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Title: Annual Progress Report FY2019 Author: ADs Date: 11/27/2019

Version: 1.0

Annual Progress Report FY2019

PREPARED BY ORGANIZATION DATE NRAO Management Team NRAO 11/27/2019

APPROVALS ORGANIZATION

Nicole Thisdell NRAO

Tony Beasley NRAO

David Curren AUI

Title: Annual Progress Report FY2019 Author: ADs Date: 11/27/2019

Version: 1.0

Change Record

VERSION DATE REASON 0.01 9/20 Template to ADs 0.02 10/18 Edits due from ADs to CA 0.03 10/21 Assemble document 0.04 10/22-10/30 CA edit 0.05 10/30-11/1 Review by MA 0.06 11/8 Edited POP to ADs and AUI 0.07 11/15 AD and AUI edits due to CA 0.08 11/18 APR to Director 0.09 11/25 Director edits due 1.0 11/28 Preliminary draft produced 1.0 11/29 APR to NSF 1.1 December 10-11 Program Review

Annual Progress Report FY2019

The National Radio Astronomy Observatory is a facility of the National Science Foundation operated under cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc.

NRAO | Annual Progress Report FY2019 3

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1 OVERVIEW ................................................................................................................. 8 1.1 Science Highlights ................................................................................................ 9

1.1.1 Time Domain Studies and Elemental Physics ....................................................................... 9 1.1.2 Solar System ........................................................................................................................ 11

Star and Planet Formation, and the Search for Life ............................................................ 11 Galaxies and Galaxy formation ........................................................................................... 13 General Development Initiatives ........................................................................................ 15 Long Term Developments in Radio Astronomy .................................................................. 15

2 NORTH AMERICAN ALMA OPERATIONS ........................................................ 18 The North American ALMA Science Center ................................................. 19

New Group Structure .......................................................................................................... 19 Community Support ............................................................................................................ 19 Telescope Interface and Diagnostics Team ......................................................................... 22 NA ARC Data Analyst Group ................................................................................................ 23 NAASC Milestone Summary ................................................................................................ 23

Development ...................................................................................................... 24 Ongoing Development Projects .......................................................................................... 24 Ongoing Development Studies ........................................................................................... 25 ALMA Development Milestone Summary........................................................................... 25 NA ALMA Offsite Hardware Technical Support .................................................................. 26 Construction Warranty ....................................................................................................... 32 ALMA Maintenance and Renewal Milestone Summary ..................................................... 33

Office of Chilean Affairs .................................................................................... 33 Legal Representation .......................................................................................................... 33 Business ............................................................................................................................... 33 Projects ............................................................................................................................... 34 Human Resources ............................................................................................................... 34 Labor Relations ................................................................................................................... 34 Safety, Health and Environment ......................................................................................... 35 EPO and Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) ................................................................................ 35 OCA Milestone Summary .................................................................................................... 36

3 NEW MEXICO OPERATIONS ............................................................................... 37 Very Large Array (VLA) .................................................................................... 37

Science Operations ............................................................................................................. 37 Array Operations ................................................................................................................. 38 Development ....................................................................................................................... 38 Electronics Maintenance and Renewal ............................................................................... 39 VLA Site Maintenance and Renewal ................................................................................... 39 VLA Technical Upgrades and Enhancements ...................................................................... 41 Observing Capability Enhancements .................................................................................. 41 VLA Milestone Summary ..................................................................................................... 42

Very Large Baseline Array (VLBA) .................................................................. 43 Science Operations ............................................................................................................. 43 Array Operations ................................................................................................................. 44 Development ....................................................................................................................... 44


Maintenance and Renewal ................................................................................................. 45 VLBA Technical Upgrades and Enhancements .................................................................... 46 VLBA Milestone Summary ................................................................................................... 46

4 NEXT GENERATION VERY LARGE ARRAY ...................................................... 47 4.1 Overview ............................................................................................................. 47

4.1.1 Science Goals ...................................................................................................................... 48 Technical Concept ............................................................................................................... 49

4.1.3 Schedule .............................................................................................................................. 49 Budget ................................................................................................................................. 50

Astro2020 Preparations .................................................................................... 50 ngVLA Reference Design ..................................................................................................... 51

Community Engagement .................................................................................. 51 Community Studies ............................................................................................................. 51 ngVLA Science Book ............................................................................................................ 52 ngVLA Project Outreach ...................................................................................................... 52 2019 National Radio Science Meeting ................................................................................ 53 2019 Winter AAS Meeting .................................................................................................. 53 Broader Impacts .................................................................................................................. 53

Conceptual Design and Development ............................................................. 55 Requirements and Architectural Definition ........................................................................ 55 Sub-System Conceptual Designs ......................................................................................... 57 Technical Development Projects ........................................................................................ 58

Project Administration and Management ....................................................... 60 Project Office ...................................................................................................................... 61 Risk Management ............................................................................................................... 61 Project Processes and Software Tools ................................................................................ 61 Cost Estimation ................................................................................................................... 61 Systems Engineering ........................................................................................................... 61 Requirements Management ............................................................................................... 62

ngVLA Milestone Summary .............................................................................. 62 5 CENTRAL DEVELOPMENT LABORATORY ....................................................... 64

Repair, Maintenance, Production, Support ..................................................... 65 Low Noise Amplifiers (LNAs) ............................................................................................... 65 Millimeter and Submillimeter Receivers (MSMRx) ............................................................. 66 Integrated Receiver Development ...................................................................................... 66 ALMA Offsite Hardware Support ........................................................................................ 66 Work For Others Projects .................................................................................................... 67

Research and Development .............................................................................. 67 Low Noise Amplifiers (LNAs) ............................................................................................... 67 Millimeter and Submillimeter Detectors (MSMRx) ............................................................ 68 Optics and Electromagnetic Components .......................................................................... 69 Digital Signal Processing (DSP) and Correlators .................................................................. 72 LO Reference and Timing .................................................................................................... 73 Integrated Receiver Development (IRD) ............................................................................. 73 IRD ngVLA Work .................................................................................................................. 73 Hydrogen Epoch of Reionization Array (HERA) ................................................................... 74 Network for Exploration and Space Science (NESS) ........................................................... 74


Dark Ages Polarimeter Pathfinder (DAPPER) SmallSat Mission Concept ........................... 75 CDL Milestone Summary .................................................................................. 75

6 SCIENCE SUPPORT AND RESEARCH ................................................................ 77 Telescope Time Allocation ............................................................................... 77

Telescope Time Allocation Milestones ............................................................................... 78 Science Ready Data Products ........................................................................... 79

SRDP Milestones ................................................................................................................. 79 Scientific User Support and Student Programs ............................................. 79

Scientific User Support Milestones .................................................................................... 80 Reference Services ............................................................................................. 81

6.4.1 NRAO Library ....................................................................................................................... 81 6.4.2 Historical Archives ............................................................................................................... 81 6.4.3 Statistics and Metrics .......................................................................................................... 81

Reference Services Milestones ........................................................................................... 82 Scientific Staff and Jansky Fellows .................................................................... 82

Scientific Staff Support Milestones ..................................................................................... 84 Student Programs .............................................................................................. 84

Student Program Milestones .............................................................................................. 85 SSR Milestone Summary ................................................................................... 85

7 DATA MANAGEMENT AND SOFTWARE .......................................................... 87 Scientific Information Services ......................................................................... 87 System Software ................................................................................................ 88

7.2.1 ALMA System Software ....................................................................................................... 88 7.2.2 Science Data Model: Performance Updates and Improvements ....................................... 89 7.2.3 VLA System Software .......................................................................................................... 89 7.2.4 VLBA .................................................................................................................................... 90

Software Development...................................................................................... 90 7.3.1 CASA .................................................................................................................................... 90 7.3.2 CASA Pipeline ...................................................................................................................... 91 7.3.3 Science Support and Archive (SSA) ..................................................................................... 92 7.3.4 Testing Group ...................................................................................................................... 92

Algorithm Research and Development ........................................................... 93 DMS Milestone Summary ................................................................................. 93

8 PROGRAM MANAGEMENT DEPARTMENT ...................................................... 95 PMD Office Operations ..................................................................................... 95 Proposal Development ...................................................................................... 95 Program Management Activities ..................................................................... 97

PMD Headquarters ............................................................................................................. 97 New Mexico Operations ..................................................................................................... 97 Central Development Lab ................................................................................................... 97 ALMA Development ............................................................................................................ 97

Project Management/Systems Engineering Activities ................................... 98 Program Management Software Implementation ............................................................. 98 ALMA OSF Sports Facility .................................................................................................... 98 Science Ready Data Products .............................................................................................. 98 ngVLA .................................................................................................................................. 99 CIRADA VLA Sky Survery Enhanced Data Products ............................................................. 99


VLA Tack Maintenance ........................................................................................................ 99 VLBA Fiber ........................................................................................................................... 99 VLBA St Croix Hurricane Repairs ....................................................................................... 100 ALMA Band I LNA .............................................................................................................. 100

ALMA Baseline Correlator Update .................................................................................... 100 8.4.11 ALMA Bank 6v2 Receiver Upgrade .................................................................................... 100

PMD Milestone Summary ............................................................................... 100 9 EDUCATION AND PUBLIC OUTREACH ......................................................... 102

STEAM Education and Outreach ................................................................... 102 News and Public Information ......................................................................... 103 Multimedia Engagement ................................................................................. 104 Visitor Center Operations .............................................................................. 105 EPO Milestone Summary ................................................................................ 106

10 COMPUTING AND INFORMATION SERVICES ........................................... 107 Observatory-Wide Support ......................................................................... 107 Site Specific Facilities Infrastructure .......................................................... 108 Maintenance and Renewal ........................................................................... 108 CIS Milestone Summary .............................................................................. 108

11 OFFICE OF DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION ................................................... 109 Local and National Programs ...................................................................... 109 International Partnerships ........................................................................... 112

NRAO International Exchange Program (NINE) ................................................................ 112 ODI Milestone Summary ............................................................................. 113

12 HUMAN RESOURCES ....................................................................................... 114 Workforce Management.............................................................................. 114 Training and Development .......................................................................... 114 Compensation ............................................................................................... 116 Benefits .......................................................................................................... 117 Recruitment/Employment ........................................................................... 117 HR Support .................................................................................................... 119 HR Milestone Summary ............................................................................... 119

13 SCIENCE COMMUNICATIONS ....................................................................... 120 SciCom Milestone Summary ....................................................................... 121

14 ADMINISTRATION ............................................................................................ 122 Contracts and Procurement ....................................................................... 123 Environmental, Safety and Security (ESS) ................................................ 124 Management Information Systems ............................................................ 124 Technology Transfer Office ......................................................................... 125 Admin Milestone Summary ......................................................................... 125

15 BUDGET .............................................................................................................. 126 Information .................................................................................................... 126 Budget Milestone Summary ........................................................................ 126

16 SPECTRUM MANAGEMENT ............................................................................ 127 Site Spectrum Management ........................................................................ 127 National and International Spectrum Management ................................. 127

National Issues in FY2019 ................................................................................................. 127


16.2.2 International Issues in FY2019 ............................................................................................... 128 SM Milestone Summary ............................................................................... 129

17 DIRECTOR’S OFFICE ........................................................................................ 130 17.1 Director’s Office ................................................................................................. 130

Milestone Summary ..................................................................................... 131 Appendix A: MAJOR MILESTONES COMPLETION MATRIX ............................... 132 Appendix B: FINANCIAL PLAN COMPLETION MATRIX ..................................... 152 Appendix C: FY2019 ANNUAL OBSERVATORY METRICS ................................... 154 Appendix D: ORGANIZATIONAL CHART ............................................................... 168 Appendix E: ACRONYMS ............................................................................................ 169


1 OVERVIEW

This Fiscal Year 2019 Annual Progress Report (APR) summarizes National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) progress against the FY2019 NRAO Program Operating Plan (POP). Section 1.1 describes a sample of the science highlights derived by scientists from North America and around the world using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA), and the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA). The FY2019 activities associated with operations, development, maintenance, and renewal for North American ALMA Operations are described in Section 2; the FY2019 activities associated with operations, development, maintenance, and renewal for the Jansky VLA, the VLBA, and New Mexico Operations are given in Section 3. Section 4 describes the substantial progress made on the scientific vision and technical development for a next generation Very Large Array (ngVLA). The numerous technical production and research and development accomplishments of the Central Development Laboratory (CDL) are given in Section 5. Section 6 details the Science Support and Research (SSR) activities that maximized the scientific impact of NRAO telescopes, provided ready access to all NRAO telescopes and services, expanded access to new users, improved user services, and directly supported the Observatory’s user community. Section 7 chronicles the activities and accomplishments of the Data Management and Software (DMS) department, including the milestones and key tasks supporting Scientific Information Services, System Software, Software Development, and Algorithm Research Development. Section 8 reports on the FY2019 accomplishments of the Program Management Department (PMD) at NRAO Headquarters and across the Observatory. The activities and initiatives of the Education and Public Outreach (EPO) department are described in Section 9, including the increasingly effective portfolio of Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics (STEAM) education programs, and the accomplishments of News and Public Information, progress in Multimedia Engagement, and Visitor Center Operations. Section 10 reports the FY2019 activities and achievements of the Computing and Information Services (CIS) division in overseeing and maintaining the Observatory’s operational information technology and computing support for all NRAO sites. Section 11 describes the FY2019 activities and accomplishments of the Office of Diversity and Inclusion (ODI). NRAO believes that a diverse staff is critical to achieving its mission and is committed to a diverse and inclusive work place culture that accepts and appreciates all individuals. Section 12 reviews the activities of the Human Resources (HR) Department, including its achievements in improving compensation, performance management, policy development and administration, training, and development. Section 13 describes the key activities and performance of the Science Communications Office in science community communication and outreach. Section 14 details the activities and accomplishments of the Administration department, including the milestones and progress of the department’s divisions: Business Services, Contracts and Procurement, Environmental Safety and Security, Management Information Systems, and the Technology Transfer Office. Section 15 describes the FY2019 NRAO budget. Section 16 reports on the FY2019 achievements and activities of the Spectrum Management Office in representing the astronomy community’s vital interests in radio frequency allocation at the national and international level. Finally, Section 17 describes the FY2019 activities and accomplishments of the NRAO Director’s Office. Five appendices provide additional information that support Sections 1 through 17. Appendix A presents the Major Milestones Completion Matrix. Appendix B is the Financial Plan Completion Matrix. NRAO


performance against key annual Observatory metrics in FY2019 is illustrated in Appendix C. The Observatory organizational chart is given in Appendix D. All acronyms that appear in this APR are defined in Appendix E.

The NRAO facilities remain paramount in the global arsenal of observatories in the new era of multi-messenger astronomy. The JVLA, VLBA, and ALMA are recognized as the world premier facilities operating at centimeter through submm wavelengths. This last year has seen a remarkable display of ground-breaking discoveries from these facilities, ranging from storms on Jupiter to merging neutron stars and the origin of gravitational waves.

The NRAO facilities continue to improve, both through technical developments and through improved observational strategies. The most impressive scientific result, fundamentally enabled by the ALMA phasing project, was the direct imaging of a black hole event horizon. This result is already seen as one of the great discoveries of the century, and would not have been possible without the phased ALMA and the close collaborative effort between the U.S., international communities, and the NRAO.

Time domain astronomy has come to the forefront over the last few years, and the NRAO facilities have kept pace through ultra-fast observing modes applied to, for example, the Sun, as well as rapid-response, wide-field follow-up of transients, including Fast Radio Bursts (FRB) and Gravitational Wave (GW) sources. On-the-fly imaging is now routinely used in both the VLASS and for GW follow-up. Low frequency capabilities continue to improve at the VLA, through the improving 4-Band system and the commensal VLA Low Band Ionospheric and Transient Experiment (VLITE) program, in collaboration with the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL).

Proposal pressure on ALMA remains historically high for astronomical observatories, and the VLA and VLBA maintain a healthy demand, with numerous high-profile science programs, including a new category of X-proposals (>1000 hours) currently under review. The NRAO continued its effort to make observational products readily available to the broader community. The VLA Sky Survey has completed its first pass over the fully accessible sky, and the data and images are being delivered to the community, including an interactive, web-based HiPS tool to scroll images of the radio sky. The Science Ready Data Products (SRDP) team has focused on pipeline data processing that will facilitate use of NRAO’s telescopes by all astronomers.

A strong case has been made for the ngVLA and ALMA 2030 projects to the 2020 Decadal Survey, with well over 100 science and project white papers, devoted to, or making prominent mention of, the ngVLA and ALMA 2030. These white papers reflect a close collaborative effort between the U.S. science and technical communities and NRAO. The past year has seen the synthesis of a realizable and costed reference design, driven by a clear and compelling set of key science goals.

Following are highlights of some of the major science discoveries from the last year, and summaries of the programmatic initiatives with high science impact.

Topping the list of science highlights this year is the direct imaging of a supermassive black hole event horizon using the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT). Once considered the realm of science fiction, this astonishing result was the culmination of years of effort by an international team, in close collaboration with Observatory staff, to perform submm VLBI observations at the unprecedented resolution of 20 microarcsec. This truly transcendent result provides perhaps the ultimate verification of strong-field general relativity, and was widely acclaimed in the popular press across the globe, with the black hole image reaching an estimated four billion people. The role of the phased ALMA in this program cannot be


overstated: without the ultra-sensitive phased ALMA, these observations would have been impossible. The ALMA phasing project was funded in part through the ALMA development program.

Figure 1.1.1.1: Left: EHT 230 GHz image of the event horizon of the black hole in M87 at an unprecedented 20 microarcsec resolution. Right: Model for the General Relativistic shadow caused by the severe bending of space-time around the Schwarzschild radius, Rs, seen as a bright ring with a dark center, indicating the radius of the orbits of the last photons able to escape the extreme gravitational field of the 6x109 Mo black hole (EHT Collaboration 2019ApJ, 875L, 1E). NRAO facilities made core contributions to the understanding of merging neutron star systems and the origin of Gravitational Waves (GW) this past year. A particularly novel application has come through the use of Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) imaging to determine the Hubble constant through GW emission. Gravitational wave sources can be used as ‘standard candles’ (or ‘sirens’), for distance measurements, since their intrinsic strength can be determined from the temporal signature of the GW. However, the GW signal is anisotropic, depending on the line-of-sight angle relative to the plane of the neutron star merger. Imaging with the High Sensitivity Array (HSA) of the radio-emitting relativistic jets generated by the neutron star merger in GW170817, combined with study of the radio light curve, has been used to determine the plane of rotation. This result, combined with the GW signal itself, yields a physical distance of 45 Mpc. The distance, combined with the redshift, then implies a Hubble constant of 69 +/- 5 km/s/Mpc.

Figure 1.1.1.2: Left: Proper motion of the VLBI components of GW170817 at 5GHz over 155 days. Right: Distance to the source vs. plane of rotation for the merger, from which the Hubble constant can be derived (Hotokezaka et al. 2019, NatAs, 385H).


In the area of pulsar research, the VLA was instrumental in the discovery of the cannon ball pulsar—a pulsar that was given such a kick in the anisotropic supernova explosion that it has exited its nascent birth supernova remnant and is traveling at a velocity (over 1000 km/s) that exceeds the Galactic escape velocity (Schinzel et al. 2019ApJ, 876L, 17S). Key discoveries were made with the VLA and VLBA in the area of relativistic jets. Unprecedented high frequency images of the nuclear regions of Cygnus A with the VLA have revealed free-free emission from the Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) torus on a scale of ~200 pc (Carilli et al. 2019ApJ, 874L, 32C). The

VLBA movie of the 9 M⊙ black hole/stellar binary system, V404 Cyg, has shown precession on a timescale of minutes. The precession is caused by general relativistic ‘frame dragging’ of the accretion disk around the rapidly spinning black hole, driven by a misalignment between the black hole rotation axis relative to that of the accretion disk (Miller-Jones et al. 2019, Nature, 569, 374M).

