From awootten at NRAO.EDU  Mon Feb  4 09:49:33 2002
From: awootten at NRAO.EDU (Al Wootten)
Date: Mon, 4 Feb 2002 09:49:33 -0500 (EST)
Subject: [asac]Minutes of January Meeting.
Message-ID: <200202041449.JAA18890@polaris.cv.nrao.edu>

Folks

The next ASAC telecon, probably the last before the face-to-face meeting,
will be held 6 Feb at 1430UT.  An agenda and phone number will be circulated
shortly.  Minutes of the last meeting, thanks to Peter Shaver, may be found at:
http://www.cv.nrao.edu/~awootten/mmaimcal/asac/asacjan02minutes.html

Clear skies,
Al
+--------------------------------------------------------+
| Alwyn  Wootten   (http://www.cv.nrao.edu/~awootten/)	 |
| Project Scientist, Atacama Large Millimeter Array/US   |
| Astronomer, National Radio Astronomy Observatory       |        
| 520 Edgemont Road, Charlottesville, VA 22903-2475, USA |
| (434)-296-0329 voice             Help us build The ALMA|        
| (434)-296-0278 FAX               {>    {>    {>    {>  |
+----------------------------------^-----^-----^-----^---+


From soliver at NRAO.EDU  Mon Feb  4 12:33:58 2002
From: soliver at NRAO.EDU (Stacy Oliver)
Date: Mon, 4 Feb 2002 10:33:58 -0700
Subject: [asac][almanews] ALMA Memo 408 Released
Message-ID: <BMEMJIODJJCHEPGJLCCFGEMICBAA.soliver@nrao.edu>

ALMA Memo #408

Geotechnical Study Chajnantor Site, II Region, Chile
Nobeyama Radio Observatory

Luis Rojas (Geo Ambiental Consultores Ltda.)

March 2000

The present Report is written by Geo Ambiental Consultores Ltda. and
summarizes the
geotechnical study of the Nobeyama Radio Observatory Authority Chajnantor
Site in
the II Region, Chile.
The site is a fairly flat area (pampa) at high altitude (approximately 5,000
m above sea
level), located at the foot of the Chajnantor and Chasc?n Mountains, not far
from The
Jama Pass International Road, about 80 km from the town of San Pedro de
Atacama.
The Nobeyama Radio Observatory Authority plans to install an array of large
parabolic
antennas at the site. Thus, the foundation engineers require the
geotechnical
characteristics of the subsurface for their design work. The NRO
representatives
indicated a total of six locations to drill and investigate.
The following Sections summarize the field and laboratory work developed for
the project,
give a geological description for the area and indicate the design
parameters requiered for
the development of the infrastructure for the antennas at the six locations.
Finally, the
Consultant makes recommendations for future developments in the area of the
study.
Boring logs and photographs of the rock cores are presented in the Appendix.


View a pdf version of ALMA Memo 408.
http://www.alma.nrao.edu/memos/html-memos/alma408/memo408.pdf

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From awootten at NRAO.EDU  Tue Feb  5 14:24:00 2002
From: awootten at NRAO.EDU (Al Wootten)
Date: Tue, 5 Feb 2002 14:24:00 -0500 (EST)
Subject: [asac]Telecon Tomorrow 6 Feb 2002 1430 UT.
Message-ID: <200202051924.OAA24901@polaris.cv.nrao.edu>

Folks,

Please see the agenda at:
http://www.cv.nrao.edu/~awootten/mmaimcal/asac/asacfeb02agenda.html

There is a hyperlink to the agenda for the face-to-face meeting for us
to discuss.

Clear skies,
Al


From tetsuo.hasegawa at nao.ac.jp  Tue Feb  5 19:46:03 2002
From: tetsuo.hasegawa at nao.ac.jp (Tetsuo Hasegawa)
Date: Wed, 6 Feb 2002 09:46:03 +0900
Subject: [asac]March ASAC Meeting - Science Day Plan
Message-ID: <p04320402b88627fcda57@[133.40.220.214]>

Dear ASAC members,

Geoff, Pierre, Yasuo, and myself have made up a draft plan of the Science 
Day associated with the Tokyo ASAC meeting in March as attached.  We would 
like to hear your comments on it at the teleconf this week.

With best,

Tetsuo

***************

<ALMA Science Day - General Lecture Associated with ASAC>

Date: afternoon of March 21 (Thu) - Japanese holiday to celebrate equinox
Venue: A hall with 300 seats in the National Museum of Emerging Science and 
Innovation has been tentatively reserved.
This new museum opened in July 2001 at the Tokyo waterfront will co-host 
the Lecture session.
http://www.miraikan.jst.go.jp/

The main target of the session will be general public with interest in 
science, older than 15 or so (up to 60s or even older!).  Families visiting 
the museum on that day can drop in if they get interested.

