United States Gemini Program Quarterly Review

of

The Gemini Near Infrared Spectrograph (GNIRS)

Held May 12, 2000 at Tucson, Arizona

AURA President
NOAO Director
Gemini Head of Instrumentation
US Project Scientist
US Project Manager
Instrument Team Manager
 

1. Meeting Background

A USGP Quarterly Review (QR) of GNIRS was held on May 12, 2000. The meeting was attended by Taft Armandroff (US Project Manager) and Mark Trueblood (Work Package Manager) from the USGP, and Neil Gaughan (GNIRS Project Manager) and Dan Eklund (GNIRS Project Assistant) from NOAO/GNIRS. Others attending included Dan Weedman (NSF) and Sidney Wolff (NOAO).

The goal of the QR’s is to evaluate each instrument project's progress in a number of different areas, with emphasis on management and high level concerns. Specifically, the USGP uses a formal mechanism to determine whether a project is on track with respect to budget and schedule, and to identify potential problems before they significantly impact progress.

2. Major Findings

Although the project had achieved only 90% of the work required to hold the Pre-Fabrication Review (PFR) in mid-May, and is approximately a month behind the revised schedule that delayed the PFR from February to May, USGP has determined that the team has succeeded in rescuing the project from where it was two years ago. It is anticipated the PFR committee will recommend proceeding with fabrication in its report. USGP expects this will lead to successful delivery and acceptance in 2002 of a scientifically useful and exciting instrument capable of making breakthrough observations during the first decade of Gemini operations.

The estimated cost and projected delivery date essentially have not changed in the last year, despite considerable refinement of the design and updates to the schedule and budget based on the details of the current design. During the past year, the team has carried the concept presented at the Restart Review forward to a real engineering design, and should be ready to begin fabrication before the next QR.

The original plan of holding the PFR in February, 2000 proved to be unworkable, due to delays in obtaining a design of the optical bench assemblies with sufficient detail to analyze their thermal and structural characteristics. Even the rescheduled date in May was difficult for the team to meet. With the handover of major structural design and analysis responsibility from Larry Goble to Ed Hileman, there will be less emphasis on finding creative solutions to opto-mechanical problems, and more emphasis on engineering analysis and on adhering to the schedule.

At the PFR, the Gemini review committee gave high praise in their initial verbal report to the current status of GNIRS software. Although more work is needed in refining the requirements and in documenting the design for later delivery in the manuals, it is clear that the software appears to be in the best state ever since the project began. This resolves a continuing concern from previous QR reports.

3. Project Summary

3.1 Project Overview and Key Accomplishments

The key accomplishments since the last QR have been:

· Designed the main optical benches
· Performed 70% of the structural analysis of the optical benches
· Continued refinement of the mechanism designs
· Identified key software requirements, advanced the software design, and began software fabrication
· Performed a closed-form thermal analysis that the PFR committee judged to be adequate
· Held the Pre-Fabrication Review (PFR)
· Built optical, rotary, and linear prototypes, and obtained results from the optical mount prototype and preliminary results from the rotary prototype
· Revised the detailed schedule of all tasks needed to complete the design and to fabricate, test, and deliver the instrument

3.2 Project Status and Plans

The GNIRS project is about a month behind the current schedule, which would have completed all structural analysis in time for the May PFR. The Project Manager estimates the bench analysis will be complete in mid-summer, and fabrication of non-critical items will begin on schedule in the next few weeks. A software design document was delivered at the PFR. Before the main fabrication begins, remaining work includes completing testing of the rotary, linear, and bearing prototypes, completing the structural analysis of the benches, and updating the electronics design.

Throughout the fabrication process, GNIRS design will proceed in parallel. This effort will encompass the mechanisms (including their structural analysis), dewar wiring routing and fixturing, the main bulkhead and dewar, and the frame that holds the electronics cabinets and interfaces the dewar to the handling equipment.

Plans for the next QR include:

· Review the recommendations of the PFR committee report and the team’s responses, and how they will be integrated into the project plan
· Review the status of structural analysis of the optical benches and other analysis that should have been completed before the PFR
· Review the status of the rotary, linear, and bearing prototypes; what was learned, and how that was folded into the mechanism designs
· Review the status of the 3D engineering model of the instrument, and the plan for producing 2D fabrication drawings
· Given the lessons learned from NIRI (that the majority of flexure appears to originate from mechanisms in an unpredictable way), explore with the team how they intend to meet the stringent Gemini flexure requirement

3.3 Project Problems and Concerns

The USGP could find no major problems that require the attention of management outside NOAO.

