From awootten at nrao.edu Mon Mar 4 16:59:38 2002 From: awootten at nrao.edu (Al Wootten) Date: Mon, 04 Mar 2002 16:59:38 -0500 Subject: [asac]ASAC Face-to-face Meeting Message-ID: <3C83EE49.6F5BC86A@nrao.edu> Dear ALMA Division Head, or IPT Lead, or ASAC Member, For your information, I append the agenda for the ALMA Science Advisory Committee meeting upcoming in Tokyo. If you are on the agenda, you have indicated your probable attendance to me or to one of the ASAC executives; this email is to provide the latest revision of the agenda including, at the end, the form to send in to obtain a hotel reservation from our hosts in Tokyo. I'm looking forward to a productive meeting. Clear skies, Al -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From awootten at NRAO.EDU Tue Mar 5 14:13:45 2002 From: awootten at NRAO.EDU (Al Wootten) Date: Tue, 5 Mar 2002 14:13:45 -0500 (EST) Subject: [asac]Telecon Weds 6 March 2002 Message-ID: <200203051913.OAA00874@polaris.cv.nrao.edu> Folks, Here is the information necessary for attending tomorrow's meeting. URL of hyperlinked agenda: http://www.cv.nrao.edu/~awootten/mmaimcal/asac/asacmar02agenda.html ALMA Science Advisory Committee Draft Agenda for ASAC Telecon Weds 6 March 2002 Conference Date: March-6-2002 (Wednesday) Here's the dial-in information for the telecon: CALL TIME: Time: 09:30 AM EASTERN TIME 1430 Universal Time CALL DATE: MAR-06-2002 (Wednesday) DURATION: 1 hr USA Toll Free #: 888-456-0323 International #: +1-712-257-3654 PASSCODE: 17716 LEADER: Al Wootten Agenda items so far include: Old Business (1) Please approve the minutes of the February Meeting. New Business (1) Project status report (Rafal, Brown, Kurz) (2) Agenda for face-to-face meeting (Blake, Cox, Fukui) (3) Status of ASAC Charter (Blake, Evans) (4) Next teleconference (Blake) The next teleconference is nominally 3 April at 1430 UT -Al From awootten at NRAO.EDU Tue Mar 5 15:30:42 2002 From: awootten at NRAO.EDU (Al Wootten) Date: Tue, 5 Mar 2002 15:30:42 -0500 (EST) Subject: [asac]Charge to the ASAC Approved by the ACC Message-ID: <200203052030.PAA05665@polaris.cv.nrao.edu> Folks, The text of the Charge to the ASAC approved by the ACC has been placed at: http://www.cv.nrao.edu/~awootten/mmaimcal/asac/approvedchargetotheasac.htm and linked to the agenda just now. This is not the Charter presented to the ACC by the ASAC in early 2000; having only seen this approved document today I had thought that what was approved was the ASAC version. I apologize for any confusion. Clear skies, Al From soliver at NRAO.EDU Wed Mar 6 12:55:39 2002 From: soliver at NRAO.EDU (Stacy Oliver) Date: Wed, 6 Mar 2002 10:55:39 -0700 Subject: [asac][almanews] ALMA Memo 410 Released Message-ID: ALMA Memo #410 Designing and Prototyping of 2-4 GHz Bandpass SiGe Digitizers and Associated Test Equipment for the ALMA Project. I Alain Baudry 1, David Deschans 2,1, Jean-Baptiste Begueret 2, Yann Deval 2, Pascal Fouillat 2, Guy Montignac 1, Olivier Gentaz 3, Marc Torres 3 1 Observatoire de Bordeaux, BP 89 33270, Floirac, France 2 Laboratoire IXL, Universit? de Bordeaux, 351 cours de la Lib?ration, 33405 Talence, France 3 Universit? de Grenoble, IRAM, 300 rue de la Piscine, 38406 Saint Martin d'H?res, France February 20, 2002 Keywords : fast digitizers, demultiplexers, digitizer test equipment In this first paper we describe the approach followed to design and experimentally test the high speed and broad band analog-to-digital converters (ADC's or digitizers) required for the ALMA project. Our prototypes are based on monolithic digitizers implemented in a BiCMOS 0.35 or 0.25 ?m SiGe process with 3 or 8 quantization levels and 4 giga samples per second rate for an input signal from 2 to 4 GHz under full Nyquist condition. We have adopted a conventional flash converter architecture to design three different 2-bit digitizers and one 3-bit digitizer. The experimental results obtained with our first 2-bit digitizer ASIC show that sinusoidal input signals are properly sampled for clock rates up to 4.9 GHz. The design details and high dynamic range tests of our ADC's will be reported in forthcoming papers. A specific