The session may be composed of two parts.

Part 1: Lecture Session (90 min total)
Three speakers from Japan, North America, and Europe will give talks.
First, the Japanese speaker describes in Japanese the ALMA project and 
introduces an example of science with ALMA.  Then, the North American and 
European speakers give lecture on the current understanding in Galactic and 
extragalactic astronomy and the exciting prospect with ALMA.  The talks are 
not meant to cover the entire scope of ALMA science, but they should 
highlight a few topics that are of greatest interest to the public.  The 
talks are given in English followed by Japanese translation page by page 
(of viewgraphs/PowerPoint).  We need to nominate the speakers.  The 
candidates are, Yasuo Fukui, Goeff Blake, and Pierre Cox.

Part 2: Discussion Session (60-90 min)
After a short break, we will have a discussion session.  We will have the 
former speakers and a few more ASAC members on stage, picking up various 
questions from the audience written in question sheets and collected during 
the break, or taking questions in real time from the floor.  Most questions 
will be made in Japanese.  A Japanese ASAC member will serve as a 
translator.  A possibility of inviting the director of the museum Dr. 
Mouri, who is a famous astronaut, on stage is being sought.  If he can 
join, a part of the discussion session will be in a panel discussion style 
with short speeches followed by discussion among the panellers on a variety 
of topics.
-- 
_______________________________________________________________
Tetsuo HASEGAWA, D. Sc.   <tetsuo.hasegawa at nao.ac.jp>
ALMA-J Project Scientist
Professor, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan
2-21-1 Osawa, Mitaka, Tokyo 181-8588, Japan
Phone +81-422-34-3780 / FAX +81-422-34-3764
_______________________________________________________________


From awootten at NRAO.EDU  Wed Feb 13 12:08:55 2002
From: awootten at NRAO.EDU (Al Wootten)
Date: Wed, 13 Feb 2002 12:08:55 -0500 (EST)
Subject: [asac]ALMA in the FY2003 budget proposal
Message-ID: <200202131708.MAA04028@polaris.cv.nrao.edu>

Folks

As you heard in the ASAC telecon, there are words about ALMA in the Budget 
proposed by the Executive Branch of the US government to Congress last week.
Some have expressed interest in them so I will pass along links unearthed by
Simon Radford for your possible interest:

There is a summary in which ALMA is mentioned as a wonderful thing,
http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/fy2003/pdf/bud28.pdf (page 7)

ALMA funding profile, metaschedule, etc.
http://www.nsf.gov/bfa/bud/fy2003/nar_mrefc.htm

$ 30 M in FY 03, $ 51 M in FY04 

Clear skies,
Al
+--------------------------------------------------------+
| Alwyn  Wootten   (http://www.cv.nrao.edu/~awootten/)	 |
| Project Scientist, Atacama Large Millimeter Array/US   |
| Astronomer, National Radio Astronomy Observatory       |        
| 520 Edgemont Road, Charlottesville, VA 22903-2475, USA |
| (434)-296-0329 voice             Help us build The ALMA|        
| (434)-296-0278 FAX               {>    {>    {>    {>  |
+----------------------------------^-----^-----^-----^---+



From awootten at NRAO.EDU  Tue Feb 19 15:22:09 2002
From: awootten at NRAO.EDU (Al Wootten)
Date: Tue, 19 Feb 2002 15:22:09 -0500 (EST)
Subject: [asac]V1.2 of agenda for Tokyo meeting.
Message-ID: <200202192022.PAA17696@polaris.cv.nrao.edu>

Folks,

At its telecon today, the ACC approved the ASAC Charter proposed last year
without comment.

The agenda has been updated to include suggestions from the last ASAC meeting.
Please see:
http://www.cv.nrao.edu/~awootten/mmaimcal/asac/asactokyoagendav1.2.html

Wild has proposed that the separate talks by Cunningham and himself be
welded into one; I plan to make that alteration.  What else?