3.4 Project Schedule

The summary-level project schedule is available on the GNIRS Web site (a copy is attached to this report). An analysis of the schedule performance of each major engineering discipline appears below. The Critical Path was deliberately designed so that no single mechanism could delay the instrument. Instead, it includes various steps in most of the mechanisms.

3.5 Project Milestones, Cost, and Manpower Charts

A summary-level Microsoft Project schedule is attached as an appendix. This reporting category is not repeated for each work area below, since all work areas are represented in the project schedule and manpower charts.

3.6 Project Budget and Expenditures to Date

The cost of the project is estimated to be $6.6M, including the $2.4M spent between the project start in October, 1995 and December 31, 1998. As of April, the project had spent a total of $3,432,589 against a planned value of $3,807,033 yielding an underrun of $374k. Most of the underrun is in labor, and given the slip of the PFR from February to May, USGP expects this underrun to be used by the end of the project.

3.7 Organization

The project appears to be staffed with a sufficient number of competent staff. However, each position is only one deep, so when a person leaves the project, no immediate replacement is usually available to fill the gap.

4. Project Management

4.1 Project Management Overview and Key Accomplishments

The Project Manager continues to exert proper management control over the project. Since the last QR, the Project Manager and his assistant revised the schedule to reflect the software plan, and rebuilt the budget to reflect a larger number of items to be built in external machine shops to reduce overall fabrication time.

4.2 Project Management Status and Plans

The project continues to be effectively managed. There are no plans to change project management procedures, except to establish a Fabrication Review Board to formalize the process of deciding to send drawings to the NOAO machine shop or to an outside shop.

4.3 Project Management Problems and Concerns

At the last QR, it was noted that the lead mechanical engineer responsible for structural design had presented a management challenge to the Project Manager. This challenge was met by replacing the engineer with one more attuned to analysis and to performing to a schedule.

4.4 Project Management Schedule

The Project Manager usually delivers reports on schedule and meets his other schedule obligations.

4.5 Project Management Budget and  Expenditures to Date

The GNIRS Statement of Work does not require this WBS element to be reported separately to the USGP.

4.6 Project Management Organization

The GNIRS Project Management organization consists of Neil Gaughan (Project Manager), Dan Eklund (assigned half time as Project Assistant), and Melissa Bowersock (Administrative Assistant to the Project Manager).

5. Systems Engineering

5.1 Systems Engineering Overview and Key Accomplishments

The optical, rotary, and linear prototypes have been fabricated, and the bearing prototypes have been defined. The optical prototype testing was complete by the PFR. Some rotary prototype results were available, with additional testing required. Linear prototype testing had not yet begun. The PFR committee recommended that the bearing prototype using commercial races be used in favor of hard-anodized machined aluminum races.

5.2 Systems Engineering Status and Plans

The main systems engineering activity is the prototyping, which was not completed by the PFR. This activity is expected to be completed this summer before major mechanism fabrication begins.

5.3 Systems Engineering Problems and Concerns

None

5.4 Systems Engineering Schedule

Complete systems engineering activities this summer before mechanism fabrication begins.

5.5 Systems Engineering Budget and  Expenditures to Date

The GNIRS Statement of Work does not require this WBS element to be reported separately to the USGP.

5.6 Systems Engineering Organization

The GNIRS systems engineering group consists of Jay Elias (GNIRS Instrument Scientist and lead systems engineer), Dick Joyce (KPNO IR spectroscopist) , and Brook Gregory (CTIO instrument scientist).

6. Optics Design

The optics design is complete. All further optical work is in the area of procurement, installation, alignment, and integration.

7. Optics Fabrication

All powered elements and the master rulings for the gratings are on order, with the other items not yet scheduled to be procured. Many of the filters that were obtained through a multi-instrument filter consortium had major defects that rendered them unusable. The GNIRS Instrument Scientist is working with the leader of the consortium and the filter vendor to correct the problem, and appears to be satisfied that a solution is in hand.