The capabilities and new observing modes on the NRAO facilities remain at the forefront of Solar System research. These included: high time and spatial resolution imaging of active Solar regions; study of the composition of asteroids and comets; imaging of the Jovian moon, Europa; and determination of the regolith composition of Kuiper Belt objects. An important result appearing this year was ALMA 12m and Compact Array imaging of the giant planet atmospheres and their rings in unprecedented detail. Images of the ammonia emission from Jupiter probe to 80 km below the optical cloud layer, and reveal the origins of lightning storms triggered by convection at the base of water clouds located deep in the atmosphere. These plumes convect ammonia gas to high altitudes, well above the main cloud deck. Images of the rings of Uranus reveal thermal emission from cold material ~77 K. Unlike the rings of the other gas giants, the largest ring surrounding Uranus contains only golf-ball sized rocks, and larger. The lack of smaller pebbles and dust remains a mystery.

Figure 1.1.2.1: Left: Image of ammonia in the Jovian atmosphere (de Pater et al. 2019AJ, 158, 139D). Right: 250 GHz image of Uranus and its rings (Molter et al. 2019AJ, 158, 47M).

Star and Planet Formation, and the Search for Life

The VLA and ALMA produced a steady stream of ground breaking results in the fields of star and planet formation and in Astrochemistry over the reporting period.


The combination of high resolution ALMA dust imaging and VLT imaging of the ionized gas in the protoplanetary system, PDS 70, has shown evidence for accretion onto planets themselves, for the first

time. PDS 70 is a 5 Myr old forming planetary system around a 0.8 M⊙ T Tauri star at a distance of 113 pc. VLT imaging of H-alpha emission has revealed two forming planets, present in a gap in the dust disk, at distances of 23 and 35 AU from the star, with masses of 4 and 12 MJ. ALMA 350 GHz images down to 0.05” resolution show dust emission from the planets themselves, indicating circum-planetary disks associated with the forming planets. These mini-dust disks will eventually coalesce to form moons and dust rings, similar to those seen around the giant planets in the Solar System.

Figure 1.1.3.1: ALMA 350 GHz and VLT images of the protoplanetary disk, PDS 70 (Isella et al. 2019, ApJ, 879L, 25I). ALMA has completed the Disk Substructures at High Angular Resolution program (DSHARP) to image the dust in a sample of 20 protoplanetary disks at 5 AU resolution. The goal is to understand the complexity in planet formation, from hot Jupiters, to massive rocky worlds, to icy dwarf planets, and possibly, distant Earth-analogs. The survey reveals rings, gaps, and even spiral patterns, indicative of dust trapping and planet formation. The results suggest that large gas planets, similar to Saturn, often form quickly, within 1 Myr—much faster than predicted by theory, and they form in the outer reaches of the disks. Also discovered were dense inner rings of dust, which likely enhance the formation of rocky planets, providing stable, dense environments that give planets more time to grow.


Figure 1.1.3.2: ALMA images of protoplanetary disks at 230 GHz, 35mas resolution (Andrews et al. 2018ApJ, 869L, 41A).

Galaxies and Galaxy formation

Numerous results, particularly through large programs at the VLA and ALMA, have produced dramatic advances in our understanding of the gas, dust, and star formation in galaxies near and far. The VLA Great Observatories All-Luminous InfraRed Galaxy Survey (GOALS, LIRG) survey has determined the broadband radio spectral properties (2 GHz to 38 GHz) of 25 active star-forming galaxies (typically massive mergers), at resolutions ranging from 10 pc to 1 kpc. The resolution is adequate to isolate numerous massive star forming regions across the galaxies, including those in tidal tails and filaments. The median 3–33 GHz spectral index for the extranuclear SF regions is -0.5, and the fraction of thermal emission at 33 GHz is estimated to be 66%. The results provide dust-unbiased star formation

rates, typically of order 1 M⊙/yr, and, combined with optical estimates of stellar masses, indicate elevated star formation efficiencies, even in regions well outside the starburst nuclei.


Figure 1.1.4.1: Multifrequency imaging of a typical galaxy, in the GOALS VLA survey, NGC3110 at a distance of 70 Mpc (Linden et al. 2019ApJ, 881, 70L). ALMA has made a decisive measurement of the mass of the Super Massive Black Hole (SMBH) in the galaxy, NGC3258. High resolution (0.1” ~15pc) imaging of the CO 2-1 emission from the nuclear disk surrounding the SMBH in the massive elliptical galaxy, NGC3258, at a distance of 31 Mpc, probes well within the gravitational sphere of influence of the SMBH. A Keplerian rotation curve is measured, with an

implied mass for the black hole of 2.3 x 109 M⊙. The results demonstrate the power of ALMA to determine the critical, but previously difficult to measure, masses of SMBH.

Figure 1.1.4.2: Left: CO 2-1 moment maps. Right: CO 2-1 spectrum and PV diagram for NGC3258. (Boizelle et al. 2019ApJ, 881, 10B). The Cosmic Evolution Survey (COSMOS) HI Large. Extragalactic Survey (CHILES) VLA deep field is the first high resolution, three dimensional survey of HI 21cm emission over a substantial cosmic volume. The first results from this VLA large program have been published, showing numerous massive HI galaxies out

to redshifts of 0.17, or look-back times of 2 Gyr, with gas masses approaching 1010 M⊙. The images show rich structure, including disks, tidal features, and massive groups. These observations provide crucial insight into the physics of the gaseous evolution of the neutral atomic gas in galaxies, and guidance for future deeper surveys with next generation radio arrays.

Figure 1.1.4.3: CHILES VLA image of an HI group at z = 0.12 (Hess et al. 2019 MNRAS.484.2234H).


Wide band surveys with ALMA and the VLA continue to reveal the dense gas history of the Universe in unprecedented detail, through blind searches for cold molecular gas—the fuel for star formation—over large cosmic volumes. The first results from the ALMA large program, the ALMA Spectroscopic Survey (ASPECs), confirm the increase in the average molecular gas fraction in galaxies (gas mass/stellar mass) by an order of magnitude from nearby to z~2 (Decarli et al. 2019ApJ, 882, 138D). This increase is the root cause of the similar order of magnitude increase in cosmic star formation rate density from z~0 to z~2.

General Development Initiatives

VLA Sky Survey (VLASS): In July 2019, the VLA completed mapping of all of the sky north of Declination -40 degrees, closing-out the first epoch of VLASS. With its high angular resolution, full polarization, and spectral information over an octave in frequency from 2–4 GHz, and two further epochs to come, VLASS is the first synoptic full sky radio survey. VLASS was planned in consultation with the astronomy community, and will be completed in 2024 after the third epoch has been observed. VLASS enables transient searches, study of the polarization properties of extragalactic radio sources, study of highly obscured sources in our Galaxy, and matches NRAO radio source catalogs with optical/near-infrared surveys such as the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), the Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System (Pan-STARRS), the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST), and the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE). Quick Look VLASS images of almost 34,000 square degrees of sky are already available, and the first science papers based on these images have begun to appear in the literature. Higher-quality single epoch continuum images, source component lists, and full polarization cubes for the first epoch will be delivered in FY2020. The NRAO is continuing to work with the community to produce enhanced data products that the Observatory does not have the resources to produce or archive. Low Frequency Radio Astronomy: The last year saw the completion of all VLA antennas with new 4-band dipoles, covering 50 MHz to 88 MHz. Work is ongoing to commission this band to make it available to the community for Shared Risk Observing (SRO). Work has started on 4-band cross correlation between VLA and the two Long Wavelength Array (LWA) stations in NM, in collaboration with the University of New Mexico (UNM) and the LWA project. First Resident Share Risk Observing (RSRO) observations in this mode were taken in A configuration, using a subset of the VLA antennas, and the initial results are already exciting, with the discovery of a pulsar wind nebula around B0950+08. The NRL-supported VLITE commensal observing program, covering 320 MHz to 384 MHz, continues routine operation, with a notable result being the radio follow up of a candidate gamma-ray transient of GW170608 (Artkop et al. 2019ApJ, 884, 16A). ALMA Development Program: ALMA maintains a vigorous, community-led development program. The ALMA phasing project has resulted in the first image of a Black Hole Event Horizon, in M87, with ALMA at the heart of the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) at 230 GHz (Band 6). Beyond that, several community development studies were completed this year, and eight new studies were selected for FY2020. Those completed with the most immediate impact on ALMA users include work on accounting properly for the different beams in images made with ALMA telescopes of four different designs, though all built to the same specifications. One newly completed study explored methods of using neural network techniques to discover hidden relationships within ALMA data cubes.

Long Term Developments in Radio Astronomy

ALMA 2030: The ALMA Development Roadmap identifies as the highest priorities a number of initiatives, including upgrading the correlator to increase spectral compass for line work, upgrading the processed


data bits from two to four, increasing line and continuum sensitivity, eventually increasing processed bandwidth, and upgrading receivers in bandwidth and sensitivity. The existing correlator allows use of four bits with the implementation of new modes, which will be initiated. One of the completed studies focused on improving ALMA's workhorse receiver, the Band 6, 1.3mm, receiver. A new design under development will extend the spectral compass by up to a factor of three with increased sensitivity. An early study initiated work on the ALMA Band 1 receiver. The first of these will be installed in a few months, the result of a collaboration of East Asian, North American and Chilean groups. This year has concentrated on devising the plan for accomplishing goals of the ALMA 2030 Roadmap. Original plans for a correlator upgrade proved difficult, and an initiative focused on a more powerful correlator has begun, building on ALMA Development Studies and ngVLA plans. A workshop planned for February 2020 in Charlottesville will pursue its design for a broad range of science, from galaxy formation to planet formation to astrochemistry. Next Generation Very Large Array: The NRAO has engaged the broad scientific and technical community in the design of the ngVLA, building on the legacies of ALMA and the VLA. The ngVLA is envisaged as an interferometric array with ten times the resolution and sensitivity of both ALMA and the VLA, optimized for operation at 1.2–116 GHz. The ngVLA will open a new window on the Cosmos through thermal line and continuum imaging down to milliarcsecond scales. The last year has continued to see tremendous progress in the ngVLA science program and technical design, with broad community involvement, led by the ngVLA project office and the Science and Technical Advisory committees. This close collaboration helped lead to the publication of both the ngVLA science book and ngVLA reference design, which are major project deliverables that represent the work of hundreds of scientists and engineers from the U.S. and international astronomy communities. Containing nearly 90 contributions by more than 285 unique authors, the ngVLA science book, released at the January 2019 American Astronomical Society (AAS) meeting, summarizes the ngVLA Key Science Goals for the Astro2020 Decadal Survey, and demonstrates the Project’s commitment to achievable technology and rigorous cost definition. The reference design is a low-technical-risk, costed concept that supports the Key Science Goals for the facility, and forms the technical and cost basis of the ngVLA Astro2020 Decadal Survey proposal. The compendium includes 56 technical documents (1400+ pages) and represents the work of more than 54 engineers and scientists contributing to the project. In addition to these deliverables, the project sponsored a science workshop on 25–27 June 2018 in Charlottesville, VA. This was a tremendous event in which over 100 scientists gathered to present and discuss the primary science drivers for this major new research facility that were directly related to the key science topics included in recently submitted Astro2020 Science White papers. Sessions ranged from gravitational waves and tests of general relativity, to exoplanets and the origins of life, to the formation of the first galaxies in the Universe. Broadening the User Base: The VLA and VLBA have initiated a new category of X-proposals, corresponding to proposals that require more than 1000 hours and extend over a few years. One goal is to begin exploration of some of the key science programs that will potentially drive the ngVLA. Proposals are currently under review. The Science Ready Data Products (SRDP) project is in full operation, and significant progress has been made in areas of improving community access to science-quality products. The focus has been pipeline processing for the VLASS. The VLASS has been incorporated into the SRDP project, and the first epoch of VLASS full-sky observing is currently being delivered to the community. The long-term goal is to make interferometric observing readily accessible to the broad multi-messenger astronomy community.


Over the past year, the NRAO ran numerous schools in interferometry, CASA tutorials, and NRAO community days. These world-leading training programs ensure that the community is fully informed about the techniques of radio astronomy, and the ever-increasing capabilities of the NRAO facilities. The NRAO continues to foster the next generation of scientists, through the prize Jansky postdoctoral fellowship program, and the prize Reber student fellowship program.


2 NORTH AMERICAN ALMA OPERATIONS

Inaugurated in March 2013, ALMA is an interferometric array of 66 elements located at 5000 meters altitude in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile. Construction of the science instruments was completed in 2014. ALMA enters Cycle 6 in FY2019. The demand for ALMA observations remains strong with the Cycle 6 Call for Proposals setting another record for the number of proposals submitted (1837). The science results from ALMA over the past cycles are transforming our understanding of planet and galaxy formation and stellar evolution. Recent remarkable results revealed by the ALMA main 12-m array include the first kinematic evidence collected demonstrating the existence of planets in a nearby planetary system, HD163296. Over the past year, ALMA also hit another major milestone with its thousandth peer-reviewed publication. To date, there are 1032+ refereed ALMA publications available in scientific literature and 1588+ post-proprietary project data sets available in the ALMA Archive; 348 of these data sets are from Cycle 4 alone. North American ALMA Operations (NA ALMA Ops) is the NRAO department that provides North America’s scientific and technical partnership support to the international ALMA Observatory and supports the North American community in their use of ALMA. NA ALMA Ops ensures that the North American scientific community has the tools, information, support, and access to make optimal scientific use of ALMA. It also provides scientific, technical, and business support to Observatory operations in Chile in concert with the Joint ALMA Observatory (JAO) staff and international partners, and supports a long-term development program for the technical enhancement of ALMA. NA ALMA Ops consists of four divisions: (1) the North American ALMA Science Center (NAASC); (2) the Offsite Technical Maintenance and Support group, including Construction Warranty support; (3) the NA ALMA Development Program; and (4) the NRAO/AUI Office of Chilean Affairs (OCA). In FY2019, NA ALMA Ops focused on the following high-level initiatives:

1. Supporting JAO Operations and NA community use of ALMA. Continue the outstanding scientific productivity of the Observatory;

2. Delivering fully calibrated data and representative images of ALMA standard observing modes to Principal Investigators (PIs) within 30 days of the date of the final successful execution on the array and facilitate the ALMA Cycle 6 and 7 workflow development;

3. Supporting the NRAO Science Ready Data Products (SRDP) strategic initiative. Delivering true science ready products while continuing to meet ALMA core deliverables;

4. Expediting NA community science publications. Supporting NA PIs in getting data to publication, and help ensure that they are competitive with their regional peers;

5. Enhancing staff relations and the work environment in Chile, building toward the next collective bargaining agreement. Completing the multicancha and continue to build the Diversity and Inclusion Outreach program in Chile; and

6. Supporting the ALMA 2030 Development Roadmap in NA. The sections below highlight the FY2019 deliverables that realized these high-level initiatives of NA ALMA Ops. All references to Quarters 1, 2, 3, and 4 (Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4, respectively) are to FY2019 unless otherwise noted.


The North American ALMA Science Center

New Group Structure

In FY2019, the NAASC started to support the SRDP initiative as a top priority. To position the NAASC to contribute to SRDP while continuing to meet ALMA requirements, the organization of the NAASC was restructured to focus on user-facing tasks (including Community Outreach), telescope-facing tasks, data analysis, and development. To allow the matrix-staffing requirements of SRDP while still meeting ALMA deliverables, the software support and data services team was consolidated within the user-facing group. In FY2019, a new position was added to the NA ALMA Department—Deputy Division Head (Deputy ALMA Regional Center (ARC) Manager). As such, by the end of FY2019, the NAASC transitioned out of its current structure of four functional teams toward functional groups based on tasks. The Deputy AD of NA ALMA Operations/ARC Manager and the Deputy Division Head/Deputy ARC Manager functional groups aligned with user and telescope facing tasks, respectively. In Q1, the position of the Deputy Division Head was filled and the full reorganization of the NAASC was completed into two task-based groups (ALMA Community Support and ALMA Telescope Diagnostics and Interface).

Community Support

NAASC Community Outreach: The NAASC hosts many outreach forums designed to broaden and facilitate the ALMA use by the community. In FY2019, the NAASC continued the ALMA Ambassadors program where scientists from the community visit the NAASC for ALMA tools and software training. The Ambassadors then organize and run ALMA training events around the country. In Q1, the call for ALMA Ambassador applications were advertised to the community and in Q2, NAASC staff ran and organized the ALMA Ambassadors program and trained members of the scientific community to run outreach events. In Q3, the ALMA Ambassadors submitted their summary reports for each outreach event.

Figure 2.1.2.1: 2019 ALMA Cycle 7 Ambassadors during their training in February at the NRAO headquarters in Charlottesville, Virginia – February 2019.


Hosting or sponsoring scientific meetings and workshops is also an integral part of the NAASC strategic initiative for knowledge transfer and results dissemination. In FY2019, the NAASC was a major contributor to the following scientific and topical meetings: • (Q1) Co-hosted Torus 2018: The Many Faces of AGN Obscuration science conference in Puerto

Varas, Chile, 10–14 December 2018—www.torus2018.org.

Figure 2.1.2.2: Torus 2018.

• (Q2) Organized and hosted a special session on Exploring our Cosmic Origins: New Results from

ALMA at the AAS meeting in Seattle, 7–10 January 2019. • (Q3) Co-hosted the 12th NAASC workshop in coordination with the National Research Council

(NRC) in Canada, on the topic of New Horizons in Planetary Systems in Victoria, British Columbia, 13–17 May 2019—go.nrao.edu/newhorizons.

Figure 1.1.2.3: International Symposium on Molecular Spectroscopy.

• (Q3) Was a major sponsor for the International Symposium on Molecular Spectroscopy, in

Champaign, Illinois, 17–21 June 2019—isms.illinois.edu. In Q3, the NAASC was planning on hosting a topical meeting on data combination techniques and strategies that will enable the ALMA community to efficiently and effectively combine data from the ALMA 12-m, 7-m, and Total Power (TP) arrays. However, colleagues in EU hosted a similar workshop in 2019 August, which was attended by representatives from NRAO. As such, this milestone was cancelled in the FY2019 POP.


