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7 January 2004

Present:   MJI, JRL, PSB, DWE, RGM
Apologies: STH

Agenda
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1.   Actions from last meeting
2.   Comments on WFAU minutes
3.   Report from Camera FDR
4.   Update on JAC telecons
5.   Progress with ISAAC reductions
6.   Deliverables for Quarterly report
7.   Tasks for 04Q1
8.   AOB

Minutes
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1.   Actions from last meeting

STH  is continuing to check the photometric standards list for contamination
     by bright stars - ongoing                                             <<<<

STH  the numbering of documents is ongoing, DWE volunteered to help with
     this and will discuss with STH tomorrow                               <<<<

MJI  has placed the list of suggested lab tests on the internal web pages
     (http://www.ast.cam.ac.uk/~wfcam/internal/lab.tests)

JRL  has not finished the reduction of the UFTI service data - ongoing     <<<<

STH  is up-to-date on acquiring the UFTI service data - ongoing            <<<<

STH  checking the spatial systematics in the UFTI standards data and new 
     test data is an ongoing task.                                         <<<<

MJI  have provided JPE with budget requirements for the next VDFS bid and
STH  are providing a current VDFS cost breakdown for Friday's VDMT meeting

MJI  will yet again raise the issue of the VISTA VDFS Science and User 
     Requirements at the Friday management meeting                         <<<<

JRL  is finishing the report on the results of comparisons between UFTI 
     data processed using the Cambridge pipelines and using normal JAC 
     pipeline.  A draft will be available by the Friday meeting            <<<<
	  
JRL  have not yet sent an example WFCAM FITS header and dummy data to 
MJI  Benoit and Adam (due date was 1 Feb, both examples exist but JRL 
     wants to add a document wrapper) ongoing                              <<<<

ALL  sent in Q4m3 monthly reports and 04Q1 deliverables to STH


2.   Comments on WFAU minutes

It was noted from the last minutes received (11 Dec) that WFAU were having
problems with the SATA RAID array. 

It was suggested that if end-to-end network bandwidth is still an issue 
then additional network tests to a third external site (eg. Leicester) 
might be informative. MJI said that he would raise this at the VDMT 
meeting.                                                                   <<<<

PSB asked if the WFCAM camera team had produced a fully fledged dummy 
data file with all the SDF/FITS headers packets in place to enable full
end-to-end tests of the VDFS.  MJI will make further enquiries at the 
VDMT meeting.                                                              <<<<

It was commented upon that our minutes were now being commented on by 
WFAU.  Over to you ......


3.   Report from Camera FDR

PSB reported on the VISTA Camera FDR that was held just before Christmas.
There will be a chairman's report, but it was not clear whether this would
be generally released.

The overall impression was that of satisfaction and that the panel's
questions had been adequately answered.

An attempt to scuttle the inherent simplicity of the full populated MEFs/
compression by hacking out dead bits of arrays was quelled.

PSB raised concerns about the commissioning plan, noting that while
it rightly should have no dependencies on VDFS status, it currently
lacked external input, particularly from CASU.  A key issue is
how the VDFS commissioning will interface with the camera commissioning.
A related issue is continuing to acquire laboratory test data and take 
part in assessing its characteristics.  Both of these are fundmental to
the design/construction of the pipeline.  MJI to raise this at VDMT 
meeting                                                                    <<<<


4.   Update on JAC telecons

There have been two telecons since the last meeting, one on 16 December 
and the other last night (6th January 9.30pm - 10.30pm).

RGM asked about agendas and minutes/notes from these meetings available 
on the web.  It was pointed out that these telecons were intended to be 
informal and that there were no formal minutes as such. The topics to 
be discussed are decided beforehand and kept short so that the meetings 
are focussed. The major items are reported at the CASU meetings and as 
such are then noted in these minutes.

JRL reported that in the December meeting the main topic for discussion
was how to demonstrate that the CASU pipelines perform at least as well 
as UFTI using the Starlink software, hence the report that he is in the 
process of writing. It was also noted that JAC said they were happy 
with CASU's progress with the pipelines.

