From cwhite at nrao.edu Tue Sep 3 08:08:30 2002 From: cwhite at nrao.edu (Carolyn White) Date: Tue, 03 Sep 2002 08:08:30 -0400 Subject: [alma_na] ALMA Bi-Lateral Teleconference Message-ID: <3D74A63E.70200@nrao.edu> There will be an ALMA Bi-Lateral Teleconference. Please dial 434-296-7082. Thanks Carolyn From cwhite at nrao.edu Wed Sep 4 08:46:09 2002 From: cwhite at nrao.edu (Carolyn White) Date: Wed, 04 Sep 2002 08:46:09 -0400 Subject: [alma_na] ALMA Bi-Lateral IPT Meetings for 2002 Message-ID: <3D760091.8080409@nrao.edu> Listed below are the dates for the ALMA Bi-Lateral Teleconferences through the end of 2002. The dial in number remains consistent except for one Tuesday meeting (due to an NRAO holiday). Every other Monday from 10:30 - 12:00 a.m. ET ER Conference Room 311 Dial In Number - 434-296-7082 Sept. 16 Sept. 30 Oct. 15 (Tuesday - Ivy Road - 434-984-0244) Oct. 28 Nov. 11 Nov. 25 Dec. 9 Dec. 23 From cwhite at nrao.edu Wed Sep 4 08:47:10 2002 From: cwhite at nrao.edu (Carolyn White) Date: Wed, 04 Sep 2002 08:47:10 -0400 Subject: [alma_na] ALMA NA DH Meetings for 2002 Message-ID: <3D7600CE.9070306@nrao.edu> Dates for the NA DH Teleconferences Every other Monday from 1:00 - 2:00 p.m ET Ivy Road Conference Room 228 Dial In Number - 434-984-0244 Sept. 9 Sept. 23 Oct. 7 Oct. 21 Nov. 4 Nov. 18 Dec. 2 Dec. 16 Dec. 30 From soliver at NRAO.EDU Wed Sep 4 14:50:43 2002 From: soliver at NRAO.EDU (Stacy Oliver) Date: Wed, 4 Sep 2002 11:50:43 -0700 Subject: [alma_na] [almanews]ALMA Memo 432 Released Message-ID: ALMA MEMO #432 A Split-Block Waveguide Directional Coupler A. R. Kerr and N. Horner National Radio Astronomy Observatory Charlottesville, VA 22903, USA 2002/08/26 Keywords: Directional couplers, Waveguide couplers, Millimeter wave directional couplers, Millimeter wave circuits. A simple waveguide directional coupler is described which uses the split-block type of construction common in millimeter-wave components. The coupler uses an array of metal probes suspended on quartz stand-offs. Depending on the number of coupling elements, the coupling can be in the range 15-30 dB, with typically ? 2 dB variation across the waveguide band, and directivity > 10 dB. The coupler, intended for injecting local oscillator power into a waveguide mixer, can be scaled for operation in any waveguide band. View a pdf version of ALMA Memo #432. http://www.alma.nrao.edu/memos/html-memos/alma432/memo432.pdf Download a postscript version of ALMA Memo #432. http://www.alma.nrao.edu/memos/html-memos/alma432/memo432.ps _______________________________________________ Almanews mailing list Almanews at listmgr.cv.nrao.edu http://listmgr.cv.nrao.edu/mailman/listinfo/almanews From cwhite at nrao.edu Mon Sep 9 10:06:13 2002 From: cwhite at nrao.edu (Carolyn White) Date: Mon, 09 Sep 2002 10:06:13 -0400 Subject: [alma_na] ALMA NA DH Meeting Canceled Message-ID: <3D7CAAD5.9060406@nrao.edu> The ALMA NA DH Meeting has been canceled for today. Our next scheduled teleconference will be September 23. Thanks Carolyn From cwhite at NRAO.EDU Tue Sep 10 09:01:51 2002 From: cwhite at NRAO.EDU (Carolyn White) Date: Tue, 10 Sep 2002 09:01:51 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [alma_na] Memo From P. Vanden Bout and M. Tarenghi Message-ID: To: IPT Leaders and Division Heads From: P. Vanden Bout and M. Tarenghi Date: 2002-Sep-09 Subject: Documentation and Use of ALMAEDM ALMA has started its full construction phase and it is now increasingly important that project documentation control and archiving be taken seriously. ALMA Systems Engineering (SE) has now established the on-line ALMAEDM (new name for the SiteScape Electronic Document Management system) documentation archive as well as various procedures for document submission, approval and change requests. The project documentation plans and procedures which describe this are currently in final review and will shortly become project approved. The use of ALMAEDM by project staff, and within each IPT, has been gradually increasing over the past months, however we need to encourage a more widespread