User Documentation: Preparation of the ALMA end user documentation is an annual task in which the NAASC takes a leading role in support of the JAO. In Q1-Q2, NAASC staff again took lead roles in the preparation of the Cycle 7 Call for Proposals and user documentation including all updates and edits to the ALMA Science Portal. Additionally, the JAO decided to test a new proposal review process for a Call for Proposals for only the 7-m and TP arrays in mid-Cycle 7. NAASC staff assisted the JAO in preparing for the Cycle 7.5 proposal call by helping draft all the relevant call documentation and preparing the ALMA science portal with the relevant information. In Q2, in cooperation with the NRC, an additional instructional video on the subtleties of ALMA operations was to developed and deployed to the user community via the ALMA and NAASC science webpages. However, this activity was not completed in FY2019 and, as such, the milestone was cancelled in the FY2019 POP. Face to Face Visitor and Helpdesk Support: The NAASC provides overall management of ALMA Helpdesk activities including routine ticket reviews, enforcement of ticket service level agreements, and formulation of new Knowledgebase articles based on user questions. In FY2019, NAASC staff, led primarily by the data analysts, answered over 500 helpdesk tickets submitted to the various ALMA Helpdesk Departments including the Proposal Submission Emergency Departments for both the Cycle 7 main and supplemental calls. Face-to-face (f2f) support continued through FY2019 with over 40 f2f visitors coming to the NAASC through specific f2f visits and the Data Reduction Party which was hosted in Q2. There were also more than 30 scientific staff from around the world remote accessing the NAASC cluster for data processing. Over the past two ALMA cycles, some metrics have suggested that NA ALMA users are falling behind in publishing results from their delivered ALMA data relative to users from the other regions. In Q2, a systematic investigation took place to look at the apparent fall off in publication rate of NA ALMA users compared to their EU counterparts. In the end, there was no conclusive evidence found that NA publications are less impactful than their regional counterparts. In Q3, the results of the investigation were presented to the 2019 NRAO Users Committee/ALMA North American Science Advisory Committee (UC/ANASAC) meeting and in Q4, the results were presented to the ALMA International Visiting Committee. Pipeline Development and CASA Testing: ALMA calibration and imaging pipeline testing and development continued in FY2019 for the deployment of the Cycle 7 ALMA pipeline in Q1 FY2020, and was aligned with the broader aim of supporting the NRAO SRDP project. The NAASC successfully delivered the heuristics for the Cycle 7 ALMA calibration and imaging pipeline in Q3 and continued working on the development priorities to improve Quality Assessment (QA) scores, accelerate data review and quality assurance, and improve selected calibration and imaging heuristics. The team at the NAASC successfully validated features for CASA 5.5 and 5.6 and delivered the ALMA Cycle 7 calibration and imaging pipeline in Q4 with CASA 5.6. The CASA Testing Lead role stayed within the NAASC in FY2019 and testing and validation continued with the focus on: (a) improvements to imaging, parallelization, and performance; (b) continued improvements to documentation; and (c) CASA activities determined by new ALMA and SRDP capabilities. The NAASC also continued to support the QA2 reporting script for manual calibration, analysisUtils, a CASA module with useful ALMA-related python functions) and simalma. Data Processing Workflow and Lustre Access: As described in the high-level initiatives, a main objective of the Data Processing Workflow group is to deliver fully calibrated data and representative


images of ALMA standard observing modes to PIs within 30 days of the date of last successful execution on the array (45 days for non-standard modes). Over the course of FY2019, the NAASC successfully delivered data to NA PIs at an average pace of 35 days for all observing modes (standard or non-standard) for Cycle 6 datasets. In Q1, the Integrated Science Operations Team (iSOpT) presented to the ALMA Board a proposal for a raw data delivery pilot program that enabled a random subset of PIs to download the raw data products from the ALMA Archive immediately after the data have undergone preliminary QA at the ALMA site. Through the initial response, 25% of PIs that were afforded this option took advantage of the raw data delivery. In addition, the NAASC continued to deliver raw data to triggered and time critical observing programs throughout Cycle 6. Finally, in Q3, the ALMA project conducted an external review of the development, priority setting, and implementation of the ALMA Archive. NAASC staff were heavily involved in this effort generating documentation and preparing presentations in preparation for this review.

Telescope Interface and Diagnostics Team

The Telescope Interface and Diagnostics group is the NAASC technical liaison to the JAO. In FY2019, the group was responsible for several initiatives, including organizing and running the Cycle 7 ALMA proposal review process, participated in an ALMA Science Exchange with the other ARCs and the JAO and, once again, hosted a scientific staff visit from the JAO that focused on Telescope Diagnostics. Proposal Review Process: The NAASC provides technical expertise in support of the ALMA proposal review process, the Proposal Handling Tool (PHT) technical assessment, and technical secretary functions. In Q3, the NAASC role was greatly expanded, as staff worked closely with the JAO in organizing and running the Cycle 7 ALMA proposal review process. As always, the NAASC provided 11 technical secretaries who attended the ALMA Review Panels and Proposal Review Committee meetings. The NAASC also sent the Phase 1 Manager Cognizant Lead to the ALMA Proposal Review meeting for additional support. Contact Scientists and Support for Operations: NAASC staff provide oversight of all the approved NA ALMA PI programs to ensure PIs have submitted, reviewed, and approved their projects for scheduling, and, if needed, to provide communication between PIs and the JAO. Throughout FY2019, NAASC staff acted as Contact Scientists (CS) for the over 250 approved Cycle 6 observing programs (including DDTs) from NA. In addition, the NAASC coordinated with the JAO and other ARCs on scheduling of Astronomer on Duty (AoD) shifts to Chile covering more than 14 shifts over the course of the calendar year. Telescope Diagnostics: The NAASC continues to play a critical role in the JAO technical and diagnostics related meetings and teleconferences, such as the JAO Science and Engineering Coordination and the Control System and Correlator Group weekly meetings and software readiness review meetings. Throughout FY2019, the NAASC continued to provide diagnostic support for troubleshooting issues and problems found with the telescope systems or in data collection and analysis. Phase 2 Group (P2G): P2G staff provide the technical expertise required to review all Phase 2 materials, such as Scheduling Blocks (SBs) submitted by NA PIs for an observing cycle. The NAASC also supports new programs approved mid-cycle (including Director’s Discretionary Time (DDT) and supplementary calls), modifies SBs that require expert technical input, coordinates with the JAO to request calibrator searches, and ensures that all SBs are ready to run on the telescope. Over the course of FY2019, the NAASC P2G prepared and reviewed all the NA Phase 2 SBs for the start of Cycle 6 observing, participated in software testing of the ALMA Observing Tool (OT) and the Project Tracker, and closely coordinated with the JAO and the other ARCs on developing P2G best practices at the annual P2G face-to-face


meeting. Finally, the P2G lead extracted metadata for all Cycle 7 SBs, for use by NAASC staff, the JAO, and other ARCs. As such, the NAASC was fully prepared for the start of Cycle 7 observations. Extension and Optimization of Capabilities (EOC): FY2019 marked the beginning of ALMA Cycle 6 and ALMA is rapidly approaching full science operations. The following capabilities were worked on and offered for the start of Cycle 7 observing:

• Band 7 at the longest baselines (C43–9, C43–10) • Long baseline/High Frequency phase heuristics and QA2 image quality scores. • Measurement of the cross hand phase for both spectral line and continuum observations and the

D-term stability in full Frequency Domain Multiplexing (FDM) mode and fully commission and offer circular polarization.

• Improvements to the Spectral Scan observing strategy. The NAASC interfaces with the ALMA North American Science Advisory Committee (ANASAC) and JAO and, where needed, ALMA Science Advisory Committee (ASAC), on setting the priorities of ongoing Extension and Optimization of Capabilities (EOC) work needed to complete these activities in future cycles, and provides domain expert support for carrying out these activities. In FY2019, it was anticipated that the NAASC would put a focused and concerted effort on the EOC polarization testing prior to Cycle 7, play an active role in the annual Observing Modes (ObsMode) and Computing Planning Meetings (CPM) and contribute to the preparation of the OT requirements for upcoming cycles. However, given the reorganization and restructuring at the JAO, these milestones were cancelled during the course of the year. In FY2019, the NAASC organized a workshop to plan future algorithm development requirements with software developers at NASA Goddard.

NA ARC Data Analyst Group

The NA Data Analysts are integrated into NA ALMA Operations and are critical to user and telescope support. The Data Analyst group supports:

• CASA Guides, f2f visitors, data processing workshops; NRAO Live! events, Synthesis Imaging School documentation and demonstrations, community outreach events, and Helpdesk.

• Data services, NA data processing, and weblog review (pipeline and manual); calibration survey data processing; QA3 execution and documentation.

• ALMA scientific software including involvement in ALMA pipeline and CASA software testing; CASA documentation; diagnostics investigations and Science Portal maintenance; and generating meeting webpages.

Throughout FY2019, the Data Analyst group conducted a major audit of all documentation used by the group and NAASC operations and defined a plan to archive and reference all the relevant material. The group will also focused on team building and professional development.

NAASC Milestone Summary

Of 23 milestones deadlines, 19 were completed on time and one was completed a quarter late. Three were cancelled. Milestone 2.5.8 – Topical Meeting on Data Combination Techniques and Strategies: Cancelled in Q4 due to similar workshop.


Milestone 2.5.11 - Instructional video on the subtleties of ALMA operations: Cancelled in Q4 due to higher priority items needing completion by our colleagues at the NRC. Milestone 2.5.22 – Obs Mode Cycle 8 Planning, Meeting and Follow-up: Deadlines cancelled in Q3 and Q4, due to new format set by the JAO.

Development

ALMA Development-funded upgrades typically progress through three successive phases of development, and correspond to an increasing level of technological readiness. The principal phases are:

• Conceptual study (including scientific justification, specification, and outline costing), • Prototype/pre-production, and • Production and implementation.

Development projects generally follow successful studies and take a concept from the prototype phase through production and implementation into ALMA. Typical development award types are defined below, with each Call for Proposals providing definition on funding and schedule requirements:

• Project: a large-scale (typically >$1M), multi-year initiative involving relatively mature technology which may lead to full implementation in the ALMA Observatory.

• Strategic Study: a mid-scale (≤$0.4M), two-year investigation of an emerging technology of specific, strategic interest which may lead to a Development Project.

• General Study: a small-scale (≤$0.2M), one-year investigation of an emerging technology of general interest which may lead to a Development Project.

Development efforts during FY2019 are described in the succeeding sections. A recent Call for Proposals yielded eight general studies funded for Cycle 7 to commence in FY2020. The next Call for Proposals is anticipated for released in Q1 FY2020 for Cycle 8 studies and projects, beginning in FY2021.

Ongoing Development Projects

Fiber Optic Project – JAO (Cycle 1): The fiber optic link between the Operations Support Facility (OSF), Array Operations Site (AOS), and Santiago is fully functional and operating pursuant to a temporary permit. The project continues to be held open for administrative purposes only while the final operating permit is being processed by the Chilean Ministry of National Assets (Ministerio de Bienes Nationales). Expansion of the Central Local Oscillator Article (CLOA) to Five Subarrays – NRAO (Cycle 2): This project procured and tested all the required modules and equipment to complete Photonic LO subarray five. The complete chain was installed, tested, and commissioned at the AOS Technical Building. The completed system was integrated into the current software control system. The project is being held open pending adjudication of final test results (after VLBI testing done in August 2019) and acceptance of the final report by ALMA. Design and Testing of a Prototype Band 2 Cartridge – NRAO (Cycle 2): In FY2017, a Band-2 Prototype Cartridge Preliminary Design Review conducted May 30–31, 2017 resulted in clearance to proceed to detailed design phase to design, build, and test a complete prototype Band 2 (67–90 GHz) cartridge. A Cycle 5 project proposal for a Band 2+ project was well rated and in a high state of maturity, but was not selected to proceed. The Band 2 prototype cartridge project completed existing planned work


but has otherwise been put on hold. The group has agreed to assist the EU Band 2+3 group with cartridge and Low Noise Amplifier (LNA) testing, which is expected to occur during FY2020. Band 3 CCA Magnet and Heater Installation for Deflux Operations – NRC-HIA (Cycle 2): This project is modifying the Band 3 Cold Cartridge Assembly (CCA) to add a heater element in order to reduce observed azimuth-dependent total power variations. The heater solution was successfully tested at the National Research Council of Canada-Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics (NRC-HIA) and underwent verification testing by the JAO. Various delays in the project have been caused by validation of test results and the inability to reproduce the original total power variations. The design has now been finalized and NRC-HIA is now building the initial heater kits for delivery in Q1 FY2020. Integration into each Band 3 CCA will continue over the successive three years. A Significant Upgrade to the ALMA 64-Antenna Correlator – NRAO (Cycle 5): This project was to provide a modest upgrade of the ALMA Baseline Correlator electronics in order to increase spectral resolution and processed bandwidth. Due to insurmountable technical challenges and the retirement of senior engineers, this project has been cancelled. The focus of the Digital Electronics team at CDL will now be to refine a concept for a next-generation ALMA Correlator in support of the 2030 development roadmap. ALMA Phasing System Phase 2 (APP2) – MIT Haystack (Cycle 5): Several initiatives to improve VLBI capabilities and performance for ALMA. Major components include enabling spectral line VLBI, extending the frequency range of phasing to Bands 1–7, improving the calibration mechanism to allow observations on weaker sources, the introduction of a single-dish VLBI mode, and a pulsar mode. On-sky testing has been conducted during multiple VLBI campaigns at ALMA in coordination with other observatories. Most capabilities are on track to be offered during Cycle 8 operations; however, extending VLBI to other receiver bands (specifically Band 7) is expected to be delayed to Cycle 9 or later.

Ongoing Development Studies

The following studies completed during FY2019:

• Full-Mueller Mosaic Imaging with ALMA – NRAO (Cycle 5) [final report pending] • Neuroscope: Neural Machine Intelligence Tools for Discovery and Interpretation in Complex

ALMA Data – Rice University (Cycle 5) • Quantum-Limited Very-Wideband RF and IF Amplifiers – NRAO (Cycle 5) [final report pending]

The following studies are in progress: Wideband Low-Noise Balanced IF Amplifiers for Band 6 – NRAO (Cycle 5): This study investigates multiple designs for development of an improved Intermediate Frequency (IF) amplifier. Although these amplifiers have future applications to Bands 3–10, this development is anticipated to lead to a prototype that can be integrated into an upgraded Band 6 cartridge. Originally focused on developing a 4–12 GHz balanced amplifier, the study was extended by one year to investigate higher bandwidths (up to 4–16 GHz IF) and the possibility of using a low-noise isolator in lieu of the balanced concept.

ALMA Development Milestone Summary

Milestones 2.5.24 and 2.5.25—related to the Cycle 7 Call for Proposals—were completed in FY2019. Milestone 2.5.26 (Band 6 Upgrade Project Proposal) was cancelled based on feedback from a Conceptual Design Review (CoDR) to conduct more technical development prior to submitting a proposal. Three studies are ongoing in FY2020 that relate to the Band 6 upgrade which will lead to a development project proposal.


NA ALMA Offsite Hardware Technical Support

The NRAO NA ALMA offsite hardware maintenance team is comprised of several groups in Charlottesville including the Front End (FE) (includes components and the FE test and measurement systems), Band 6 cold cartridge, FE Local Oscillator (warm cartridge assembly and cryogenic multipliers), Photonics (central LO modules and antenna articles), Correlator, and Antenna; as well as the Back End (BE) group in Socorro (antenna articles, data receiver articles, and some of the central LO articles). These groups addressed all of the operational activities listed in the NRAO 2019 Program Operating Plan. The following paragraphs summarize the key operational activities of the various groups to support the operations and maintenance of the ALMA telescope. Front End and the Front End Test and Measurement System: This offsite hardware support group is located at the CDL in Charlottesville and is responsible for maintaining the band 6 Cold Cartridges (including mixer-preamplifier subassemblies, horn, Orthomode Transducers (OMTs), and warm IF amplifiers), a majority of FE components (including various electronic sub-assemblies such as IF switches, Cartridge Bias Modules, Gate Valve Drivers, Front-End Monitor & Control (FEMC) units, FE Thermal Interlock modules, and several mechanical parts) as well as providing software support for the FEMC firmware. The responsibility of this NA Integrated Engineering Team (IET) group includes maintenance of test systems at the CDL including the band 6 SIS Mixer Test Set (MTS), the band 6 Cold Cartridge Assembly (CCA) Test Set (CTS), and test systems for several other FE component and sub-assemblies. This work maintains test systems for the repair and requalification of components and modules. This NA Integrated Engineering Team (IET) group is also responsible for the hardware and software support of three FE Test and Measurement Systems (FETMS) (including noise temperature measurement apparatus, tilt tables, and beam scanners), two situated at the ALMA OSF and one in NA (at CDL), as well as their respective associated test operation and measurement software suites. Additionally, the FE group provides management support, product assurance, and executes other administrative activities (e.g. arranging for ALMA related export/import with support from the NRAO export/import officer) in Charlottesville. The following is a partial list of significant support tasks undertaken this year and shipments sent to the OSF:

• Significant effort was expended on updating the application software (migration to LabVIEW 2017) after performing the Windows 10 upgrade for FETMS and Band 6 cartridge test systems in NA.

• During ALMA Cycle 5 observations, an issue of timeouts related to CAN-bus timeouts surfaced in connection with FE devices. This was extensively studied, and although a high level software workaround was previously implemented in ALMA Cycle 6 software (which retries a second time in case of failure), work was initiated to try to remedy the problem at a lower firmware level in the AMBSI-1 firmware in the FEMC. In FY2019, AMBS1 firmware 1.2.0 was written to fix the occasional and intermittent CAN bus timeouts, followed by a successful Update Readiness Review and roll-out to all front ends.

• NA FE team members provided on-site support related to various FE and FETMS issues during their site visit to the OSF from February 16, 2019 to March 1, 2019. All FETMS computers were replaced/upgraded to Windows 10 during this visit. The team also worked on various software bugs and feature requests from the OSF/JAO staff during the course of the year.

• Obsolescence mitigation work was executed for several modules, assemblies, and components, such as, the tilt table touch controllers, CPDS M&C PCBs (Qty. 10 were built), IF switches (Qty. 3 were sent for repair to exercise the maintenance operation at the vendor premises for this important, although reliable, part).

• As part of the IET responsibility, the NA IET is supporting the ongoing total power spectrometer critical design review.

• The new FETMS IF Processor redesign for improved Mean Time To Repair (MTTR), primarily by adding modularity, was completed, and a prototype module (single channel) was built and tested last


year. This year more effort was expended in trying to improve the dynamic range of the design, before proceeding to the next step of making three additional channels to have a complete four-channel modular FETMS IF Processor.

• Qty. 3 CPDS M&C units were repaired and returned to the OSF. • FETMS IF Processor SN 02 and SN05 were repaired and returned to the OSF. • During FY2019, 28 Front End Line Replaceable Units (LRU) were worked upon (tier-2 repair),

and about 19 lower level sub-assemblies/modules were serviced (tier-3 repairs), or new replacements built.

Band 6 Cold Cartridge Assembly: Maintenance and production of ALMA Band 6 (211–275 GHz) mixer-preamps was greatly delayed over the past several years by the CDL’s inability to reproduce mixer-preamps with the stringent gain flatness of those used in the original receiver production run. To remedy the problem, about two years ago, CDL initiated work with the Low Noise Factory (LNF) to produce a direct replacement preamplifier (using their low-power 4–12 GHz MMIC amplifier which meets or exceeds the ALMA Band 6 preamp noise and gain requirements) incorporating an SIS mixer bias chip. This effort was successful and a few Cold Cartridge Assemblies were repaired and incorporated into ALMA after an engineering change request was approved. One problem that remained was that the LNF amplifiers were more sensitive to impedance mismatch at their input (compared to the original discrete device based chip-and-wire amplifiers). Consequently, the yield of the mixer preamplifiers was quite low (due to oscillations), because many of the old SIS mixer devices exhibit negative dynamic resistance (at least at the low end of the RF band). This issue was investigated during FY2019 and improved inter-stage matching networks were designed and continue to be experimented with. Simultaneously, an effort was initiated to use the now commercially available Heterojunction Field-Effect Transistor (HFET) transistors (instead of the original Cryo-3 devices) to repair the original amplifiers. This effort proved successful and resulted in acceptance of six mixer-preamplifiers of this configuration for use in Band 6 cold cartridge repair.

Figure 2.3.4.1: Commercial Diramics HEMT based mixer-preamplifier assembly being installed in the Band 6

MTS for testing. During FY2019, Band 6 cold cartridge assemblies CCA6-001, CCA6-042 were repaired and returned to the OSF. Front End Local Oscillator System: This group is also located at the CDL and is responsible for repairing and maintaining the Warm Cartridge Assembly (WCAs) for all receiver bands (including active multiplier chains, power amplifiers and phase lock modules—this requires microassembly and wire bonding capability—as well as FE LO cryogenic multipliers which are physically integrated into the CCAs. This group is also responsible for operation and maintenance of the necessary bench test sets to be able


to carry out repair and requalification of FE LO components and modules, as well as the First LO offset generator distribution modules.

