3rd November 2004 Hoyle committee meeting room 10.00 - 13:20 (inc. coffee & lunch - luxury) Present: JRL, PSB, MJI, DWE, STH, EGS, WJS, RGM, NAW Agenda ------ 1. Actions from last meeting 2. Comments on WFAU minutes 3. JAC telecons and WFCAM commissioning 4. ADASS report 5. ESO docs for FDR - in particular ETC & DRLD 6. Report for VDMT meeting 7. Grant application news 8. APM building news 9. AOB CASU report to staff meeting retiring cass38 disks Minutes ------- 1. Actions from last meeting MJI has made some progress in comparing the FIRES project reduced data with ours. The comparison has been simplified by generating CASU catalogues from the FIRES reduced images - this removes any catalog incompatiblity problems. So far the FIRES seeing-weighted stacked images are ~0.2 magnitude deeper than CASU stacked images. MJI will also test a CASU seeing-weighted stacking procedure - ongoing <<<< STH has generated some MSBs for the GCS (about half way through). He will not be doing this for each survey. That is the job of the survey heads - ongoing <<<< JRL says that his solution to the ZPN WCS problem in IRAF is feasible and he is still working on it. At ADASS he had a chat with Frank Valdez who confirmed that what he was proposing was ok - ongoing <<<< MJI has prodded various AstroGrid bods regarding Rice compression. He also drew attention to a good paper on this by Chris Sabbey (1998 PASP, 110, 1067). ALL have recovered their precious data from the tar file from the failed RAID array on apm3, so this can now be deleted. STH has invited Simon Dye to Cambridge next Tuesday. Items for the agenda are 1) the FIRES comparison 2) pipeline development update 3) MSB design 4) commissioning plan STH asked Paul Hirst about spectrophotometry in the NIR who suggested asking Sandy Leggett - ongoing <<<< WJS has forwarded our comments on the SDT document to Martin Folger WJS has not got hold of a copy of the latest SDT document - ongoing <<<< DWE pointed out that in version 0.9 the document number is incorrect and that it should be VIS-SPE-ATC-20000-0011. STH found out from Paul Hirst that you can upload pointing lists directly into the OT of WFCAM. You do not have to use the SDT to do this WJS has not asked if the positions of the two guide stars could be combined to produce a single x,y correction for VISTA - ongoing <<<< MJI has input the maths required for Section 2 of the DRLD STH has not yet generated modified versions of JRL's diagrams. At the same time he needs to review the content - ongoing <<<< JRL understands what needs to go into Section 5 of the DRLD. MJI found out that the version dated 22 April is the most up-to-date version. This will need updating prior to FDR to be consistent with the development plan in the DRLD document. ALL have read through the DRLD document - see item 5. ALL provided comments to STH on ETC document. STH still wanted to know if details regarding scheduling should go in it (see later item). He also said that he had another ETC example (MUSE) which had a lot of detail in it. It was felt that detail regarding expected performance etc. need not go in yet since this was an ETC specification document. EGS informed all on the location of the revamped INT WFC web pages. DWE had sent in some comments. These new pages should now be released. <<<< PSB said that the specification for a Linux version of an ESO workstation was straighforward and just required a DVD drive to load up the software. Having such a workstation would be very useful to help with the DID and in developing the ETC. MJI said that he would raise this issue with JMS. <<<< 2. Comments on WFAU minutes DWE noticed a comment in the minutes of 29/10/04 asking whether the UK VISTA URD had been released or not, since it did not have a full complement of digital signatures. The view held at Cambridge was that the document has not been officially released until it is signed off. MJI said that he would inquire further at the VDMT meeting. <<<< 3. JAC telecons and WFCAM commissioning JRL reported on the last JAC telecon held on 20th October. WFCAM is on the telescope, but the weather is poor. At the moment the tip-tilt mechanism has not been activated. The current schedule is 15/16 November WFCAM will be back on after adjusting the shims. On 29 November the camera will start to be warmed up and then removed from the telescope on 6 December. WFCAM will return on 28 February for the final part of the commissioning ~6 March. It will then remain on until 20 June. The following WFCAM run will be 15 August until the end of 2005. Simon Dye will be going out to Hawaii with JRL for the final part of the November commissioning. JRL noted that we had agreed on a header keyword to show the tracking status of the telescope and that the current value of RADECSYS is hardwired to FK5. This arose in relation to