use. Some IPTs have already adopted ALMAEDM for their own internal use. Using ALMAEDM is generally self-explanatory, however SE is planning a series of training sessions for project staff as well as issuing simple ALMAEDM user guidelines. The JAO requests that: - each IPT encourage and promote the use of ALMAEDM for project documentation by its own staff and assist SE in their ALMAEDM training program; - establish an internal IPT documentation system, either using ALMAEDM or some equivalent alternative which offers the required level of documentation archiving and control to satisfy project standards. From cwhite at nrao.edu Wed Sep 11 14:46:37 2002 From: cwhite at nrao.edu (Carolyn White) Date: Wed, 11 Sep 2002 14:46:37 -0400 Subject: [alma_na] ALMA Bi-Lateral IPT Teleconference Canceled Message-ID: <3D7F8F8D.4070600@nrao.edu> The ALMA Bi-Lateral IPT Teleconference has been canceled for Monday, September 16. The next scheduled ALMA Bi-Lateral IPT Teleconference will be September 30. Thanks Carolyn From mrafal at nrao.edu Thu Sep 12 14:50:36 2002 From: mrafal at nrao.edu (Marc Rafal) Date: Thu, 12 Sep 2002 14:50:36 -0400 Subject: [alma_na] ALMA Review for Fred Lo Message-ID: As I had mentioned earlier, Fred Lo requested that we hold a review shortly after he started to bring him up to speed on the current status of ALMA. As events have unfolded over the past couple of weeks, there have been changes to how we will carry this out. In particular, with Fred's recent productive visits to Tucson and Socorro and the separate review he has asked Darrel to conduct, we will now limit the review in early October to the Frontend Subsystem. We will hold this frontend review on 3-4 October here in Charlottesville. I'll put together an agenda over the next few days, but the main purpose of the review is to provide Fred with a fairly detailed understanding of where we are and our plans for construction for the various frontend tasks assigned to NRAO for Band 6, the baseline LO tasks (Warm Multiplier assemblies, cold multipliers and LO Reference) and the integration tasks in Tucson. In addition to the relavant CDL people, we will need at least Perfetto, Payne, D'Addario and Shillue (Emerson will not be able to attend). Since the LO Reference involves tasks now assigned to the Backend, Dick Sramek should be here as well. Let me know if there are others you think should make the trip. Let Carolyn know your travel plans so she can arrange lodging. Cheers, Marc From soliver at NRAO.EDU Thu Sep 12 16:01:09 2002 From: soliver at NRAO.EDU (Stacy Oliver) Date: Thu, 12 Sep 2002 13:01:09 -0700 Subject: [alma_na] [almanews] ALMA Memos 420 and 433 Released Message-ID: ALMA MEMO #4203 Digital Transmission System Signaling Protocol Robert W. Freund (National Radio Astronomy Observatory) 2002/09/06 Keywords: signaling protocol, digital protocol, digital transmission, parallel data transmittion, optical fiber communication, data scrambling, virtual parallel bus, OC-192, VPB The ALMA Digital Transmission System (DTS) transmits digitized IF signals from an antenna to the correlator at the central location. The digitized data is divided equally across four identical transmission elements. Each element formats the parallel data for serial transmission over three 10 Gb/s optical fiber channels and converts it back into parallel data at the receiver. This Virtual Parallel Bus (VPB) system is defined by the channel signaling protocol. The protocol is based upon a 160-bit frame structure using line coding employing scrambling techniques. The frame consists of a nchronization word, a sequence word, payload, and a checksum. Modulo-2 addition of the frame with a pseudo random pattern scrambles the data to provide adequate recovery timing information and a reduction of low frequency content. View a pdf version of ALMA Memo #420. http://alma.aoc.nrao.edu/memos/html-memos/alma420/memo420.pdf Download a postscript version of ALMA Memo #420. http://alma.aoc.nrao.edu/memos/html-memos/alma420/memo420.ps ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ALMA MEMO #433 2002: The Driest and Coldest Summer R. Bustos (CBI Project) 2002/09/06 This memo reports NCEP/NCAR Reanalysis results for the southern hemisphere summer of 2002 (December 2001 - March 2002). The data shows a very low amount of PWV as well as low temperatures, indicating that it has been the driest and coldest summer for the last 50 years. The results confirm the previous conclusions about interannual variability of PWV during the austral summer and that there is no climatological trend of increasing PWV for the Chajnantor area. The Reanalysis data of the surface temperature shows a decrease in average temperatures during the last three years. A direct relationship between the fraction of time when winds from the east are present and the average amount of PWV is also obtained. As we have previously shown there are two different seasons with different origins at the site: the summer (mid-December to mid-March) is related to a change in the region's circulation and presents a high amount of PWV with the presence of easterly winds, and the winter (April to November) is more related to ENSO and the Pacific Ocean activities. View a pdf version of ALMA Memo #433. http://alma.aoc.nrao.edu/memos/html-memos/alma433/memo433.pdf Download a postscript version of ALMA Memo #433. http://alma.aoc.nrao.edu/memos/html-memos/alma433/memo433.ps _______________________________________________ Almanews mailing list Almanews at listmgr.cv.nrao.edu http://listmgr.cv.nrao.edu/mailman/listinfo/almanews From soliver at NRAO.EDU Mon Sep 16 19:06:29 2002 From: soliver at NRAO.EDU (Stacy Oliver) Date: Mon, 16 Sep 2002 16:06:29 -0700 Subject: [alma_na] [almanews] ALMA Memos 434 Released Message-ID: ALMA MEMO #434 Load Calibration at Millimeter and Submillimeter Wavelengths Jeff Mangum (NRAO Tucson) 2002/09/12 Keywords: Calibration Accurate amplitude calibration at millimeter and submillimeter wavelengths is a difficult goal to achieve due to the temporal variability of the emissive and absorptive properties of the Earth's atmosphere and the lack of an accurate astronomical flux standard. The difficulties with deriving a uniform amplitude calibration system has resulted in the three step calibration process used at millimeter and submillimeter single dishes and interferometers. The second step in this process involves the chopper wheel calibration technique. Chopper wheel calibration is used to derive the antenna temperature of an astronomical source corrected for atmospheric extinction. An analysis of the uncertainties in three variants of this technique, two which use a single calibrated load and a third which uses two calibrated loads, has been derived. The conclusion of this analysis is that the one-load chopper calibration systems are more uncertain than the two-load chopper calibration system. This is especially true at submillimeter wavelengths. The main reason for the larger uncertainty of the one-load chopper calibration systems is the fact that they require a knowledge of the mean atmospheric temperature, which is inherently difficult to obtain. Of the two calibration systems, the two-load chopper system has the potential for reaching a calibration accuracy of approximately 1% for all bands, as specified for the ALMA receiving systems. View a pdf version of ALMA Memo #434. http://alma.aoc.nrao.edu/memos/html-memos/alma434/memo434.pdf Download a postscript version of ALMA Memo #434. http://alma.aoc.nrao.edu/memos/html-memos/alma434/memo434.ps _______________________________________________ Almanews mailing list Almanews at listmgr.cv.nrao.edu http://listmgr.cv.nrao.edu/mailman/listinfo/almanews From cwhite at nrao.edu Thu Sep 19 09:27:20 2002 From: cwhite at nrao.edu (Carolyn White) Date: Thu, 19 Sep 2002 09:27:20 -0400 Subject: [alma_na] ALMA US Bi-Monthly Report - Period End 2002 Message-ID: <3D89D0B8.2060708@nrao.edu> The bimonthly reports is located at: http://almaedm.tuc.nrao.edu/forums/alma/dispatch.cgi/1006northamerprojoffice/docProfile/100193/d20020918200032/No/t100193.htm Thanks Carolyn From cwhite at nrao.edu Mon Sep 23 09:17:00 2002 