A 70 nm GaAs BAE fabrication run was initiated in FY2018 for producing power amplifier MMICs. The wafer run was scheduled to be completed in FY2019, producing additional spare MMICs for the continued upkeep and repair of the Band 7 power amplifiers and active multiplier chains used in the ALMA first local oscillator systems. However, upon wafer-testing the devices, BAE discovered gate shorts due to a process anomaly. The root-cause analysis of the process failure is still ongoing, and the follow-up wafer run is scheduled to start in early FY2020.

Meanwhile, the FE LO group has procured samples of a commercial power amplifier MMIC in the 70–130 GHz frequency range and is evaluating it as an alternative for Band 7, and possibly other bands as well. During FY2019, in all, about 58 FE LO LRUs were worked upon (tier 2 repair), and about 114 lower level sub-assemblies/modules were serviced (tier-3 repairs), or new replacements built. Central Local Oscillator and Photonics: This group is located at the CDL and is responsible for maintaining and repair of the Central LO Article (CLOA) elements: fiber lasers and amplifiers, passive splitters, Sub Array Switch (SAS) and Line Length Corrector (LLC) LRUs, as well as LO Photonic Receivers (LPR) which are part of the Front End assemblies. The group is also responsible for supporting the Hydrogen Maser at the site for VLBI operation and maintains a fully functional reference generation and distribution system at CDL to serve as a test bed for returned and/or repaired LRUs. This duplicate system also serves as a source of last resort for backup spares if the OSF runs out of single point failure LRU spares (while broken ones are being serviced). The following is a partial list of significant support tasks undertaken this year and shipments sent to the OSF: LLCs SN 132 was repaired, recalibrated and shipped back, SAS SN 143 was repaired, requalified, and shipped back. Two each of LPRs, SASs, LLCs and one Master Laser remain at various stages of diagnosis and/or repair in NA. Some other tasks that were executed by this support group during FY2019 include the following:

• NA Central LO and Photonics team member provided on-site support during the site visit to the OSF from Aug 3, 2019 to Aug 15, 2019. Tasks included:

o Repairing the LS3 fiber connector. o Follow up testing on LS5 which could previously not be carried out as time allocation was

not forthcoming during the last attempt (PAS was successfully completed). o Installation of the new LO-PC in the LO Room, and providing the requested training to

ADE staff. • Provided remote diagnostics and support for the hydrogen maser and interfaced with the vendor

T4 Science to resolve problems on two occasions during the course of the year.

Back End System: This group is located in Socorro, NM, and is responsible for offsite maintenance of the BE Antenna Articles (AAs), including Fiber Optic Wraps (FOWs), Data Receiver Articles (DRXAs), and support of some Line Replaceable Units (LRUs) in the CLOA. The group is also responsible for the maintenance and operation of various test systems, both in Socorro and at the OSF, for requalification and testing of repaired or failed BE modules. Additionally, the BE group provides management support, product assurance, and other administrative activities (e.g. arranging for ALMA related export/import with support from the NRAO export/import officer) at Socorro.


The following is a partial list of significant support tasks undertaken this year and shipments sent to the OSF:

• Four FOW (SN 118, 132, 167, and 182) were repaired and returned to the OSF. • BE analog rack power supply, SN 180 (replacement for SN 171) was shipped to the OSF. • Four digital Yttrium Iron Garnet (YIG)-tuned oscillators were shipped to the OSF. • Two new and three repaired First LO Offset Generator boards were shipped to the OSF. • Qty. 14 BE IF Processor units were repaired and returned to the OSF.

To overcome the long outstanding problem of unreliable BE IF Processor test stands (both at the OSF and in Socorro), resulting in unrepeatable test results, a project was initiated last year to redesign and build new test stands. This work was completed in FY2018, with two new test sets being constructed around a modern network analyzer to implement a robust and repeatable calibration functionality. This year, the NA BE team visited the OSF from April 16 2019 through May 01 2019 for commissioning one of these new IFP test stands at the OSF and to provide the necessary user training to the JAO staff. After commissioning, the task of final acceptance of the test set was subsequently completed.

Figure 2.3.4.2: During FY2019, the NA BE team visited the OSF for commissioning the new IFP test stand at the OSF, and to provide the necessary user training to the JAO staff.

Correlator System: The correlator/DSP group supported the ALMA Baseline Correlator by providing as requested support to the ALMA correlator group in Chile (most Baseline Correlator issues are handled directly by the Chilean correlator group). Minimal effort was required from the NA correlator group during FY2019.

Antennas: Both preventive and corrective maintenance tasks are the responsibility of the JAO in accordance with existing ALMA Operation Plan. The role of Off-Site in this model is to provide technical support and to serve as the interface with the Antenna Vendor (Vertex).


In FY2019, the NA Off-Site preventive antenna maintenance related activity included:

• Providing technical support to JAO staff for any issue related to documentation or implementation of preventive maintenance procedures.

• Implementation of required revisions of maintenance documentation when process improvements or changes were identified by JAO staff.

• Providing technical support for the commencement and implementation of NA Antenna overhaul plan/effort, which began with the overhaul of DV01 on 25 January 2019. Specific activities included:

o Participating in overhaul planning meetings for DV01, DV02, and DV04; o Providing on-site technical support during the LRU removal of one Azimuth and one

Elevation Drive Motor and Gearbox on DV02; this represented the first time that the LRU removal (and replacement) of gearboxes had been attempted by JAO Staff; the removed gearboxes and motors were returned to the original Vendors to determine the level of operation wear and tear on these components;

o Participating in Lessons-Learned Reviews following the completion of the DV01 and DV02 overhauls; several maintenance document revisions were identified and will be implemented via the CRE process.

For FY2019, the NA Off-Site antenna corrective maintenance related activities included:

• Routinely reviewed corrective maintenance activities via daily work coordination, JIRA tickets, and the Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS). Approximately 445 Antenna JIRA issues were addressed in FY2019 with the following support provided:

o Troubleshooting/suggestions when possible. o Identification of reoccurring issues which might indicate failure trends.

• Continued to provide technical support to JAO staff for resolution of tier-3 level issues. • Interfaced with U.S. vendors for procurement as well as repair of critical NA antenna spares. • Coordinated with NA antenna contractor (Vertex) for development and installation of antenna

hardware or software upgrades. • Coordinated with JAO staff on matters related to the mitigation or resolution of antenna

component and/or software obsolescence. • Implemented revisions to maintenance or configuration documentation resulting from

changes/improvements associated with corrective maintenance issue resolution. NA Antenna LRU tier-3 spare part procurement support continued in FY2019 with the receipt of one NA Antenna tiltmeter from JAO with the report that the tiltmeter was removed from a NA Antenna following reports of erratic behavior. This ALMA tiltmeter unit was returned to Jewell Instruments (formerly Applied Geomechanics) in Q1 FY2019 for evaluation and repair, as necessary. Subsequent assessment of the tiltmeter performance by the Jewell repair engineers could not identify any operational issues. Following an exchange of follow-up questions and troubleshooting efforts, the tiltmeter was returned to NRAO and then forwarded back to the OSF. Final disposition of this tiltmeter appears to be a faulty ALMA connector on the communication cable to the tiltmeter. NA Antenna engineering continues to assess antenna improvements related to corrective actions following antenna shutdowns caused by unplanned power failures and excessive snowfall. Of primary interest is modification of the antenna Uninterruptable Power Supply (UPS) to minimize antenna start-up by allowing remote starting of the antenna power systems and providing a winterized antenna shutter system that can be more efficiently returned to operation following a snow/ice event. Unfortunately,


because of schedule commitments to the implementation of the Receiver Cabin Wall Heater Systems, very little progress was made in addressing the engineering for these improvement items in FY2019.

Summary: Careful monitoring of LRU failure rates, shipping/transit time to and from the OSF, as well as time taken to repair returned articles enabled us to ensure an adequate supply of operational spares at the OSF at all times, and to take mitigating/corrective actions when necessary. Having a usable spare available on site (when required to execute a tier-1 repair by replacement on the telescopes) ensured that science time lost was only on account of the time spent to execute the replacement, rather than wait for the part to arrive.

Figure 2.3.4.3: Volume of Tier-2 (LRU repair) and Tier-3 (sub-assembly/component) repair effort for various significant sub-systems, presented as a rolling 12 month average for FY2019 quarters. Analysis on the type of failures and failure counts indicates that most failure rates were commensurate with expectations (i.e. calculated Mean Time Between Failures or MTBF). The offsite support teams also spent significant time during the year mitigating obsolescence issues and finding alternative solutions. Overall, FY2019 was a successful period, and timely repair and return all of the supported hardware ensured that it stayed off of the critical path.

FY 2019

(Annualized Durations)

Figure 2.3.4.4: Array element availability (this metric includes antenna elements equipped with usable receivers and available to produce science data) during FY2019 (left) and attribution of lost science time to various sub-systems, processes, and weather (right). Red highlighted bars indicate the systems whose upkeep requires contribution of effort/hardware from the NRAO offsite support teams (in addition to others) as described in this section. Analysis of data from the ALMA KPI dashboard and ALMA Shiftlogs indicates that about 91.2 days of observation were lost in


FY2019. The red highlighted bars add to about 3.6 days, or 3.9 % of the total lost time. Unavailability of usable spares rarely, if ever, contributed to the delay in tier-1 onsite hardware replacements, indicating the effectiveness of offsite hardware support teams. Weather was a major factor, accounting for about half of the lost time.

Construction Warranty

The ALMA Warranty Policy (ALMA-10.00.00.00-0016-A-PLA) governs the resolution of claims against North American ALMA Construction Project deliverables. Latent design and/or workmanship defects in two different deliverables are in various stages of development and implementation of corrective actions. These issues concern the antenna surface accuracy versus bulk ambient temperature performance and the Front-End Handling Vehicle (FEHV) chassis fabrication problems. North American Antennas: The NA ALMA Construction Project delivered 25 antennas to the JAO. The primary reflecting surface of all of the antennas exhibit, in varying degree, deviation from the required rms surface accuracy of 25μ over the full range of operating temperatures. The NRAO negotiated a tolling agreement with the supplier (Vertex Antennentechnik GmbH, a business unit General Dynamics Satcom Technologies) and thereby suspended the supplier warranty period while NRAO and Vertex collaborate on the verification of the hypothesized root cause and development of corrective action(s). Vertex acknowledges and accepts responsibility for the associated costs. A prototype followed by a production receiver cabin wall heater system, designed to alleviate the primary reflecting surface thermal dependence was installed on four North American Antennas for testing with testing of the production heater system continuing on four North American Antennas through mid-Q4 FY2018. A delta-Design Review conducted by NRAO and Vertex with JAO in mid-Q4 FY2018 determined the wall heater system production design to be satisfactory for eliminating the root cause of the observed excessive thermal dependence of the antenna primary surface. The final production design consists of six heater mats (three around each elevation axle) with associated cabling and controller hardware as well as a Metrology Controller software upgrade, which implements the heater control feedback loop. As part of the delta-Design Review, the proposed Wall Heater System Installation Plan was also approved with the installation plan set to commence in mid-Q2 FY2019. As planned, the installation of the Receiver Cabin wall heater system upgrades was initiated by Vertex in mid-Q2 FY2019 (04 February 2019) and continued through the end of Q3 FY2019 with the installation of the last antenna software upgrade being completed on 30 June 2019. Corrective action on the remaining North American Antennas commenced mid-Q1 FY2019 and completed early Q3 FY2019. NRAO will now work with JAO Staff in FY2020 to implement a North American Antenna surface re-setting campaign, which will incorporate the operation of the wall heater system. Front End Handling Vehicles: The NA ALMA Construction Project was responsible for the delivery of four FEHVs to the Joint ALMA Observatory. The function of each vehicle is to transport and manipulate an antenna FE thus enabling the removal and replacement of any FE from any of the four ALMA antenna cabin configurations. Because of various anomalies and non-conformances identified during the Preliminary Acceptance Inspections (PAI) in late-FY2017, new vehicle chasses for the four FEHV Units were fabricated at the NRAO Machine Shop in Green Bank. Following the reassembly of the first FEHV in early Q3 FY2018, it was determined that the FEHV Units were nominally 35 kilograms in excess of the FEHV weight limit. A weight reduction campaign was conducted by NRAO and implemented by the Contractor, which involved the use of lightening holes in several FEHV structural components. With the weight reduction changes applied, Unit #1 was reassembled and successfully tested in Q1 FY2019. The new assembled unit weight was determined to be roughly 10 kilograms below the design limit; with these satisfactory findings, Unit #1 passed the delta-PAI with JAO and was ready for transfer to the OSF.


However, instead of delivering Unit #1 to the OSF, NRAO, following progress discussions with the Contractor, concluded that it would be beneficial to the overall success of the program to leave Unit #1 at the Contractor’s facility to be used a template during the reassembly of Units #2, #3, and #4. Dis-assembly for weight reduction and re-assembly efforts were subsequently begun in early Q2 FY2019 on the remaining three units; re-assembly of all three units was completed and operational testing begun in early Q4-2019. Delta-PAI reviews conducted with JAO for Units #2, #3, and #4 were successfully completed with the exception of minor hydraulic pressure leaks in the lift jacks installed on Units #3 and #4. Dis-assembly and repair of these two jacks took several weeks longer than expected which precluded delivery of the four FEHCV Units to JAO at the OSF prior to the end of FY2019. Repairs and reassembly of Units #3 and #4 are now complete and final delivery of the four FEHVs is now scheduled for mid-Q1 FY2020 (26 October 2019).

ALMA Maintenance and Renewal Milestone Summary

Of four milestones, two were completed on time, and two were completed in Q1 FY2020. Milestone 2.2.29 – Deliver Reworked FEHV to JAO: Held for delivery of FEHV 2, 3, and 4. Milestone 2.5.30 – Deliver FEHVs 2, 3, and 4 to JAO: Delayed due to weight reduction.

Office of Chilean Affairs

The NRAO Office in Santiago supports the legal and business affairs of AUI/NRAO in Chile for ALMA operations. Specifically, it provides the services that require a local presence in Chile and cannot be effectively discharged from North America. The Office of Chilean Affairs (OCA) oversees compliance with Chilean law in all spheres of Observatory operations, with a particular focus on human resources activities, including the implementation of collective contracts. The office is responsible for fiscal functions, contracts and procurement, local property management, export/import activities, and travel support. OCA also monitors safety, environmental, and regulatory issues in coordination with the NRAO safety manager and the ALMA Environmental Working Group.

Legal Representation

During FY2019, the legal representation function continued to link AUI/NRAO with the Chilean government and institutions, as well as with the JAO and representatives from other international observatories in the country. A relationship was established with staff members in the Directorate of Energy, Science, Technology and Innovation (DECYTI) at the foreign affairs ministry after the longtime point of contact retired, and contacts were made with the recently established ministry of science. Throughout the year, OCA hosted and organized the following high-level national and North American visits to the Observatory: U.S. Congressional Delegations, Air Force Office of Scientific Research, Liberty-VTR telecommunications board, alumni associations from Leiden University, Yale, and UCLA, the NSF, and the National Science Board.

Business

After further analysis of office alternatives in Vitacura, a more suitable location was identified and secured for OCA. The new office will be closer to the JAO Santiago Central Office and represents better value for money (55% more space with a 20% reduction in rental price per square meter). A five-year lease was signed with an effective date of January 2020. The architectural design and outfitting will take place in


FY2020, with an estimated relocation date of August 2020. This bigger space will decompress a tight office situation, providing space for North American visitors, as well as International Staff Members (ISM) who wish to do science outside the JAO. The new office will also allow OCA to carry out EPO activities in its premises. During FY2019, OCA finalized its risk register and began monitoring and managing risks within the general NRAO process. Fiscal: Continued to support the AUI corporate office in fiscal functions, including accounting and reconciliation of JAO expenditures and responses to audits, including the annual Binder Dijker Otte, LLP (BDO) audit in November, ALMA operations audit in November-December, and ALMA construction audit in December-January. Contracts and Procurement (CAP): Extended the cleaning, catering, and maintenance contract with Newrest for two years (July 2019–June 2021), maintaining current costs. Information Technologies (IT): Implemented NRAO security programs at OCA. Supported Hour of Code sessions, and kept the NRAO Chile website up to date. Travel: Handled travel-related transactions of AUI/NRAO staff at OCA and JAO. In coordination with the JAO, optimized price and services of intermediaries such as travel agencies, passenger transportation companies, insurance, and hotel agreements.

Projects

Indoor sports facility at OSF (multicancha): Multicancha has proven challenging due to poor contractor performance, both in terms of adherence to schedule and quality of deliverables. As of the end of FY2019, the project had an earned value of 65%. The end of construction shifted from November 30th, 2019 to February 15th, 2020. To ease cash flow problems and mitigate risks of the contractor leaving, an addendum was signed in September providing four bonus payments subject to completion of milestones. The first addendum milestone (concrete repairs) was completed in mid-September. Power project: Working closely with CONICYT´s Parque Astronómico Atacama (PAA), AUI launched conceptual engineering and environmental studies to assess options for electrical power provision to current and future observatories on the Chajnantor plateau.

Human Resources

HR/Payroll continued ensuring the application of Chilean legal rules and regulations, and implemented the 2018 collective contract clauses that entered into force in FY2019 (education benefit and payment of holidays that fall on Sundays). Monthly payroll visits continued to the OSF and SCO. During FY2019, OCA completed the hardship work positions submission to the national Ergonomic Commission (classification leads to higher pension contributions, allowing for earlier retirement) and renewed the life, health, catastrophic, and dental insurance for local staff with a 7% discount.

Labor Relations

Although the 2018 union negotiation ended without a strike, the resulting mood is one of bitterness and confrontation. This animosity has translated into litigiousness and union plans for a strike in 2020. The union sued AUI for unfair labor practices in September 2018 (settled out of court in June 2019) and has since also complained to the Labor Office about several issues such as working conditions at the AOS and


shifts in the software group. OCA closely monitors union grievances to minimize risk of legal action, but a tough negotiation is expected in 2020. Union members are saving an amount that more than doubles the regular union dues on a monthly basis “to prepare for the 2020 strike.” In preparation for the 2020 collective bargaining, OCA contributed to the analysis and discussion of the JAO staffing budget, leading to the agreement of a reasonable envelope by the Human Resource Advisory Group and Heads of Administration Advisory Group (HRAG/HAAG). The office also led a stakeholders mapping exercise as part of its public affairs strategy. Engagement with key stakeholders identified in that exercise will take place in FY2020, with support from a public relations firm. OCA also supported the JAO in designing its first climate survey, which was carried out in July-August. A second union was constituted in September, with 31 employees from SCO, OSF, and OCA. The stated objective of Union No2 is to ensure continuation of current benefits. Monthly meetings continue to take place with the original union and meetings with Union No2 are being added. The dynamics and strategic implications of negotiating with two unions are being assessed.

Safety, Health and Environment

As the employer of local staff and joint title holder of the ALMA concession, OCA continued monitoring environmental and regulatory matters. This entailed belonging to and coordinating the work performed by the joint peer committees on health and safety, as well as participating in the ALMA Environmental Working Group. During FY2019, biological monitoring reports were submitted to the environmental authority and a mandatory power plant emissions declaration was submitted to the health authority. In addition, OCA provided support to the JAO on the hazardous waste management system at the OSF.

