[alma_na] DH Meeting Minutes - December 7 and 14

[Carolyn White]

ALMA US Division Heads Teleconference Minutes - 2002-Jan-07

Attendees: Brown, Glendenning, Gray, Kingsley, Mangum, Perfetto, Porter,
Radford, Simon, Sramek, Webber, White

Status Reports
--------------
Mangum - The ATF face-to-face meeting will be in Grenoble, France, January
30 and February 1, 2002.  The face-to-face meeting will re-enforce the
monthly teleconferences.  The TI plans have been discussed with most DH
and they are aware of what they need to provide.  Simon and Rafal will
need to discuss budgetary issues.  Mangum has summarized the antenna
testing plans on his web site at
URL: http://www.tuc.nrao.edu/~jmangum/alma/atf/almaprotoplan.pdf.
Complete details are not there, but DH should be able to gather all
necessary information for their subsystem.

Kingsley - There will be a Configuration PDR meeting at the end January.
Kingsley will visit with Vertex January 14-23.  The ACU Servo Test will be
at Vertex January 28-30.  Gray and Wootten discussed the goals of the
upcoming Configuration PDR.  The goal of the PDR is to set forth a clear
path to establish the antenna locations.  Once this is done we will need
to inlude an engineering perspective.  Conway is expected to be point of
contact for further Configuration planning.

Radford - Would like the ALMA Project to appoint a road engineer.  This is
being worked on by Gray and Radford.  Radford reported that the buildings
will be located near the ridge north and west of the existing container.

Perfetto - The evaluation receiver frame is ready in the lab; we expect to
have inserts next week.  There has been no progress on the holograhy
receiver in the last couple of weeks. Still waiting for Europe to report
on measuring the main feed.  The Japanese will be visiting Tucson January
24 to test their photomixer.

Sramek - The tower contract has been issued.  The trailer and man lift are
two purchase orders that have not yet been issued. Gray will be visiting
the AOC in the next couple of weeks.  We plan to meet to discuss issues on
the fabrication of the ALMA sampler.  The Back End PDR is planned for ALMA
Week.

Glendenning - We continue working on the network equipment.  We recently
held a review.  Glendenning is interested in knowing when new ALMA
positions may be filled.

Webber - There were no scheduled reviews meetings this month.  The custom
correlator chip has been ordered; 80% of the board layout design is complete.

Gray - Working on safety issues with Radford and Bolyard. Will be visiting
Tucson and Socorro in the next couple of weeks.

Simon - Continuing to work on refining the bi-lateral Project plan.

Porter - Rafal plans to discuss with Porter ways to begin working with ESO
on joint procurements.

The second generation nutator parts are coming along.  Changes to the
sensors are being worked on.

The Europeans signed the new prototype antenna contract with Alcatel; they
expect delivery to be March 2003.

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ALMA US Division Heads Teleconference Minutes - 2002-Jan-14

Attendees: Avery, Brown, Cunningham, Glendenning, Gray, Kingsley, Mangum,
Perfetto, Radford, Rafal, Simon, Sramek, Webber, White

Rafal, Simon, and Gray have moved to the Ivy Road location in
Charlottesville.  Therefore all DH meetings will be in the Ivy Road
offices; the Ivy Road teleconference hub is 434-984-0244.  We will use
this number for all future DH meetings.

Funding Update
--------------
We still do not have the $12.5 M from the NSF.  We do not know when we
will get the $1.5 M that was supposed to arrive in early January.  At this
moment we need to spend very carefully because we are, as expected,
officially out of money.  Large procurements should be put on hold and any
critical purchases should be discussed with Rafal.  Rafal is working with
Vanden Bout on what we can do about this situation. There is no need to
worry about salary payments though.  The $12.5 M cannot be spent before
the NSB approves the Project at their March or May meeting.  There is no
doubt that we will get their approval.

Avery asked about the "official" Construction Phase start data for the
U.S.  At the moment we are not exactly sure.  The fiscal boundaries set on
the U.S. does not necessarily set fiscal boundaries for other partners.

Rafal will report back to the group after he has further discussions with
Vanden Bout and Desmond.

Action Items
------------
Rafal has started to revamp the Action Item List to review the progress of
the Project. The group went through the current on-line version and
updates were made.  White will put these on the web at URL:
http://www.alma.nrao.edu/administration/actionlist/.  The meetings list
was also updated; remember to send White your meeting dates, etc.

Questions arose on the Zero Baseline Interferometer and many questions
were left unanswered.  Rafal suggested a meeting be set up for the week of
January 21 among a smaller group to finalize these plans.  Sramek will
send out a notice including date and time of meeting.

Status Reports
--------------
Antenna - Kingsley is at the Vertex plant in Germany.  The panels are the
critical path for the project.  New results are going to be shown on
Wednesday.  Vertex is seeking to establish the capabilities of additional
panel supplies to speed the work. The steel fabrication and mount are in
process and recovering their recent slippage.  The BUS
items should ship this month.  Kingsley stated that he believes the April
23 date will slip about two to three weeks.  Vertex is still expected to
be at the VLA site near the end of February.  The offer that was made to
Jose maybe slipping; he now has cold feet concerning the requirement he
will have to move to Chile in two or three years.  Jose will fill the VLA
Antenna on-site position.  Project Book updates are being completed.

Back End - The digital data link receiver board has been received.  We
plan to populate and evaluate the board in Tucson in the next two weeks.
The Project Book has had minor revisions, but we will not have a complete
re-write until the Back End PDR during ALMA Week in April.

Computing - The Project Book updates have been completed.  Vertex is
having some CAN compatibility issues; Brooks is working on this.

ATF - The AEG prototype antenna testing software has arrived; Mangum is
configuring this.  Mangum is completing the organization of the AEG
meeting that is at the end of January.  Oterola arrived last week; his
first assignment includes working on the weather stations.

Evaluation Receivers - Both the evaluation receivers and the holography
receiver are making progress.  Homsted will start in Tucson on Tuesday.

Front End - Cunningham is visiting ALMA sites to become familiar with the
organization of the sub-system.  Front End devices were ordered and are
expected to arrive at the end of January.

Site - Several soil borings were performed at the Chajnantor last week.

Gray - Gray is in Tucson this week; plans to work with Oliver on the
documentation activities for the Project.  This will help to streamline
the PDRs and CDRs and make them a more valuable tool for the Project.

Our next meeting will be January 21 at 1800 UT.  The new teleconference
hub number will be 434-984-0244.

Our next meeting will be January 14, 2002 at 1800 UT.