Meeting Information

  • 1930 UT (1330 MDT) -- NOTE: Changing!
  • AOC 317; IP: 146.88.16.8; phone: +1 575-835-7370

Agenda/Minutes

News

  • Reminder: Meeting next week on Tuesday at 1000 MDT.
  • Reminder: Thursday meeting (Phased Array discussion scheduled).
  • Summer school report (everyone).
  • Reminder to send in scheduled absences.
  • Staff Travel:
    • Gustaaf: 1 - 4 June; 18 June
    • Eric: 4 - 19 June
  • Visitors:
    • Sonja Vrcic: 21 June - ?
    • Brent Carlson: 5 July- 14 July
  • Key Dates:
    • PASEO Meeting: 15-16 July
    • VLA 30th anniversary: 12 August

Critical Commissioning review/reports

  • Overall status: Still in the situation where the reference pointing-related configuration changes are leading to significant data loss; not resolved but the highest priority for resolution as it currently prohibits most high frequency observing (OSRO).
  • Review of schedule: Looking at commissioning targets from discussions in January; well behind schedule (months) on many fronts. Evaluating areas that can be deferred. Reviewing configuration change schedule next week.
  • Highest priority development areas:
    • Fringe loss (as above)
      • Phenomenology: https://bugs.aoc.nrao.edu/browse/ECSV-68
      • Michael/Barry/Ken: Monitor/debug during example SB to explore causes.
      • Joe/Vivek: Lower priority, explore onset time of the problem in the data record.
    • Wide band widths (2 GHz)
      • Test this as possible this week to establish proper hardware/software interaction; usable data taking requires fix to the above.
    • Switched power implementation
      • Ken report.
    • 3-bit sampler testing
      • Deploy on an antenna next week; possible testing with correlator the following week.

System Verification/Hardware Commissioning:

Testing and characterization of the array based on the design goals.

  • Antenna: Perley
  • Receiver: Perley
  • Array: Perley
  • Correlator: Rupen

Observing Band Checkout

Encompasses principally core operation at those frequencies followed by detailed calibration strategies, flagging.

Summary testing status by band: https://staff.nrao.edu/wiki/bin/view/EVLA/EVLAObservingBandCheckouts

  • Low Frequency (L/S/C): Momjian
    • Status: Operating; users should include one of the canonical flux calibrators in SB.
    • Upcoming:
      • Need switched power
        • Develop set of observations to check Tcal/Tsys/SEFD across bands
    • Links: ECSV-38
  • Mid Frequency (X/Ku): Dhawan
    • Status: Operating; users should include one of the canonical flux calibrators in SB.
    • Upcoming:
      • Need switched power
        • Develop set of observations to check Tcal/Tsys/SEFD across bands
    • Links
  • High Frequency (K/Ka/Q): Sjouwerman/Claussen
    • Status:
      • Operating; users should include one of the canonical flux calibrators in SB
      • Reference pointing in C or X
      • No observing at Ka < 32 GHz
    • Upcoming:
      • Need switched power
        • Develop set of observations to check Tcal/Tsys/SEFD across bands
    • Links: ECSV-30

Observing Mode Support:

Testing and development within broad observing modes distinguished by their science goals (continuum, spectral line, polarization).

  • Spectral Line Modes (Ott/Goss)
  • Polarization Modes (Myers)
    • Testing
      • C (ECDATA-12): Ready
      • L (ECDATA-42): Ready
      • Combined Low-High Pol checkout test (TPOL0003_sb1378180): Report
      • Post-processing (AIPS): AH1004 data checkout
    • Links: ECSV-29
  • Advanced: Phased Array (Lazio/Deller)
  • Advanced Planetary:
    • Testing
      • Cassini test readiness (Butler).
    • Status:
      • Executor: Objects not supported in executor.
      • SDM: Ephemerides/motion not supported.
  • Advanced: Solar
    • Status: Planning/prototype testing ongoing; working with L, Ku (special Rx setups in these two bands). TP tests coming.
  • Advanced: Pulsar (Brisken)
  • Advanced: VLBI (Walker/Brisken)
  • Advanced: Astrometry (Mioduszewski)

Observing Support:

Testing and development of the end-to-end capability of the array to support observations to the community (Documentation, OPT, Scheduling, Instrument models, Calibrator survey/models DB, Rapid response observing, demo science, post-processing).

  • Meta summary
    • Multi-config SBs in regular use; note 'overhead' in configuration changes; Must add 30 seconds to each configuration change - Gustaaf's group will check projects for this until relaxed, in particular, reference pointing must expand to 3 minutes..