EPO and Diversity and Inclusion (D&I)

The EPO officer and legal representative act as liaisons with the local communities and the JAO to increase recognition of ALMA, AUI and NRAO in Chile. During FY2019, OCA supported the Sister Cities and Observatories New Mexico cohort visit to San Pedro in March, the Astronomy in Chile Education Ambassadors Program (ACEAP) in July-August, the Fifth Astronomy EPO Summit organized by Comisión Nacional de Investigación Científica y Tecnológica (CONICYT) in Temuco in September, and organized outreach activities in Antofagasta. An event on July 20th at the American Corner in Universidad Católica del Norte underscored U.S.-Chile scientific collaboration telling the history of U.S. observatories in the country (all U.S. observatories were represented) and premiered a documentary on the Apollo 11, as it was experienced in Chile, to commemorate the mission´s 50th anniversary. The documentary was presented on cable television (13C) six times, with an estimate of 60,000 viewers. A diversity and inclusion highlight of FY2019 was the Promovamos Vocaciones Científicas (ProVoca) campaign to promote STEM vocations among underrepresented minorities. Given their low participation and retention in these careers in Chile, the campaign began with a focus on girls and female role models. A series of nine videos was produced for release on social media and a major communications effort was launched resulting in unprecedented coverage in traditional print media, television and radio. The initiative was unveiled on CNN Chile and was featured in more than 100 publications (newspapers, online media, and radio interviews) and NSF´s Science 360 News. It reached 1,300 people face to face and 110,000 video views on YouTube. OCA launched its social media presence with ProVoca, gaining a substantial number of subscribers or followers in YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. Institutional relations were strengthened with universities, government agencies, museums, and nonprofit organizations, making AUI/NRAO known for its commitment


to diversity and inclusion. ProVoca also had a positive impact with staff, recognizing and raising the visibility of ALMA female role models. OCA organized a ProVoca activity in Visviri (northernmost town in the Andean highlands) involving the entire Aymara indigenous community during the winter solstice. All the ProVoca videos, including Visviri´s, are available on the AUI/NRAO Chile and NRAO U.S. YouTube channels. In addition to the ProVoca campaign, OCA organized two Hour of Code sessions (November and June) and two talks on Impostor Syndrome, targeting underserved students in Santiago. It also made presentations on inclusive astronomy (sign language) at Universidad Bernardo O´Higgins and on communicating science to Universidad de Chile´s graduate students. In collaboration with the JAO, OCA hosted a meet up of Women Who Code, opening opportunities for recruitment.

OCA Milestone Summary

Of 32 milestone deadlines, 27 were completed on time. One was completed early in Q1. One was completed late (2.5.35), one was redefined (2.5.38), and two will be carried out in FY2020 (2.5.34 and 2.5.37). Milestone 2.5.34 – Inauguration of Multicancha: The project is delayed, so the inauguration of the facility has also been postponed. The final acceptance process slipped to mid-April 2020. Mid-May would be a realistic new target date for inauguration, but may conflict with collective bargaining (the exact date will be defined in Q2 FY2020). Milestone 2.5.35 – Survey and Assessment of NA Infrastructure: This survey was delayed to make it coincide with the Observatory February shutdown, which affords safer and easier access to the electrical equipment normally powered at 23kV. The milestone was completed in Q2. Milestone 2.5.37 – Introduction of new ETK: The introduction of a new electronic time keeping (ETK) system was part of an overall human resources information system (HRIS) project. In February, the company contracted to provide the HRIS ended its partnership with the ETK provider, forcing a reconsideration of the project. OCA decided to focus its efforts on the ETK system and modernization of outdated time clocking hardware, which are key to perform payroll responsibilities effectively. This milestone will be completed in Q2 FY2020. Milestone 2.5.38 – Streamlining of HRIS: Due to the contractor failure described above, OCA has decided to focus its efforts on the ETK system and modernization of outdated time clocking hardware.


3 NEW MEXICO OPERATIONS

Two of NRAO’s telescope facilities—the VLA and the VLBA—are maintained and operated from New Mexico. Both instruments provide unique centimeter-wavelength capabilities to the astronomy community. During FY2019, NRAO has commissioned new observing modes for these instruments, matched to the latest scientific requirements. The following subsections describe the operational, maintenance, and development activities associated with each instrument separately, noting that many activities are carried out by the same personnel with activities closely coordinated across both instruments.

Very Large Array (VLA)

The VLA comprises twenty-seven 25-meter diameter antennas laid out in a Y-shaped configuration on the Plains of San Agustin in west-central New Mexico. In FY2019, NRAO continued to offer a suite of robust and scientifically powerful observational capabilities designed and tailored to address scientific needs. The availability of these capabilities is made possible through the activities described below.

Science Operations

Observing Programs: NRAO continued to offer three types of observing programs to VLA users in the Calls for Proposals issued in FY2019: General Observing (GO), Shared Risk Observing (SRO), and Resident Shared Risk Observing (RSRO). In the Call for Proposals for the 2019B observing semester, two capabilities were promoted from SRO to GO: frequency averaging and phase-binned pulsar observing. In the Call for Proposals for the 2020A observing semester, observing with 32 subbands per baseband was promoted from SRO to GO, and three capabilities were promoted from RSRO to SRO: Y1 observing in support of VLBA, coherent-dedispersion pulsar observing, and P-band polarization observing. RSRO programs supported in FY2019 included coherent-dedispersion pulsar, fast-dump, P-band polarization, and 4-band observations. Scientific Support of Receiver, Antenna, and Array Performance: A large fraction of the scientific support in FY2019 went toward maintaining receiver, antenna, and array performance and ensuring that the NRAO user community had access to quality instrumentation and updated information to effectively use the VLA. Operational tasks carried out by the scientific staff in FY2019 in support of these functions are listed below. Support Calls for Proposals: Capabilities to be offered in the 2019B and 2020A semesters were defined, and user documentation for all capabilities for the relevant Call for Proposals updated; scientific testing of user tools needed to prepare proposals (e.g., Proposal Submission Tool (PST), General Observing Setup Tool (GOST), Exposure Calculator Tool) was undertaken, and technical reviews for proposals and evaluation of proposals for RSRO contributions was performed. Hardware, Software, and Operational Documentation: Technical documentation detailing hardware and software functionality for staff and users was written, as well as operational procedures and documentation for the operations staff. The VLA Observational Status Summary was updated before the 2019B and 2020A Call for Proposals, along with the Guide to Observing with the VLA on the NRAO web site. Track and Measure VLA Performance: The sensitivity and gain response of each antenna at each band was characterized periodically. Surface accuracy checks with holography were carried out to ensure optimal efficiency at the highest frequency bands. Antenna positions, collimation offsets, and pointing accuracy were determined whenever the array was moved into a new configuration.


Scientific Testing of Antennas Completing Major Maintenance: Antenna positions, collimation offsets and pointing accuracy were determined each time an antenna came out of the Antenna Assembly Building after a maintenance overhaul. The performance of the new Antenna Control Units (ACUs) was evaluated. System Health and Maintenance Feedback: Routine health checks were performed to determine if there were any hardware failures that must be followed up with maintenance tickets. Radio-Frequency Interference (RFI) monitoring tests were carried out to characterize and help mitigate RFI contamination in observing bands. Data Quality Assurance Checks: Data quality was evaluated based on Pipeline results, and test observations were run to identify and diagnose problems that were not caught by the standardized tests and engineering checks. Calibration Data: Detailed data was collected with the array for a range of calibration purposes, including flux density scale calibrator models, and polarization and bandpass calibration.

Array Operations

Array Configurations: Array reconfigurations completed in FY2019 comprised the moves into C, B, BnA (for VLA Sky Survey observing), and A configurations. Operating Model: At the end of FY2019, NRAO addressed a problem of under-staffing within the VLA Operators group in the Array Operations Division that had been causing excessive use of overtime, by adding another VLA Operations Specialist to the team.

Development

Realfast: The rapidly developing field of Fast Radio Burst (FRB) detection remains a field attracting the highest levels of attention. New discoveries, including localizations (from VLA, Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP), and Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME)) have begun to narrow down the possible progenitors of these enigmatic events. The sparse number of accurate (to ~0.1”) localizations is still hampering our ability to further narrow down the progenitor possibilities. The goal of the realfast development project is to design and implement a commensal fast transient system for the VLA, and to investigate various options available for searching for these events: assessing the number of antennas, bandwidth, processing needed, algorithms to be used, etc. A proposal to support development of such a system was submitted to the NSF Advanced Technologies and Instrumentation (ATI) program for funds in FY2017–FY2019, and this proposal was accepted for funding. In FY2019, the realfast system was made operational for limited operational modes (standard continuum, low frequency). Also in FY2019, a one-year, no-cost extension was requested by the project, and granted by the NSF, and will be used to complete realfast commissioning for all operational modes. VLA Sky Survey (VLASS): The VLA Sky Survey began observing its first epoch in September 2017, completing the first half of the sky in February 2018 (VLASS1.1). Quick Look (QL) images for VLASS1.1 were completed in FY2018, and it was expected that higher quality, Single Epoch (SE) continuum images would be completed in FY2019. However, technical issues with the VLASS1.1 data discovered late in FY2018 associated with the pointing of antennas with old-style Antenna Control Units (ACUs) delayed the start of SE imaging. New algorithms were developed to fix the data during imaging, and incorporated into CASA and the VLASS imaging pipeline in FY2019. The SE imaging pipeline was undergoing validation at the end of FY2019, with a new projected start date for SE imaging now in FY2020. Polarization cube imaging will follow SE continuum imaging. In spite of the delay in the delivery of SE images NRAO hosted a VLA Sky Survey special session at the AAS winter meeting in Q2 that was well-attended and well-


received, but decided to cancel plans for a VLA Sky Survey science meeting later in the fiscal year, pending delivery of the SE images. Observing for the second half of the sky for the first epoch (VLASS1.2) took place in the B and BnA configuration as scheduled, and the QL imaging for VLASS1.2 was completed in Q4. In addition to the well-defined set of basic data products from the survey that NRAO will deliver, the five-year Canadian Initiative for Radio Astronomy Data Analysis (CIRADA) project is working on creating, archiving, and serving enhanced VLASS data products. The scope of NRAO’s interaction with CIRADA was defined and finalized in Q1 of FY2019. At the end of FY2019, VLASS development and operations became integrated with the Science Ready Data Products (SRDP) initiative, and future reporting on the VLA Sky Survey will be through the Science Support and Research (SSR) department.

Electronics Maintenance and Renewal

The New Mexico Electronics Division is responsible for maintaining all VLA electronic components, VLA servo and fiber systems, and the Wideband Interferometric Digital Architecture (WIDAR) Correlator. Division staff are located either at the VLA site or at the Domenici Science Operations Center (DSOC) in Socorro, with maintenance and renewal activities occurring at both places. Due to the lifecycle stage of the VLA, maintenance and obsolescence management is a critical focus for the Division. Routine work for FY2019 consisted of the following:

• Performed checks and diagnostic testing of WIDAR Correlator boards. • Repaired 26 WIDAR circuit boards due to aging or damage caused by power outages. • Overhauled ~60 receiver cold heads to keep VLA receivers operating. • Reconditioned and replaced receiver desiccant in each of 240 units twice per year. • Performed preventive maintenance on 27 VLA compressor lines. • Overhauled three VLA compressors due to normal wear-and-tear. • Performed preventive maintenance on four helium circuits to maintain cryogenic performance. • Repaired 36 receivers, including low-band receivers. • Upgraded the final six receivers with solar capability. • Performed checks of the fiber optics system to ensure proper operations and reset, cleaned, or

adjusted as needed. • Investigated issues with locking, fringing, output power, and general communication dropouts. • Performed routine power supply and battery maintenance, including replacement of aged batteries. • Performed corrective maintenance through bench work on modules from various subsystems. • Monitored modules responsible for array timing and adjusted as needed. • Performed maintenance on legacy Antenna Control Units (ACUs) and Focus Rotation Mount

(FRM) controllers. • Installed new ACU units in three additional antennas and built eight bearing change kits for use in

future overhauls. • Monitored for local RFI at the VLA site. • Swapped out and calibrated the VLA site weather station for yearly preventive maintenance.

VLA Site Maintenance and Renewal

In FY2019, the Engineering Services Division completed the following tasks:


Antennas: VLA antennas were routinely cycled through the Antenna Assembly Building (AAB) for checkout and overhaul throughout the year. In accordance with the FY2019 plan, five antennas were cycled through the assembly building this year. The plan also specified the replacement of one antenna azimuth bearing. The azimuth bearing in antenna #21 was replaced. The two transporters used to move the antennas during reconfigurations underwent maintenance and repair between move periods. Maintenance on the 40-year-old transporters included servicing the motors, checking the generators that maintain critical power to the antenna during a move, lubricating the moving parts, assessing the health of the 24 wheel axles and wheels, and maintaining electrical and hydraulic systems. Fatigue cracks were found on the transporter truck rotation collars, of which there are four per transporter. An improved rotation collar was designed. Two of these collars were fabricated and installed on one transporter. Track: During FY2019, inspection of the VLA railroad tracks continued, checking for problems that could compromise the safety of the transporters that carry the antennas during array reconfigurations and other antenna moves. These inspections also guarded against problems that could jeopardize the safety of the maintenance rail vehicles that are used by technicians to service the antennas. A total of 5,098 cross-ties were replaced in FY2019. Five track intersections were scheduled to be replaced in FY2019, and this goal was also completed. In addition to the five intersections, the railroad crossing over U.S. Highway 60 was replaced with modern concrete crossing planks. Site Infrastructure: The VLA site buildings, utility systems, and grounds continued to undergo routine annual inspection and preventive maintenance in FY2019. The site transformers underwent yearly preventive maintenance procedures. Other regular activities included: annual road grading; general roof repairs; heating and cooling systems maintenance; pest and weed control along the railways and central site; fire brigade and emergency medical response team training; and the routine servicing of gas pumps, sewer, and water supply systems. Backup generator power, and other related systems also underwent preventive maintenance. As specified in the AUI Recompetition Plan, large scale improvements and equipment purchases for the VLA site were carried out in FY2019 as part of overall improvements in the VLA’s infrastructure. These include: the installation of a new fire pump controller and backup power generator, replacement of one control building HVAC compressor, replacement of many doors and windows around the site and the purchase of a new Computer Numerical Control (CNC) knee mill. Several vehicles and pieces of heavy equipment were purchased in FY2019 using Recompetition funds. These included:

• Four pickup trucks • Two forklifts • Semi-tractor • Portable compressor/jack hammer • Dump trailer • Heavy Duty Loader

Also included in the infrastructure improvement plan for FY2019 was the purchase of components necessary to outfit several future antennas with new ACUs.


An NSF proposal was submitted in 2018 to purchase additional materials for the VLA track. This proposal was approved in FY2019 and used to purchase a Brant rail crane, railroad ties, and ballast.

VLA Technical Upgrades and Enhancements

Solar Capable Receivers: The final six receivers were upgraded to solar observing capabilities and installed on the array in FY2019. This campaign has now provided all 28 antennas with solar observing capabilities in L, X, and Ku-bands, while 12 antennas have either S or C-band receivers capable of solar observing (six of each receiver). VLA ACU Replacement: The electronics parts to repair the existing VLA ACUs are no longer available. Without replacement parts, antennas with failed ACUs would no longer be able to participate in observations, posing a serious operational risk. All of the legacy VLA ACUs must be replaced with newer technology units to increase the operational lifetime of the VLA antennas, as well as eliminating some inherent problems with the legacy design and greatly improving the pointing and tracking capabilities of the antennas. The first new ACU was installed in FY2013 and the eleventh through twelfth new ACU units were installed in FY2019. A third planned install was completed in Q1 FY2020. Upgraded Servo SCR Cards: Silicon Controlled Rectifiers (SCR) provide high current to the antenna drive motors. These NRAO-developed all-digital versions of an obsolete analog design improve the performance and operational lifetime of the servo system. Three sets of upgraded SCRs were installed in FY2019. Variable Frequency Drive Development: A digital printed circuit board (PCB) was designed and built to control four variable speed refrigerators. As part of the overall system development, it is an interface to an analog PCB which filters the digital signals and provides power to the refrigerators used on a receiver. Firmware Upgrade of FE Card Cage: A total of 65 Front End control cards were upgraded in FY2019.

Observing Capability Enhancements

The VLA continued to provide new capabilities to the user community to optimize and enhance the science that can be done with the array. This strategy has proven to be effective in keeping users engaged, and it is a critical factor in keeping the scientific productivity of the VLA high. The pace of development of new capabilities is matched to the available FTEs who are not fully engaged with daily operations or involved in other development projects. Scientific staff and RSRO effort was directed to the following observing capability enhancements in FY2019: Frequency Averaging for Continuum Observations: Scientific staff tested and commissioned the frequency averaging software after it was implemented, and its observing status was promoted to GO in Q2 FY2019. Pulsar Observations: After the software for phase-binned pulsar observations was implemented scientific staff proceeded with testing and commissioning, and this style of pulsar observing was promoted to GO status in Q2. Similarly, coherent-dedispersion pulsar observations were tested and commissioned and promoted to SRO status in Q4. Weather Prediction in the Observation Scheduling Tool (OST): Scientific staff provided an example software implementation of retrieving weather prediction values from the National Weather Service computer server to the software developers in the DMS department. Wind speed is particularly


important as it is used to determine what project to observe next. After integration into the Observation Scheduling Tool, scientific staff tested the implementation, and it was put into the production system in Q2. Conditional Scheduling Blocks (SB) in the Observation Preparation Tool (OPT): After implementation of the software for conditional SBs in the OPT, scientific staff tested and commissioned the software, and it was put into place in Q2. Testing RFI Exclusion in WIDAR: The WIDAR correlator software contains the ability to blank data based on power level. This is potentially useful for excluding data badly affected by RFI. This software was tested by scientific staff in Q4, and shown to be quite effective in some circumstances.

VLA Milestone Summary

Of 51 milestones deadlines, 45 were completed on time. Three were cancelled, and three are now scheduled to be completed in FY2020 Q1, as described below. VLA Development Milestone 3.3.14 – VLASS1.1 Single Epoch Continuum Imaging Complete: The discovery of technical issues with the data led NRAO to re-define the scope of this milestone to starting the processing of SE continuum imaging by the end of Q4, after associated algorithm and pipeline development. At the end of FY2019 the VLASS team was still in the process of validating the pipeline, so this milestone will be carried over to FY2020. The primary lesson learned is that all aspects of the VLA Sky Survey challenged the VLA end-to-end system and post-processing software more than originally expected, and future NRAO projects may want to carefully assess their initial assumptions as part of the project scope definition. Milestone 3.3.18 – VLASS science meeting: Plans to hold a VLASS science meeting were tied to the availability of Single Epoch continuum image products for the community. The delay of the start of SE image processing led NRAO to cancel this milestone. Alternative methods for engaging the community with VLASS data products are being investigated. VLA Maintenance and Renewal Milestone 3.3.24 – Perform preventive maintenance on each of two transporters prior to array reconfiguration to D: The transporter preventive maintenance work was rescheduled to match the new date of the move to D-configuration, after the Electrical Infrastructure Upgrade work in FY2018. This will be covered by a new milestone in the FY2020 POP (#3.3.19), so the FY2019 milestone has been cancelled. There is no risk associated with this schedule delay. Milestone 3.3.29 – Perform preventive maintenance on the next configuration VLA antenna transformers prior to array reconfiguration to D: As for milestone 3.3.24, the transformer preventive maintenance work was rescheduled to match the new date of the move to D-configuration, after the Electrical Infrastructure Upgrade work in FY2018. This will be covered by a new milestone in the FY2020 POP (#3.3.25), so the FY2019 milestone has been cancelled. There is no risk associated with this schedule delay.