digitizer test equipment providing the auto-correlation and spectral analysis of the digitized signal has been developed to characterize our designs and provide the necessary feedback to the ASIC design team. It includes a broad band noise generator, a demultiplexing unit following the digitizer under test, a 16-lag auto-correlator, and FFT and display units. This equipment will also play a major role at the pre-production stage and for qualification/acceptance at the production stage. We suggest that the demultiplexing scheme developed for the digitizer test equipment could be used as a basis for multi-bit synchronization of the demultiplexed signal in front of the ALMA fiber optic transmitter system. View a pdf version of ALMA Memo 410. http://www.alma.nrao.edu/memos/html-memos/alma410/memo410.pdf Download a zipped postscript version of ALMA Memo 410. http://www.alma.nrao.edu/memos/html-memos/alma410/memo410.ps.gz _______________________________________________ Almanews mailing list Almanews at listmgr.cv.nrao.edu http://listmgr.cv.nrao.edu/mailman/listinfo/almanews From soliver at NRAO.EDU Wed Mar 13 11:29:10 2002 From: soliver at NRAO.EDU (Stacy Oliver) Date: Wed, 13 Mar 2002 09:29:10 -0700 Subject: [asac][almanews] ALMA Memo 412 Released Message-ID: ALMA MEMO #412 "68.5 to 118 GHz Measurements of Possible Infrared Filter Materials: Black Polyethylene, Zitex, and Grooved and Un-Grooved Fluorogold and HDPE" G. A. Ediss and D. Koller/NRAO-CV March 11, 2002 Keywords: time domain measurements, infrared filter materials, multilayer filters For the ALMA production test receivers at present being designed in the NRAO CDL, there is a need for infrared filters to reduce the thermal loading. One possibility is to use a plastic material which has reasonable absorption or scattering for the infrared wavelengths but low loss at the signal wavelengths. Black polyethylene (polyethylene with carbon filler) [1, 2], Zitex (expanded PTFE) [3], and Fluorogold (a glass-filled Teflon) [4] have been suggested as such materials. Measurements at 68.5-118 GHz with an HP8510 have been made on room temperature samples and multilayer filters (which were also measured at liquid nitrogen temperature). Measurements of grooved HDPE are also reported (which resolve an inconsistency in our earlier measurements [5]). View a pdf version of ALMA Memo 412. http://www.alma.nrao.edu/memos/html-memos/alma412/memo412.pdf Download a postscript version of ALMA Memo 412. http://www.alma.nrao.edu/memos/html-memos/alma412/memo412.ps _______________________________________________ Almanews mailing list Almanews at listmgr.cv.nrao.edu http://listmgr.cv.nrao.edu/mailman/listinfo/almanews From lucas at iram.fr Fri Mar 15 03:04:47 2002 From: lucas at iram.fr (Robert Lucas) Date: Fri, 15 Mar 2002 09:04:47 +0100 Subject: [asac]ALMA AIPS++ test progress report Message-ID: <3C91AB1F.DDA57169@iram.fr> to ASAC members: Please find attached the provisional report on the alma/aips++ test. Best regards Robert -- Robert LUCAS, Institut de Radioastronomie Millimetrique 300 rue de la Piscine, F-38406 St Martin d'Heres Cedex (FRANCE) Tel +33 (0)4 76 82 49 42 Fax +33 (0)4 76 51 59 38 E-mail: mailto:lucas at iram.fr http://iram.fr/~lucas/ From lucas at iram.fr Fri Mar 15 04:06:24 2002 From: lucas at iram.fr (Robert Lucas) Date: Fri, 15 Mar 2002 10:06:24 +0100 Subject: [asac]ALMA AIPS++ test progress report Message-ID: <3C91B990.1103BF66@iram.fr> to ASAC members: Please find attached (this time) the provisional report on the alma/aips++ test. Best regards Robert -- Robert LUCAS, Institut de Radioastronomie Millimetrique 300 rue de la Piscine, F-38406 St Martin d'Heres Cedex (FRANCE) Tel +33 (0)4 76 82 49 42 Fax +33 (0)4 76 51 59 38 E-mail: mailto:lucas at iram.fr http://iram.fr/~lucas/ -------------- next part -------------- STATUS REPORT: OFF-LINE DATA PROCESSING RE-USE ANALYSIS DEMO A. Kemball (NRAO) and R. Lucas (IRAM) March, 2002 1. Overview This update summarizes the current status of the ALMA-AIPS++ re-use analysis test, currently underway through the end of April 2002. 