ISAS - 20/21 July 1998 - 
EIS Meeting : System Design & Preparation for US Proposals

Notes by Matthew Whyndham

Present: Watanabe [chair], Kosugi, Hara, Sakao (day 1), Ohyama (day 1), Culhane, Bentley, Whyndham,

Agenda

- we followed the 3rd edition outline :

Solar-B Status
    from the Japanese view
EIS Status
    schedule, milestones
    management plan
System & System Interfaces
    MDP
        coordinated actions among the scientific instruments
        interface; observational sequence
        data rate control
        data recorder, compression/packetisation
    (+item brought in from EIS design section)
 EIS DPU electronics & software issues
        architecture
        observing modes
        observations controls
    PCU (voltage selection)
    ++ Alignment etc.
EIS Design
    System Requirements
        science requirements
        wavelength range
        TRACE results
        science scenarios
    Opto-mechanical issues
        structural tradeoffs
        optical modelling
        tolerances
        gratings
        pre-filter, hood
        filters, shutter
    done before: DPU electronics & software issues
        architecture
        observing modes
        observations controls
    CCD camera issues
        architecture
        cooling
        baking
Preparation for US proposals
    Tradeoffs & criteria
Review of Actions from June Meeting


Solar-B Status

    from the Japanese view : (Kosugi) Solar-B to be officially (J. gov't public spending cttee) v. soon, this hopefully a formality. AO process schedule (Len has these dates too) referred to. 3 Aug. p. due date. (Q: when will copies come out of NASA? A: ~ 1 week). 14 Sep.: Discussion with J. re content of p.'s at NASA HQ. Oct. Panel Review.

    S/c: Sept. or Oct., Solar-B meeting (First Step) with selected contractor.

EIS Status

   (Whyndham) Letters of intent now in, (grant details soon), PM full time, draft Management plan (manplan) (copies given) contents. Invited comments about it.
    Engineering teams building up, but need to identify areas for study which will assist the AO process - but major tech. areas defined by US part.
    Systems engineering - embedded approach (like PA) - focus on system requirements - (i.e. Science.) - and interface content.
    Situation is that operating parameters of EIS being formed - need to put against science use, look for problems.
Schedule, milestones - essentially: series of meetings, punctuated by iterations of EIS baseline design or options, and iteration of Science requirement.  For AO response, tradeoff analysis of various options Aug/Sep.

System & System Interfaces

    NB new set ("version"?) of H. Hara EIS design notes. Topics: (my remarks -- thus)

    MDP

       (presented by Hara, assume others involved)
    Some new ideas about MDP content. Still very fluid. Cases A-B-C show various levels of MDP functionality wrt EIS. e.g. extraction of spectral lines. Data emergence rate from Instruments a concern. Link may be RS422 - rates ~1 Mbps (lower?). This drives towards PLAN B or C (In "A" the link labelled RS422 would have to exist within EIS anyway!). Telemetry hierarchy (3 layers) incl. VCDU: Virtual Channel Data Unit.

    Power

    (Watanabe) - likely to settle with recent ISAS practice : distribution of 51 V unreg +x (6?) -y (11?).
 

    Alignment etc.

Use of visible light path (ND filter), detector at zero order position (needs baffle)

  DPU electronics & software issues

        (Whyndham, work by Gowen, McCalden). Obvious need for reduction of data rate at bottom of "tree" (CCD=top of tree). Look at each stage, what can be done to reduce data there? Instrument coordination - not yet considered. architecture - working on much the same lines as MDP studies already shown. Shown block diags (RAG). separate branches, Control (response to cmds), Engineering (HK), Science Data stream. Need to have availability of response to commands at all times: i.e. reduce load on processor where possible.
        observing modes : ref RAG's EIS Operational Concepts - frame processing cycle - hardware setup (data production) vs data processing (data reduction). Concept of window table.  Use of this in various modes: 1: Continuous; 2: Snapshot, 3: Burst, 4: Intermediate
        observations controls : frame rate, shutter speed, scanning (incidentally high cadence scanning (~1s) with the ability to do long jumps (many steps) could be v. useful).

