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The NOAO Instrumentation Program (1Mar95)
(from Director's Office, NOAO Newsletter No. 41, 1 March 1995)

                              The New Order

As you have read in previous Newsletters, NOAO is reorganizing the way in
which we produce major instrumentation for the nighttime programs. This
switch was necessitated by several factors. The downward pressure on the
budget in the last several years has reduced the size of the instrumentation
group in Tucson to about 2/3 of its previous staffing. The same pressure on
CTIO has sharply limited the technical resources available for instrument
development, as opposed to the upgrade and maintenance of the telescopes.
At the same time, the advent of large array detectors for both the optical and
infrared has led to the desire for instruments that are larger, more capable,
and more complex than in earlier years. The prospect of producing
instruments, detector arrays and controllers for the Gemini telescopes
requires a disciplined management of schedules and budgets.

To respond to these changing conditions, we have made the organizational
change of creating a single Instrumentation Program Group within the
Tucson Engineering and Technical Services. It contains the personnel of the
former O/UV and IR instrument groups, the various detector and other R&D
programs, and the optical designers. The IPG manager is Neil Gaughan, who
came to us with many years of experience as a manager of technical
programs in industry, with particular expertise in electronic engineering and
systems planning. Neil reports to Larry Daggert, the ETS Manager.

There are several advantages of a single technical group. We anticipate
decrease in the time required to complete an instrument, after it has passed
its preliminary design review. By using the pool of designers and instrument
makers in a priority-driven queue schedule, we can accelerate the production
of the highest priority projects. By engaging a team of optical, electrical,
mechanical, and software design engineers for a full project definition, each
new instrument will have a clear scope and schedule when it goes into
detailed design and production. Both CTIO and KPNO retain access to their
own resources for upgrades to existing instruments and the quick completion
of small projects.

The scientific management of projects will proceed much as before. Each
new instrument will have a Project Scientist, who will work with the Project
Engineer to assure the success of the project and to guide the initial
definition of scientific and technical performance requirements. The O/UV
and IR scientific groups will remain active, with Taft Armandroff as O/UV
Program Scientist and Ian Gatley as IR program scientist. These groups work
to coordinate the staff and community input for generating new projects and
to address areas of common technical interest in ongoing projects.

The recommendations for the allocation of resources and setting of priorities
are made by NOAO's internal IPAC, the Instrument Projects Advisory
Committee. That committee currently consists of Taft Armandroff, Jack
Baldwin, Todd Boroson, Dave De Young, Jay Elias, Ian Gatley, and Richard
Green (chair). They receive proposals for new projects on an annual basis,
recommend scientific priorities, and provide regular oversight for the
Instrument Program Group. They also advise the Directors on the impacts on
schedule and budget created by changes in scientific scope or changes in
relative priority.

It is the goal of IPAC and the new IPG to increase the level of scientific and
technical teamwork in order to maintain the flow of facility instrumentation
to both the NOAO and Gemini telescopes while managing increasing
schedule and budgetary pressures. Your input to the planning process by
identifying the scientific programs you would like to be able to carry out is
invaluable to us. Please feel encouraged to contact your favorite member of
IPAC to make your views known.

                     Current Status of Major Projects

The conversion of Hydra and the Bench Spectrograph for use at the WIYN
telescope neared completion with the work done in the Fall Quarter of FY 95.
The grating cells were completed, the gratings installed and aligned, and
the cells were integrated into the spectrograph. The SITe 2048 square CCD,
T2KC, was more fully integrated in its ARCON operation with the WIYN
control environment. A safety lockout mechanism for the Hydra hinge was
designed and nearly completed. (See the article in the KPNO section of this
issue for further details.)

The second highest priority is the completion of Phoenix, the high-resolution
near-IR spectrograph. The detailed mechanical design was 98% completed in
the First Quarter, and the instrument makers were beginning work to
fabricate the parts. Thermal cycling tests of the big grating were yielding
satisfactory results. The spectrograph is on track for completion and
telescope testing in early 1996.

Progress was made on the CCD Mosaic Imager. The controller architecture
was reviewed, and chosen to be a system based on the replication of four
ARCONs. The dewar window frame and shutter fabrication were completed,
and design work was in progress on the filter wheel, dewar and chip-mount
assemblies. A new package was designed for mounting the 2K X 4K CCDs.
Although the detail designs will be nearly finished for this project in the
coming months, fabrication will not begin in earnest until the team of
instrument makers is nearing the end with the Phoenix parts.

The ALADDIN development program made significant progress with the
delivery of a second hybrid array. That array had four functional quadrants
and over 900K good pixels. There are still hybridization and other process
issues to be resolved, but the progress in this program is very encouraging.
Design work is also underway for a new generation controller, compatible
with WILDFIRE and capable of reading out the full-format 1024 square
array. The interface to the data storage medium and image analysis system is
a critical item.

Project definition, as well as conceptual and preliminary design, have been
started for GRASP, a spectrograph based on the four-color heritage of
SQIID. The current plan calls for four near-IR bands to be recorded
simultaneously in direct imaging or a choice of spectroscopic modes. The
goal is to populate each arm with a 1024 square InSb array, with a common
control system. The Preliminary Design Review is scheduled for mid-March.

Concept studies are underway for two new instruments. One is a clone of the
Hydra fiber positioner for use at the R-C focus of the CTIO 4-meter
telescope. Much of the design and some of the actual parts from Hydra at the
Mayall can be used for this implementation. At the same time, the project
would utilize a new generation of motor controllers that will be valuable for
KPNO as well, since the current system in use with WIYN/Hydra is no
longer produced.

The second study is for a long-slit near-IR spectrograph for CTIO and
Gemini South. It will be based on a design proposed to the Gemini Project
for use on the Gemini North telescope. Features could include a slit viewer
and cross-dispersion to cover the entire atmospheric window at a resolution
of about 8000. The design is based on the 1024 square ALADDIN InSb
array.

These are the major projects occupying the Instrument Projects Group this
year. Your comments and reactions to the match of the instrumentation
program to your scientific needs are welcome any time.

Richard Green

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