13th IVS Directing Board meeting Summary notes Held at Noto Observatory, Italy April 20, 2005 Notes by DB, first version 050516 Revised version 050523 Attending: Wolfgang Schlueter, Arthur Niell, Chopo Ma, Ed Himwich, Kerry Kingham, Alan Whitney, Yasuhiro Koyama, Bill Petrachenko, Harald Schuh, Franco Mantovani, Axel Nothnagel, Patrick Wallace, Dirk Behrend. ACTIONS: 1. Welcome (Wolfgang Schlueter) Zinovy Malkin and Shigeru Matsuzaka could not attend. Nancy Vandenberg could not attend and was represented by Dirk Behrend. 2. Reports 2.1 Chair's report (Wolfgang Schlueter) Activities since the last board meeting were reported. Chopo Ma and Axel Nothnagel are the representatives of the IVS on the IERS DB. Chopo Ma was elected chair of the IERS DB. Correspondence: - Letter of approval to the Institute of Applied Astronomy, St, Petersburg, Russia, that Zelenchukskaya is a new IVS Network Station. - Letter to the National Science Foundation supporting Haystack's eVLBI activities in CONCOBEN (Benchmark Tool and Testbed for Congestion Control Studies in High Speed Networks). - Letter to Caltech supporting Haystack's activities in the GISNET (Global Information Systems and Network Efficient Toolset for Data Intensive Science. Meetings: - A European VLBI Network (EVN) meeting was held at Jodrell Bank in November. - GGOS First Working Meeting was held in Potsdam; Wolfgang Schlueter, Chopo Ma, and Dirk Behrend represented the IVS. 2.2 Coordinating Center and OPC report (Nancy Vandenberg/Dirk Behrend) Activities of Coordinating Center since the last board meeting were: - Publications of newsletters and Annual Report. - Coordination of Directing Board elctions. - Coordination of the planned CONT05. - Coordination of upcoming Technical Operations Workshop (TOW) - Liaison with other services in INDIGO. Issues discussed by the OPC recently include: - CONT05 purpose and planning. - Finalize 2005 observing program. - E3 sessions: move S2 from Yellowknife to Fairbanks during winter months. - CRF program. - 2005 R&D sessions: continue Gb/s observing. 2.3 Analysis Coordinator's report (Axel Nothnagel) Operations: Christof Steinforth left on 31 January 2005. There is no replacement at present; Dorothee Fischer fulfills operational tasks. Delay in submissions is critical; Axel will monitor delay times to determine reasons for the delays. SINEX combination for IERS Combination Pilot Project and for the ITRF2004 continues. The contributing Analysis Centers (ACs) are BKG, DGFI, GSFC, MAO, and USNO. Each AC provided 2000+ sessions. Markus Rothacher (IERS Analysis Coordinator) asked for a combined service product (in contrast to submissions from individual ACs). Work is in progress to determine the 2005 VLBI Terrestrial Reference Frame (VTRF2005). Input TRF (coordinates and velocities) are coming from Geoscience Australia, BKG, DGFI, GSFC, and MAO. The individual solutions use identical antenna axis offsets. 2.4.1 Pilot Project "Time Series Baseline Lengths (Axel Nothnagel) No progress has been made since the last board meeting. 2.4.2 Status of the ITRF2004 (Axel Nothnagel) (covered in 2.3) 2.4.3 Status of next ICRF effort (Chopo Ma) There is no schedule defined yet for finalizing the next ICRF. Currently 10 Analysis Centers submitted catalogs for comparison purposes. The different solutions agree on the level of the formal errors with a few exceptions. The planned optical ICRF realization with GAIA will not occur before 2010--the foreseen year for the launch of the GAIA satellite. Even with an optical ICRF, also an operational radio reference frame is needed for UT1 and nutation determination. 2.6 Network Coordinator's report (Ed Himwich) Issues: - Matera is still down with bad rail. No repair date has been set yet. - Gilcreek had Maser problem for ~6 months starting in September 2004. - TIGO has upper x-band (X5-X8) issue, the cause is unclear. - Kokee Park operates with one azimuth motor. - Gilcreek antenna and control system are old and fragile. - Simeiz has obtained funds for Mark 5. - Wettzell recently upgraded its control system. - Hopeful that Zelenchukskaya and Badary will come online in the next 6-12 months. - DSS65 moved, rename it DSS64? There is still a need of a unified approach to clock offsets at the correlators. Differences are at the microsecond level. The offset and rate values need to be consistent. There is a need to determine equipment specific offsets. This probably requires special experiments for measuring the offsets. 