2. Test objectives The objectives posed for the test, excerpted from the original memorandum, are as follows: "... i) How AIPS++ can be adapted to reduce data of an instrument for which it was not originally designed ? ii) How long is the learning curve for developers who have sufficient experience in the processing of millimeter data, but no experience at all of the AIPS++ programming environment ? iii) Can we perform an end-to-end experiment on actual, real-life millimeter-wave spectroscopic data ? ..." This is a collaborative effort between AIPS++ and ALMA computing, represented by participating staff from IRAM, NRAO/AIPS++ and ESO/ALMA. The test runs through the end of April 2002, in two phases. Phase I is concerned with reduction of a specific spectral-line IRAM Plateau de Bure interferometer dataset in AIPS++, and Phase II involves the reduction of other similar datasets by scientists familiar with IRAM reduction using the AIPS++ data reduction tools resulting from the Phase I work. A potential Phase III, concerning AIPS++ performance evaluation for large arrays, is under negotiation to start after Phase II. 3. Current status The following items have been completed in the test: i) We agreed upon an export FITS format for un-calibrated uv-data from the IRAM interferometer at Plateau de Bure, namely the ALMA test-interferometer data format (Lucas and Glendenning 2001; ALMA Computing Memo. 15), which was reviewed and accepted. ii) A representative IRAM interferometer dataset was selected for Phase I of the test. These data include HCO+ (J=1-0) and 13CO J=2-1 spectroscopic observations at 89 GHz and 210 GHz towards GG Tauri. The principal investigator on these observations was Stephane Guilloteau (IRAM project G067). The data were taken on several different dates in 1997. iii) The representative dataset was reduced in CLIC/GILDAS by IRAM, and intermediate and final calibration and imaging results were made available to AIPS++. iv) AIPS++ installed a build of the CLIC/GILDAS software system at NRAO, with assistance from IRAM, who also provided guidance in reducing IRAM interferometer data in CLIC. v) AIPS++ examined the algorithms in CLIC/GILDAS relevant to the test. There were extensive, helpful discussions between AIPS++ and IRAM regarding the details of how these algorithms are implemented in CLIC/GILDAS, and how they are routinely used in Plateau de Bure data reduction. The primary new algorithms which were required in AIPS++ are primarily concerned with the selection of radiometrically corrected or uncorrected data, and polynomial solutions for both the bandpass response and amplitude and phase solutions over time (as opposed to traditional self-calibration in separate frequency or time bins). vi) An important part of this test has been personal interaction on the technical details involved in the test. NRAO and IRAM have hosted reciprocal visits during the course of the test thus far, as follows: a) Dominique Broguiere (IRAM) visited NRAO in Socorro from September 9-22, 2001; b) Kumar Golap (NRAO/AIPS++) visited IRAM from November 27th to December 8th, 2001, and spent one day (December 10th) at Observatoire de Paris; c) Athol Kemball (NRAO/AIPS++) and Kumar Golap (NRAO/AIPS++) visited IRAM from February 6th to March 5th, 2002, and Observatoire de Paris on March 6th. vii) The partners in the test have also worked together on sharing information on development within AIPS++. This has included assistance with configuring an AIPS++ build at IRAM, informal instruction on development using the AIPS++ library and the contents of the library, and short programming tasks related to the test. AIPS++ code resulting from the test have been distributed to the partners and this effort will continue with more specific programming descriptions of the various changes in AIPS++ specific to the IRAM reduction. viii) As an example of code re-use, the atmosphere model of J. Cernicharo et al., as implemented as ATM in CLIC/GILDAS, was integrated into AIPS++ as a tool available at the command line. ix) A filler was developed by AIPS++ to read and process the ALMA-TI FITS export data format and convert it into the native AIPS++ uv-data format. No major data format changes in AIPS++ were required, but the on-site radiometrically corrected data were added as an instrument-specific column in the AIPS++ dataset. This is within the guidelines for the AIPS++ data format, which accommodates many diverse telescopes in a common core format, with instrument-specific extensions as required. x) The CLIC task PHCOR 0 was implemented in AIPS++ as a Glish script. This selects between radiometrically corrected and uncorrected data based on the CLIC quality metric. xi) The Chebyshev and spline polynomial fitting applications for bandpass (RF), and phase (PHAS) and amplitude (AMP) solution versus time were implemented within AIPS++ in C++, re-using the FORTRAN fitting kernel from CLIC/GILDAS. xii) The flux-density scale computation performed by CLIC task FLUX was implemented in AIPS++ as a Glish script. xiii) No major changes in the AIPS++ imaging software have proved necessary for the test thus far, although some small defects were corrected in channel selection, made visible by the IRAM data. The Phase I dataset has been filled into AIPS++ from ALMA-TI, a bandpass has been solved and applied using the RF algorithm, and a phase solution determined and applied using the PHAS algorithm. A resulting AIPS++ image is very close to that produced by CLIC, but quantitative comparisons are underway at present, both of the final image and intermediate calibration solutions. The calibration solutions are very close by visual inspection. xiv) A full report on Phase I and Phase II is under joint preparation by Athol Kemball (NRAO) and Robert Lucas (IRAM) within an agreed outline which will address all questions posed for the test, as listed above. 4. Current work The current focus is on completing the packaging and user interface to the Phase I tools in AIPS++, as a tool called "clic". The user interface and users guide for this tool will need to be complete before Phase II. Final test of AMP and PHCOR non-zero as well as phase-transfer from 3mm to 1mm are being concluded at present with the code that has already been developed for this purpose. Further reciprocal visits are planned in April to continue Phase II, and to continue the AIPS++ development training and related discussions, as well as complete the final report due at the end of April. From awootten at NRAO.EDU Fri Mar 15 10:25:24 2002 From: awootten at NRAO.EDU (Al Wootten) Date: Fri, 15 Mar 2002 10:25:24 -0500 (EST) Subject: [asac]ASAC Agenda and Reading List Message-ID: <200203151525.KAA21844@polaris.cv.nrao.edu> Folks There have been some changes in the schedule for the evening of 19 March. Hasegawa-san reports: "...there will be an opportunity for lab visit in the evening of 19th --- in parallel with the meeting with the press. march 19 17:30 - 18:30 Lab visit (Development of ASTE receivers, ALMA cartridge test cryostat, etc.) 18:30 - Reception dinner Cherry blossoms are in buds, and you will see some of them coming out next week." I have added this to the agenda. Neal submitted the report of the operations group, which has been added to the reading list. At his suggestion, I also added links to the reports which the ASAC considered in September. Two reports from Wolfgang Wild have been added. A link to V5.5 of the Project Book has been added. There is some new material which is recognizable by the recent date. The schedule of ALMA Week is also included FYI. I have had offers of material on: aips++ NA receiver status which are expected today and will be linked to the agenda in a similar fashion. See you in Tokyo 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 Fri Mar 15 11:50:29 2002 From: awootten at nrao.edu (Al Wootten) Date: Fri, 15 Mar 2002 11:50:29 -0500 Subject: [asac]ASAC Tokyo Agenda Message-ID: <3C922655.8B5F7959@nrao.edu> http://www.cv.nrao.edu/~awootten/mmaimcal/asac/asactokyoagendav1.3.html -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From soliver at NRAO.EDU Mon Mar 18 15:14:04 2002 From: soliver at NRAO.EDU (Stacy Oliver) Date: Mon, 18 Mar 2002 13:14:04 -0700 Subject: [asac][almanews] ALMA Memo 413 Released Message-ID: ALMA Memo #413 PHYSICAL PARAMETERS OF THE CHAJNANTOR SCIENCE PRESERVE A.Otarola (ESO), D.Hofstadt (ESO), S.J.E. Radford (NRAO), S. Sakamoto (NAOJ/NRO) 03/18/2002 Keywords: seismicity, volcanism, geology, hidro-geology, resistivity Abstract: This document summarises previous studies of several physical parameters of the Chajnantor and Pampa La Bola sites: seismicity and volcanic hazard, geology, water availability, underground temperature fluctuations, and soil resistivity. Other parameters, such as the availability and quality of aggregates, the underground water supply potential, and the detailed characteristics of the weathering layer remains to be studied. View a pdf version of ALMA Memo 413. http://www.alma.nrao.edu/memos/html-memos/alma413/memo413.pdf _______________________________________________ Almanews mailing list Almanews at listmgr.cv.nrao.edu http://listmgr.cv.nrao.edu/mailman/listinfo/almanews From soliver at NRAO.EDU Tue Mar 26 11:22:30 2002 From: soliver at NRAO.EDU (Stacy Oliver) Date: Tue, 26 Mar 2002 09:22:30 -0700 Subject: [asac][almanews] ALMA Memo 414 Released Message-ID: ALMA Memo #414 An SPI Bus Implementation of a Bootloader for the PIC16F87x Dave Brown (University of Manchester, JBO) 2002/03/25 Keywords: PIC, AMBSII, SPI Bus, M&C Bus. Abstract: The latest family of PIC microcontrollers are able to write to their own program memory space. This allows a small bootloaader program to receive new program code over the SPI bus (which is normally used to communicate with the M&C bus). This bootloader program resides in the protected area at the top of memory and is invoked by a special form of reset. This facility is useful in the debug and test phases as only a single connection is required to the test host. It could also be used in the field to allow reprogramming without powering down and removing cards. This would need additional software in the M&C bus controller and the AMBSI and would require rigorous safeguards against accidental programming. View a pdf version of ALMA Memo 414. http://www.alma.nrao.edu/memos/html-memos/alma414/memo414.pdf Download a postscript version of ALMA Memo 414. http://www.alma.nrao.edu/memos/html-memos/alma414/memo414.ps _______________________________________________ Almanews mailing list Almanews at listmgr.cv.nrao.edu http://listmgr.cv.nrao.edu/mailman/listinfo/almanews From awootten at NRAO.EDU Fri Mar 29 03:44:54 2002 From: awootten at NRAO.EDU (Al Wootten) Date: Fri, 29 Mar 2002 03:44:54 -0500 (EST) Subject: [asac]Draft of ASAC Report Message-ID: <200203290844.DAA25233@polaris.cv.nrao.edu> Easter Greetings to all. I have placed a preliminary agenda for the telecon 3 April at 1430 UT including links to the report at http://www.cv.nrao.edu/~awootten/mmaimcal/asac/asacapr02agenda.html Additional items for the agenda, corrections, etc. welcomed. -Al Note from Geoff Blake: Hello All, Al will be mounting the draft of the report in a variety of formats, both LaTeX and printer friendly options will be available. To everyone who wrote sections for the report on such a short timescale, you have my very sincere thanks. Pierre still needs to insert the RSC section and recommendations, but the remainder of the report is done in draft form. It was put together quickly, so please look things over carefully. I will be out of touch until next Friday the 5th, so please send along comments to Pierre. If you want to edit the LaTeX file, it probably would be good to agree on a convention to keep things straight, arbitrarily I'd use something like report_gab.tex that is, sort things by your initials. The executive summary will need to go to the ACC by the 5th, the report the following Monday the 8th. Thanks again. Sincerely, Geoff __________________________________________________________________________ Geoffrey A. Blake; Professor of Cosmochemistry & Planetary Science, Professor of Chemistry, and Deputy Director, Owens Valley Radio Observatory gab at gps.caltech.edu Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences tel. 626.395.6296 California Institute of Technology, MS 150-21 fax. 626.585.1917 Pasadena, CA 91125 http://www.gps.caltech.edu/~gab/ __________________________________________________________________________