a question regarding input coordinates in B1950. CASU suggested adopting the (IAU standard) ICRS as a general solution to this. Andy Adamson confirmed that no more MSBs had been constructed at that time. STH pointed out that he had volunteered to generate some trial GCS MSBs after consultation with NCH. Look-up tables for the non-linearity effect will be available, but not on a per channel basis. This may be a problem since each channel has its own r/o electronics and ADC. A tape of test data has now arrived in Cambridge (it turned out to be a DAT of pre-commissioning data from ~July). The J sky brightness will be used to assess the sky brightness observing conditions parameter within an MSB. J sky brightness will be measured from the hourly standard fields and can also be approximately estimated from observations in other passbands. Some sky data is available for JRL to test. There is some cross-talk, but possibly very little fringing (TBC when the tape of data arrives here). At the next telecon JRL will ask for a dome flat sequence in order to test linearity. This would be a good use of time if the weather is still poor. <<<< The next JAC telecon will be on Thursday (4 Nov). 4. ADASS report JRL reported on his and PSB's recent trip to ADASS in Pasadena. This was a very productive meeting due to the many conversations had with ESO and IRAF personnel. Talks with Michele Peron confirmed that the proposed FDR deliverables were what was required and helped sort out several issues regarding various parts of the DRLD document. Enfin! JRL now understands what needs to go in Section 5. There was a small amount of feedback on JRL's poster, but unfortunately all posters were only displayed for one day due to limited space. There were also coordination problems in that related posters were displayed in different sessions and did not correspond to the schedule for subjects of talks. NAW said that his poster was displayed the day before his talk, so when he came to advertise the poster it had already been taken down. Talks with Carlo Izzo (GASGANO) gave very good value and provided a lot of advice about the use of CPL. For example, designing around CPL Version 1 and later upgrading to CPL Version 2 would be acceptable. PSB and JRL also arranged for someone from ESO with CPL experience to visit in early December to talk further about CPL issues. 5. ESO docs for FDR - in particular ETC & DRLD ETC: It was thought that the overall structure of the document was fine and that all the necessary sections were there. STH said that JMS and JPE had been sent the latest version of the ETC document. It was also reported that JMI has provided an html mock-up of the ETC interface. There was some discussion about whether observing efficiency should be calculated by the ETC or should it be part of the SDT. Even though there are now only a limited number of likely observing modes (it being deemed perverse to want to change a filter within a tile), it was felt that this should still be calculated within the ETC since the overheads are still an important factor and depend on the exposure time and pattern. STH said that he would need some more information on overheads. WJS volunteered to provide STH with the latest overhead figures (eg. time to change filter etc.) <<<< Some issues regarding the level of detail, for example, the pseudo maths code, that needed to go into this document were still unclear. STH will raise this issue at the VDMT meeting on Friday. <<<< It was felt that the open-ended complexity of the input spectra should be reduced and that this part of the ETC should be kept simple. This would need to be explained in the scope of the ETC document. RIX leftovers: One of the main things left to do is for PSB to redo the templates section in the Calibration Plan following the simplification of the template structure recently written up by Steven Beard <<<< The cascade diagrams also need reviewing. STH was volunteered to do this. <<<< PSB said that Michelle Peron had clarified an issue regarding which version of 1618 was applicable to which documents needed for the FDR. She said that the existing three documents could follow Version 1 of 1618, while the new documents (DRLD, ETC) should follow Version 2. He added that all documents need to be ready by 15 November when there will be an overall review which will include people external to CASU. PSB said that he would work out what else needs reviewing in the short term. <<<< DRLD: PSB reported that MJI and JRL's maths bits have been incorporated. He then listed a number of actions: MJI should proof-read Section 2 <<<< PSB to add the photometric calibration equations (~1 page) from the Calibration Plan document. <<<< STH to think about the diagrams needed for Section 3 (Functional Description) and see PSB and JRL about this. <<<< JRL to