  EIS Design

    System Requirements - NB "system"=EIS. top-down approach. need priority of requirements and input/feedback from user community. (Science Team).
        science requirements - need to trace correspondence of requirements and instrument specifications - freeze requirements at some later date (when?)
        wavelength range - refer to Science Notes . Some debate but not much. Keep coming back to baseline range!
        science scenarios - table of studies in Science Notes . Further discussion of these : UK science meeting 28/7/98.

    Opto-mechanical issues

        structural tradeoffs - ref BU report. "EIS structural analysis 20/7/98" S. Mahmoud. This shows FE analysis of two structures. Since little concern about stiffness of composite structures, chosen to examine properties of Al structures. Baseline and Cassegrain options shown in report. Conclusion is that baseline=stiffer, cassegrain=lighter. Leg mounting - what will be the transmission of forces back to the mounting interface? need to consider this. Note that baseline for EIS is not to have actuated mounting legs. Areas to develop - look for ideas of mounting the primary and secondary wrt detector plate - metering rods?.  Thermal, vibration response of a such a structure.
        optical modelling - to gain knowledge of tolerances etc. work done by Whyndham + R. Hunt. at MSSL. consider optical system in two halves, light gathering and dispersive. Have mainly considered properties of dispersive part (grating). Properties of SVLS gratings - examined IDL code by Hara and papers by Hara ... , Harada .... Proceed by implementing SLVS grating as subroutine (C) of Zemax (proprieatary ray trace s/w). Eventually converged on same optical layout and ruling parameters. Can optimise against various criteria - best focus, wavelength range, mechanical tolerance. Can now use Zemax to explore ... Find ~150 microns tolerance of focal plane (with current params) - not a problem to put it there, struggle to keep? Need thermal studies!. How to model holographic gratings - need to know full details of fringe pattern?  Cassegrain light gathering optics also looked at. Generally agree with the view that tolerance for secondary mirror could be tight, due to magnification of system. Analyses may be rapidly done on proposed configurations.
        tolerances, gratings - nuff said
        prefilter, hood  - have had MSFC study for a while but not yet digested. Reviewed this. Distribution of particles becomes clear (Solar-B orbit -> k=1). Now need to understand response of filter (mesh support) to particle hits - ref guidlines in MSFC study. ask Zarnecki. Integrate over curve to develop stray light prediction vs. budget. Case of Baseline (inside) and some options (at front, and with hood - various lengths). Noted existence of diffraction pattern in certain TRACE data (171 A)- origin is 70 lpi filter mesh!
        filters, shutter - mentioned availability of TRACE design + motor spec. - newly identified need for short exposures. Expect to replicate at MSSL, perform life tests, etc.
 
done before: DPU electronics & software issues
        architecture
        observing modes
        observations controls

    CCD camera issues

        architecture - Firewire at interface? - expect to have the ability to select sub-frames (>1) for readout. Needs development.
        cooling - what's the ideal temperature?
       baking - no progress
        Spikes (RDB) in TRACE data - Spike caused by radiation hits when phase of orbit takes spacecraft through trapped particles. Can not be excluded from data by thresholding - need another technique or prevent entirely. concern about shielding only 0.1 inch Al, maybe need 0.3 ?

Preparation for US proposals

    Tradeoffs & criteria

    Main criteria - "Science, Feasibility, Cost."
 
    Need to keep in mind what we expect in the list of components to be supplied from US, with ranking.

Review of Actions from June Meeting

4.    ongoing
5.    ongoing
6.    draft for comments
7.    SDT - occurred, minutes will eventually be distributed
11.   need info if it exists
12,13,14    ongoing
15    not yet
16    progress as reported
17    NEED to get further with this!
18    and this
19,20,21 no progress
22    ongoing
23    ongoing, need to synchronise studies in J/UK
24    small start made
26    no prog.
27    needs documentation?
28    limb could be problem (spicules) or weak emission
29    no pro. but requests accumulating
30    almost digested, need to think about particle + filter interaction

These actions were added:
Action 31: (MSSL) generate a list of components expected from US, to compare with proposals. Aug. 3
Action 32: (MSSL+BU) Thermal properties of (al, or whatever else) structures -> derive tolerances. Aug/Sep
Action 33: (MSSL) Table of moving parts, revise when proposal received. Aug. 3
 

Next meeting

Aug. or Sep (proposals then in existence), suggest UK, date TBD