VLA Technical Upgrades and Enhancements Milestone 3.3.41 – Install ACUs in three antennas, #11, 12, and 13: Two out of the three planned ACU installations were completed in FY2019, with the third being delayed to Q1 FY2020 because of a change in the antenna overhaul sequence. There is very low risk to this delay, as there are now ample spare parts for repairing old ACUs should this become necessary. Milestone 3.3.42 – Install upgraded servo SCR cards in three antennas: The SCR card upgrade is combined with the ACU installation, described in milestone 3.3.41 above. Thus, two were completed with the third now scheduled for Q1 FY2020. Note that in future Program Operation Plans (POP) the SCR card upgrades will not be separate milestones because they are included with the ACU installation work.

Very Large Baseline Array (VLBA)

The VLBA comprises ten 25-meter diameter antennas at locations ranging from Hawaii to the U.S. Virgin Islands. In FY2019, NRAO continued to work to increase the capabilities of the VLBA, particularly the available bandwidth. The availability of these capabilities is made possible through the activities described below. In FY2017 and FY2018, the VLBA was part of the Long Baseline Observatory (LBO). In early FY2019, the LBO was dissolved, and the VLBA was reintegrated into NRAO.

Science Operations

Observing Programs: NRAO continued to offer three types of observing programs to VLBA users in FY2019: General Observing (GO), Shared Risk Observing (SRO) and Resident Shared Risk Observing (RSRO). For the 2019B observing semester, 4 Gbps recording was offered as SRO (VLBA stations only), and observing with the GMVA including phased-ALMA (Cycle 7) was offered as GO. For the 2020A observing semester, 4 Gbps recording was promoted from SRO to GO, and baseband data copy and Y1 observing with a single VLA antenna were promoted from RSRO to SRO. In addition, in the 2020A observing semester, an option for service observing was offered, where NRAO staff will provide detailed help in setting up observations, detailed help with data calibration after observing, and limited help with imaging. Scientific Support of Receiver, Antenna, and Array Performance: Operational tasks carried out by the scientific staff during FY2019 in support of maintaining receiver, antenna, and array performance and ensuring that the user community had access to quality instrumentation and updated information to effectively use the VLBA are listed below. Support Calls for Proposals: Capabilities to be offered in the 2019B and 2020A semesters were defined, and user documentation for all capabilities for the relevant Call for Proposals updated; scientific testing of user tools needed to prepare proposals (e.g., Proposal Submission Tool (PST), European VLBI Network Sensitivity Calculator) was undertaken, along with technical reviews for proposals and evaluation of proposals for RSRO contributions. Hardware, Software, and Operational Documentation: Technical documentation detailing hardware and software functionality for staff and users was written, as well as operational procedures and documentation for the operations staff. The VLBA Observational Status Summary was updated before the 2019B and 2020A Call for Proposals.


Track and Measure VLBA Sensitivity, Pointing, and Focus: The sensitivity, pointing and focus of each antenna at each band were characterized periodically, as receivers and equipment were replaced or as software was upgraded. Clock Maintenance: Accurate time keeping is central to VLBI, and is provided by hydrogen masers and reference signals inserted into the astronomical data. Quality assurance checks were performed periodically by scientific staff and data analysts. RFI Characterization and Mitigation: RFI tests to characterize and help mitigate RFI contamination in the observing bands were performed. System Health and Maintenance Feedback: Routine health checks and analysis of the data to determine if there are any hardware failures were followed up with maintenance tickets. Data Quality Assurance Checks: Data quality was evaluated and test observations run to identify and diagnose problems that were not caught by engineering checks. Coordination for Global Millimeter VLBI and the High Sensitivity Array (HSA): The VLBA occasionally observed in parallel with other observatories, as requested by users whose scientific goals require the inclusion of baselines to large-aperture and/or distant facilities. Scheduling and correlation of these observations required coordination with local schedulers at each participating observatory, a significantly more complex process than normal VLBA-only observations require.

Array Operations

Scheduling and Observing: Standard scheduling and observing procedures were used during FY2019 for the VLBA. However, to provide better coverage and to eliminate possible single-point failures, the dynamic scheduling duties were transferred from the VLBA technical manager to the data analysts during FY2019. In future, the media specialist will provide support to the data analysts when not coordinating media activity, to lessen the workload on the analysts doing dynamic scheduling. Operating Model: The Array Operations Division manages all aspects of the NM Operations work orders in the maintenance system database, including user and asset lists, workflow of work orders (create, modify, close), and all changes. The maintenance work order system underwent database changes in FY2019. The MainSaver program was replaced by a JIRA-based tracking system in Q3, administered by the VLA and VLBA technical managers.

Development

Ongoing Development: In late FY2017, a project was started to replace the Mark5C data recorders at the VLBA with more modern and maintainable Mark6 data recorders. During FY2018, much of the engineering was completed. The development project was completed in FY2019, with the Mark6 units deployed to all sites and the transition off Mark5C completed. Following commissioning, the 4 Gbps data rate mode was made available to astronomers under the SRO program for semester 2019A as described above, thereby doubling the available bandwidth. New Development: Funding for initial work on a new VLBA digital back end architecture was identified within the FY2019 budget to address the end-of-life of the current VLBA digital back end system while also progressing technical capabilities of the antenna electronics. The new architecture will be more sustainable while also increasing the bandwidth it is capable of processing, increasing band pass stability, improving tuning flexibility, and providing a platform for future upgrades or use by new partners. NRAO


engineering staff began development of the software and firmware architecture and code during FY2019 while also performing some early end-to-end data processing demonstrations on lab hardware in Q4. Additional engineering development and deployment on laboratory hardware will continue in FY2020. NRAO also initiated an FY2020 Infrastructure Renewal Program item, funded through the VLBA Reintegration and Operations proposal, by purchasing all of the equipment needed to upgrade the computing hardware on the VLBA software correlator and developing a full deployment plan. Installation and migration of operations to the new system will begin in early FY2020.

Maintenance and Renewal

The New Mexico Electronics Division is responsible for maintaining all VLBA electronic components, many mechanical systems, VLBA station infrastructure, and recording and playback hardware. Two VLBA site technicians are located at each VLBA site, while many engineers and technicians provide support from the DSOC in Socorro. The site technicians carried out the bulk of the routine maintenance tasks at the VLBA sites. For FY2019 this work consisted of the following:

• Inspection and lubrication of Focus Rotation Mount (FRM), Az/El drive motors, encoders, pintle bearings, elevation gears, elevation hoist, and included the changing of gearbox oil.

• Checking and testing of encoder motor tachometers, servo limits, ACU, vacuum pumps, all heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems, dry air system, weather station equipment, etc.

• Ensuring normal operations of safety equipment such as UPSs and generators, emergency power, fire alarm systems, fire extinguishers, security systems, etc.

• Preventive maintenance tasks such as checking motor brushes and commutators, check of azimuth wheel position, check for metal in grease samples, cable wrap maintenance, replace oil filters, etc.

• Maintenance of the grounds and building infrastructure. • Other diagnostic and repair tasks as needed.

Electronics Division staff based at the DSOC or the VLA performed the following routine VLBA work in FY2019:

• Overhauled approximately 40 receiver cold heads to keep VLBA Front Ends operating. • Repaired and/or replaced eight VLBA FE receivers. • Investigated issues with locking, fringing, output power, and general communication dropouts. • Retrofitted, upgraded or enhanced equipment safety. • Performed bench work on modules to repair or assemble upgrade modules. • Monitored maser performance and timing, adjusting as needed to remain within required

specifications. • Performed maintenance on ACUs and FRM controllers. • Monitored for local RFI at the VLBA sites. • Sent calibrated site weather station hardware to each site as needed. • Repaired or resolved 25 issues with VLBA recording and playback modules. • Repaired or resolved 95 issues with recorder disk packs.

Major Antenna and Site Maintenance: Two VLBA stations were scheduled to receive a regular major maintenance visit in FY2019. The participating maintenance staff, referred to as Tiger Teams, consist of engineers, technicians, and VLBA site techs that travel for multi-week visits in order to perform key preventive maintenance actions and corrective repairs on antennas and site infrastructure. The first of these campaigns, originally planned for the Los Alamos (LA) VLBA station, was not accomplished due


to unanticipated diversions of available resources during the fiscal year as described below. The second major maintenance visit, to Mauna Kea (MK), was carried out in Q4. The LA campaign was postponed until FY2020 because of the need to send a team to MK for critical repairs after a severe weather event in February. Thus, the MK site was actually visited twice during FY2019, with the first visit addressing the weather repairs and operational wear, and the second dealing with regular major maintenance and the negative impact to the telescope caused by several weeks when the site techs could not access the site for antenna servicing due to the ongoing local protestor activity. During these visits, outstanding or critical issues were resolved in addition to maintenance and inspections. Examples include Focus Rotation Mount irregularities, HVAC system leaks or contamination, cryogenic receiver system problems, and mechanical drive system maintenance. Maintenance staff resources were also spread thin by multiple unscheduled visits to the St. Croix (SC) VLBA site to support contracted repair work to address damage caused by hurricanes Maria and Irma, funded through a Cooperative Support Agreement for Hurricane repair (CSA-H). This work was coordinated by staff from the Electronics and Engineering Services Divisions, who specified and procured contracts for the installation of a new site generator, antenna rust abatement and metalwork repair, antenna painting, and infrastructure improvements to the site fiber, road, and fencing. In the spring, a Tiger Team traveled ahead of the contracted work in order to decommission and prepare the antenna for rust abatement and painting. A similar team returned in the summer to recommission the antenna and return it to service.

VLBA Technical Upgrades and Enhancements

VLBA Site Weather Station Upgrade: A replacement weather station system, consisting of multiple sensor packages, mounting hardware, and interface hardware, was successfully designed, integrated, and tested in the laboratory. With this milestone met, a field unit will be prepared, accepted, and delivered for use at a VLBA site in FY2020. Phase III of the Synthesizer Replacement: Leveraging an existing design, staff built the first L404B dual synthesizer module and then installed (Q2) and commissioned (Q3) it on the Pie Town (PT) VLBA antenna. This synthesizer provides advanced tuning capabilities and will replace the existing synthesizers at each VLBA site over the course of a multi-year rollout. Installation of Antenna E-rack: As part of a strategic development plan for VLBA antenna electronics, a new electronics rack is being installed in VLBA antennas. The first rack was mechanically hung and outfitted in Q2 before being used for L404B commissioning in FY2019. Additional installations will occur in FY2020.

VLBA Milestone Summary

Of 14 milestone deadlines, 13 were completed on time, and one was delayed to FY2020, as described below. Milestone 3.3.60 – Major VLBA Maintenance Visit #1: The major maintenance visit to the Los Alamos VLBA station originally planned for FY2019 has been carried over to FY2020, as a result of the need to address higher priority maintenance at Mauna Kea and hurricane repair work at St. Croix during FY2019. The primary lesson learned is the need to maintain schedule flexibility, in order to be able to respond to urgent maintenance work as required. The status of the VLBA antenna at Los Alamos continues to be monitored, and its major maintenance visit is now incorporated into the FY2020 maintenance schedule.


4 NEXT GENERATION VERY LARGE ARRAY

The NRAO has engaged the science and technical community in the design of a next-generation Very Large Array (ngVLA), envisaged as an interferometric array with ten times the sensitivity and ten times higher spatial resolution than the VLA and ALMA. The ngVLA will open a new window on the Universe through ultra-sensitive imaging of thermal line and continuum emission down to milliarcsecond resolution, as well as unprecedented broadband continuum polarimetric imaging of non-thermal processes. These capabilities are the only means with which to address a broad range of critical questions in modern astronomy, including direct imaging of planet formation in the terrestrial zone, studies of dust-obscured star formation and the cosmic baryon cycle down to parsec-scales out to the Virgo cluster, making a cosmic census of the molecular gas which fuels star formation back to first light and cosmic reionization, and novel techniques for exploring temporal phenomena from milliseconds to years in this new era of multimessenger astrophysics. The ngVLA will be optimized for observations in the frequency range of 1.2–116GHz, between the superb performance of ALMA at submillimeter wavelengths and the future Phase I Square Kilometre Array (SKA-1) at decimeter and longer wavelengths. The short-term goal of the ngVLA project is to prepare a proposal for the Astro2020 Decadal Survey, including a compelling science case, and a rationally costed and realizable design for all the major elements of the telescope. This effort is being driven by the larger community and coordinated through NRAO via close consultation with external Science and Technical Advisory Councils. The longer term goal of the ngVLA project is to develop the science requirements, system requirements, system architecture, and supporting system design that can form the foundation for conceptual development of the facility and a proposal to the NSF AST Directorate for Major Research Equipment and Facilities Construction (MREFC) candidacy. A variety of significant ngVLA-related activities occurred in FY2019. The NRAO facilitated the submission of ngVLA science white papers to the Decadal Survey in January 2019 and submitted an ngVLA facilities white paper in July. The ngVLA Science Book was published in December 2018, and the three document set comprising the ngVLA Reference Design Concept was completed in August. A risk-adjusted, fully costed, and documented estimate for the reference design was also completed. The NRAO continued a series of open science and technology meetings, organized by active science working groups and science and technical advisory councils, involving hundreds of U.S. and international scientists. These included highly successful, well-attended, international science meetings on Theoretical Advances Guided by RMS Arrays in Seattle, Washington in January 2019 and on Radio/Millimeter Astrophysical Frontiers in the Next Decade in Charlottesville, Virginia in July. Additionally, a special technical session on the ngVLA reference design was held at the January International Union of Radio Science (URSI) meeting in Boulder, Colorado. In FY2020, ngVLA activities will focus on detailed design and development of the ngVLA concept. The project will continue to engage the astronomy community through NRAO-sponsored meetings such as The Scientific Quest for High Agular Resolution in Honolulu, Hawaii in January 2020 and Compact Objects and Energetic Phenomena in the Multi-Messenger Era in Saint Paul, Minnesota in July. The project will also have a significant technical presence at the International Society for Optics and Photonics (SPIE) meeting on Astronomical Telescopes and Instrumentation in Yokohama, Japan, in June.


The ngVLA science case and reference design are being developed via a close collaboration between the NRAO and the international astronomy community. This effort is led by the ngVLA Science Advisory Council (SAC)1, a diverse group whose goal is the clear elucidation of the most compelling science case. The ngVLA SAC, in collaboration with the broader international astronomical community, developed a series of more than 80 compelling science cases requiring ~200 unique observations between ~1.2–116 GHz with sensitivity, angular resolution, and mapping capabilities far beyond those provided by the VLA, VLBA, ALMA, and the Square Kilometre Array Phase 1 (SKA-1). The input following this science use case capture exercise indicated a strong interest in an ngVLA capable of addressing a broad range of topics in planetary science, star formation, Galactic and extragalactic astronomy, fundamental physics, and much more. These form the basis of the developing ngVLA Key Science Goals (KSGs) and drive the corresponding reference design. Given the overwhelmingly large spread of compelling science cases generated by the community, the primary science requirement for the ngVLA is to be flexible enough to support the wide breadth of scientific investigations that will be proposed by its highly creative user base over the full lifetime of the instrument. The breadth of scientific endeavors range from studies of planet formation and understanding the conditions for habitability in other star systems, to rigorous testing of the theory of gravity using pulsars immersed in the space-time potential of the Galaxy's supermassive black hole. This in turn makes the ngVLA a different style of instrument than many other facilities on the horizon (e.g., SKA-1, LSST, etc.), which are heavily focused on carrying out large surveys or dedicated, narrowly focused experiments. In the next stage of the process, each of the individual science cases were objectively reviewed and thoroughly discussed by the different Science Working Groups within the ngVLA-SAC. The ultimate goal of this exercise was to distill the top scientific goals for a future radio/mm telescope. The five KSGs were chosen to satisfy three criteria: (1) each addresses an important, unanswered question in astrophysics that has broad scientific and societal implications; (2) progress in each area is uniquely addressed by the capabilities of the ngVLA; (3) each exhibits key synergies/complementarity with science goals being pursued by existing or planned facilities in the >2025 time frame. The resulting five highest-priority ngVLA KSGs that are expected to be carried out during the lifetime of the ngVLA include:

1. Unveiling the formation of Solar System analogs on terrestrial scales; 2. Probing the initial conditions for planetary systems and life with astrochemistry; 3. Characterizing the assembly, structure, and evolution of galaxies from the first billion years to the

present; 4. Using Galactic Center pulsars to make a fundamental test of gravity; and 5. Understanding the formation and evolution of stellar and supermassive blackholes in the era of

multi-messenger astronomy.

The ngVLA Level 0 Science Requirements were defined to support these key science goals. The ngVLA SAC continued to work with the community to refine and hone each of these science goals in preparation for the Astro2020 Decadal Review.

1 The ngVLA SAC is a group of 24 leading scientists of the community outside NRAO, with a wide range of interests and expertise, who are mostly based in U.S. institutions but also have international representation; http://ngvla.nrao.edu/page/sciencecouncil.

http://ngvla.nrao.edu/page/sciencecouncil


Technical Concept

The ngVLA is planned as an astronomical observatory that will operate at centimeter wavelengths (25 to 0.26 centimeters, corresponding to a frequency range extending from 1.2 GHz to 116 GHz). The ngVLA technical concept is a synthesis radio telescope constituted of 244 reflectors of 18 m diameter and 19 reflectors of 6 m diameter all connected by optical fiber to a single signal processing center, allowing for real-time correlation of all antennas simultaneously. While a single telescope, the implementation and logistics naturally divide the array into three subsets:

• A Main Array (MA) of 214 reflector antennas each of 18 m diameter, operating in a phased or interferometric mode. The main array is distributed to sample a wide range of scales from 10s of meters to 1000 km (arcmin to mas scales at 30 GHz). A dense core and spiral arms provide high surface brightness sensitivity, while outer stations increase resolution.

• A Short Baseline Array (SBA) of 19 reflector antennas of 6 m aperture will be sensitive to a portion of the larger angular scales poorly sampled by the MA.

• A Long Baseline Array (LBA) of 30 reflector antennas each of 18 m diameter located in 10 clusters will provide continental-scale baselines (BMAX = 8860 km) and sub-mas resolution.

In total, the ngVLA will have approximately ten times the sensitivity of the VLA and ALMA, continental-scale baselines providing sub-milliarcsecond-resolution, and a dense core on km-scales for high surface brightness sensitivity.

The dense core and the signal processing center of the array will be located at the VLA site, on the Plains of San Agustin, New Mexico. A combination of leased and owned optical fiber will connect all antennas to the signal processing center. The MA extends throughout New Mexico, west Texas, eastern Arizona, and northern Mexico. Long baseline stations will be located in Hawaii, Washington, California, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Canada.

Operations will be conducted from both the VLA site and the Array Operations and Repair Centers in Socorro, NM. A Science Operations Center and Data Center will likely be co-located in a medium/large metropolitan area and will be the base for science operations and support staff, software operations, and related administration. Research and development activities will be split amongst these centers as appropriate.

Building on the successful operation models of the VLA and ALMA, the facility will be operated as a proposal-driven instrument. The fundamental deliverable for ngVLA users will be images and image cubes (i.e., SRDP following the ALMA philosophy) generated using calibration and imaging pipelines created and maintained by the project. Both the pipeline products and the raw visibilities and calibration tables will be archived, retaining the option of future reprocessing and archival science projects.

From FY2015 through FY2019, the ngVLA project schedule contained a variety of activities leading to the submission of the project’s reference design concept to the Astro2020 Decadal Survey. These activities included community engagement in the form of Science and Technical Advisory Councils, Science Working Groups, community studies, and scientific and technical workshops; the development of the cost model and reference design concept; the development and publication of the ngVLA science book, and the conduct of various technical, requirements, and cost reviews. In FY2020 and beyond, the project will be driven primarily by requirements for NSF Major Research Equipment and Facilities Construction (MREFC) instead of the process dictated by the Decadal Survey. The ngVLA schedule, as influenced by the MREFC process, contains a series of conceptual, preliminary, and final design reviews in the detailed design and development phase covering FY2020-FY2024, with


construction occurring over the 10 years comprising FY2025-FY2034. The schedule shows early science and full scientific operations commencing in FY2028 and FY2034, respectively.

