Weekly Report for Week Ending October 15, 2009

Past Weekly Reports

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LSC Issues (Reitze)

• The S5/VSR2 pulsar paper "Searches for gravitational waves from known pulsars with S5 LIGO data," ( http://arxiv.org/abs/0909.3583) was submitted to the Astrophysical Journal this week.
• The annual Optical Society of America Frontiers in Optics meeting and the APS Division of Laser Science Meeting held in San Jose California earlier this week featured a joint symposium on gravitational wave interferometers.  Peter Fritschel gave a tutorial presentation with an overview of the field, with invited presentations by LSC members Rana Adhikari (advanced detectors), Sheila Rowan (GEO), and Seiji Kawamura (Japanese detectors).  There were also presentations by Francois Bondu (Virgo) and Jeff Livas (LISA).

LIGO Laboratory Administration (Lindquist)

PROPERTY ACCOUNTING (Luna)

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

• Working with Property Services on year-end reporting of Capital Assets under new OPS.
• Working with Property Services on close-out report for the old OPS.

DOCUMENT CONTROL CENTER (Mak)

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

• Packaged/Shipped 6 boxes of tape cartridges to LHO/LLO.
• Continuing to process/edit/update RAL ADV LIGO SUS Drawings into the DCC.
• Time was spent to organize a project for Christina Pickney to work on.  Provided some basic training on use of the DCC.

FINANCIAL SYSTEMS (Lindquist, Oracion)

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

• Completed FY2009(PHY-0757058) LIGO Operations Report for September 2009 and posted report on the network.
• Issued monthly reports for Visitor's program, U.Wisconsin, U.Milwaukee, U.Glasgow, Outreach,  Low Noise, and four discretionary awards.
• Worked on various Advanced LIGO related issues. 
• Link to Advanced LIGO accounts: https://dcc.ligo.org/DocDB/0005/M0900272/001/FY2010_LIGO_OPs_WBS_Final_Ver.1.pdf.
• Link to LIGO Operations accounts: https://dcc.ligo.org/DocDB/0000/M0900053/002/ADV.LIGO_Char_%20of_Accounts_Ver.6.pdf.
• Financial reports can be found at: http://docuserv.ligo.caltech.edu/~fireport/. (For passwords contact Karl).

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

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

• New University of Florida subaward 75-1087770 for FY2010, two Scientists at LLO (50% FTE each).  Executed 10/9/09.
• Supplemental Agreement No. 1 to LSU subaward 75-1087149 funding FY2010 for LLO Site Manager.  Reverse signed by Caltech 10/14/09.
• See Advanced LIGO Report Below.

From: Jacqueline Champagnie

• Rollovers for Contractors.
• See Advanced LIGO Report Below.

From: Steve Marroquin smarroqu@caltech.edu

• See Advanced LIGO Report Below.

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

• No report (vacation).

PROPOSALS and REPORTS (Lindquist, Beckett)

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

• Completed and dispatched the September Facilities report for the NSF, reference: LIGO-M0900280-v1.
• Posted the "LIGO USA" rap created by the 2009 SURF students to our blog.
• Working up a couple of other news postings - one on the GWIC held here last week, the other on the LSC meeting in Budapest.

From: Phil Lindquist <lindquist_p@ligo.caltech.edu>

• Distributed another version of the FY 2010 OPs budgets fro review and comment.  I will be scheduling meetings with the various task leads to discuss the details.
• We have a LIGO Operations financial review scheduled for the Excomm on Monday.  I will be distributing some materials summarizing the costs through the end of the fiscal year (end of September).

CHANGE REQUESTS (Lindquist)

• No open change requests.

HUMAN RESOURCES (Akutagawa)

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

• A Staffing Committee meeting was held on Monday, October 12th.  The minutes and action items are in progress and when completed will be posted on the SC web page.
• The next Staffing Committee meeting is scheduled for Monday, November 8th.

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Quality/Safety (Nolting)

LIGO Lab Safety

• The LIGO Safety team has been preparing for the LSO Laser Safety Workshop scheduled for next week at Caltech.  The supporting document, LIGO-M0900241-V2 Laser Safety Training for Certification and Recertification of LIGO Personnel has been approved and is now available in the DCC.  This in-house workshop is the beginning of a planned annual event for all LSO’s to come together as a team; sharing issues and concerns.  Also, to learn new techniques and rule changes as well as Lessons Learned” throughout the year, between workshops.
• The LIGO Laser SOP Template has been copied from the LIGO Laser Safety Plan, and is now a stand-alone document (M0900287-v2) and is available in the DCC for review.  Please use this template to assist in completing any SOP’s that may have been required due to equipment changes, operating procedures, or any additional circumstances that warrant updated instructions and safety measures.

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

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

• After landing ISCT4 due to fears the floating table and/or misbehaving controller were inducing glitches, we noted excess noise near line harmonics. Broad peaks were seen between 120 and 130 Hz and between 180 and 200 Hz. Checking alignments on the table and refloating appears to have largely mitigated the structures, but we're presently unsure why. The controller for the air bearing may be swapped out. Ranges continue to be down a few Mpc from their high-water mark post-vent (say 15Mpc at 14W, down from 18Mpc), so that we will continue to investigate ISCT4, and, owing to detchar feedback regarding accelerometer glitches on ISCT1 and WFS3/4, alignment on the REFL port. Microseism noise has been high and we see some anticorrelated trends in the range, so that an upconversion study is to be made. The duty cycle for the week was thus 56%, ranges from 12-16Mpc.

Squeezer Update (D. Sigg, S. Dwyer)

• Continuing with the procurement of electronics components. We are working on RF amplifiers, TTFSS units and common mode boards all at the same time. We received the PD interface boards and assembled the first chassis. It has been shipped to MIT. Richard and Filiberto also shipped 4 power supplies which will be used to generate the 24V and 17V rails. We received shipment of the auxiliary laser, the PZT HV driver, cameras, monitors and some additional optics mounting hardware.

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

General Operations (Rusyl Wooley)

• In addition to running the instrument, processing aLIGO parts and working on aLIGO FMP projects, we focused on getting the vacuum prep and optics lab clean so that they can be occupied again.  This is the conclusion of the work required to replace the floor in the two labs.

