Agenda

CASA/JIVE VLBI Coordination Meeting

2020 January 15 @ 1500UTC

Logistics

• Future Meeting dates (usually last Wed of the month):
  
  • NEXT MEETING: 2020 February 19 @ 1500 UTC
  • 2020 March 25?
  • 2020 April 29?

General Admin

• Recent/upcoming meetings:
  • Space VLBI 2020 in Charlottesville, VA (2020 Jan 28-30): George (w/ Fomalont) to present poster on compensating for OD errors
• Helpdesk access from JIVE ok? Yes.
• New CASA git repository. See: casa6 Any issues?
  
  • Need plotms build instructions (George will ask Pam for details...TBD)
  • Unclear how to make CASAshell work (George will followup...TBD)
  • CASA5 build possible within casa6 repository structure (George to provide simple instructions...TBD)
  • Need instructions for running c++ unit (google) tests (Work ongoing on CASA side, stay tuned...)
• Current VLBI Integration branch: CAS-12325.
  • Will make new VLBI integration branch from new repository soon, modulo items that move out of CAS-12325 in current work (these should be satisfied in 5.7/6.1 release)
  • (Mark) Waiting for dust to settle on casa6 migration; new casa6 branch will likely be needed by summer.
• (Mark) Requirements collation ConsolidatedRequirements....Any news?
  • Mark to circulate current document for comments very soon. Resulting doc to feed into next item...
• Work plan describing how/when CASA can replace AIPS (FY2020 NRAO/DMS Program Operating Plan)
  • This is on NRAO User Committee's active radar as last year's F2F meeting and 2019 December UC telecon; Glendenning reported to them that it is also on ours; he and they are expecting real materials by ~June (next F2F UC meeting). Will involve some NRAO/VLBA effort locally. ACTION: We should have clear plan by March meeting for providing docs appropriate for the NRAO UC (e.g., "final" req doc, etc.) and for completing this planning exercise by end of FY.
• Other admin?
  • (George will remove Arpad from email distribution.)

Development/Features

• Items for CASA 5.7/6.1 (Stakeholder inputs)
  
  • (George, CAS-695) Support correlation-dependent flagging, with user option.
    • Coding work nearly done, will push thru casa6 repo workflow this week; new verification tests pending. On track for 5.7/6.1.
  • (George, CAS-12735) Frequency meta-info consolidiation (see also CAS-12553)
    • Full intended refactoring work probably deferred; essential fix within FringeCal to be included in 5.7/6.1.
  • (Mark/George, CAS-12591) spwmap fix
    • Coding done and pushed to casa6 repo; new verification tests pending. On track for 5.7/6.1.
  • (Des, CAS-12365,12653) Deploy dispersive term solve, including user term control
    • Needs JIVE (or other?) staff interest for rigorous validation testing; Des has essential demonstration test to supply as basis for validation/stakeholder testing, for which he'll seek a 3rd-party scientific blessing. Should include in 5.7/6.1 release as "experimental".
  • (George/Des, CAS-xxxxx) Convert CC tables to image or ComponentListfor resolved model-setting
    • Defer to 5.8/6.2
  • (Mark) MS concat bugfix on casacore github to CASA?
    • Desirable for 5.7/6.1; casacore github PR pending (M100 test issues?); will coordinate merge to CASA a la carte, if necessary
    • (George) Should be able to include this in 5.7/.6.1 along with a few other pending casacore PRs
• Items for future cycles (future stakeholders discussions should include these items, at least):
  • (George) Some version of this list (prioritized) will be forwarded to Urvashi/Jen for stakeholder process as our (VLBI development) impression of VLBI-related priorities, along with pending Consolidated Req doc.
  • (Mark, CAS-8546) GAINCURVE definition, deployment of standardization (deployment --> 5.8/6.2)
  • (Des, CAS-12765) Wide bandwidth (deployment in CASA --> 5.8/6.2)
  • (George) Per-scan interpolation option?
  • (George) Overlapping solution intervals (CASR-467, CASR-468)?
  • (Mark) EOP: formalize import of (DifX) correlator model, update EOP (or other, e.g., troposphere) part, and difference to obtain required delay calibration
  • (Des/George) PCAL (Des has ad hoc scripts, need updated prioritization from VLBA since this is not a high EVN priority; not a high priority at NRAO/VLBA in the near term
  • (George) Polarization calibration w/ resolved calibrators
  • (Des) CAS-12485? fringefit weighting control (test data options pending)
  • (Des) Baseline stacking?
  • Opacity for high-frequency VLBI, derived from Tsys(sec(z))
  • TEC
  • (Walter) Advanced VLBA Amplitude calibration a la Walker memo from a few years ago?
    • Bandpass normalization flexibility: voltage vs. power

Verification/Validation/Documentation

• n/a

AOB?

• Ilse: "Will NRAO Synthesis Imaging Workshop (2020 May 13-20) have CASA VLBI tutorlals?"
  • Justin: "No. Momjian prefers to wait until less 'ad hoc' scripting needed."
• Ilse: "JIVE likely hosting another CASA VLBI Workshop in (N) autumn. NRAO staff very welcome."