File contents

1st July 2003 

Present:   MJI, STH, JRL, PSB, DWE

Agenda
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1. Actions from previous minutes
2. Comments on recent WFAU minutes
3. Work package reports for Q2 review
4. Work package planning for Q3
5. Recent VDFS meeting issues
6. AOB

Minutes
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1. Actions from previous minutes

STH  still needs to contact Sandy Leggett to obtain photometric 
     monitoring data                                                       <<<<

DWE  has tested Ian Bond's software on data with different seeing and offsets.
     This needs to be compared with other methods being tested by JMI
     and MJI.                                                              <<<<

JRL  has placed simulated data (WFCAM headers on CIRSI data) on web (see
     diary page)

STH  has started investigating SDSS (and other) software for generating 
     synthetic data (ongoing)                                              <<<<

DWE  has selected some WFC data to simulate undersampled offset data for 
     interpolation and difference imaging tests. Concern was expressed that
     the data may be too poor seeing quality and that better quality data
     needing less rebinning would be better (ongoing)                      <<<<

MJI  provided web address to DWE in order to obtain above data

PSB  did get hold of the costs for desktop requirements etc. for JRL and STH,
     but not enough time was available before the deadline for these special 
     offers ran out. The cost was about 2k per "package" with an additional 
     1k for an external DDS5 tape drive.  

PSB  the rack mounting of JRL's SUN equipment has been put on hold due to 
MJI  the lack of suitable metal sheet material in the workshop.  Revised 
     completion for this is end of July.  JRL requested that this be done
     before the asbestos lining around heating system is removed from his 
     office (doesn't want asbestos dust getting into the machines, or him). 
     PSB/JRL/MJI need to liaise with the workshop to make sure that this 
     gets done in the correct order.                                       <<<<

STH  has finished setting up photometric standard fields

MJI  has finished the astrometric distortion tests after receiving further
     data from Mark Casali. The results are that shifts within a 10 arcsec
     zone is fine, but anything larger than that will require resampling.

DWE  has released his notes of Edinburgh meeting on the web

MJI  has contacted Andy Lawrence and JPE summarizing our views on converting 
     to ESO-style FITS headers.  JPE will contact Peter Quinn. 

PSB  organized a meeting in Cambridge to sort out outline draft documents

MJI  some Power Point presentations from Edinburgh meeting have been placed
STH  on the web. JRL still needs to place his there.                       <<<<
JRL

ALL  good progress has been made on many of the Q2 work packages 


2. Comments on recent WFAU minutes

A number of issues were raised:

The use of Python by WFAU - this has no impact on CASU and is thus not
really an issue.

LT0-2 drives - there was a general discussion about WFAU's purchase and the
fact that JAC have purchased LTO-1 units.  We need to doublecheck that 
LTO-2 drives can read LTO-1 tapes before purchasing any LTO-2 systems.


3. Work package reports for Q2 review

To save time it was decided for everyone to send "one line" summaries to 
STH on their progress of tasks in the Q2 deliverables list, rather than 
go through them in the meeting.                                            <<<<

Several outstanding issues raised from the Q2 WP deliverables were then
additionally discussed.

Work packages 1.3-1.5 have been completed as far as possible from the CASU
end, but cannot be officially signed off until final joint agreement with 
the ATC, WFAU, and the JAC. This should be noted in some way in the Q2 
report.                                                                    <<<<

All the public documentation needs to be listed in documentation.html and
this VDFS web subspace reorganized.  This should be completed before the 
MCM documents are sent out since many of the deliverables need to accessible
externally.  Internal documents also need to have a similar page set up. 
DWE to organize                                                            <<<<

It was agreed that calling the current state of the VISTA documents 2.1,
2.2, 2.3 "outline drafts" rather than "first drafts" was a reasonable 
policy in the light of short lead time for these tasks and concommittant 
recent change in the deliverable dates for the VDFS software PDR.

It was suggested that the comparison between manual and automatic processing
be deferred until real WFCAM data was available. STH will email SJW to see 
if he agrees with this idea. If not SJW will be encouraged to provide some 
suitable test data.                                                        <<<<

It was agreed that remaining issues should be done off-line since STH 
wanted detailed answers from specific people.