Enhanced LIGO Commissioning & S6 Run (Valera Frolov)

• The communication problem between the OMC and the LSC front end codes has been addressed by implementing the code that enforces the proper exchange of the data between the OMC and LSC computers over the reflected memory. The error checking was also put into the code so that the data can be flagged when there is a timing error.
• The interferometer locking was sporadic this week due to the very high microseism - well above 95% level. On Wednesday the ground motion subsided for several hours and the 16 Mpc range was recovered during that time. Unfortunately the useim quickly rose in the afternoon to 5-6 um/s.
• The L1 calibration run is underway this week. The strength of the large optic coil actuators is being measured using various methods including the radiation pressure calibrator (Pcal). The goal is to understand and possibly eliminate the 10-20% uncertainty in the magnitude of the L1 calibration transfer function which is coming from using various techniques but mainly from symmetric vs asymmetric Michelson measurements.

LLO CDS (Keith Thorne)

CDS - Hardware:

• AdvLIGO Sus Test Stand - Carl finished up work on this. Setup and initial alignment of most OSEMs is complete, but PUM  OSEMS need alignment.
• TCS - Carl worked on document verification.
• DAQ Test Stand - Carl wired up DC power supplies and installed DTS server.  Still need to run fibers to connect 1PPS to eLIGO master.  Keith configured the firewall router and DTS server.  He still needs to set up the front-end on the internal LAN.

CDS - Software:

Operations

• Atomic Clock UPS - Keith and Mike Fyffe installed new batteries in UPS for atomic clock. Found one battery had never been connected.  One battery pack had to be decommissioned due to leaking batteries.  Disposal was handled using approved procedures.
• Main Network Switch - Received replacement power supply and a spare.  Will install next maintenance period.  Still need replacement fan module.
• Framebuilder - Alex updated the framewriter software to correct the reported sample rate in the trend frame metadata.  Keith got the backup GDS broadcaster working by resetting the Infiniband connections on FB0.

Upgrades

• Fileserver Upgrade - Keith successfully booted existing VME front-end from new server.  Now migrating all scheduled tasks, etc. from old to new server.  Still deciding best method to do switchover.
• OMC->LSC RFM communications - Matt Evans and Tobin Fricke added robustness and error detection to the reflective memory communication between the OMC and LSC front-end software.  This is more difficult than in the past because the OMC DAQ sample rate is twice as fast as the LSC.  This change allowed use of the version 1.1.1 RCG for the OMC code at LLO and has reduced the digital noise to the needed level.  A presentation is planned for next week's CDS meeting.  Code changes have been uploaded to the CDS cvs system.
• CDS LANs - Keith tested EPICS gateway configurations between LANs.  The goal is to allow the FrontEnd and ControlRoom LANs to exchange EPICS variables in both directions over the gateways.

LLO SEC (William Katzman)

• Conducted Docent training on light-related exhibits for SUBR SEC docents.
• Continued scheduling groups.
• Conducted five field trips for over 200 students.
• Met with Jon Elvert from LASM regarding providing a joint professional development program for teachers.

LIGO computing and network security (Roddy)

Reported under General Computing, see below

General computing and LDAS admin (Giardina)

Reported under General Computing, see below

Reported under LDAS System Administration, see below

Data analysis & computing (Yakushin)

Storage/Condor/LDAS admin:

Reported under LDAS System Administration, see below

Data analysis:

Reported under Data Analysis activities, see below

Mechanical and Optical Systems (Coyne)

See also Advanced LIGO

Controls and Data Systems (Bork)

See Advanced LIGO

40-Meter Interferometer (Adhikari)

• This week the locking of the full DR 40m interferometer became very stable. It can now remain locked for several hours even during the daytime (minus the hours when the dumptrucks come by).
• We are gearing up for upgrading the controls software and hardware for the ETMY in a few weeks as a mini-test of the full upgrade.

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Thermal Noise Interferometer (Black)

• Nothing significant to report this week. Akira was out sick, and Greg is on scimon duty.

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LASTI (Mittleman)

• Nothing of significance to report.

CIT Science Group (Weinstein)

__________

Chad Hanna:

• I have continued working on the followup pipeline.
• I am preparing another tag for the high mass post processing.
• I worked with Steve and Drew on signal based vetoes in the inspiral pipeline.

__________

Antony Searle:

• PRC testing of new Omega skymap code.
• Very good performance.
• https://ldasjobs.ligo.caltech.edu/~acsearle/prc6/prc.html.
• Restored detection statistic.
• Pushed a release candidate for wide testing.
• Supporting detection statistic testing efforts of Jonah and Brennan.

__________

Cristina Valeria Torres:

• Continue work rebuilding new follow up pipeline with Romain, Chad, & Kipp.
• Contribute to follow up wiki explain how the new 'cluster common data' will be automatically synced around all ligo computing clusters https://www.lsc-group.phys.uwm.edu/ligovirgo/cbcnote/RomainGouaty/background_scans_rsync.
• Continue pushing Autotrack pipeline through S6a data by hand.
• Drafting pseudo-code for specialized python code to extract ITMX ITMY BSC temperates from frames and incorporate that with the current optics drumhead frequencies to calculate optics temperates.  This relies on previous work done with tracksearch to track the ITM[X,Y] drumhead modes.

__________

Vladimir Dergachev:

• Worked with Joe on coherent followup.
• Setup with much help from Stuart Anderson and Josh Abadie a test MYSQL server on ldas-pcdev2 for CW data analysis activities.
• Analysis of full S5 run.
• Review of PowerFlux2 and full S5 search.
• Finished first pass at writeup of loosely coherent statistic

__________

Drew Keppel:

• Integrating a new coincidence code (ligolw_thinca) to replace lalapps_thinca into the inspiral pipeline.
• Investigating inspiral template bank interpolation using the SVD associated with LLOID.

