From rrahkola@darkwing.uoregon.edu Thu Jan 15 15:36:59 2004
Date: Wed, 14 Jan 2004 10:36:27 -0800 (PST)
From: Rauha J Rahkola <rrahkola@darkwing.uoregon.edu>
To: ligo-dc@tenaya.physics.lsa.umich.edu
Subject: [ligo-dc] status of GRB operator notification

Hi All,
At the DetChar meeting on Friday, I'll talk about the status and plans that
the External Triggers subgroup has for the GRB operator notification.  I'd
like the group's input on what we'd like to do next.

To review what I mentioned earlier, I've been working with Dave Barker at LHO
to alert the control room whenever a Gamma-Ray Burst (GRB) is detected
somewhere in space.  Our goal is to maximize the science mode uptime during
these GRBs, and help SciMons determine when is a good time to take the IFOs
out of science mode.  Basically what we do is receive near-real-time emails of
GRB detections at Caltech, then sound an EPICS alarm in the LHO control room.
A keep-alive signal is sent every second to let operators know the system is
working.  This alarm appears on the Site Overview MEDM screen.

Currently the GRB alarm is on at LHO and has been running successfully for
about 4 weeks.  It notifies the operator when a GRB has occurred recently.  I
checked the e-log and there were several (7) entries where the GRB alarm
encouraged people to keep the IFOs in science mode for the remaining part of
an hour.

It mysteriously stopped on the Caltech end, which was also noted in the e-log.
Normally it restarts after <10 minutes of inactivity, but didn't happen this
time.  At this time I was on vacation and couldn't get it restarted until a
week later.  Unfortunate timing...

The next thing we (External Triggers subgroup) would like to do, now that the
S3 run is over, is start collecting data surrounding the GRBs if either IFO is
in common mode.  I talked with Dave Barker and he is willing to make a
checklist webpage for the operators to follow and determine whether the data
should be saved or not.  The checklist would send an email to Greg Mendell and
Ben Johnson to request 2 hours of reduced data (level 1) to be saved around
the GRB event, and the operator would be asked to record status of the IFOs in
an e-log entry, performing an auto-calibration after the GRB window has
passed, and storing figures-of-merit.

*** My question to the group is: Do you have any concerns with arranging for
data outside of the science/engineering runs to be stored, or having an
operator go through a checklist which includes an auto-calibration after a GRB
alarm has sounded? ***

Now that the GRB notification has been tested at LHO, Dave will ask Chethan to
start implementing it at LLO.  On the Caltech end, it is very easy to add a
second operator notification-- I already have a placemark for it.

Also, in addition to notification of GRBs, this same system can be modified to
include SuperNova Early Warning System (SNEWS) notices.  I don't have the
format of these notices, so I haven't included them yet.

Please let me know if you have any concerns or suggestions for the GRB alarm.

Take care,
Rauha

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