8. Mechanical Design

8.1 Mechanical Design Overview and Key Accomplishments

The pre-slit, post-slit, and OIWFS optical benches have been designed and 70% of the structural analysis has been completed. Preliminary results indicate the design has the correct order of magnitude of flexure in at least one dimension, but another month of analysis and tweaking of the design is needed before the design can be turned over to drafting for completion of fabrication drawings.

Prototype mechanism designs were completed and fabricated for optical, rotary, and linear prototypes, and concepts were developed for bearing prototypes.

8.2 Mechanical Design Status and Plans

The remaining optical bench analysis work will be completed this summer, at which point the design will be reviewed internally, then turned over to the drafting staff to create fabrication drawings.

8.3 Mechanical Design Problems and Concerns

With recent progress on the optical bench and the hiring of a new mechanical engineer, the problems reported from the previous QR appear to have been resolved. It appears that the new engineer has been integrated effectively into the team and has become a productive member quickly enough to permit fabrication to begin approximately on schedule.

8.4 Mechanical Design Schedule

The optical bench design and analysis activities are about a month behind schedule, but it is likely this will not significantly impact the final delivery date of the instrument. USGP will review the state of analysis and fabrication drawings at the next QR.

8.5 Mechanical Design Budget and  Expenditures to Date

The GNIRS Statement of Work does not require this WBS element to be reported separately to the USGP.

8.6 Mechanical Design Organization

As of the end of the PFR, the GNIRS mechanical engineering group consists of Ed Hileman (optical bench design and analysis) and Gary Muller (mechanism design and engineering management systems).

9. Mechanical Fabrication

No mechanical fabrication was scheduled to have begun before the Quarterly Review.

10. Electronics Design

10.1 Electronics Design Overview and Key Accomplishments

Since the previous QR, the newly-hired electronics engineer has updated the computer-based electronics toolset from DOS to Windows and has translated the GNIRS documentation into the new tools. All assemblies are identified and designed, with remaining work being in the area of some detailed design, such as connector pinouts and wiring lists.

10.2 Electronics Design Status and Plans

Electronics design is on schedule. Before the next QR, the EE should have designed and fabricated a test rig for the software engineer to use to test software that faithfully mimics the actual electronics to be used in the GNIRS mechanisms.

10.3 Electronics Design Problems and Concerns

None.

10.4 Electronics Design Schedule

Electronics design is on schedule.

10.5 Electronics Design Budget and Expenditures to Date

The GNIRS Statement of Work does not require this WBS element to be reported separately to the USGP.

10.6 Electronics Design Organization

The GNIRS electrical engineer is Jerry Penegor.

11. Electronics Fabrication

No deliverable fabrication tasks are scheduled to begin until after the PFR in the revised schedule. The only fabrication that has been done to date is for motor qualification and characterization, and for mechanism prototype testing.

12. Software Design

12.1 Software Design Overview and Key Accomplishments

Since the previous QR, a software plan and schedule were developed. The plan included a top-level design and an estimate of the effort to implement the design. This was used to provide the details of the individual tasks to the detailed project schedule and the cost estimate of the software portion of the management plan.

12.2 Software Design Status and Plans

Software design is considered to be mature. Some further identification of requirements is needed before software design is complete.

12.3 Software Design Problems and Concerns

None

12.4 Software Design Schedule

The software design is on schedule.

12.5 Software Design Budget and Expenditures to Date

The GNIRS Statement of Work does not require this WBS element to be reported separately to the USGP.

12.6 Software Design Organization

The GNIRS software engineer is Richard Wolff.

13. Software Fabrication

Although software fabrication was scheduled to begin after the Quarterly Review, approximately 40% of the low-level code to move mechanisms is complete, well ahead of schedule. A test set that faithfully duplicates the hardware interface is needed before further significant progress can be made. The electronics engineer has this test set as a high priority, and should complete this task in a few weeks.

14. Subsystem Integration

No subsystem integration was scheduled to begin before the Quarterly Review.

15. System Integration

No system integration was scheduled to begin before the Quarterly Review.

16. Test and Checkout

No test and checkout tasks were scheduled to begin before the Quarterly Review.

17. Documentation and Training

No documentation or training tasks were scheduled to begin before the Quarterly Review.

18. Other Activities

No tasks for other activities were scheduled to begin before the Quarterly Review.
 

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