__________

Stephen Privitera:

• This week I wrote a wiki page that describes the work I have been doing on calibration. https://www.lsc-group.phys.uwm.edu/ligovirgo/cbcnote/InspiralPipelineDevelopment/090715184015InspiralPipelineDevelopmentEffect_
  of_Calibration_Errors_on_Sky_Localization#preview. I presented this work on the code call

• I wrote a summary document of the S5 inspiral range study we did last week: https://dcc.ligo.org/cgi-bin/private/DocDB/ShowDocument?docid=6314. This work was presented during the CBC call.

__________

Anand Sengupta:

• Continue the calculation of Fischer matrix for network of detectors.
• Editing and marking comments on the final SURF reports of Anahita Maghami and Tristan Miller.

__________

Igor Yakushin:

• Working to include time-shifted analysis into the online search.

__________

P. Ajith:

• Worked on adding more functionality in the instrumental veto code.
• Working on correcting Aaron's SURF report.
• Committed the new phenom. IMR waveforms in LAL: https://www.lsc-group.phys.uwm.edu/ligovirgo/cbcnote/
  IMRWaveformsNonPrecessingSpins.

__________

Peter Kalmus:

• Chased down the GEO A5 segment list.
• Hooked up the Flare pipeline to use Virgo data.
• Flare pipeline refactoring.
• Flare pipeline unit tests.

__________

Joseph Betzwieser:

• I worked on the coherent followup pipeline.  Vladimir and I implemented a maximum doppler shift estimator and made a test run with it.  This improved the pipeline's speed by reducing the size of the frequency bands searched.

__________

Leo Singer:

• Ran closed box, triply coincident burst search for SGR1900 during S5y2.
• Studied orbits of all satellites contributing to Kevin Hurley's report in preparation for geocentering times of arrival of bursts.  This will allow us to stack flares detected by different satellites.
• Preliminary software development for automated processing of RXTE light curves.
• Peter and I made the Flare pipeline VIRGO-aware; I am now working on incorporating VIRGO data quality flags.
• Worked on automating process of ingesting Kevin Hurley's burst reports.

__________

Gregory Mendell:

• Upgraded multiFscanGenerator.tcl so that it can handle different frequency bands on a channel by channel basis, and different science-mode segments on an ifo by ifo basis.
• Used these new features to start generating fscans from H1, L1, and V1 hoft data. See: https://ldas-jobs.ligo-wa.caltech.edu/~pulsar/fscan/hoftS6/fscanNavigation.html For example, click on Oct. 12 and V1_h_16384Hz_lowFreq to see V1 hoft fscans down to 9 Hz.

Laboratory Computing (Anderson)

LDAS Software Systems (Maros)

• The focus has been on releasing version 1.16.0 of the LDAS software suite. Although not all of the procedures have been completed to announce the official release of this version of LDAS, it has been installed on ldas-cit to address issues that have been reported using version 1.14 of the software. The rest of the procedures are scheduled to be completed today.
• During the creation of a tool to verify the ascii version of the frame cache file, it was discovered that multiple records were being created for directories being modified. This issue was quickly resolved and the diskcacheAPI now produces correct results and has a considerably smaller memory requirement.

LDAS System Administration (Anderson)

Caltech

(Dan Kozak)

• More migration of S5 L1s from 9940 to T10KB tape and md5sums of files already migrated to confirm their integrity.
• Working on case with Sun vis a vis morbo crashes, ongoing.
• Decommissioned the old samhome3:/home3 & built a new one.
• Called in another broken T10KB drive.
• Worked on getting Sun service to acknowledge that our equipment is covered.
• Worked with Marty from Sun to fix the SL8500 using up all the cleaning tape cycles; new firmware and a fresh tape installed, watching to see if the problem is fixed.
• Fully expunged a known bad S5 strain-L2 file.
• Set up CIT RLS to communicate with Syracuse RLS.
• Am working to get DMT trends rsync'd from /dmt -> <local>/archive -> CIT /archive (ongoing).

(Phil Ehrens)

• Finished beta version of new TAR form and admin tools. Initial testing exposed a few small bugs which I will fix, and then I'll meet with Albert and Marilyn to demo the new tools.

(Josh Abadie)

• Monitored and managed the cluster.
• Attempted to solve user problems.
• Added a check to nagios that will monitor the mce logs of nodes.
• Attempted to get Sun to replace a failed disk.
• Reviewed the myligo code and started making changes.
• Updated cluster to newsest software.
• Finished updating the HP2910 switches and moved all connections back to port 20 that I had previously moved.

MIT

(Fred Donovan)

• More bates work; working on 'dead' nodes (video/ram/bios issues), racks 52 - 56, added nodes in rack 72 to dhcp and kickstarted; setup puppet on solaris ldas-homes1; flashed rack, core and edge switches; spoke with Richard re: osg install at bates.

Livingston

(Igor Yakushin)

• Ordered 10G module for thumper1 and HP ProCurve switch.
• Modified account creation script for the new configuration.
• Updated software on head and computing nodes.

Hanford

(Greg Mendell)

• Provided support to a typical number of LDG users in the past week (in this case 4), that either needed help installing LDG, and/or help with certificate renewals.
• Performed the usual follow-ups on gaps found in the data, and fixed (or monitored software to make sure it automatically fixed) gaps within the last week due to stuck APIs, FrCheck failures, and file permission problems.
• Updated Disk2Disk.tcl, which copied trend and raw data into the LDAS archive, to retry the verification command (e.g., FrCheck) a configurable number of times, before marking a file as bad.

(Dan Moraru)

• Brought up the last 3 nodes and reformatted the rest.
• Replaced SATA cables on 2 nodes to restore RAID 1 array.
• Ordered components to provision thumper1 with a 10GigE connection to core switch.
• Installed Solaris 10 U8 on thumper3.
• Added new tapes.

General Computing (Wallace)

MIT

(Fred)

• Some mail issues (mailq and squirrelmail).
• Tracking down inventory for caltech.
• Some work on new xp/vista install.
• Setting up rtl kernel w\ chris on i7 xeon.
• Deactivating more equipment for pickup.

