

LIGO staff were at LASTI this week along with Glasgow staff to support test hang. Further experimental work is needed, so requests for availability have been sent out to some Caltech, LLO & LHO personnel for 4 upcoming trips (2 to MIT, 2 to Glasgow).

A meeting will be held on Tuesday to choose a vendor for the OMC structures.

Sent in variance report.

Prestabilized Laser

From: Peter King <pking@ligo.caltech.edu>

Operations

==========

At last the old VME controls now work with the laser.  The laser has been locked to the reference cavity and stays locked until a temperature fault= kills the laser.  Otherwise the performance and behaviour is the same as when the electronics was first installed.  The pre-modecleaner has also been locked to the laser but is a little more problematical.  A cracked ceramic resistor played some havoc with the servo behaviour, along with some stray RF pickup.  Thanks to Rich Abbott for helping me sort that out.

Project

=======

With the laser frequency stabilisation up and running, mode matching into the analyser cavity can proceed.  A 14.75 MHz oscillator is being built for the locking electronics.

Input Optics

From: Rodica Martin <rmartin@phys.ufl.edu>

Nothing to report this week -- lots of people on travel

Core Optics

From: GariLynn Billingsley <Billingsley_G@ligo.caltech.edu>

Polishing delivery of the first few substrates is forecast to be behind by three weeks due to a learning curve on applying flats to the ITMs.  The schedule is predicted to recover by delivery of the fifth ITM (January '10)  This impact is being tracked in a toy schedule

A Kickoff meeting has been arranged to take place at CSIRO on  September 21st. Two dummy Fold Mirror blanks are being sent to aid in experimenting with the coating stress effect on figure.

We have extended the due date on the Surface Metrology interferometer by two weeks at the request of a vendor.

We are beginning to test the import of parts into the JIRA system.  We have played with the sandbox so far, we may be able to do a real  upload after the new release which is planned for the next day or so.

CDS

From: Vern Sandberg <sandberg@ligo-wa.caltech.edu>

Operations: R&D, ELIGO DAQ, and Electronics

LHO - Electrical Engineering - R. McCarthy

Facility work and support for S6.

LHO - Systems/Software - D. Barker

h2dcuepics

h2dcuepics was restarted to see if it was running the code to determine the status of the H2 DCUs on the H2 5579 network. It wasnt. We think one of the old framebuilders was performing this task.

Before the reboot, the mid station optics were watchdog disabled. They were redamped after the test, but both h2iscmx/my are running high on their CPU meters (in the 67 range). ETMX and ETMY are still damped, so we'll leave it like this for now.

Motor Controller Software

The four motor controller systems (psl, tcsx, tcsy, lscreflpwr) were running on h0epics1 but their code is build under h0epics2 target directory. This could lead to confusion later, so I renamed h0epics1 to h0epics2 and vice versa. So now the machine this code is running on and the code paths are consistent.

I also took a look at the target areas for these systems to make sure the autoburt was correct and the startup procedure is standardized. Wiki page updates to follow...

StateVector

Was running on h0epics0, I moved it to h0epics1.

Corner Station Weather

I turned off the weather database on h0pemms. I rerouted the serial line from h0pemms to the spare comtrol serial-eth converter. I then rebuilt the corner station weather database to use Patrick's linux port of the code. The main difference is that Patrick's code reads the data directly from the weather station in imperial units, while Robert's vxworks code converted to SI units before writing to EPICS.

Therefore temps are in degF, speeds in mph, pressure in inchHg, rain in inches. Secondary epics records now convert to SI units (degC, mps, N/m2, mm). The corner station weather is now running on h0epics0.

Autoburt

Found that the solaris autoburt on hanford1 cannot handle new multi-IOC linux systems, so moved it to the script1 machine.

LLO - Electrical Engineering - C. Adams

Continued the testing of Advanced LIGO suspension coil driver electronics for the BSC quad test stand. No discrepancies detected in the units tested. The satellite electronics are next to be tested.

Chris Guido is coming up to speed on the TCS.

LLO - Systems/Software - K. Thorne

Software Solved a long-standing problem with slow directory queries and DTT sessions (on both Solaris and Linux) that started with the original LDAP installation. The solution is to run the Name Services Cache Daemon (nscd). This immediately sped up all queries and applications as well as operator scripts.

Discussed solutions to enable Peter Shawhan's GWIstat script to use https:// access so that we can retire the old 'london' web server.

Project: AdvLIGO Systems

SEI - B. Abbott

We have finished testing the STS-2 Distribution Chassis. They are all working properly.

The Pump Servo PCB layout is now finished. I will send it out for a prototype run soon. The Trillium 240 to STS-2 Interface PCB is back from Sunstone, and has been stuffed. We are waiting for the panels, then we'll put it into a chassis, and ship it off.

We have looked at the noise of the STS-2 Interface Chassis, and they all look pretty good. There are a small handful of channels that are a bit noisier than the others, and we will investigate this before sending them out.

Quotes for the 8-Ch Valve Driver Chassis build are still coming in, we should be making a decision on them soon.

Sam is currently stuffing the internal boards for the ISI Coil Driver prototype.

SUS - J. Heefner

Initial boards of the UIM and Satellite electronics have been populated and have passed initial testing.

