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9th March 2005 Hoyle committee room 10.00 - 13:30
Present: PSB, MR, RGM, MJI, DWE, EGS, STH, WJS
Apologies: JRL
Agenda
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1. Actions from last meeting
2. Comments on WFAU minutes
3. Report from VDUC meeting
4. CASU grant review
5. JAC telecons and WFCAM update (photometric standards STH)
6. Report from VDMT meeting
7. APM building update
8. Status of FDR VDFS documents
9. Plans for Open day
10. AstroGrid liaison update
11. AOB
Minutes
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1. Actions from last meeting
MJI has made no further progress in comparing the FIRES project reduced
data with ours but this has a lower priority than other tasks
STH did not produce a picture of the Lockman Hole data yet due to various
defects present such as the "curtaining" and pedestal offsets. STH will
try again with the latest version of the processed data, although this
has a low priority
JRL produced a colour image of the Orion Nebular Cluster data and showed
it at the VDUC meeting.
STH thought that DWE was intending to contact JMS regarding the misdirected
links. This was not the case. STH will contact JMS - ongoing <<<<
MJI has made no further progress on updating the CASU group web pages
entry point. All the information is there and up to date, but a bit of
a makeover is needed. DWE said that he would have a look into this.
He also said that he would get a proper CASU entry point set up. <<<<
EGS has made more progress on the calibration of large WFS surveys. Four
fields/surveys have been calibrated. This needs finishing soon. MJI
and EGS will discuss what further needs doing. <<<<
EGS has written an article for the ING Spring Newsletter. There followed
some discussion on the possible need for a more formal paper to be
written on the WFC surveys.
STH has finished with the diagrams and text describing our various CPUs,
RAID arrays, etc. He will liaise with DWE about placing these on an
internal web page. <<<<
There then followed a discussion on the various backup policies in
place. We were reminded that the 2 RAID arrays on apm2 and apm3 are
backed up only every 6 months. Directories in /home on the Sun systems
are backed up every day. People with their own Linux systems are
responsible for their own backups.
MR has successfully finished the tests for the ESO code that pushes
WFCAM data over to ESO. All problems have been solved and ESO are
happy. At the end of March, beginning of April, some Phase II
commissioning data for the UKIDSS startup surveys will be transferred.
MJI reminded us that in normal operations ESO will only receive the
raw WFCAM UKIDSS data.
JRL not all hope has been lost with the DVD tower. PSB will bring over a
MR Sparcstation, connect it and see if it works again. The intention is
then to read all the data off it onto RAID discs. <<<<
STH wrote an abstract for a poster for the NAM meeting. It looks like the
"New astronomical instrumentation" poster session is full and that we
can present in the generic poster session. Apparently, JPE is giving a
talk at NAM. From CASU (at least) EGS will be attending.
Then came the tricky question of who will write the poster. If we use
JRL's ADASS poster as a basis and grab information from the recent
commissioning reports then it should be reasonable easy. MJI and RGM
said that they would look into this. <<<<
MJI asked JMS about the VISTA Data Dictionary files. These have not been
submitted to ESO.
MJI has asked about the VISTA and VDFS schedules, but has not received them
yet - ongoing <<<<
PSB has distributed the various RIX tasks (see item 8).
MJI asked JPE about the board disposition for the RIXs from JPE. These
have not been received yet but progress has been made (see item 8).
PSB organized a small meeting to discuss the RIX responses (see item 8).
MJI raised the issue of observing efficiency of the LAS survey at the VDUC
JRL meeting (see item 3).
MJI gave more notice to STH about the JAC telecon.
JRL has not yet quantified the cross-talk and persistence levels.
MJI emailed Simon Berry for the referee's comments on our Grant Bid. A
small number of comments were received the day before.
MJI asked RWA about the use of films and corradograph for the Open Day (see
item 9).
EGS have joined the UKIDSS consortium
MR
STH have not yet arranged a meeting with Kona Andrews about AstroGrid
MR deployment (see item 10) - ongoing <<<<
MJI added an AstroGrid agenda item to meetings
2. Comments on WFAU minutes
There were no comments.
3. Report from VDUC meeting
The VDUC meeting was held on 21 February in Edinburgh. JRL, MJI and Simon
Dye gave presentations. The meeting was mainly about the commissioning
reports which seemed to be well received. STH said that he had a copy of
Simon Dye's presentation and will place it in our internal directory
(internal/VDUC). <<<<
WJS said that he had produced the actions list from the meeting and that
when they had been approved by Tim Naylor they would be released (later
today). The minutes were probably going to take another week or so.
4. CASU Grant Review
The Grant Review was held on 23 February in Cambridge. Four CASU
presentations were given: Overview, Gaia, Research and Data Archive. After
the presentations, Paul Aslin and MJI were called back in to provide more
detail. No written formal response has yet been received.
There then followed a discussion on the finer points of grant bids and how to
best to present them. RGM and MJI noted that the CASU grant had been written
at the same time as the flurry of activitiy for the ESO FDR documentation
which meant that somewhat less time was spent on it than would normally be
the case.
5. JAC telecons and WFCAM update (photometric standards STH)
The next JAC telecon will be tonight (9 March).
MJI reported on the two telecons that have been held since the last CASU
meeting:
18 February: (MJI, JRL, PH, AJA)
It was pointed out that news about WFCAM can be found at the WFCAM Stop
Press page on the JAC site:
http://www.jach.hawaii.edu/UKIRT/news/WFCAMstoppress.html
RAW (raw) NDR data has been sent back to PH from CASU and investigations
have taken place. The curtaining problem remains.