Livingston

(Dwayne)

• Re-imaged a laptop with XP-64 for an engineer, all updated but still installing apps.
• Patched teche, upraded canit appliance.
• Replaced a failed fiber SFP in cleveland to resolve connection issues with the attached disk array.
• Earlier this week Bryan and I found a major bug in JIRA on the appfire system preventing upgrade on our side after they fixed it, more testing of JIRA. now awaiting new build instructions from appfire.
• Attended a few meetings
• Worked a couple small procurement items.
• Numerous usual/unusual user support requests.
• Cleared spam trap daily.

Hanford

(Jonathan)

• User support Rick Savage, Patrick Thomas, Terry Gunter, Mary Kurts.
• Adding another sprint wireless device to our contract.
• Investigating using kerberos with svn. SVN 1.6.5 built from source contains native kerberos support.
• Increased the memory available to php on the CDS SVN repository to solve errors with websvn.
• Populated provisioned local accounts in LIGO.ORG translucent proxy.
• Converted webserver www.ligo-wa.caltech.edu to use LIGO.ORG accountinformation, while mapping old NIS+ names to LIGO.ORG names.
• Setup of a new server to test a new mail setup.
• Converted robinson.ligo-wa… to LIGO.ORG authentication -Preliminary testing of cross realm authentication between LIGO.ORG and LIGO-WA.CALTECH.EDU.
• Routine spam trap clearing and dhcp monitoring.

Caltech

(Veronica)

• Ongoing work on the old DCC migration; running tests on graffias.
• PAC test wiki administration (user accounts, setup tweaks, kerberizing).
• Migrated the updates to the LSC production website. Other LIGO/LSC web updates.

(Mike)

• Programmed and tested a wireless AP/Router for Stan Whitcomb's GWIC meeting.
• More work on ADVLIGO backups.
• Swapped out toner cartridges on printers up on 2nd & 3rd floors of W/B.
• Research on a new ADVLIGO Engineering workstation to order for new users.
• Setup meeting (GWIC) for Stan in SCR.
• Setup new user GC user accounts.
• Added multiple wireless mac addresses to our access list.
• Fix Problems on two wireless AP's, one Millikan and the other in Sychrotron.
• Setup ECR to interview new Designers/Engineers.
• Research on pricing out KVM network switch for our server room.
• Daily work on clearing out spam trap. -Working on a problem with the AP configuration scripts. The access points are not updating correctly.
• Ordered new network KVM switch, cables, and rack mount monitor.
• Added 15 additional dhcp numbers from 115 subnet to our dhcp server.
• Updating GC ip database.
• Other misc. onsite/phone user support, and sysadmin tasks.

(Melody)

• DCC: User support: granting access, removing files. Created the PAC group in the DCC. Helped Veronica with mysql access in the development system.
• myLIGO: Added the Tsinghua and KGWG groups in the roster and grouper. Closed some RT tickets.
• LAAC: Gave Josh instructions on the work that needs to be done in the wiki.

(Christian)

• Riccard Desalvo - Created full backup on one of Riccardo's laptop.
• Christine Pinkney - Installed and configured new workstation.
• Rick Abbott - Installed and configured new laptop.
• Continued testing Windows 7.
• Installed new SSL certificate on Harbor.ligo.caltech.edu.
• Other misc.: Continued onsite software/phone support.

(Larry)

• Worked a number of procurements; Helped Mike with the procurement of some equipment (KVM switch related items) for the server room. Placed and order for a couple of workstations to replace obsolete units in Millikan. Ordered another engineering workstation and two more Solidworks licenses. Ordered a test box to test out a new configuration for the engineering group. Trying to get the Prism/Primavera contract straightened out with Oracle. Getting misc. quotes on other items.
• Setup a couple of new server boxes. Presently, getting some of the detail items on them worked out. Still a number of applications to install. Also, more cleanup on the cabling in the computer room.
• Fixed a number of mail alias items for different groups and people. Still have a few alias lists to update.
• Cleared spam filters on a regular basis. Just as a note most of the spam now getting through is coming through partners that have been white-listed. We are now looking at white-listing senders and cutting down on the domains.
• Setup items for the different conference rooms. Assisted in the setup of a couple of the meetings that were held this week. The EVO machines in the conference rooms will be setup in a way that the account will be set to pre-determined settings every-time the account is logged into. So far the testing Christian has gone through is looking good. Hopefully, by the first of next week we will have the computers set with the new profile.
• Attended a number of new meetings this past week. The work on the new P-card system is still going on. Some progress has been made in the area of ideas to improve the new system.
• Some minor assistance to PMA on a server setup and a e-mail issue.
• Work on the logistics for a couple of the conferences coming up.
• Regular user assistance.

Distributed (Grid) Computing R&D (Blackburn)

Grid Application Development

Einstein@Home on the OSG:

• Weekly average credits down this week by about 5% from last week. On average about 2000 cores on the OSG are being utilized simultaneously. This drop is thought to be related to an issue in Condor-G.
• Working with Grid Operations Center on several problem tickets related to sites running out of local disk space used by the E@H on the OSG.

Binary Inspiral Application on Grids:

• Continue to see a condor scaling problem with the large CBC workflow that is running on the OSG ITB cluster. The condor team have recommended a newer "development" version be used. Awaiting its installation by Robert.
• Testing the OSG-MatchMaker with Pegasus at two OSG sites (SPRACE & UWM), both have proven successful.
• Testing out new Pegasus configuration and setup using the mini-workflow (SPEW).
• Looking to identify a suitable OSG production site for testing SRM after the tests on the OSG ITB cluster.

Open Science Grid Integration & Validation Testbed

• Had to remove the beta version of Condor suggested by the Condor Team. It was causing all job submission to stall. Condor team has made a new recommendation to replace the current version. This will be tested out this week.

Open Science Grid Documentation Project:

• Met with Jim Weichel at Fermilab this week as part of a two day meeting on the Documentation Project for year 4. Goals from the meeting were: sketch the organization of information, decide how to set up new Twiki and what technologies to use, discuss and develop a documentation process, prepare an overview of DocProject, discuss open issues and questions with ITB team leaders.
• Reviewed the OSG Compute Element (CE) documentation.
• Tested out several style sheet skins for the new Twiki to optimize navigation and content layout.

