Basic NRAO operations (with some restrictions on procurement, travel after Feb 1, etc.) now funded through 2019 Feb ~20
Atlassian servers (jira, bit-bucket, bamboo, confluence) have been identified as essential infrastructure for international colleagues in general, and will be maintained during any actual shutdown
Future Meeting dates (usually last Wed of the month):
Next meeting: 2019 Feb 20 @ 1500UTC. Pending MK availability and NRAO shutdown status (MK is available).
2019 Mar 27 @ *1400*UTC (Daylight savings begins 2019 Mar 10 in USA, 2019 Mar 31 in JIVE)
2019 Apr 24
2019 May 29
2019 Jun 26?
2019 Jul 31?
General Admin
Important upcoming CASA 5.5 dates
Bug fixes / Validation complete: 2019 Jan 31
Release: 2019 Feb 18
CASA 6 (release: 2019 Apr 19): migrate task/tool interfaces to assure same scientific support as CASA 5.5
CASA 5.6/6.1 dates pending (requirements due by ~end of January)
Likely: Feature freeze: 2019 Jun 01, Release: 2019 Jul 17
CASA 5.6 Confluence page (placeholder, will be populated in coming weeks, try JIRA login to access)
Resources from "ESCAPE" for CASA-VLBI development
New EU-funded project for scientific infrastructure (incl. CERN, SKA, etc.), with emphasis on cloud computing (Jupyter NB)
Will support Des's VLBI development contributions, alongside RINGS
Merge of JIVE Workshop Issues List with older NRAO VLBI Req doc
(NB: Ilse on leave, currently...)
Urgency vis-a-vis CASA 5.6...
Mark now to take first stab at collation of requirements,
First glance indicates many seem already satisfied (these items to be maintained as complete in the ultimate document)
Will identify items appropriate for consideration for 5.6 asap (Feb 1)
Verification/Validation/Documentation
Status of testing and merges for 5.5
In good shape with expected refant-related (faulty merge corrected), convergence criterion, and digital correction items
CAS-12192, bug specific to fringe-fit solutions, but related to polarization-dependent flagging (CAS-695)
CAS-9965: UVFITs export documentation: GC, TY exporte not yet supported?
Confirmed, but thought not urgent to introduce this support, since these relate to early calibration steps now possible in CASA
Development/Features
"perscan" interpolation options (Mark)
Relevant when linear interpolation over-flags data due to flagged solutions in isolated scans.
Adds a dimension to the calibration "patch panel" mechanism within the calibration apply infrastructure, rather like existing 'perobs' constraint. Has been previously discussed, but this granularity not thought important until now.
George to investigate prospects further, likely only in callibrary infrastructure
RINGS-related issues (Mark)
Extremely wide bandwidth support, including not-fully sampled
Dispersive delay solutions
Items to push for CASA 5.6/6.1 development
(George) Look into correlation-dependent flagging issue (CAS-695)
Keen to abandon "workshop branch" (CAS-10684) when this (and user control of convergence iteration) disposed of
(Mark/Des) Any residuals from 5.5 work (rereferencing, convergence criterion, alternate refant, digital corrections)?
No.
(Walter) Advanced VLBA Amplitude calibration a la Walter memo from a few years ago
Bandpass normalization flexibility: voltage vs. power
accor solutions applied to ACs? (should already be true, else a bug)
(Des) Baseline stacking
(Des) Wide bandwidth and dispersive (see above)
(George) perscan interpolation option (see above)
(Mark) Some items may emerge from Mark's requirements collation process.
AOB?
Verification testing: Mark asks for template or examples
Neal will provide link to existing tests in the CASA 6 repository (where verification test focus lies)
CASA User Committee encourages "investing in making CASA fully VLBI-capable and securing resources to maintain this capability for the longer term" in the context of the VLBA's return to NRAO management and SRDP.
This recommendation occurs in "External Contributions" section; probably is designed to prompt a more direct resource commitment from NRAO.