From: cwhite at nrao.edu (Carolyn White) Date: Mon, 23 Sep 2002 09:17:00 -0400 Subject: [alma_na] ALMA NA DH Teleconference Message-ID: <3D8F144C.1080307@nrao.edu> There will be an ALMA NA DH Teleconference today at 1700 UT. Please dial 434-984-0244. Thanks Carolyn From bporter at nrao.edu Mon Sep 23 10:41:54 2002 From: bporter at nrao.edu (Bill Porter) Date: Mon, 23 Sep 2002 10:41:54 -0400 Subject: [alma_na] FY03 Procurement Projections Message-ID: <3D8F2832.B0D49978@nrao.edu> The following request for projected procurement information came from the Business Office last week. Some of you received it direct and have responded already (thank you). Would those of you who did not receive it, or have not responded, do so by tomorrow, if possible. Please email your response to "ashepher at nrao.edu" with a copy to me. Thanks, BP Amy Shepherd wrote: > > Please send a list of planned procurements/subcontracts which will > exceed $100k in FY03. The list should include: estimated cost, type of > competition to be conducted, likely vendors, and estimated dates. From soliver at NRAO.EDU Wed Sep 25 17:41:18 2002 From: soliver at NRAO.EDU (Stacy Oliver) Date: Wed, 25 Sep 2002 14:41:18 -0700 Subject: [alma_na] [almanews] ALMA Memos 435 Released Message-ID: ALMA Memo # 435 A Hybrid Option for the First LOs using Direct Photonic LO Driver M. Ishiguro, Y. Sekimoto, A. Ueda, S. Iguchi, T. Noguchi (NAOJ) J. M. Payne, L. R. D'Addario, W. Shillue (NRAO Tucson) 15/09/2002 Keywords: Local Oscillator, Photomixer, Frontend We propose a hybrid option for the first local oscillators (LOs) of ALMA in which a direct photonic LO driver is used to drive cold multipliers. The photomixer using NTT uni-travelling carrier photodiode has been demonstrated to have high power of 2 m W at 100 GHz and low amplitude noise of $< 7 - 17$ K/$\mu$W in the frequency range of $98 - 105$ GHz. This option simplifies the LO part of the cartridge in the baseline ALMA and retains a future possibility for a direct photonic option. View a pdf version of ALMA Memo #435. http://alma.aoc.nrao.edu/memos/html-memos/alma435/memo435.pdf Download a postscript version of ALMA Memo #435. http://alma.aoc.nrao.edu/memos/html-memos/alma435/memo435.ps _______________________________________________ Almanews mailing list Almanews at listmgr.cv.nrao.edu http://listmgr.cv.nrao.edu/mailman/listinfo/almanews From rsimon at nrao.edu Fri Sep 27 17:59:56 2002 From: rsimon at nrao.edu (Richard Simon) Date: Fri, 27 Sep 2002 17:59:56 -0400 Subject: [alma_na] New ALMA Account numbers Message-ID: <3D94D4DC.1000503@nrao.edu> Revised ALMA Chart of Accounts 2002-Sep-27 R. S. Simon Starting 2002 October 1st, the ALMA project at NRAO has a new Chart of Accounts. This change was necessitated by NRAO's adoption of a new Chart of Accounts. After October 1st, please use only the new account numbers, and do not use the old J series of accounts. The revised Chart of Accounts provides significant benefits and improvements in access, reporting, and budgeting. Brief Instructions: An ALMA account number consists of three parts, specified with the following syntax: (Business Unit).(Object Class).(Subsidiary) Business Unit is one of the major NRAO activities; for all ALMA accounts the business unit is the same: 701. Object Class is the type of expenditure, and should be specified on all procurements and travel. There are ~60-70 Object Classes, but for most purposes the simplified version attached is all you will need. Money is budgeted into 3 of the Object Classes (people, places, or things), and is spent from one of the other 41. A list of the official Object Classes is attached. Subsidiary is the actual ALMA Work Element number, with a one-to-one correspondence between the 4-digit Subsidiary Number and a 4-digit ALMA Work Element Number. A list of the official ALMA Work Elements (Subsidiaries) is attached, with their funding status for 2003. Example: The North American Project orders a new computer. The account number to charge would be 701.1616.0100 (701 is the ALMA business unit, 1616 is Computer hardware, and 0100 