2.7 Technology Coordinator's Report (Alan Whitney) VSI-E: Beta version of VSI-E by David Lapsley is ready for evaluation. The progress has been slower than expected, but there are no major roadblocks. The departure of David Lapsley from Haystack in December 2004 has had major effect. It is planned to submit the VSI-E protocol for approval by IETF as an international standard after agreement is reached within the e-VLBI community. e-VLBI Technical Working Group (e-VLBI Tech WG): A Tech WG was established at the e-VLBI workshop in Japan. The activities were on hold after the WG chair, David Lapsley, left. Hope to re-invigorate at July e-VLBI workshop in Sydney with the replacement for David Lapsley on-board. The objectives of the e-VLBI Tech WG are to evaluate e-VLBI/VSI-E hardware, software, and procedures, to implement standardized global e-VLBI network preformance and monitoring tools, and to provide expert assistance to e-VLBI users. There are ~2 members from each major e-VLBI geographical area. Mark 5A status: There are about 100 Mark 5A systems deployed at stations and correlators. The number of Mark 5A systems on correlators are: 8 at USNO, 9 at MPI, and 4 at Haystack. The correlator efficiency dramatically improved (<1 is now routine). VLBA is upgrading several stations to Mark 5A. Upgrade to support Serial-ATA disks (SATA) expected late 2005. Mark 5B status: 3 prototype Mark 5B boards currently under test. About 20 Mark 5B interface boards will be distributed to Mark 5 development consortia members in the third quarter of 2005. Design will be transferred to Conduant Corp for further replication and sale by mid/late 2005. The cost for an upgrade kit from Mark 5A to Mark 5B will be in the order of $3000 for stations and $4000 for correlators. Digital BBCs: Two design approaches are being pursued: (1) Direct replacement of analog BBCs, EVN approach headed by Gino Tuccari. (2) Polyphase filters developed by Haystack in conjunction with Berkeley Space Science Center. Either approach has advantages of absolute repeatability, stability, and predictability. Should greatly improve "phase-cal problems" observed with analog BBCs. 2.7.1 Information about developments at NICT (Yasuhiro Koyama) 1 Gbps geodetic VLBI was observed on the baseline Kashima-Koganei. K5 system upgrade is in progress. A file naming convention was implemented. A K5 soft- ware correlator capable of correlating 5 stations with 1 Gbps is under discussion as a backup correlator for the VERA project. It is planned to create Mark 5 format output capability for the K5 system (VSI-H). The Emperor and Empress of Japan will visit Kashima on June 5, 2005 and be given an e-VLBI demonstration. Thomas Hobiger (Vienna University of Technology) visited Kashima for 10 months (2004.6-2005.3). Two researchers (Eric Vidal and Jose Ishituka) from the Geophysical Research Institute of Peru stayed at Kashima for 6 months (2004.10-2005.3). 2.8 WG3 - Vision 2010 Report Discussion (Arthur Niell, Alan Whitney) The report of Working Group 3 was almost finished. The report had some 20 pages and identified 13 areas for further studies. The last changes can be implemented in about a month. Harald Schuh will provide the amendments for the data analysis part. The final report will be printed and distributed to responsible agencies. An adequate distribution list needs to be established. The report will also be available on the IVS web as part of a new memo series that will also include the 7 sub-group reports. 