Budget

In September 2017, the NSF awarded NRAO $11M to develop the ngVLA reference design concept over FY2018 and FY2019 in preparation for the Astro2020 Decadal Survey. The total funding available to the project for direct costs in FY2019 was approximately $5.5M. The majority of expenditures in FY2019 were for project staff, prototyping activities, and community engagement activities. The project engaged approximately 18 FTEs, who provided project and scientific leadership, project management and costing support, scientific program development, and technical definition. As Decadal Survey submissions and evaluations began, the project pursued additional sources of funding in FY2019 to support the project team’s detailed design and development activities in FY2020 and beyond. A Mid-Scale Research Infrastructure-1 (MSRI-1) proposal for $7M was submitted to the NSF to support antenna design activities in FY2020 and FY2021. An MSRI-2 proposal for $28M was also submitted to the NSF to support antenna design and prototyping in FY2020-FY2024. Despite generally positive reviews, both MSRI proposals were declined. Additionally, an unsolicited proposal for $28M was submitted to the NSF for the entirety of the ngVLA design and development effort in FY2020-FY2021. Of this, $4M was awarded for design and development activities in FY2020, only. The award will be supplemented by project carryover funds from FY2019 and other NRAO funds, resulting in approximately $7M total for ngVLA design and development in FY2020. This amount should be sufficient to maintain current staffing levels and allow modest progress in advancing the design until the outcome of the Decadal Survey is revealed. Funding is currently being pursued for antenna design and prototyping via the NSF Mid-Scale Innovations Program (MSIP).

Astro2020 Preparations

With guidance provided by the NSF, the NRAO continued to engage the astronomy community to obtain further consensus on the needs, priorities, and requirements for the proposed telescope. A key opportunity to showcase ngVLA alignment with community priorities is through the exploration of ngVLA scientific goals and open review of the development and design efforts at the Astro2020 Decadal Survey. The Decadal Surveys are conducted by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences (NAS) to assess the state of the field and to make research priority recommendations. These recommendations inform the decisions for future funding of new instrument construction. In FY2019, the ngVLA project in collaboration with the broad astronomy community, prepared and developed a sound, strongly supported submission to the Astro2020 Decadal Survey. Preparations for Astro2020 included the coordination of community white paper submissions, the development of a reference design concept for the facility, the conduct of technical trade studies and initial development of prototypes, and active participation in Astro2020-sponsored events including NRAO/ngVLA-led science and technical meetings.


ngVLA Reference Design

The Astro2020 Decadal Survey review includes a Technical, Risk, and Cost Evaluation (TRACE) process that ranks projects on their technical risk and construction cost realism, favoring projects at a higher level of design maturity.

In early Q4 FY2019, the ngVLA project completed the public release of the ngVLA Reference Design. The reference design is a low technical-risk, costed concept that supports the key science goals for the facility, and forms the technical and cost basis of the ngVLA Astro2020 Decadal Survey proposal. The compendium includes 56 technical documents (1400+ pages) and represents the work of more than 54 engineers and scientists contributing to the project. While led by the NRAO project team, the author list includes many collaborators from the U.S. and international radio astronomy community who have contributed their expertise to the project. Many more—Science Book authors; Science Advisory Council, Science Working Groups, and Technical Advisory Council members—have contributed to the definition of the science case and science requirements, or contributed through critical review. This technical compendium describes the ngVLA system from end-to-end, and provides a snapshot of the technical development of the facility concept as of August 2019. As the first technical baseline, it has gaps and minor inconsistencies that will be addressed in advance of the system conceptual design review, but it presents the clear and substantive progress that has been made in defining a realizable ngVLA facility concept. The reference design has been made publicly available, in its entirety, on the ngVLA website.

The reference design describes the system architecture and a viable concept for each major element within the ngVLA system. The selected concepts have quantifiable technical risk and a sound cost basis, typically based on an engineer’s estimate with component-level historical analogs or vendor quotations. The released version of the reference design reflects a number of refinements from technical review conducted in Q1 FY2019, as well as a gap analysis conducted by the TAC and SAC. While initially planned as a Q2 FY2019 deliverable, this target was extended to incorporate additional feedback and to track the schedule of the Astro2020 Decadal Survey, ensuring the most complete packet was made available to the TRACE reviewers.

Community Engagement

Community Studies2

As part of the process of building a final concept for the ngVLA, NRAO launched the ngVLA Community Studies program in 2016, allowing members of the scientific and engineering communities to become major contributors to this effort. Given the success of our first round of ngVLA Community Studies, a second round was initiated during 2017–2018. In FY2019, the project anticipated using this program to support any studies that required more time, as well as to enable new studies targeting specific project needs on a rolling basis.

2 http://ngvla.nrao.edu/page/commstudiesprogram

Figure 4.2.1: The three volumes of the ngVLA Reference Design technical compendium.

http://ngvla.nrao.edu/page/commstudiesprogram


Aimed at tackling some of the most pressing questions unveiled by the initial studies, the primary objective for the second round of community studies was to further develop the Key Science Goals outlined in ngVLA Memorandum #19. Community studies and simulations were asked to focus on addressing these key science goals while better quantifying the expected performance of the array in order to provide additional supporting technical requirements. As outlined in the FY2019 POP, the ngVLA project strategically supported community studies in FY2019 that targeted areas of research for which the project could significantly benefit from community expertise. These included: AU-scale, proto-planetary disk imaging at 1 cm; image simulations of high-redshift atomic and molecular gas; and advanced imaging techniques for sparsely sampled arrays. These three funded community studies have either already submitted their final ngVLA memorandum or are in the process of completing it.

ngVLA Science Book

A collection of peer-reviewed research papers (i.e., the ngVLA Science Book) supporting the development of a next-generation Very Large Array was prepared by members of the astronomical community and compiled by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in preparation for the U.S. 2020 Astronomy and Astrophysics Decadal Survey conducted by the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences. This book marks a pivotal milestone in the ngVLA project, as it encapsulates the breadth of scientific promise that would be realized by the completion of the ngVLA. With 88 chapters (850+ pages) from over 285 unique authors, this volume highlights key areas of astrophysics that are ripe for major breakthroughs and underscores the broad U.S. and international support for pursuing the ngVLA. The book was published as part of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific Monograph series in December 2018 to ensure that hard copies were available at the January 2019 American Astronomical Society meeting in Seattle. Completing the book ahead of the January 2019 AAS meeting also ensured that individual chapters could be listed in the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System for maximum visibility to the Astro 2020 panel members, and could be used as the foundation for community submissions of Astro 2020 Science White Papers. As a token of gratitude, and to ensure that the book has high visibility in astronomy and physics departments across the U.S. university system, all first authors received a complimentary copy of the book. While this published volume serves as a key snapshot of ngVLA project status and vision for the transformational science that can be achieved, NRAO envisions the Science Book as a living document that will be periodically updated through the beginning of construction.

ngVLA Project Outreach

Given the scale of the ngVLA and the broad community interest in it, strategic partnerships with domestic and international institutions, as well as industry, will need to be formed. Many connections have already been established because technical and scientific colleagues from the U.S. and from around the world already participate in the ngVLA Science and Technical Advisory Councils, Science Working Groups, science and technical workshops, and community studies. Potential industry partners also participate in community studies and technical workshops. In FY2019, discussions were held with potential domestic and international partners to determine if they can undertake suitable work packages in the ngVLA design. For example, Canada has been engaged in key aspects of the antenna and correlator studies, and has recently expressed interest in time and frequency distribution for the array. Discussions with Mexico are underway to support a local postdoctoral fellow in investigating suitable locations for ngVLA antennas in Mexico. An inaugural international development meeting for ngVLA was held in Socorro in May, with the goals of discussing potential partnerships and the possible distribution of ngVLA work packages. The meeting was attended by representatives from Canada, Japan, Mexico, and Taiwan. The first ngVLA


international workshop was hosted by the National Astronomy Observatory of Japan (NAOJ) in Mitaka in September. The workshop included programmatic, scientific, and technical overviews of the project, but focused primarily on Japanese scientific interests in an ngVLA-like instrument. Finally, a joint ngVLA-SKA meeting on a Future Large Radio Telescope Alliance was held in Reykjavik, Iceland in June to investigate the process and possibility of a scientific alliance between SKA and ngVLA.

2019 National Radio Science Meeting

In Q2 FY2019, the ngVLA project organized a special session on the ngVLA reference design and technical development at the URSI National Radio Science Meeting in Boulder, Colorado. This provided an opportunity to demonstrate the maturity of the ngVLA project and community participation in the design process.

The special session consisted of 11 invited talks on both project reference design development and technical development activities leading up to the system conceptual design review. Half of the talks were from community collaborators, demonstrating broad participation.

2019 Winter AAS Meeting

The ngVLA project organized a Special Session at the January 2019 AAS in Seattle, Washington titled Theoretical Advances Guided by Radio-Millimeter-Submillimeter Arrays. This special session was designed to highlight recent theoretical breakthroughs enabled by the VLA and ALMA, summarize planned VLA and ALMA improvements, discuss theoretical leaps that are likely to follow, and underscore the relevance of the VLA and ALMA to the science themes motivating the great observatories (e.g., the ngVLA) that could be commissioned in the next decade. This session was also targeted at increasing the involvement of the astrophysical theory community with the project to make that community more aware of ngVLA capabilities, as well as to learn how the ngVLA can better address their needs. The special session included six invited talks, including members of the NAS, covering a wide range of topics, e.g. astrophysical jets, planet formation, astrochemistry, galaxy formation, and multi-messenger astrophysics. It also included an associated poster session with 27 scientific and technical contributions from the community, as well as project-led technical posters focused on the reference design, providing the wider scientific community with a complete and coherent view of the ngVLA technical concept.

Broader Impacts

Broader Impacts (BI) efforts in FY2019 were two-pronged. The outward facing effort was one to raise public awareness of the future project through the publication of basic outreach materials, including public brochures and posters for display and distribution at the VLA Visitor Center and in the lobbies of offices in Charlottesville and Socorro. Public tours at the VLA now also include information on plans for the ngVLA.

Figure 4.3.6.1: ngVLA at the VLA Visitor Center

http://ngvla.nrao.edu/


The public website has been updated with new resources: https://public.nrao.edu/ngvla/ which include an updated visualization of the dish designs and an overview of the five key science goals for ngVLA: https://public.nrao.edu/gallery/ngvla-science-cases/

The most substantive work was inward looking. In FY2019, Broader Impact goals for the ngVLA project were identified, along with the designation of a lead for the BI Integrated Product Team (IPT). Importantly, Broader Impacts was recognized as a cross-discipline, cross-department activity that will involve multiple stakeholders across the project. Future reporting will be within the four categories of Strategy, Research, Broadening Participation (BP) and EPO. The important milestone that was achieved in FY2019 was to summarize the broader impact goals in a statement that calls out the core activities by area of effort: NRAO/ngVLA Broader Impact Statement: The National Radio Astronomy Observatory enables transformative scientific discovery by providing state-of-the-art radio astronomy facilities for use by the international scientific community. We incorporate the principle of co-operative design in everything we do in order to ensure that we consult, serve and benefit the communities surrounding our facilities and other operational areas, and that we research, consider and incorporate the potential broader impacts of our work for society. The NRAO aims to achieve at least one of the following broader impact goals through each of our core activities: Infrastructure: The construction, operation and maintenance of NRAO’s research facilities require us to invest in economic infrastructure such as transportation, energy, water and sanitation, communication, safety and resilience, and health and education. The NRAO will ensure communities surrounding our facilities and operational areas benefit from this investment through the sharing of infrastructure; vocational skills training programs and job creation; and the support of small and local businesses through preferential procurement policies.

Figure 4.3.6.2: ngVLA online

https://public.nrao.edu/ngvla/

https://public.nrao.edu/gallery/ngvla-science-cases/


Technology and Commercialization: The desire to understand our Universe drives the demand for new generation telescopes with unprecedented sensitivity, which in turn requires continuous advances in engineering and computing for astronomy. The NRAO will continue to invest in the development and commercialization of technologies and techniques that will have tangible benefits for other radio astronomy observatories and scientific research facilities, a revitalized US high-tech manufacturing sector, and society in general. Education and Diversity: The NRAO recognizes that a skilled and diverse STEM workforce is critical to our mission to enable cutting-edge science with world-class radio facilities. The NRAO is committed to the implementation of programs designed to foster a scientifically literate society and culture of citizen science; innovate and improve education in the fields relevant to our work; broaden participation in these fields by underrepresented minorities; create opportunities for high-potential individuals to successfully enter experiential training; and employ a diverse next-generation of scientists and engineers required for the design, construction, operation, use and maintenance of our facilities. Natural and Cultural Heritage: The NRAO acknowledges and appreciates the natural and cultural heritage of the communities surrounding our facilities and other operational areas. The NRAO will encourage, facilitate and support cross-disciplinary research to record, study and preserve such culture and heritage; use our influence to prevent any exploitation inconsistent with the protection of the integrity of such culture and heritage; incorporate and promote indigenous knowledge in our education and public outreach materials as far as possible, and deliver these materials in the languages used by our communities. Collaboration and Partnerships: Multi-institutional and international collaboration across various sectors ensures that the NRAO and its stakeholders benefit from the unique assets, strengths and best practices of our domestic and international partner institutions. The NRAO will continue to develop partnerships in order to advance knowledge and best-practice transfer between and by the NRAO and our partner institutions; ensure the impacts of our research extend beyond any single institution or country; influence domestic and global policy- and decision-making; and prepare a diverse next-generation of scientists and engineers that are truly globally engaged and experienced.

Conceptual Design and Development

The conceptual design work on ngVLA follows a typical development and design cycle. While following an overall waterfall process for the system design, each major element of definition has a spiral development model, with progressive elaboration. FY2018 activities were focused on elaborating the science requirements, the operation and maintenance concept for the array, the resulting system requirements, and defining the system architecture. In FY2019, these system-level deliverables were refined based on lessons from the reference design exercise and science case development, including critical review from the SAC and TAC.

In parallel to this high-level system design activity, technical development projects continued to explore interesting parameter space and technologies. The aim of these development projects is to quantify and reduce technical risks prior to a conceptual design down-select for each system element. In some cases, this will involve demonstrating the feasibility of enabling technologies to improve performance or reduce cost.

Requirements and Architectural Definition

The system-level design work that was conducted in FY2019 is described below. NRAO has made significant progress in understanding and documenting the science case and high-level requirements for


the ngVLA. A refinement of these requirements based on lessons learned in the reference design and science case development ensures a solid foundation for conceptual development of the facility. Reference Observing Program: The Science Support IPT developed the ngVLA Reference Observing Program (ROP), which is an analysis of whether or not the ngVLA Reference Design can reach the Key Science Goals in the array’s first decade. The technical and observing needs of the driving use cases of the Key Science Goals were quantified. The ancillary information needed to evaluate the viability of the ROP was also folded in. A first version of the ROP was released in Q2 and presented to stakeholders in Q3. After review by the ngVLA Science Advisory Council, a second version of the ROP was released in Q4 for consideration by the Astro2020 Decadal Survey. System Requirements: The system requirements were updated based on input from the reference observing program, the updated science requirements, the operations concept, the AIV concept and CSV concept in FY2019. The L0 stakeholder requirements were provided to an external review panel in Q4 FY2019, and the feedback from this review will be used to update both the Stakeholder and System Requirements as input to the conceptual design phase. Requirements and Architecture Model: The project continued to construct an integrated requirements and architecture model in FY2019. This provides a repository that demonstrates requirements traceability and flow-down to functional requirements within the architecture. The architecture and requirements model is built in Cameo Systems Modeler. The aforementioned requirements documents are generated from the internal database within the model, along with document templates, ensuring that the model and the documentation artifacts are regularly synchronized. Operations Plan: A preliminary Operations Plan was drafted in Q2. Leveraging requirements gathering and other input from project stakeholders and the Operations Working Group, the plan provides the approach and organization of operations, including process descriptions, staffing, and resource requirements for full operations and an overview of development planning. The plan will be updated as requirements continue to evolve during additional planning and development. Transition Plan: The ngVLA Operations Working Group was charged with investigating options and potential impacts for the transition between VLA and ngVLA. The general topic is complex and multi-faceted, with influencing factors such as VLA science capability in the transition, availability of funding for VLA operations and ngVLA construction, and the timing and duration of the transition. An ngVLA transition concept document was written, but it requires more stakeholder input before a full transition plan is developed. Some of the options and impacts of the VLA/ngVLA transition were presented at the NRAO Users Committee meeting to obtain their input with the goal of jointly establishing a transition plan that is economical, does not significantly impede ngVLA construction/commissioning, and results in the VLA retaining capabilities that allow it to continue the highest-impact science during the initial construction phase of the ngVLA. Development Plan: An ngVLA Development Plan was delivered to the project as part of the preliminary Operations Plan. The plan provides steps for the solicitation, review, and awarding of projects or other work that provide the following development activities:

• Scientific advancement and enhancements of capabilities of the array • Development of new or improved hardware, software, techniques, or operational approaches • Fostering and advancement of legacy science programs


Since it is part of the Operations Plan, the Development Plan will be updated as requirements and input are added or change. Array Calibration: In FY2019, work continued to advance and stabilize the array calibration strategies and associated system requirements in order to permit development of supporting sub-systems. Initial studies made in FY2018 constrained the calibration parameter space but did not fully define a calibration strategy. In FY2019, phase calibration, gain calibration, polarization calibration, and flux-scale calibration strategies were all evaluated, resulting in an ngVLA calibration strategy and requirements document that was released in Q4 FY2019. Array Configuration: As originally planned for FY2019, work was carried out to ensure CASA support of ngVLA imaging simulations. There was also the expectation to build and iterate on the reference array configuration produced in FY2018 to investigate improved performance over the range of angular scales that the ngVLA is sensitive to, and to further incorporate fiber optic and electrical utility availability and other practical constraints. While an updated configuration map was not produced in FY2019, significant effort was made to construct the machinery necessary to quantitatively assess the imaging performance of the reference configuration (or any other future configuration to be considered) for several expected use cases; this work resulted in a number of ngVLA memoranda. There was also significant work on assessing the imaging performance of the Short Baseline Array for recovering diffuse emission on large angular scales; these results were also written up as an ngVLA memorandum. System Requirements and Architecture Review: An external system-level requirements and architecture review was scheduled for the end of FY2019 with the goal of ensuring an appropriate level of completeness in the requirements, and architectural coherence, prior to completing sub-system conceptual design down-selections. While a successful Stakeholders Requirements Review was completed in September, it is only a subset of the full systems-level requirements and architecture review envisioned for the project. The full review is being rescheduled for early to mid-FY2020.