is the ALMA Work Element for the North American Project Office). Example: Brian Glendenning travels to Germany. The account number would be 701.1690.2640 (701=ALMA; 1690=Travel-Foreign; 2640=Computing Subsystem Management) -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Revised ALMA Chart of Accounts.pdf Type: application/pdf Size: 17275 bytes Desc: not available URL: From cwhite at nrao.edu Mon Sep 30 08:57:25 2002 From: cwhite at nrao.edu (Carolyn White) Date: Mon, 30 Sep 2002 08:57:25 -0400 Subject: [alma_na] ALMA Bi-Lateral Teleconference Message-ID: <3D984A35.1020808@nrao.edu> There will be an ALMA Bi-Lateral Teleconference today at 1430 UTC. Please dial 434-296-7082. Thanks Carolyn From rsimon at nrao.edu Mon Sep 30 17:57:28 2002 From: rsimon at nrao.edu (Richard Simon) Date: Mon, 30 Sep 2002 17:57:28 -0400 Subject: [alma_na] Re: New ALMA Account numbers (correction?) References: <3D94D4DC.1000503@nrao.edu> Message-ID: <3D98C8C8.1020500@nrao.edu> I have just learned that my description of how to use the new chart of accounts (based on the actual chart of accounts and lengthy discussions with MIS) disagrees with the approach that Fiscal had in mind. My initial description is correct, except there is the possibility that proper specification of an ALMA account is done with a different order. To be specific, I do not know whether our new accounts should be specified as (Business Unit).(Object Class).(Subsidiary) as described below, and according to lengthy conversations with MIS (see http://www.nrao.edu/internal/mis/mischartofaccounts ) or with the Object and Subsidiary field reversed, namely (Business Unit).(Subsidiary).(Object Class) i.e. (Job Number) . (Cost Code) . (Cost Type) (see http://www.nrao.edu/internal/fiscal/WBSAccountStructure_Jun3.pdf) There is no practical difference between the two approaches, except for a disagreement between the order of the three fields. MIS and Fiscal have told me different answers. In two cases (1403 and 1660), there are Work Elements with the same numbers are the Object Classes, so there is so there is a potential for conflict, which must eventually be addressed. Stay tuned. I will reissue the memo with the final answer as soon as it is available. Regards, Richard Simon as described below, or > Revised ALMA Chart of Accounts > > 2002-Sep-27 R. S. Simon > > Starting 2002 October 1st, the ALMA project at NRAO has a new Chart > of Accounts. This change was necessitated by NRAO's adoption of a > new Chart of Accounts. After October 1st, please use only the new > account numbers, and do not use the old J series of accounts. The > revised Chart of Accounts provides significant benefits and > improvements in access, reporting, and budgeting. > > Brief Instructions: > > An ALMA account number consists of three parts, specified with the > following syntax: > > (Business Unit).(Object Class).(Subsidiary) > > Business Unit is one of the major NRAO activities; for all ALMA > accounts the business unit is the same: 701. > > Object Class is the type of expenditure, and should be specified on > all procurements and travel. There are ~60-70 Object Classes, but > for most purposes the simplified version attached is all you will > need. Money is budgeted into 3 of the Object Classes (people, > places, or things), and is spent from one of the other 41. A list of > the official Object Classes is attached. > > Subsidiary is the actual ALMA Work Element number, with a one-to-one > correspondence between the 4-digit Subsidiary Number and a 4-digit > ALMA Work Element Number. A list of the official ALMA Work Elements > (Subsidiaries) is attached, with their funding status for 2003. > > Example: The North American Project orders a new computer. The > account number to charge would be 701.1616.0100 (701 is the ALMA > business unit, 1616 is Computer hardware, and 0100 is the ALMA Work > Element for the North American Project Office). > > Example: Brian Glendenning travels to Germany. The account number > would be 701.1690.2640 (701=ALMA; 1690=Travel-Foreign; 2640=Computing > Subsystem Management)