Grid Management

• Attended the Open Grid Forum 27 Conference. Presented on LIGO's Cyber-Infrastructure and what area are looking towards in the future of cyber infrastructure.
• Set on a panel to discuss publicly goals for improving the cyber infrastructure in the future.
• Drafted a set of enhancements for EVO to improve LSC/VIRGO audio/video conferencing. These were put into a draft formal document and are being reviewed by myself as the LSC-EVO PI and Nelson Christensen as the LSC-EVO co-PI and LSC-VIRGO Remote Participation Committee chair.
• Discuss how to hire and what the duties should be for a temporary project management support person to assist with the OSG project management while OSG is developing an architectural plan for the future.
• Addressed numerous LDG and DOE Grid Certificate requests.

Advanced LIGO and Supporting R&D (Shoemaker)

Advanced LIGO Management

From Carol Wilkinson

Project Controls

• A change request to accommodate the early start for RF distribution system in the Interferometer Sensing and Controls subsystem is circulating for review.

Staffing

• Job ads and statements of work for the staff augmentation change request have been posted and resumes are being reviewed. Several candidates have been selected for advertised positions and job offers are being processed. An offer for a new project scheduler has been made and accepted.

Procurements

For Ed Jasnow

• Gathered information for Ann Bussone, OGC, in preparation for filing appeal to U.S Customs Office regarding import duties on donated equipment.
• Reviewed proposed new one-page SOW for build-to-print RFQ’s.
• Authorized access for Marie Woods, MIT, to all LIGO TechMart requests on recommendation of David Shoemaker

For Steve Marroquin

• Approved and executed SI-150B HAM Vacuum Chambers Expansion Bellows purchase order contract to Senior Aerospace Metal Bellows Inc.
• Finalizing Request for Quote solicitation SM-007 for SI-150A Ham Support Tubes.
• Preparing requisition documentation to exercise BSC small actuator option with Planning Systems Inc .under Contract No. 75ADV-1086985.
• Working with Alan Wilkins, Rudy Arvizu and Jackie Champagnie to validate required contractual documentation for approval of purchase order contracts.
• Discussing solicitation strategy with Calum Torrie for the upcoming CO-122 Main Optic Carriers procurement.
• DCC Administration.

For Rudy Arvizu

• New Stanford University Subaward 75ADV-1087852 for AdL Scientist for Seismic Isolation.  9/1/08 to 8/31/12 period of performance fully funded. Reverse signed by Caltech 10/15/09.

For Jacqueline Champagnie and Gina Salone

• CO-102 Optics Metrology; On Hold for evaluation committee
• SI-144 & 145 Bids received; Waiting for decisions from Ken Mason an Evaluation Committee
• Uploading Procurement Events and coordinating documents to date into DCC
• Loading and creating Events for Techmart Orders over threshold $ amount into DCC from July 2009-October 2009.

Invoice Administration/Admin Support

For Ruth Winstead

• In the process of renewing CDS contract programmer agreements.
• Sent notice to Lisa @ Triad on real time programmer status.
• Managed and processed invoices through Webnow.
• Email and phone tech reps and vendors on status of purchase orders.
• Delivered invoices to Procurement Services (Guillermo).
• Resolve issues for end users regarding receipt of items and payment of invoices.
• Continued posting of packing slips and invoices to DCC.

Property Management

Rod Luna

• Finished working with Property Services on year end reporting of Capital Assets under ADV LIGO.
• Requested a few expenditure type changes for ADV LIGO equipment
• Assisted G. Billingsley with exporting three folding mirrors from Tinsley in northern California to CSIRO, Australia.

NSF Acquisition Approvals

• A request for re-approval is pending with NSF for machined parts for Suspensions. The awarded price was outside the pre-approved value, requiring re-approval by the NSF before award.

Progress Updates

• The combined Advanced LIGO monthly and quarterly report is posted on line and was submitted to the NSF on October 15.

Meetings & Reviews

• The next Monthly Progress Reporting Meeting will be on Thursday, November 12, at 8:30 AM PT. Subsystem leaders or their delegates need to attend.
• A meeting of the Advanced LIGO Project Advisory Panel was held on Oct 15 and 16 at Pasadena.

Advanced LIGO Systems

From: calum torrie <ctorrie@gmail.com>

• Systems Drawings - Ed and I with input from Dennis have been adding the laser to the systems drawings. The laser is now in both H1 and H2 SolidWorks assemblies available on the PDMWorks vault and the beam can be seen down to the chamber level. Ed is currently updating all of the e-drawings and jpg's on the DCC to include the laser. An example can bee seen at the following link: - https://dcc.ligo.org/cgi-bin/private/DocDB/ShowDocument?docid=1410. Also in the above link on page 3 of 5 you can see our first attempt to gather useful information for initial alignment of the suspensions on the table. Further work is needed here and we are in discussion with AOS, SUS and both sites on this.
• CG of HAM Seismic Table - Ed and I are working with Andy Stein to look at the CG of the HAM table plus payload. The ides is to see if any of the mass allocation can be transferred from seismic to payload. We will also gather CG information in X,Y and Z for the combined table and payload.
• Damping strut and pads effort on HLTS and OMC mock up structures at Caltech. At the following link you will find a draft summary of where we are with the damping strut and pads effort on HLTS and OMC mock up structures at Caltech - https://dcc.ligo.org/cgi-bin/private/DocDB/ShowDocument?docid=5547.
• ESD pattern (face and barrel) - At the following links you will find the latest ESD patterns (face) for both the ERM and CP ERM - https://dcc.ligo.org/cgi-bin/private/DocDB/ShowDocument?docid=6107and CP - https://dcc.ligo.org/cgi-bin/private/DocDB/ShowDocument?docid=1948 We are currently working on the barrel patterns.
• Cake Tins - https://dcc.ligo.org/cgi-bin/private/DocDB/ShowDocument?docid=5185.
• Ad LIGO Quad suspension Drawings - We (Betsy, Ed, Cleveland and I) have been working with RAL to get all of the quad files to the DCC. These are now available from the top assembly at the following link. From here you can tree through to all levels. https://dcc.ligo.org/cgi-bin/private/DocDB/ShowDocument?docid=3413
  
  We are now working on the BS/FM files.