Proto-minutes of the last meeting (I need to supply some material) are at:
http://www.cv.nrao.edu/~awootten/mmaimcal/asac/asacfeb02minutes.html

Clear skies,
Al
+--------------------------------------------------------+
| Alwyn  Wootten   (http://www.cv.nrao.edu/~awootten/)	 |
| Project Scientist, Atacama Large Millimeter Array/US   |
| Astronomer, National Radio Astronomy Observatory       |        
| 520 Edgemont Road, Charlottesville, VA 22903-2475, USA |
| (434)-296-0329 voice             Help us build The ALMA|        
| (434)-296-0278 FAX               {>    {>    {>    {>  |
+----------------------------------^-----^-----^-----^---+


From soliver at NRAO.EDU  Wed Feb 20 16:23:17 2002
From: soliver at NRAO.EDU (Stacy Oliver)
Date: Wed, 20 Feb 2002 14:23:17 -0700
Subject: [asac][almanews] ALMA Memo 409 Released
Message-ID: <BMEMJIODJJCHEPGJLCCFKEPMCBAA.soliver@nrao.edu>

ALMA Memo #409

Test Report of the Baseline ALMA Correlator Digital Filter

Ray Escoffier and Jim Pisano (NRAO/Charlottesville)

02/20/2002

Keywords:  correlator, digital filter

The results of tests run on the prototype digital filter printed circuit
card intended for the ALMA correlator are presented.  Passband
performance of the filter for all ALMA modes, as well as stop band
operation for selected modes, is documented.

View a pdf version of ALMA Memo 409.
http://www.alma.nrao.edu/memos/html-memos/alma409/memo409.pdf
_______________________________________________
Almanews mailing list
Almanews at listmgr.cv.nrao.edu
http://listmgr.cv.nrao.edu/mailman/listinfo/almanews


From awootten at NRAO.EDU  Mon Feb 25 15:12:31 2002
From: awootten at NRAO.EDU (Al Wootten)
Date: Mon, 25 Feb 2002 15:12:31 -0500 (EST)
Subject: [asac]Configuration Design Review Report
Message-ID: <200202252012.PAA19473@polaris.cv.nrao.edu>

The Configuration Design Review committee has finished its recommendations.
We submit this to the AEC herewith.

Dear ALMA Configuration Review participant:

We want to thank everyone who has participated in the ALMA Configuration 
Design Review, particularly the committee members.  The Review Committee
has approved a set of recommendations, for which we will give a hyperlink in
the interest of bandwidth conservation.

 The approved committee report:
http://www.cv.nrao.edu/~awootten/mmaimcal/configurationcdrrecs.txt

In the first of its action items, the committee recommended:
The project should appoint a leader of the configuration design 
process as quickly as
possible.  The leader will guide the design process, 
including iteration of the design
with the antenna/transport groups and the site development 
group.  The project will
invest in this leader the resources necessary to be able to 
push the process ahead as a
top priority without distraction from other commitments.

ALMA/EU has arranged for John Conway to join the ALMA Project for the next
two years to assume configuration design leadership role.  On behalf of the
committee, we would like to welcome John.  We're looking forward to an
interesting and collegial discussion of the array as we move toward a
final configuration design.  We anticipate a timely implementation
of the rest of the recommendations of the committee.  

On behalf of the ALMA Project,
Al Wootten 
Stephane Guilloteau






From jconway at oso.chalmers.se  Tue Feb 26 05:14:01 2002
From: jconway at oso.chalmers.se (John Conway)
Date: Tue, 26 Feb 2002 11:14:01 +0100 (CET)
Subject: [asac]Re: [alma-config]Configuration Design Review Report
In-Reply-To: <200202252012.PAA19473@polaris.cv.nrao.edu>
Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.4.10.10202261034380.7035-100000@ebur.oso.chalmers.se>


> 
> ALMA/EU has arranged for John Conway to join the ALMA Project for the next
> two years to assume configuration design leadership role.  On behalf of the
> committee, we would like to welcome John.  We're looking forward to an
> interesting and collegial discussion of the array as we move toward a
> final configuration design.  We anticipate a timely implementation
> of the rest of the recommendations of the committee.  
> 

Hi

 It is clear that there is a lot of effort required on quite a short 
timescale  to meet  the timeline for ALMA configurations outlined in the 
CDR report (compact configuraton by ALMA week at end of April and 
the rest of the design by September). 

 On the other hand most of the ideas and constraints and software are in
place -  due to the combined efforts of all of us over the last few years.
All the elements are there, the final step is to integrate everything
togther to produce a final design. In doing this we will have to 
be pragmatic - this is an engineering problem as much (if not more 
so) than a scientfic one. 

I see my main role as coordinating the effort to produce the final 
design. Namely ..

1) To ensure that all the elements of the array design - compact,
intermediate and large are integrated into one coherent plan.

2) To make sure that the final design is consistent with the 
PDR and CDR recomendations.

3) Act as the contact person for engineering  and site development
in deterimining the interaction/interfaces  with other parts of the 
project- including the important interfaces of transporter design and 
roads and services.

4) Maintain the configuration documentation (including the 
Configuration chapter of the ALMA book which has not been 
updated  for a while).

-- I plan today or tomorrow - to individually phone all those who are 
active in the configurations design to discuss in which role they can
contribute to  making the final design --

 Yours 
  John