Mode OPT Scheduling Executor/CorrSorted descending Calibration strategy Archive CASA AIPS Data Distribution Other Overall Status
  wide band modes available only in webtest OST (reconciling status database)

OPT selected limits not possible
Running 20 Hz
18-May CM version

21-May CBE version

    - needs check on short pol'n runs Need decision on large (i.e., RSRO) data set distribution media   Operational for OSRO1/OSRO2
30s overhead with OSRO configuration changes
RSRO beginning

  • RSRO
    • Status: RSRO Readiness (Cycle1) Master List
    • Resident Schedule: Posted on home page of twiki now!
      • 01 Jan - 16 May: Adam Deller (AC982: RSRO-4): 300A
      • 31 Jan - 15 Jul: Laura Chomiuk (AS1015/AK726: RSRO-11/RSRO-6): 200C
      • 04 Feb - 01 Jun: Jacqueline van Gorkom (AV318: RSRO-13): 200D
      • 25 Feb - 01 Jun: James Miller-Jones (AM1014: RSRO-9): 200E
      • 02 Mar - 07 Jun: Manuel Aravena (AA330: RSRO-1): 300G
      • 16 Mar - 08 Apr: Dave Green (AB1345: RSRO-2): 300G
      • 20 Apr - 30 Jun: Crystal Brogan (AB1346: RSRO-3): 200B
      • 20 Apr - 30 Jun: Todd Hunter (AB1346: RSRO-3): 200B
      • 30 Apr - 15 Jul: Joseph Lazio (AC982: RSRO-4): 266
      • 07 Jun - 16 Sep: Laura Perez (AC982: RSRO-4): 200E Welcome
      • 28 Jun - 05 Oct: Volker Heesen (AH1006: RSRO-5): 200G
      • 01 Jul - 31 Oct: Russ Taylor (AT374: RSRO-12): 300G
      • 15 Sep - 15 Dec: Adam Leroy (AL746: RSRO-7): 200C
      • 01 Oct - 01 Jan: Hendrik Linz (AC982: RSRO-4): 200C
      • 01 Jan - 01 Apr: Jane Greaves (AC982: RSRO-4): 300G
      • 02 Jan - 02 Apr: Stuart Corder (AC982: RSRO-4): 300G
    • Current Residents
      • Crystal Brogan (POC: Claire Chandler); area(s): High frequency observing; demo science
        • This week:
      • Laura Chomiuk (POC: Miller Goss; area(s): Correlator checkout; Spectral line commissioning; OSRO data validation
        • This week:
      • Adam Deller (POC: Michael Rupen); area(s): phased array system design and implementation
        • This week: Back!
      • Todd Hunter (POC: Claire Chandler; area(S): science support software interfaces for users and high frequency observing; band/polarization checkout.
        • This week:
      • Joe Lazio (POC: Claire Chandler): Low frequency observing.
        • This week:
    • ---
    • Dave Green (POC: Sanjay Bhatnagar): area(s): algorithm tests for wideband imaging (currently away).
    • James Miller-Jones (POC: Claire Chandler; area(s): demo science use cases
    • Jacqueline van Gorkom (POC: Miller Goss; area(s): Correlator checkout; spectral line commissioning)

  • Documentation

Advanced Science Support:

These are the testing/development areas needed to fulfill the full capabilities of the EVLA along with additional observing modes for other branches of the community.

  • Astrometry (Mioduszewski)
    • Status: Wait for A array(?)

AOB

Actions

  • [Rupen]: Develop daily/post-maintenance day checklists for the system. To be completed as part of stress tests.
  • [McMullin]: Review/recover metrics for Priority 0 items.
  • [Perley]: Develop set of frequency accuracy tests (X band is complete).
  • [Perley]: Perform a frequency sweep test at different bands to provide to engineers for review (Q2).
  • [Wrobel/Butler]: Make use of API criteria consistent throughout tools (OPT->OST). List of actions organized. In process.
  • [Perley/McMullin]: SPW/IF/BB lexicon and mapper
  • List of known problems (can be used by OSRO commissioning team (van Moorsel)
      • Med Priority [Rupen]: X, Ku band subbands are inverted (IF 1 is labelled as IF4, IF2 as 3, IF3 as 2, IF 4 as 1). Noted that this had been tested but there were enough changes to warrant a re-do.
      • Med Priority [TBD]: Subband 0 problems: Being reviewed on Wednesday morning at the WIDAR meeting. Butler to report.
      • Med Priority [TBD]: Phase offsets within scans (phase jump at scan boundaries). R&L phase offset on some scans - probably L302 LO problem, needs tracking down. MR: Seen on EA07, EA25 (both RR and LL)
      • Med Priority [TBD]: Added. Phase change when frequency changes (needs to be tested).
      • Med Priority [TBD]: Anti-aliasing does not behave as advertised.
      • Low Priority [TBD]: Occasional zero-amplitude visibilities (needs software fix - what level). UVLOD and FITLD can handle this in AIPS; flagdata clip is effective in CASA; still need to understand and fix at the source.
      • Low Priority [TBD]: Occasional pure-noise scans.
      • Low Priority [Rupen/Pokorny]: Delay clunking; software fix pending.
      • Low Priority [TBD]: First scan often bad.
      • Low Priority [TBD]: Phase (and amp) wobbles; long history.
-- JosephMcMullin - 16 Jun 2010
Topic revision: r3 - 2010-06-16, jmcmulli
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