Modeling and Simulation

From: Hiroaki Yamamoto hiro@ligo.caltech.edu

Static IFO Simulation (Hiro, Sany)

• 40m IFO : Calculated the mode mismatch effect if SRM is used for PRM. The mode mismatch is small, but the power drops down by 15%. This situation, not huge mode mismatch causes large power drop, is the situation observed when the astigmatic effect is studied for advVirgo stable cavity design. The cause of this effect is under investigation.
• 40m IFO : the thermal effect of ITM was studied. The arm cavity mode change and the mode coupling of the arm and recycling cavity are both negligibly small.
• Large loss due to absorption imbalance : The validation of this effect using melody is still under way. Supplementary result to trace the difference of FFT and modal model was sent to Ray Beausoleil.
• Input beam specification : SIS accepts input field by loading data files.
• Enhancement of SIS to speed up the locking process and the stationary state search.
• Sany Yoshida sent me an algorithm to speed up the simulation of the stable cavity focusing mirror. It is being analyzed if it fulfills necessary feature to simulate the mirror edge effect.

Time Domain Simulation (Hiro)

• Worked with a LCGT student to design a guided lock modeling.

Safety

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

• Efforts continue to develop standard operating procedures for the new clean and bake equipment for both LLO and LHO. 
• Research into the new R&D Electrical Standard is being done at this time to ascertain how it applies to the equipment that is designed and installed at the observatories.  Much of the concern is with equipment that is not certified by a 3rd party such as the Underwriters Laboratories (UL).  A briefing will be made once the rules are interpreted and understood regarding LIGO systems.

Quality Assurance

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

QA:

• Spent time with Armando getting him ready to take measurements on the HEPI actuators here at LHO, as I will be traveling the next several week. Armando will be providing the reports to me for upload to the DCC. Thanks to Hugh for getting us the medium granite table.
• Core Optics Wiki is up, am working on designing the tool. Risk Registry template has been designed, and will be loaded this week.
• Reviewed update#2 of the LIGO QA Plan, the document is under revision to modernize for Advanced LIGO.

SEI:

• Schedule for dimensional testing is on track for the large blades. Scheduled for 11/03/09.

AdLIGO Risk Registry:

• Rewrote and submitted request to PNNL at Hanford for a more accurate quote for a gamma survey at the vertex BSC chamber area, to quantify the potential presence/influence of ionizing radiation on the area, particularly the buildup of static on the optics. SOW can be found at DCC# C0900951.

Inventory Control System:

• Spent a large majority of time this week tracking bugs in the system, testing fixes. We have been chasing a series of bugs through the bulk parts module in the database, and every time we think we have a problem beaten, we move down the path another step or two to find another issue. It is going to take some further work to wring these out of the system to avoid future corruption of parts records, get the system stable enough to run long term. The latest critical bug has been reported fixed tonight, and we will test tomorrow.
• Will be giving training to the CIT team in early Nov on the ICS system, entering data, parts, tracking etc. Will also be working Zsusa Marka at Columbia next week to get several electronics components prepped for entry, shipment to sites.

Facilities Modifications and Preparations

From: John Worden <worden_j@ligo-wa.caltech.edu>

• LHO - Continued progress in assembly/clean/bake areas. See elog here
• LLO - The Galli-Morelli oven has been baked out (empty) and FTIR samples taken. These samples will be shipped to JPL for a baseline analysis.

Seismic Isolation

From: Ken Mason kmason@ligo.mit.edu

SEI electronics design and fab:

• The 8-Channel Valve Drivers are being tested. Things are progressing well. I'm starting to make a block diagram for the BSC ISI electronics that is required for the FDR.
• I have gotten a quote for the longer L4C cables. We are able to save $10 each by re-using the circuit boards on the old cables. When those come here, we'll take the old cables off, and ship them to Ticor.
• The internal Pier Interface cable that goes to the Inductive Position Sensor boxes needs a connector put on one end. Hugh is sending us these cables, and we'll put the connectors on.
• Mohana is making the front and back panels for her Coil Drivers.
• Emery is finishing up his cable list spreadsheet. He and I are going to meet later today so we can review the HAM ISI in-vac cables list, and make sure we have everything. He will assign flanges, and compile a master list soon. ~Ben

Single Stage HAM Procurement and Build HAM SEI design:

• Created Excel spreadsheet (LIGO-E0900329) for calculating total mass and center of mass for the HAM ISIs with payload. ~Andy
• The HAM bellows contract has been placed. Paperwork for the procurement of all BSC ISI instruments is now either underway with the procurement department or has already been completed (Trilliums, GS-13's, L4C's, large and small actuators, position sensors). ~Stephan
• Quotes have been received and are being evaluated for the HAM shipping containers and trim masses.

Two Stage BSC Design and Procurement:

• Stage 2 redesign: Michael Hillard has completed draft versions of mechanical drawings for almost all machined parts in Stage 2.
• We prepare the Final Design Review. We are finishing and checking the design. We prepare the documentation and the drawings. ~Fabrice

Suspensions

From: <justin.greenhalgh@stfc.ac.uk>

ALUK held its latest Project Management Committee on 14 October 2009 (See LIGO-M0900285-v1). A brief activity summary follows:

OJEU process status as follows:

• Machined items. We are about to order the bulk of the residual machined items.
• Weldments. We remain in discussion with the vendor and the US team about the best way forward vis-à-vis the cleaning and RGA testing; at least one workable solution has been proposed.
• Blade springs. No change since last month: ETM/ITM blades shipped. BS/FM blades characterised and ready to ship.
• The final training session was delivered at LLO last week . Work also continues on ensuring that all tooling etc required for the monolithic hang at LASTI is in place, and that parts are shipped at the US sufficiently fast to avoid delays to the US assembly work.
• Glasgow: Work is focussed on identifying the cause of the failures in the weld test hangs at LASTI. In the meantime, preparations for the monolithic hang continue, alongside preparations for the review.
• Birmingham/Strathclyde: BOSEM assembly complete. We are studying the noise performance of the BOSEMs . Production of electronics well in hand, and we are hoping for approval of the one remaining design this week. We are working with the US team to resolve the best way forward regarding the ESD design following the review of the prototype.
• Overall: Thoughts are now turning seriously toward the “end game” of the current project. All three partners have completed or are well underway with production. Live issues are.
• Resolution of the test-hang problem.
• Following up on the ESD review.
• Closure of the approval of the remaining electronic drive unit design.
• Checking the noise performance of the BOSEMs.