DAQ - R. Bork

Running test system at LHO for the past week with two realtime computers sending data to a single initial LIGO style single FrameBuilder. We are now in the process of reconfiguring to the AdvLigo design ie realtime computers send data to a data concentrator, which combines and broadcasts the data to FrameWriters and Network Data Servers. The concentrator is now up and running and broadcasting data. Framewriter should be ready next day or two.

In the process of adding more math parts to the realtime code generator:

Square/square root

User defined math expressions

Starting to assemble/ship parts for LLO daq test system.

Interface board to AdvLigo timing slave received. Just waiting for power connector for slave unit and then will start testing.

ISC - R. Abbott

Evaluation of the prototypes is underway on the Advanced LIGO ETM in-vacuum transmission monitor, In-vacuum Dual-frequency WFS, I&Q demodulator.

CDS Weekly Report for August 12, 2009

Operations: R&D, ELIGO DAQ, and Electronics

LHO - Electrical Engineering - R. McCarthy

Assisted in leveling new Parts washer in warehouse. It has now been powered up and tested. A small leak was discovered around a heater. I have disconnected the wiring to the heaters for removal and fixing.

Installed new temperature sensors on BSC1 and BSC3 ran the signals to a VMIC 3123 16bit ADC part of h1iool0. This is to assist in the Test Mass absorption measurement. The sensors are from the 40 meter.

Connected the Thermopile photo detectors on the TCS tables to the VMIC 3113 ADC part of h1iool0. This required a gain of 60 be added to the PD2 channel of the TCS interface box.

Talked to Vicor about the DC/DC converters I would like to use in Adligo DC distribution. They have enough Voltage range adjustment for us to use in the racks.

Installing software on a new computer to replace Desolation in the EE shop. This is the Altium and Solid works machine in the lab.

LHO - Systems/Software - D. Barker

Determined that the autoburt backup of all IOCs is injecting noise into H1. I am investigating the mechanism with the aim of removing this noise source.

Work on replacing the vxworks weather station readout with a linux system continues.

Inverviewing process for the CDS advligo LHO position continues.

Disk and tape backup machine continues to develop problems which is being investigated. Possible replacement hardware being designed.

End of fiscal year procurements are being prepared.

LLO - Electrical Engineering - C. Adams

Finished up testing the coil driver chassis for the test stand and has moved on to the satellite boxes.

LLO - Systems/Software - K. Thorne

Installed new main FOM (Figure-Of-Merit) workstation that replaces a old Solaris box.

SunFire V490s to be used as new file servers installed in Mass Storage Room and started configuration. Ordered matching RAID array for backup server. Selected expanded-capacity tape autoloader for purchase.

Received quotes for new GPS receiver and antenna to match that being installed at Hanford.

Project: AdvLIGO Systems

SEI - B. Abbott

The Pump Servo PCB has been sent out to PCB Express. It should be here early next week for stuffing. The servo's Single Board Computer (SBC) now has its own epics PID record. Integration work will continue when the Pump Servo PCB comes back.

The Trillium 240 to STS-2 Interface panels have arrived, and the boards have been put it into a chassis. We plan to ship it to Brian O'Reilly (LLO) next week. We shipped one STS-2 Interface chassis to Jeff Kissel for his experiment. I redesigned an Anti-Alias front board for Jeff to free-up some extra channels so he can read in his new STS-2. The board should be back next week for stuffing.

I have selected a vendor to produce the 8Ch. Valve drivers. Sam is stuffing 10 of the Pier Interface Chassis. The remaining ~80 will most likely be stuffed at a stuffing house similar to the Valve Drivers.

I have started work on the GS-13/L4C Geophone Interface chassis. Gains and whitening will be based on noise curves from Brian Lantz (Stanford University).

Sam is currently stuffing the internal boards for the ISI Coil Driver prototype.

ISC - R. Abbott

Finished initial evaluation of the dual frequency RF readout for the WFS and essentially the LSC in-vacuum diodes. There are no surprises, the units perform as anticipated, and are suitable for final in-vacuum packaging.

Working on the characterization of the Advanced LIGO I&Q demodulator cell for WFS and LSC diodes.

Did responsivity measurements on the 3mm photodiodes used in the OMC DC readout. Found the diodes to be a factor of two lower than they should be. It's not just a fluke, we tested a decent sample size including 2mm variants made by the same vendor. Looking at an alternative diode now.

At CIT we have set up the hardware Tara brought back from Hanford  in the sub-basement of West Bridge, at Caltech. Observations show that movement of the coupling  fiber - that carries the beam between the diode laser and the beam  expander - causes significant changes in the signal received at the quad-cell photodiode. These changes are outside of spec for advLIGO optical levers.

AOS Thermal Compensation System (TCS) PDR: initial questions/comments has been issued by committee. Meeting with team pending (Eric G. chair)

Another request for approval to award package is being prepared for sole source, catalogue ADC/DAC procurements. These units were originally envisioned as separate purchases with separate designs under the dollar threshold for approval, but have now been standardized to a single design across the project. An estimate has been made of the total number of units needed, which will be purchased in several lots as needed. The total cost is now above the dollar threshold. A single request for approval covering the current award for HEPI and HAM and all future procurements of these units will be submitted this week.

---

For additional information about this report, contact Albert Lazzarini