The telecon held last night (attended by JRL, MJI, AA and PH) mainly
discussed MSB construction.  A draft of the document which contains CASU's 
guidelines for constructing MSBs was presented and discussed (this was
an action from the Oxford UKIDSS meeting with due date mid-January).
After a few small changes incorporated as a result of the telecon, this 
will be updated and sent out to SJW, NCH (and AA, PH) for comment before
being released to the unsuspecting world.                                  <<<<

JRL said that these telecons were working well. The next one is in 3 weeks.
MJI pointed out that the grant needs a hospitality fund to cover these 
events.


5.   Progress with ISAAC reductions

JRL reported that the ISAAC reductions were nearly finished. Reporting on
this was deferred to the next meeting due to the urgency of other items
on his action list.


6.   Deliverables for Quarterly report  
7.   Tasks for 04Q1

These were taken as one item.

RGM raised the issue of changing the format of the quarterly report and
wanted to add additional columns.  MJI said that we've had this format 
for the best part of a year, most people seem happy enough with it, though 
it is admittedly not ideal, and the information he wanted was available 
in the summary Gantt chart anyway.

While dealing with VDFS ESO deliverables etc. there was some discussion
regarding ESO's CPL and QFITS, the documentation for which had been 
released.  There was some concern about a number of aspects such as: 
no WCS routines; lack of Rice tile compression; and the equivalent of only 
very limited boolean confidence maps.  If we are to adopt CPL and QFITS 
(still TBD) these and other issues need raising formally through the WP 
2.2 Data Reduction Specification Document. 

A number of JRL's tasks needed further input from him. He will send the 
information to STH by tomorrow.                                            <<<<

DWE was unclear about how the deliverables had been set out in section 16.
He will discuss this with STH tomorrow.                                    <<<<

MJI and STH will then finalise these documents, iterate on the budgets
and write a summary of 03Q4, in time for Friday's meeting                  <<<<


8.   AOB

MJI said that JPE had written a VDFS milestones document (more of a calendar
of events actually). The main feature being that there appear to be 4 more 
reviews planned within one year for the  VDFS: PDRs and FDRs for both ESO 
and UK aspects of VDFS.  The documentation for the first of these has to be 
ready by the end of this quarter.

It was felt that having 4 more reviews within a year was a tad excessive. 
It was also pointed out that until VDUC was up and running and the VDFS 
Science and User requirements are in place, that there was no point in the 
UK "added value" reviews.

PSB said that there will be a workshop on CPL at ESO sometime in April. 
This might also include QFITS.  Representatives from CASU should attend. 
In order to facilitate discussion PSB and JRL will compose a short
document highlighting missing functionality from CPL/QFITS and set out
the advantages/disadvantages compared to using our own modules + CFITSIO. 
A good starting point would be listing which CFITSIO routines are 
currently used and seeing if there are equivalents in QFITS                <<<<


Continuing Actions
------------------

STH  finish the bright star checking of the photometric standard fields
     
STH  finish off numbering of documents and email authors with the
DWE  appropriate information, with help from DWE
     
JRL  finish reduction of UFTI service data

STH  acquire UFTI service data as it becomes available and oversee UFTI
     reduction and comparison 
     
STH  look at the spatial systematics in the UFTI standards data and new
     test data

MJI  raise issue of the VDFS Science and User Requirements document at
     the Friday management meeting

JRL  finishing report on the results of comparisons between UFTI data 
     processed using Cambridge pipelines and using normal JAC pipeline
	  
JRL  send example WFCAM FITS header and dummy data to Benoit and Adam
MJI  


New Actions
-----------

MJI  suggest to WFAU that if end-to-end network bandwidth is still an issue 
     that they introduce a third site (external) in their network tests

MJI  enquire whether the WFCAM camera team have fully fledged dummy 
     data files with all the SDF/FITS headers packets in place to enable 
     full end-to-end tests of the VDFS

MJI  raise concerns about commissioning plans for VISTA and VDFS at upcoming
     VDMT meeting

MJI  finish draft of MSB design guidelines document and forward to SJW, NCH 
JRL  (and AA, PH) for comments

JRL  supply further deliverables information as necessary to STH

DWE  clarify deliverables set out in Section 16 with STH

MJI  finish quarterly report, next quarter's deliverables and write summary
STH  of quarter in time for upcoming VDMT meeting

PSB  compose a short document highlighting missing functionality from 
JRL  CPL/QFITS and set out advantages/disadvantages compared to using our 
     own modules + CFITSIO.  Present at next CASU meeting