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

• HLTS - Work has begun on helicoiling parts for the HLTS prototype. Large parts that are at LLO have been cleaned. Small parts and hardware yet to be cleaned.
• HSTS - HSTS FDR documentation ongoing. Working on sub-assembly drawings and on adding the top level hardware. Added the correct magnets to the test mass. Working on a new magnet holder for the upper mass. There's also been work on updating the FEA report. Work on updating MATLAB and Mathematica models to produce seismic noise and thermal noise curves using the revised IMC/HSTS parameter set is underway.
• Maraging Steel Blades - Two vendors are due to deliver prototype blades soon. Preliminary data looks promising.

Project work

• Quad alignment training last week at LLO. Visitors Joe Odell (RAL), Jay Heefner and Norna Robertson (Caltech), Doug Cook, Betsy Bland and Mark Barton (LHO), Brett Shapiro (MIT). Local staff involved include Janeen Romie, Gary Traylor, Carl Adams, Matt Maxwell, Josh Smith, Bryan Smith. Good transfer function signatures of the training quad. Staff practiced how to interpret the transfer functions to correct mechanical issues in the suspension. Work on alignment techniques & equipment, including the theodolite took place.
• Face-to-face with Joe from RAL last week was good for inventory control. A list was made of items which RAL still needs to procure, RAL needs to have modified, RAL needs to send, or the sites need to trade (stock that was sent to the wrong place). Jeff has already gathered and sent the parts which were LHO-to-LLO bound. LLO-to-LHO parts are being sent soon.
• Work continues on AOSEM connector RFQ. AOSEM s/n 10 has been cleaned again and is due to head into the vacuum bake oven at LHO by the end of the week. At the beginning of next week, RGA scans will be run at one or two elevated temperatures as part of the battery of thermal testing.
• Estimate received for the BS/FM and Quad storage containers.
• Helicoiling and cleaning for more bake loads continues when time permits at LHO & LLO.
• Work is ongoing on a DRD for the LHO fibre pulling lab and optics preparations at both sites.
• Norna participated in the monthly ALUK telecon.

Prestabilized Laser

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

Operations

• Nothing significant to report.

Project

• Nothing significant to report

Input Optics

From: David Tanner <tanner@phys.ufl.edu>

Advanced LIGO Design

• We finished all the Final Design Review documents. (Luke Rodica, Muzammil, Guido, David, Dave, others)
• We have started HAM8 and HAM9 IO optical layouts in Zeemax, for baffles. (Rodica)

Advanced LIGO Acquisiton

• We traveled to Coastline Optics to demonstrate how to assemble IMC optic containers. (Luke and Dave)

eLIGO Comissioning

• I made a mode scan of the OMC to try to find a heater temperature that puts the higher-order modes as far away from an integer fraction of an FSR as possible. The data are noisy and the effect small, but there is a trend towards higher temperatures being better. (Kate)

Core Optics

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

Liyuan Zhang

• Like ETM04 and 2ITM04, one LIGO-1 fold mirror (FM03-A) has been scanned over center 160 mm by the Jaz spectrometer for its HR uniformity. The result of ~0.6% thickness variation from center to edge is consistent with that of ETM04, indicating the ROC of ETM has no significant influence in this measurement. A summary (LIGO-G0900938) has been submitted to DDC. It seems that 2ITM04 is a particular one, and comparing its uniformity result with previous measured transmittance and AR reflectance is underway. With Rand and Margot, continue to test the DW and FC cleanings with the AR coated ESW03 window at CASI.

Rand Dannenberg

• TDM DCN Spec sheet changes on AdL coating absorptions. Partial defect counting microscope installation by Nikon in 015A. Remainder and training on 10/26.
• France trip itinerary settled, for LMA coating contract.
• FTIR preliminary quantitative work suggests basic contaminant sensitivity will require additional optical fixture purchase.
• FTIR accesories researched, identified, ordered.
• Repeated passes with Candace Younger on CSIRO latent defect contract language. E-mail reply expected by EOB, call tomorrow Fri 10/16.
• P-Card forms filled out and delivered.
• CSIRO action item running compendium created. Working down the list.

GariLynn Billingsley

• Fold Mirrors have been shipped to CSIRO for annealing, we are working on scheduling a joint phone call with Heraeus and CSIRO to go over annealing cautions. Heraeus is concerned about the effect of a long anneal on the absorption properties of the 3001 glass. Heraeus is planning an experiment, to be based on the coating anneal, to see if there is a change in OH content of the 3001.
• We have Tinsley incoming inspection data on the Fold mirrors; in summary, it appears that the o-ring contact does cause slight marking. The very good news is that they did not detect any defects in the center using fiber optic illumination against a black background.

Auxiliary Optics

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

ADLIGO

Work Under Project Budget

OPTICAL LAYOUT:

• Mike is updating the H2 layout.

Work Under Operations Budget

• We have interviewed two candidates for the SLC ME designer position, with the 3rd candidate scheduled on 10/15/09, and four candidates for the designer/draftsperson position.

OUTPUT FARADAY ISOLATOR:

• Niem and Virginio measured the modulus of Elasticity of the 0.375 inch diameter rubber cord under load. The modulus is non-linear with applied load, with an approximate quadric function. As soon as safety approval has been obtained, the pairs of rubber suspension cords will be adjust to the proper length under load to suspend the test table for making vibration transfer measurements of the Output Faraday Isolator suspension prototype.
• Mike will be out of town, and there will be no SLC report next week.