3. IVS Related Items 3.1 Election Results (Kerry Kingham, Wolfgang Schlueter) Kerry Kingham and Wolfgang Schlueter summarized the election results. Bill Petrachenko and Arthur Niell were elected by the Associate Members for representative positions. The three at-large positions were elected by the board and are filled by Yasuhiro Koyama, Zinovy Malkin, and Franco Mantovani. 3.2 Discussion about Balancing the Representation of Components, regions etc. within the board (all) 3.2.1 Extension of the Board Wolfgang Schlueter presented a proposal to extend the board. The proposal would increase the total number of board members from currently 15 to 16 by increasing the number of elected representatives and decreasing the number of at-large positions. The board voted not to approve the proposed extension. 3.2.2 Considering Possibility of Not Having Permanent Positions on the Board The board discussed the possibility of limiting the coordinator positions to a certain time frame. The board voted not to approve the introduction of a time limit. 3.3 Recognition of Services (Chopo Ma) Chopo Ma reported on efforts to have a common services' approach to get recognition and foster awareness in the user community and the general public of the services' achievements. 4. Various Technical Items 4.1 IVS Tropospheric Parameters (Harald Schuh) In addition to the weekly combination of the R1 and R4 sessions there is now a long-term series product that uses all existing VLBI sessions since 1980. The results are available on a web page of the Vienna University of Technology. Results are not final. The metadata are still incomplete. 4.2 Systems Working Group/Committee (Bill Petrachenko) The board unanimously supported the idea of setting up a Systems Committee as a permanent body of the IVS. Bill Petrachenko will be chair and is tasked with writing a charter and a proposal for a member list. The Systems Committee will work in a similar fashion as the OPC. It will coordinate activities and will carry on the goals set out in the Working Group 3 report. 5. Items Related to IAG, IAU, FAGS, related VLBI Groups 5.1 IAG (Harald Schuh) Harald Schuh reported on the preparation of the next IAG Scientific Assembly in Cairns, Australia. There will be 7 geodetic sessions. The deadline for abstract submittal is May 6, 2005. Papers for the proceedings need to be submitted prior to the meeting. Alan Whitney will submit an abstract on the Working Group 3 report for an oral presentation. Harald Schuh or Axel Nothnagel will give the presentation. 5.1.1 Commission 1 (Chopo Ma) The Commission 1 was not very active in the time since the last board meeting. The focus of the work was mainly on the CRF. 5.1.2 GGOS (Dirk Behrend, Chopo Ma, Wolfgang Schlueter) The First Workshop on GGOS (Global Geodetic Observing System) took place in Potsdam, Germany on March 1-2, 2005. GGOS is a project of the IAG and is currently in its two-year definition phase (2003-2005) during which the final structure shoud be developed and the science plan be finalized. The role of IVS and other IAG services will be to provide stable, highly accurate reference frames. The services will play a vital role in providing the framework for a consistent modeling and interpretation of Earth processes. A web site is under construction at http://www.ggos.org/ 5.1.3 INDIGO (Dirk Behrend) INDIGO (INter-service Data Integration for Geodetic Operations) is a NASA funded project that is supported by the Central Bureaus of the IVS, IGS, and ILRS as well as CDDIS. The first few goals are: - develop common catalog of existing services and products - analyze interdependencies and identify synergies between current services - develop and implement common interface for user access A web site is under construction at http://indigo.gsfc.nasa.gov 5.1.4 EVG (European Geodetic VLBI Group) (Axel Nothnagel) The EVG will concentrate its efforts on the following topics: - equip European (astronomical) antennas with GPS antennas - local tie measurements - education in local tie measurements A proposal entitled "European Network of Terrestrial Reference Points for Geodesy and Radio Astronomy (GeoNet)" was submitted to the EU. 5.1.5 IERS (Chopo