ALMA SSR Committee Phone Meeting 2002-03-13

Connection Details

• Call date: 2002-03-13 (Wednesday)
• Call time: 15:00 UT
• Duration: 1 hr
• USA Toll Free Number: 888-455-9681
• USA Toll Number: +1-712-271-0345
• Passcode: 35566
• Leader: Robert Lucas

Minutes

1. SSR membership Barry Clark has resigned a few weeks ago. The EVLA is now occupying a larger fraction of his time. Let me on this occasion express how much we have appreciated his many contributions during all those meetings. His advice will continue to be highly welcomed if he feels inclined to intervene in our email discussions.
   Brian Glendenning is welcoming guidelines and suggestions for his replacement (a North American astronomer is expected).
   
   
2. Off line data processing document status: Steve Myers
   Steve has provided a list of reviewers'comments with his proposed replies (the report itself is at: http://www.aoc.nrao.edu/~smyers/alma/offline-req/myers-report-4.0.pdf). Among issues raised: whether or not we should provide detailed lists for some requirements (like the list of observing modes to support), and define more precisely some terms like 'ease of use'... The conclusions were:
   • The main use of these requirements will be for a scoring of proposed packages, performed in a collaborative but independent way by representatives of the SSR and of package providers (the details of this process should be elaborated at the Granada face-to-face meeting). It is not foreseen that any package will fulfill 100% of the requirements and later some development will be necessary.
   • After a decision on the package, further development should be followed closely by one (or several?) SSR members, We should discuss in Granada the way this should happen. We all agree that a close connection between scientists and developpers is particularly essential in the field of off-line data reduction software.
   • We agree that the review meeting should be done now, and that the replies by Steve are satisfactory (though Steve still welcomes additional points to be made: to be sent to him in the next few days).
   
   
   
3. New version of Memo 11: R. Lucas
   The new version, including the revised and extended pipeline and archiving chapters, has been posted for some time. I only included recently a new version of some Use Cases (in the scheduling/observing area) revised and written for the High Level Analysis document by Joe Schwarz and Dirk Muders. The new parts of this document should be reviewed now; we should aim at getting reviewer's comments in time to discuss them at the face-to-face meeting in Granada.
   
   
4. Status of Alma/aips++ test: R. Lucas
   I described shortly the status of this test. All the main elements needed for the end-to-end tests are working. A full report will be prepared at the end of Phase I/II (end of April). A progress report will be made available very soon.
   Comments from the SSR committee were that a manpower estimate, and, more essentially, the evaluation of the performance of Aips++ on Plateau de Bure data sets should be included in the final report.
   
   
5. Location and date of next face-to-face meeting
   You may consult the current timetable of the Granada Week and travel information. The deadline for hotel reservation is rather close (March 21st).
   
   
6. Proposed date of next phone meeting April 11th 15:00 UT (?) (we regard this meeting as optional, needed only if issues are raised that cannot await the face-to-face meeting)

Action Item

1. Organize the review meeting for off-line data processing (Brian & Gianni)
   
   
2. Set up a review panel for the new chapters in Memo 11 (Brian & Gianni)