Phase I commissioning data had a significant difference between coaveraged
and single darks. This problem is related to the reset anomaly and has
been greatly improved after modifications made during Derek Ives' current
visit. The reset anomaly is now about 10% of the level it was previously
and appears to be stable with respect to variations in coaveraging etc..
though more tests remain to be done.
PH gave some useful comments regarding controllers for RAID arrays which
may explain why apm6 is slow for multiple accesses. There were also Linux
kernel issues related to this.
24 February: (MJI, JRL, STH, PH, AJA)
Visits to Hawaii to help with the commissioning were discussed. STH
will now go out on the 14th March and come back on 7th April. He will work
on setting up the secondary photometric standards and deriving the colour
equations, and zero-points.
JRL has written a script for converting files from SDF to FITS, but it
still has a few bugs to sort out.
There was some discussion about Z and Y images not being background limited
in shallow survey mode. Various options were discussed which will be
revisited when the properties of the (bug-fixed) NDR mode are known.
The crud on the field lens and possible (hardware) and software solutions
were discussed.
6. Report from VDMT meeting
STH reported on the last VDMT meeting on 4 March.
There was a request from WFAU for the catalogue files not to have duplicate
keywords since this causes fitsverify to complain. The problem arises from
the unfilled columns which are all called "Blank". It was suggested that this
could be modified so that if column 62 (say) was currently unfilled then the
keyword could be "Blank62". This was agreed to be a reasonable solution and
JRL should make the necessary modifications. <<<<
The date of the UK FDR has been set to September 16. This date has slipped
due to the necessity of analysing the WFCAM data and taking this into
account in the plans. A consequence of this date is that the documents must
be in by August 16. The UK User Requirements document will be frozen on 15
April (some comments are still being assessed).
The next VDMT meeting will be a telecon on 13th April.
7. APM building update
We have moved in to the refurbished APM building and all are pleased with
their offices. The small store room on the ground floor of the von Kluber
House will still be used by CASU for storing backups. It is good policy to
keep backups in a different building to the computers.
Wishlist: clocks (done), water cooler, names and numbers on doors,
2 more tables and drawers for common area,
bookshelves for common area (for use as technical library etc.)
display boards (DWE said that he had the special wall fittings for these)
desktops (bought) - MJI to ask JRL about his preferences, <<<<
colour printer (on order), desk lamps,
disc storage (8 Tybte disc server for archive & WFCAM - on order)
The landscaping work is still in progress and it is hoped that the front
path to the APM will be finished by the Open Day.
MJI requested that one key for each office be given to him for the key
store. <<<<
8. Status of FDR VDFS documents
PSB reported that he has produced the first draft of the RIX response Board
Disposition for JPE. The first draft has been sent around the UK attendees
on 28 February and the second draft on 4 March. He noted that he had
received no comments from the ATC FDR attendees yet.
PSB reminded STH of the need to update the DRLD figures. STH pointed out
that the culprits were actually produced by JRL. It was agreed that STH
would liaise with JRL and try to update these figures whilst they were
both in Hawaii. <<<<
PSB and MJI need to discuss how to incorporate the 3 new templates and also
reach agreement on the DPR keywords/value pairs <<<<
The ESO workstation is half-way to being set up.
PSB will organize his, MJI and JRL's trip to ESO to discuss the updated
FDR CAL plan and DRLD docs. This will probably be for about 2 days
in mid-April mainly to discuss detailed technical issues. <<<<
9. Plans for Open day
MJI said that the APM building would be used for the Open Day and would have
the light table set up with some UK Schmidt films plus several poster
displays. Our own display boards would be set up. Volunteers were asked for.
10. AstroGrid liaison update
STH has not yet talked to Kona Andrews regarding a meeting on AstroGrid
deployment. There is a twiki set up indicating AG deployment progress.
There was a long discussion regarding usernames necessary for the installing
of various tools on Solaris (AstroGrid-in-a-box). RGM and STH will inquire
of Andy Batey regarding the installation. <<<<
11. AOB
RGM raised the issue of an Euro-VO workshop to be held in Garching (June 27
to July 1). This is intended as an introduction to VO for people at data
centres and large projects. There is a registration deadline of 1 April and
the workshop is limited to 80 people. It was felt that someone from CASU
should go, MR was volunteered. <<<<
http://www.euro-vo.org/pub/workshop/
DWE said that one of his machines was now part of GaiaGrid and that the
installation and setup was remarkably easy. He was asked to raise the issue
of the Euro-VO workshop at the next IoA Gaia meeting. <<<<
DWE reported on the UK collabortors response to the Gaia Letter of Intent.
Continuing Actions
------------------
STH contact JMS so that the CASU links go to our VDFS web page rather than
our group home page
EGS finish off global calibration of large WFS surveys
MJI
STH set up the internal disc resources web page
DWE
MJI obtain VISTA and VDFS schedules
STH arrange meeting with Kona Andrews (after Grant Review) about AstroGrid
MR deployment
New Actions
-----------
DWE give a bit of a makeover to the CASU group web pages and get a proper
CASU name set up
PSB bring over a Sparcstation and connect it to the DVD tower to see if
MJI it can be resurrected
RGM produce a draft poster for NAM
MJI
STH place a copy of Simon Dye's VDUC presentation in our internal directory
JRL modify catalogue FITS keywords for unused columns from "Blank" to
"Blank--" so that they are unique
MJI ask JRL about his desktop requirements
ALL give one key for each new APM office to MJI for the key store
STH update the figures (liaise with JRL) needed for the RIX responses
PSB incorporate the 3 new templates into the documentation etc....
MJI
PSB organize the trip to ESO to discuss the changes to the CAL plan and DRLD
RGM prod Andy Batey regarding the installation of AstroGrid-in-a-box
MR register to attend Euro-VO workshop
DWE raise the Euro-VO workshop at the next IoA Gaia meeting