Ma, Axel Nothnagel) The main topics within the IERS are the efforts in the ITRF2004 and the Combination Pilot Project. The IVS should interact with the IERS ACs to ensure that the resulting ITRF satisfies the needs of the IVS. 5.2 IAU (Patrick Wallace) The next IAU General Assembly is in preparation (Prague, 14-25 August 2006, www.astronomy2006.com). The deadline for submitting final proposals for scientific meetings to be held during this GA was 3 January 2005. These proposals will be evaluated during the joint meeting (April 2005) of the IAU EC and Division Presidents. Division I is supporting three proposals: two Joint Discussions (Nomenclature & Precession, and Time & Astronomy) plus one from Division III (Planetary Systems Science) for a symposium on Near-Earth Objects. The deadline for submitting proposals for IAU Resolutions of type B (i.e. without financial implications) is May 15, 2006. The IAU Division I Working Group on Precession and the Ecliptic, which is chaired by James Hilton of USNO, has its final report in draft. The WG selected the Capitaine et al. precession model "P03" to replace the precession component of the IAU 2000A precession-nutation model. P03 represents an improvement by being dynamically consistent and compliant with a non-rigid Earth. Another IAU Division I Working Group, chaired by Nicole Capitaine, has been looking at nomenclature issues following the IAU 2000 changes (see http://syrte.obspm.fr/iauWGnfa/). 5.3 FAGS (Dirk Behrend, Wolfgang Schlueter, Chopo Ma) There will be a FAGS meeting at UNESCO in Paris on May 2-3, 2005. Wolfgang Schlueter, Dirk Behrend, and Bernd Richter will participate. 5.4 EVN (Franco Mantovani/Wolfgang Schlueter) EVN (European VLBI Network): EVN consists of 16 antennas from 9 European countries. They have 3 observing sessions per year that last 4 weeks each. Web site: http://www.evlbi.org EVN CBD meeting: 18 November 2004, Jodrell Bank. Topics discussed were: improvement of operations and reliabilty, disk-based recording, e-VLBI, Mk5A --> MK5B, and digital BBCs. The next meeting will be on 23 May 2005 in Hartebeesthoek, South Africa. RadioNet: RadioNet is an Integrated Infrastructure Initiative (I3), funded under the European Committee Sixth Framework Programme (FP6), that has pulled together all of Europe's leading astronomy facilities to produce a focused, coherent and integrated project that will significantly enhance the quality and quantity of science performed by European astronomers. RadioNet has 20 partners. Web site: http://www.radionet-eu.org/ 6. Meetings (Wolfgang Schlueter) 6.1 General Meeting in Concepcion 2006 The fourth General Meeting will be held in Concepcion, Chile during January 9-13, 2006. The Local Organizing Committee consists of Hayo Hase, Oscar Cifuentes, and Jenny Neumann. The keynote of the General Meeting will be based on the theme "Next Generation VLBI". The sequence of events in Concepcion should be: (1) GM2006, (2) IVS Analysis Workshop, and (3) Directing Board meeting. 6.1.1 Program Committee The Program committee will consist of Axel Nothnagel, Dirk Behrend, Alan Whitney, Ed Himwich, Wolfgang Schlueter, Arthur Niell, Yasuhiro Koyama, Johannes Boehm, Seiji Manabe, and Pierguido Sarti. 6.1.2 First Announcement The first announcement should be distributed as soon as possible. The second announcement should follow in July. 6.2 Meetings 2005/2006 Upcoming: - Analysis Workshop in Noto, April 21-22 (1.5 days) - European VLBI meeting in Noto, April 22-23 (1.5 days) - EGU in Vienna, April 25-30 - Next TOW at Haystack, May 9-12 - Fourth e-VLBI workshop in Sydney, Australia, July 12-14 - IAG Scientific Assembly in Cairns, Australia, August 22-26 - Journees 2005 in Warsaw, Poland, September 19-24 6.3 Next DB Meeting The next Directing Board meeting is scheduled for September 20, 2005. Kerry Kingham will inquire the possibility of holding the meeting at USNO. (Note: Because of a collision with the Journess 2005 meeting, it was decided via email to reschedule the next DB meeting to September 13, 2005.) 7. Miscellaneous none