write Section 5 (DRL Data Structures) since he is less confused about it than PSB. <<<< PSB to write a skeleton for Section 7 (Data Reduction CPL Plugins) - he will suck the information from the Data Reduction Specification document. <<<< For Section 8 (Validation,...) it was agreed that all that needed to be done was state that simulated data would be provided. There was a bit of a discussion as to whether we should use real data (eg. WFCAM) packaged in a suitable way rather than simulations. It was generally agreed that simulations would be a more sensible option since the known answers can then be tracked through the various processing steps. The structure of Section 9 (Development Plan) seemed fine but needs keeping in step with the revised schedule. When discussing Section 10 (QC1 Parameters), PSB asked how we calculate the various quality control parameters. MJI said that he would write the maths for inclusion into Section 2. <<<< JRL was volunteered to write Section 11 (Data-Processing Table). <<<< MJI said that he would raise the issue of Gavin Dalton's inclusion in the FDR at the VDMT meeting. <<<< 6. Report for VDMT meeting STH said that he wanted the monthly reports in pronto ie. straight after this meeting as the report is due in on Thursday. <<<< STH added that in future a simpler Excel summary spreadsheet might be adopted to show the progress of the work packages. JMS was keen to get this trialled and adopted by 2005. 7. Grant application news MJI reported that the grant bid is just about on target to be in by 15th November. The money from this grant covers the period 2005-2010. The current e-science-II money cover roughly 1/2 of CASU for the period October 2004 - September 2007. Overall there are 10 named indivuals within CASU who will require partial or full support over this period if all the planned activities are to be delivered. There was then some discussion about how much goes into the grant bid to cover the operational running costs of processing the data from successful VST bids. At the moment, this has not been specified. RGM and NAW were asked to provide a half page for inclusion into the grant bid to cover this and other possible future survey-style missions. <<<< 8. APM building news PSB said that he was worried about the possibility of damage being done to the network cable during the building work. This would only affect the Hoyle building! - so clearly no problem then. The scaffolding has gone up and to our knowledge there have been no further delays. The next meeting of the liaison committee will be in about 2 weeks time. 9. AOB The written report about CASU's activities has been handed in and the presentation to the staff meeting will be a week today. So far 21 people have signed up for the CASU Christmas party. There are still a few places left and MJI will welcome getting the deposits off folk, as Jeannette went on a shopping spree with his credit card. JRL said that the data on the cass38 discs has been mirrored and they will be reallocated shortly. Continuing Actions ------------------ MJI continue with comparing FIRES project reduced data by testing a CASU seeing-weighted stacking procedure STH continue investigating and generating MSBs JRL finish solving ZPN WCS problem in IRAF STH investigate what spectrophotometry is available in the NIR to nail the narrowband filter calibration issue (ask Sandy Leggett) WJS provide an up-to-date version of the VISTA SDT document WJS ask if the positions of the two guide stars could be combined to produce a single x,y correction for VISTA STH review and provide diagrams for Section 3 of DRLD document New Actions ----------- EGS release revamped INT WFC web pages MJI ask JMS about DVDs for ESO workstation MJI clarify the status of the VISTA URD at the VDMT meeting JRL ask at the next JAC telecon for a dome flat sequence in order to test linearity WJS provide STH with VISTA overhead timings STH ask at the VDMT meeting about the level of detail needed for the pseudo maths code PSB redo the templates section in the Calibration Plan following the simplification of the template structure STH review the cascade diagrams PSB work out what else needs reviewing in the short term MJI proof-read Section 2 of DRLD PSB add the photometric calibration equations from the Calibration Plan document to the DRLD STH think about the diagrams needed for Section 3 of DRLD and see PSB about this JRL write Section 5 of DRLD PSB write a skeleton for Section 7 (use DRS document) MJI write maths section for calculating the various quality control parameters (Section 2 of DRLD) JRL write Section 11 of DRLD MJI raise the issue of Gavin Dalton's inclusion in the FDR at the VDMT meeting ALL send in monthly reports to STH pronto RGM provide half page section for grant bid covering possible future NAW survey-style missions