  From: kmailand <kmailand@ligo.caltech.edu>AOS
  
  TransMon Group ­ Ken Mailand, Jay Heefner,
  Sam Waldman, Mike Smith, and Matt Evans

• A TransMon_SUS design is being worked out with a new table optics layout, Sam Waldman will soon provide a Zmax layout to Mike Smith and Ken will convert it to solid works, do a layout, and mate the TransMon table to the Telescope. A suspension approach is being selected from three options, and one of these will help Matt with his work on the suspension dynamics model.

From: Eric Black <black_e@ligo.caltech.edu>

• Nothing significant to report this week.

From: Rick Savage <savage_r@ligo-wa.caltech.edu>

• Nothing significant to report this week regarding AdvLigo Pcals.  Lots of activity with the eLigo Pcals.

Control and Data Systems

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

Operations: R&D, ELIGO DAQ, and Electronics

LHO - Electrical - McCarthy

• Filiberto continued to lay tape down in front of electrical panels designating them as stay clear zones.
• Moved TCS_ISS_DC_OUT channel from 3113 ADC channel 23 to channel 28. This was deemed by TCS crew to be a glitchy channel. After rebooting its ioc the TCS laser came back with a slightly higher power and the adc channel now saturates at 11.5V dc. Apparently a gain was changed in the analog ckt that did not account for a potential higher power.
• Replaced BSC1 Magnetometer as a fix for drifting lines. Worked with Roberts S. on ISCT4 Accelerometers. The table accelerometer exhibited problems that were traced down to what appears to be a broken shield on the cable. This cable was installed after the OMC was installed, so it is not that old. Perhaps an installation crimp to the shield or with some traffic behind the table it was damaged. Transfered the channel to an old wire with a short extension added.
• Continued with AdLigo DC distribution options.

Computing - Barker

• Most of the week was spent moving the LHO CDS code from the LDAS SVN repository to the new LHO CDS SVN server. Files were split out into multiple repositories. The wiki user SVN instruction pages were updated.
• Additional memory was added to the ops linux workstation.

LLO - Hardware - C. Adams

• Adligo Quad test stand - Setup and initial alignment of most osems complete (PUM osems remain to be aligned.)
• TCS - Working on electronics documentation verification.
• CDS DAQ - Test Rack 90% complete

Software - K. Thorne

• Framebuilder - Alex updated the framewriter software to correct the reported sample rate in the trend frame metadata. Keith got the backup GDS broadcaster working by resetting the Infiniband connections on FB0.
• OMC->LSC RFM communications - Matt Evans and Tobin Fricke added robustness and error detection to the reflective memory communication between the OMC and LSC front-end software. This is more difficult than in the past because the OMC DAQ sample rate is twice as fast as the LSC. This change allowed use of the version 1.1.1 RCG for the OMC code at LLO and has reduced the digital noise to the needed level. A presentation is planned for next week's CDS meeting. Code changes have been uploaded to the CDS cvs system.

Project: AdvLIGO Systems

SEI - B. Abbott

• The 8-Channel Valve Drivers are being tested. Things are progressing well. I'm starting to make a block diagram for the BSC ISI electronics that is required for the FDR. I have gotten a quote for the longer L4C cables. We will re-use the circuit boards on the old cables. The internal Pier Interface cable that goes to the Inductive Position Sensor boxes needs an end termination.
• Mohana is making the front and back panels for her Coil Drivers.

SUS - J. Heefner

AdL SUS

• A potential problem was discovered with the Triple Acq Driver board design. The OPA544 used as the power buffer in the output stage is subject to output phase reversal when the common mode input voltage is exceeded. The manufacturer of the part (TI) was contacted and a fix is in the works. One channel of the prototype has been modified and is being tested. Once the fix is verified, the design will be modified and a production prototype built and verified.
• The LLO BSC Teststand is fully operational and is being used for the quad assembly training.
• We have begun to look at the vacuum cable fabrication task that we are now responsible for.

AdL DAQ

• The prototype IO chassis interface backplane has been assembled and tested. We will now integrate it with the prototype ADC interface board and test the system with an ADC and the front end software.
• The DAC interface design is 90% complete. The board needs to be routed and then fabricated.
• A minor dimensional problem was discovered with the prototype IO chassis. Hamilton is fixing the design and is also making a new back panel that will line up with the IO backplane slots.

AdL TransMon SUS

• Waiting for requirements.

ELIGO and AdL TCS

• Designed and fabricated chassis front and rear panels for the new QPD amplifier.
• Took a tour of the LLO TCS system
• Beginning a block diagram of the AdL TCS and controls

ISC - R. Abbott

• Finished design of Advanced LIGO Demodulator. Laying out the board now for build of final prototype.
• Found that the limited isolation from LO to RF that is intrinsic to a diode ring type RF mixer can lead to AM demodulation of the local oscillator for the I phase of an I &Q demodulator. This is something that should be kept in mind with respect to the initial LIGO demodulators. The Advanced LIGO demodulators have 30 dB higher isolation, and are thus far less prone to this noise mechanism.
• Working with Suspension group on AOSEM design, and the in-vacuum cabling as relates to the OSEMS in particular. We found a small detail relating to the lengths of the pre-manufactured cables, that will require some attention at the level of purchase order specifics.
• We traced the recent failures in the OSEM cabling associated with the LLO Quad to the fact that these assemblies were prepared as a stop gap, and don't reflect any of the lessons learned in our Advanced LIGO cable suite. No particular need for further attention.
• The ETM quad transmission monitor has been re-packaged to allow use in-vacuum, or in-air. It should prove a handy solution to much of our quad diode needs, even beyond ISC.

AdLIGO Cable Plane - E. Brown

• Progress of the Cable spreadsheet database and documentation work. When this information is complete it will allows us to generate many different types of reports, for example:
  • Cables per chamber
  • Which cables on which flanges
  • Total cables per site
  • Just air cables
  • Just vacuum cables
  • Just Feed-through connectors
  • Listing of cables and where they go
  • What cables connect to which racks
  So far, all of the in-Vacuum cables have been added to the spreadsheet, (about 6000 rows of information ) but a lot of information especially the lengths of each of the cables have not been available.

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For additional information about this report, contact Albert Lazzarini