4. Work package planning for Q3

The following tasks were noted during the meeting the remainder will
be organised offline:

Management WP spreadsheets, risk assessments (eg. powercuts, theft -
see AOB), and Gantt charts need updating for Q3.                           <<<<

The real first draft of the ESO (VISTA) documents (2.1,2.2,2.3) will 
need to be finished in time for the September (internal) camera 
software status review meeting at RAL.

Several VDSF ESO deliverables depend on WP 2.5 the DID (ie. FITS header 
specification etc.).  This WP needs to be brought forward and started in 
Q3 with a goal to have a first draft of this document by the September
meeting since it also impacts on the camera FDR.  The consensus is that
this is a VDFS task with contributions from the telescope and instrument
teams.

The Q3 plan needs to be finalised by Thursday. For this we all need to 
propose deliverables for Q3 in the light of Q2 results and experience
and send to STH by lunchtime Wednesday.                                    <<<<


5. Recent VDFS meeting issues

The report PSB wrote on the recent VDFS meeting should be placed in the
documents directory.                                                       <<<<

Several relevant issues were highlighted as a result of this meeting
that require further action:

the urgent need for a draft DID document (see above);

the predicted astrometric distortion is not available yet to CASU and 
WJS was asked to chase up the necessary information to enable dither 
offsets/resmpling issues to be addressed;

PSB asked about the difference between ESO and UK pipeline requirements 
for VISTA.  The information was required so that we can sensibly plan 
both the VDFS ESO documentation and also highlight any VISTA-specific 
pipeline and archive requirements not covered by the current WFCAM-driven 
plan.  MJI will raise the above issue at the upcoming management meeting;  <<<<

PSB still needs to know which parts of the science case and user 
requirements are specific to the NIR camera only.  An updated VDFS
UR doc is needed in time for the camera software status review.

Clarification was sought about the term super-resolution (used in some 
of the VISTA documentation). This was felt to be misleading since additional
resolution will not be the outcome, rather improved sampling.  This would
be a less evocative term to use.

In the light of various comments made at the VDFS meeting MJI suggested 
that there was a need to improve liaison between the VISTA IR camera 
development team and CASU.  To facilitate communication between the groups 
he has forwarded the WFCAM "concerns/issues" document to them via WJS.

PSB noted that he has recently obtained the most recent draft IR Camera
Software Functional Specification document and would place it in the CASU 
internal web pages                                                         <<<<


6. AOB

UPS: is there a need for a UPS for our system? The general feeling was that
there was not. UPS systems can be large and expensive. PSB pointed out that 
the power from a UPS system can even be less reliable than that from the 
mains. It was decided that power cuts (causing downtime and possible loss of 
equipment) should be added to the risk assessment and possible theft of 
machines should also be included.                                      

Grant status: Paul Aslin has received a letter announcing the grant from 
PPARC and he is in the process of checking the details.


Continuing actions
------------------

STH  contact Sandy Leggett to obtain photometric monitoring data

DWE  compare the three software packages for differencing imaging
MJI    

STH  investigate SDSS (and other) software for generating synthetic data

DWE  use WFC data to simulate undersampled offset data for interpolation
     and difference imaging tests
     
PSB  liaise with the workshop to make sure that the rack mounting of JRL's 
JRL  SUN equipment happens before his office upheaval.
MJI  

JRL  place Power Point presentation from Edinburgh meeting on the web.


New actions
------------

STH  update management WP spreadsheets; update risk assessments to include 
     power cuts (downtime and equipment loss) and theft; and update
     Gantt charts

ALL  send one line summaries to STH on the progress made in the Q2 work 
     packages list

DWE  list all the public documentation in documentation.html and carry out
     a reorganization (by Thursday afternoon).  Also do similar 
     reorganization of internal documents.

STH  email SJW to see if he agrees with the idea of deferring the comparison 
     between manual and automatic processing until real data is available
     (or get him to suggest some suitable data for intercomparison)

PSB  place VISTA PDFs (softlinks) in docs subdirectory

JRL  place CIRDR documentation (softlinks) in docs subdirectory

ALL  email suggested Q3 deliverables (to STH) by lunchtime Wednesday.

PSB  place VDFS meeting report in docs subdirectory

MJI  ask about the difference between ESO and UK requirements for VISTA
     at the forthcoming management meeting.

PSB  put document from the VISTA IR camera development team in docs subdir