Sub-System Conceptual Designs

The requirements definition for each system element of the project and the exploration of viable conceptual designs was started in FY2019. Sub-System Requirements: All major sub-system design teams prepared revised sub-system level requirements documents by Q2 FY2019 for inclusion in the reference design packet. Progressive elaboration of these requirements and sub-system conceptual design down-select decisions will continue in FY2020. Antenna Optical Design: A reference optical design for the antenna was developed in FY2018. This included a preliminary down-select of major optical parameters and shaping profiles (mapping functions) to optimize G/TSYS with Gaussian feed horns. This design has proven very durable and high performing based on subsequent analysis. The optical design was revisited in FY2019, with five supporting technical memoranda drafted related to its key attributes and conceptual design choices. The optical design will continue to be analyzed and refined until baselined at the antenna sub-system conceptual design review. Antenna Mechanical Design: Two antenna mechanical design studies were completed in Q1: a more traditional multi-piece aluminum reflector designed by General Dynamics Mission Systems (GDMS), as well as 18m and 6m single-piece composite reflector antennas designed by the National Research Council of Canada–Herzberg Astronomy and Astrophysics (NRC-HAA). The preliminary design reviews of the GDMS and NRC-HAA antenna concepts were also completed in Q1. The results of the studies were


included in the ngVLA reference design package. Given the favorable results of the studies, both technically and financially, NRAO released a request for proposal (RfP) for additional antenna mechanical design concepts in Q3, initializing NRAO’s competitive bid process for the Antenna Final Design and Prototype. The released RfP (with two proposals expected to be awarded in Q1 FY2020) is for Concept Exploration which follows the Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) Part 34 Major System Acquisition model. The results of the Concept Exploration proposals will shape the final antenna design requirements and optical design which will be included in the Antenna Final Design and Prototype Request for Proposal (RfP) that is scheduled to be released in Q3 FY2020. Correlator-Beamformer Study: FY2019 commenced with the goal of pursuing a conceptual design for the correlator-beamformer element by leveraging the existing reference design presented for the 2020 Decadal Survey. This reference design is the product of a collaboration with NRC-HAA, given its expertise in such systems and prior positive working relationships on the VLA WIDAR correlator and other projects. Unfortunately, previous commitments compelled the NRC-HAA team to postpone their involvement in the ngVLA project until FY2021 or later. This scenario was known to be a possibility beforehand, and the project risk register captured suitable mitigation strategies that were put into effect. As a result, a new correlator-beamformer architecture and development plan were developed at the NRAO Central Development Laboratory (CDL), thereby successfully completing the associated milestone in FY2019.

Technical Development Projects

The ngVLA project continued to conduct research and development of key enabling technologies. These focused development projects, largely started in FY2018, enable NRAO to ensure that the resulting design is within budget and of low technical risk. While a portion of this research and development is being conducted within the Observatory, NRAO is also engaging the broader technical community with sub-contracts for development studies and supporting intellectual property development at both commercial firms and higher education institutions. The selected areas for study were based on a risk assessment of the present design. System elements with high cost variance or technical uncertainty have been prioritized for development. Completing these studies will allow the project to assert, with confidence, that the technical risk and cost of the concepts proposed at the eventual conceptual design review are understood. Composite Antenna Structure: In Q1 FY2019, NRAO and NRC-HAA completed the design review for both an 18m and 6m single-piece composite reflector antenna design study. The final documents were delivered in Q3. Based on the results of the composite reflector design (compared to the more conventional multi-piece aluminum reflector design study), NRAO pivoted to featuring the composite reflector antenna design as the submitted reference design concept with the traditional antenna design as supporting documentation. NRAO identified areas of the composite design that would benefit from further refinement, to include a redesign of the 6m antenna to better optimize spacing, better understanding of any process-induced distortions, mock ups of key design features, as well as an additional durability and longevity analysis. As a result, NRAO and NRCC-HAA signed a contract in Q3 to pursue these areas with reviews to be held in Q1 and Q2 FY2020, with final documentation delivered in Q3. Wide Angle Feed Design: Two wide-angle axially corrugated feedhorn designs for ngVLA Band 6 (70-116 GHz) were successfully machined, and the input match and radiation patterns were measured. One


feed was directly scaled from the reference design feed, the “Baker feed.” The other feed was directly scaled from one designed for SKA Band 2, re-analyzed, and built by ElectroMagnetic Software and Systems (EMSS) under contract. RF measurements of both feeds were made by CDL and GBO staff, and are documented in ngVLA Antenna Memorandum #5. In short, the measured results show good agreement with simulated patterns and return loss. A detailed tolerance analysis of the EMSS-designed feed also verified the feasibility of volume production for Band 6 using conventional machining, retiring a key technical risk with the wide-angle feed concept. The full report documenting these study results was delivered in Q2. In addition, a more lengthy study was undertaken by EMSS to quantify the degradation in sensitivity and sidelobe levels of the combined feed and antenna optics, assuming several off-axis feed locations in all three planes. The study also included a detailed modeling of antenna temperature using ngVLA shaped optics, with results from 1 to 15 GHz over the full range of possible elevation angles. The final task in the study was to analyze the RF performance degradation of the antenna, using General Reflector Antenna Software Package (GRASP) models of the optics deformed by gravity at various elevation angles, temperature change, and wind loading. A detailed presentation of the results was delivered shortly after the end of Q4: the final report is pending but is expected before the end of October 2019. Wide Band Feed Design: In order to improve performance in the low frequency bands, three separate design studies were funded, the first by EMSS, the second by Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO), and the third by Lyrebird Antenna Research (LAR, through CSIRO). Each study took a different approach in order to explore possible alternatives to the current wideband feed design. Band 2 frequencies were assumed, as it has the widest fractional bandwidth requirement, and would also be easier to prototype and test. EMSS opted to use the same basic all-metal quad-ridged feed design, but developed a sophisticated and computationally efficient optimization algorithm with parameterized analytic profiles for the horn and ridges, rather than just a brute-force numerical approach. Their design achieved a notable improvement in overall sensitivity, with a reduction in low-frequency spillover. But the most useful result was their ability to better quantify some of the performance trades in an all-metal quad-ridged design. LAR opted to pursue an alternative and novel all-metal wideband feed concept, the “bullet feed.” While interesting as a concept, in the end it was bandwidth-limited to slightly more than an octave, and had the drawback of complexity and higher loss in the coaxial launcher section. Both these factors rule it out as a viable alternative; nevertheless, it was worthwhile to explore as an option. Given their past experience, CSIRO was tasked with exploring dielectric-loaded feed designs with ~3.5:1 bandwidth. Their approach was a simplified, re-optimized version of an earlier 6:1 bandwidth ridged feed horn used on the Parkes antenna. The analysis results were stunning: aperture efficiency was almost as high and flat as the axially corrugated feed, excellent input match, much lower cross-polarization, lower spillover noise, and minimal added loss/noise from the dielectric. While there are a few areas that would need further refinement before production, this design is very attractive from a performance standpoint. All studies were concluded at the end of Q4. Final reports are still pending but are expected before the end of October 2019. Mechanical drawings suitable for prototype fabrication were not a deliverable for any of the studies.


Integrated Receiver Development (IRD): Antenna electronics on the ngVLA employ a novel integrated receiver concept developed by scientists at the CDL. The design employs miniaturized downconversion, sampling, and data transmission in a light-weight and compact package that can be mounted with the receiver Dewar at the secondary focus of the antenna. The package offers cost, performance, and reliability advantages when compared to conventional modular designs. The concept employs Monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuit (MMIC) downconverters and other warm electronics coupled to an ASIC sampler and optical data transmission module. The CDL has demonstrated the feasibility of this concept with discrete parts, but the technical risks are not fully retired, nor will the performance gains be proven, until the design is implemented on a silicon chip suitable for mass manufacture. The project pursued such a silicon solution in FY2018, and the ASIC chips were received in FY2019. The design of an evaluation board to characterize these chips was delayed due to the limited availability of key personnel; however, the design has now been completed and the board is in fabrication. The chips are expected to be characterized in Q1 FY2020. A hiring effort is underway to backfill key positions within the IRD group. WVR Development Platform: The ngVLA project has investigated strategies for phase calibration. The conventional solution involves switching between the science target and a phase calibrator over short cycles to calibrate atmospheric and instrumental phase. Such an approach becomes expensive and impractical for large antennas and reduces the time spent on the science target. This reduction in array efficiency directly impacts the achievable sensitivity limits for the system. ALMA has demonstrated the effectiveness of water vapor radiometry at 183 GHz. The ALMA Water Vapor Radiometer (WVR) is routinely used in observations and allows the Observatory to observe phase calibrators much less frequently, thereby improving observing efficiency. However, the lower elevation of the VLA site will not allow the operation of 183 GHz WVRs for the ngVLA, and the use of WVRs at suitable lower frequencies has not been adequately tested for the project to adopt this as the preferred phase calibration strategy. In FY2019, investigations were undertaken to improve understanding of 22 GHz WVR phase solutions and their limits by testing functional prototypes during VLA observations. Prototype WVRs were built and installed on VLA antennas, and a number of tests were conducted to verify their performance. A good correlation between WVR values and phase on all baselines was found. These tests will continue in FY2020. Time and Frequency Distribution: Work on the ngVLA time and frequency distribution was undertaken in 2019 to further refine the reference design and begin a deeper investigation of the requirements, interfaces, and associated risks. Several areas thus identified as worthy of additional study included the feasibility of long distance fiber synchronization (> 300 km), requirements and technique for synchronization at continental distance scales, and key requirements for power, stability, and integration time and frequency distribution equipment. During the year, a collaboration was continued with NRC- HAA on a high-risk high-reward incoherent clocking technique for LO distribution, and further collaboration was initiated with the NAOJ, as well as with industrial partners. These collaborations are envisaged as key continuing elements in optimizing the ngVLA time and frequency design, and/or lowering the cost and risk of the design. One additional area of investigation was the development of a future testbed for long-baseline stability testing. A former fiber link between the VLBA station in Pie Town, NM and the VLA is no longer available; however, future commercial fiber installation in this area of New Mexico has been proposed. Several other testing site possibilities are being considered in the event this development does not occur.

Project Administration and Management

The overall approach to Project Management and Administration for the ngVLA project aligns with standard NRAO practices and procedures, best practices as established by the Project Management


Institute (PMI) and International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE), and through the review of previous and current similar scientific facility programs and initiatives. In general, NRAO has initiated a formal project office for the ngVLA, reviewed and implemented project processes, determined project software solution needs, and incorporated both project management and systems engineering processes and procedures.

Project Office

The ngVLA Project Office consists of a Project Director, Project Manager, Project Scientist, Project Engineer, Systems Engineer, and Cost Analyst. In support of the Astro2020 Decadal Survey and NSF – MREFC candidacy submission, project management released and updated a proposed Project Execution Plan (PEP).

Risk Management

Risk Management for the ngVLA project follows best practices as established by PMI and through the use of NRAO internal risk management processes and procedures. PMI indicates that risk management is an essential part of any project, and should aim to identify and prioritize risks in advance of their occurrence. As risks are identified and analyzed for probability and impact, the ngVLA Project Office determines the course of action necessary to address the risk in case of occurrence or mitigate the risk through preventive action. The ngVLA project will use risk analysis and review to determine project priorities and potential budget adjustments for risk mitigation or retirement. In addition to managing risks to the scope of work, the ngVLA Project Office compiles, analyzes, and reviews potential technical and programmatic risks to future phases of the project, design and development activities, or the future system or facility. By performing a risk analysis of technical and programmatic risks, the ngVLA Project Office can inform the astronomical and technical community, NRAO Executive Leadership, and the NSF of potential barriers to success in the design, development, and construction of the future ngVLA facility. The risk analysis information comprises a section of the Astro2020 submission, to demonstrate project readiness and to facilitate process transparency.

Project Processes and Software Tools

Systems engineering best practices indicate that the use of software solutions to track project requirements increases efficiency and effectiveness of requirements gathering, traceability, and tracking. The ngVLA Systems Engineer benchmarked a variety of requirement software tools to determine the best solution for the project. The software tool (DOORS, or Dynamic Object Oriented Requirements System) was purchased and implemented in early FY2019.

Cost Estimation

The cost estimation plan, supporting tools, processes, and documentation have been established and are being executed in accordance with the Government Accountability Office (GAO) Cost Estimating and Assessment Guide. A risk-adjusted, fully costed, and documented estimate for the reference design in support of the Astro2020 Decadal Survey was completed and internally reviewed in FY2019. The cost model will continue to be refined and updated with lifecycle cost estimates and reports in NSF funding formats in support of a proposal to the NSF AST Directorate for MREFC candidacy.

Systems Engineering

Several Systems Engineering (SE) planning documents and related processes were established in FY2018, based on NRAO Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) which incorporate INCOSE processes and best practices. In FY2019, a consultant completed the SE process plan for the reference design. As part of the


reference design packet, formal SE documents were prepared for Preliminary Stakeholder Requirements, Preliminary System Requirements, and Preliminary System Architecture, along with a number of documents on a variety of subsystem requirements.

Requirements Management

Lifecycle management for the ngVLA project was initialized in FY2018 with a high-level description of project phases and concepts, where the phases describe decision points and review gates and concepts approach various aspects of system engagement from the stakeholder point of view. These concepts include design and construction, installation and deployment, operations, maintenance, and disposal. Care was taken in concept development to include non-functional requirements, such as Safety, Reliability, electromagnetic compatibility (EMC)/radiofrequency interference (RFI), and Regulatory Compliance. In FY2019, the concept descriptions were further developed and decomposed to stakeholder, system, and subsystem level requirements to facilitate traceability. A number of documents describing lifecycle concepts were released as part of the Reference Design Concept. These documents include the Assembly, Integration, and Verification (AIV) Concept, Commissioning and Science Validation (CSV) Concept, Operations Concept, ngVLA Lifecycle Stages and Concepts, Legacy Science Program, and Reference Observing Program.

ngVLA Milestone Summary

Of 42 milestone deadlines, 31 were completed on time, and one was completed early. Of the remaining 10 milestones, six were completed late, but within the fiscal year. Only four of the 42 ngVLA milestones were not completed in the fiscal year. Astro2020 – three deadlines Milestone 4.6.1 – Conduct documentation reviews for ngVLA Reference Design: The documentation review of the ngVLA Reference Design was originally scheduled for Q2 FY2019, but was not complete until Q4 when the entire document set was available (more than 50 in total). These documents were supporting documents to the ngVLA project submission to the Decadal Survey. Although now publicly available, the documents have yet to be requested by the Decadal Survey. Thus, there is no risk associated with their delayed production. Milestone 4.6.3 - Reference Design Packet ready for submission to Astro2020 process: Similar to the circumstances and reasons cited for milestone 4.6.1, the assembly of the Reference Design Packet was scheduled for completion in Q2 FY2019, but was not completed until Q4. There is no risk associated with the delayed assembly of the document packet. Community Engagement – eight deadlines – all complete Conceptual Design and Development – 22 deadlines. Milestone 4.6.20 – System Requirements and Architecture Review. The requirements and architecture review was originally scheduled for Q4 FY2019. A successful Stakeholders Requirements Review was completed in September, but it is only a subset of the full systems-level requirements and architecture review envisioned for the project. The high level requirements and architecture need to be reviewed for completeness and overall coherence so that the requirements for subsystems are in turn complete. By not conducting this review, the requirements definition for a subsystem could be incomplete, leading to an incorrect decision in a design down-select or to a subsystem that does not deliver its requisite


functionality. The risk can be mitigated by completing the review. The full review is being rescheduled for early to mid-FY2020. Milestone 4.6.22 – Antenna Optical Design: The completion of the antenna optical design was originally scheduled for completion in Q2 FY2019. This date was set assuming that revisions to the preliminary optical design would cause major changes to the antenna mechanical design, but this no longer appears to be the case. Additionally, the overall mechanical design is taking longer than originally anticipated, and the optical design is not required until Q3 FY2020 when the detailed mechanical design is being finalized. There is little to no risk associated with the schedule delay. Milestone 4.6.23 – Antenna Mechanical Design: The preliminary antenna mechanical design was scheduled for completion in Q3 FY2019, but was delayed due to the need to complete trade studies, document design choices, and refine the antenna procurement strategy. The milestone was achieved when a new request for proposal (RfP) for a costed concept antenna was submitted in Q4. Proposals are due at the end of October 2019. There is a risk that the overall project schedule could be protracted due to slow progress on the antenna design. To mitigate this, the long term procurement strategy for the antennas will be decided in consultation with subject matter experts. Milestone 4.6.29 – Wide Band Feed Designs. The completion of the wide band feed designs was originally scheduled for completion in Q4 FY2019. The designs from EMSS, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO), and Lyrebird Antenna Research (LAR) are complete, but their final reports have yet to be submitted. The reports are expected in Q1 FY2020. There is no risk associated with this minor schedule delay. Milestone 4.6.31 – Integrated Receiver Development Test. The IRD tests were originally scheduled for completion in Q4 FY2019. The IRD concept has been demonstrated with discrete components, but has yet to be demonstrated with the IRD ASIC chip. The fabrication of the ASIC demonstration board was delayed due to the limited availability of key personnel. The board is now being fabricated, and the performance of the chip is scheduled to be characterized in Q1 FY2020. There is no risk associated with this minor schedule delay. Milestone 4.6.32 – Water Vapor Radiometer Development: The deployment and testing of the WVRs was originally scheduled for Q2 FY2019, but was delayed due to performance issues with the first two units. A number of tests were performed with the units installed on VLA antennas. A good correlation between the WVR values and antenna baseline phase has been measured. The milestone was completed in Q4. There is no risk associated with the schedule delay. Project Administration and Management – nine deadlines. Milestone 4.6.39 – Prepare a cost estimate for the reference design; formatted for Decadal Survey Astro2020 submission: The cost estimate was originally scheduled for completion in Q1 FY2019, but was delayed due to the delay in receipt of component cost estimates from the IPTs. The delay had no impact because the Decadal Survey process was also delayed. The milestone was completed in Q3. Milestone 4.6.41 – Provide final versions of systems engineering process planning and documentation: The system process plans and documents were originally scheduled for completion in Q2 FY2019. They were delayed due the departure of the project system engineer (SE). As a result, progress on system and subsystem requirements development and capture was in danger of coming to a halt, bringing the entire design effort to a standstill. An SE consultant was hired to complete the SE process plan, thereby completing the milestone in Q3 and mitigating the risk.


5 CENTRAL DEVELOPMENT LABORATORY

The CDL’s mission is to support the evolution of NRAO facilities by developing the technologies and expertise critical for the next generation of radio astronomy instrumentation. CDL-developed technology is integral to all NRAO-operated telescopes and to other radio telescopes around the world, so another important mission of the laboratory is providing maintenance and upgrades to these instruments. CDL maintains a staff of approximately 50 personnel organized into teams of engineers and technicians working across crucial radio telescope technologies, including: digital design and signal processing; low noise amplifiers; millimeter and submillimeter detectors; optics and electromagnetic components; and new receiver architectures. The lab is the world leader in the application of many of these technologies to radio astronomy.

In service to this mission, CDL also supports the greater NRAO mission of developing the next generation of instrumentation engineers and scientists by:

• Hosting Jansky Post-doctoral instrumentation engineers and scientists, • Advising, mentoring, and employing undergraduate and graduate engineering and astronomy students, and • Participating in undergraduate and graduate co-operative engineering programs The demographic-driven changes which started at the CDL in FY2018 continued in FY2019. Two Research Engineers left CDL this year, while another signaled plans to retire in the near future. Hiring actions for all three positions are in process. CDL gained a second Jansky Fellow, hired a new digital engineer as part of our effort to grow the digital team, hired a technician on the millimeter wave/sub-millimeter wave team, and hired a new computer programmer to help address obsolescence in legacy software programs. CDL expects more changes in the coming year, including ngVLA-related hiring, establishing a university co-op program, and further retirements of senior research engineers. While the NRAO continued to operate two of the world’s most powerful and unique radio interferometers and, in collaboration with the U.S. radio astronomy community at-large, planned and developed an engineering design for a next-generation Very Large Array (ngVLA) in preparation for NSF’s upcoming Decadal Survey, CDL actively supported this process throughout FY2019 by participating as a member of several Integrated Product Teams. Additionally, CDL continued to engage in cross-Observatory repair, maintenance, support, and in several programmatic and work-for-other construction projects, all while carrying out design and development of technologies for future instrumentation—especially for ngVLA. In addition, CDL continued investigating new and emerging technologies that have the potential to advance the state-of-the-art in instrumentation. The cornerstone of this work was the superconducting Traveling Wave Kinetic Inductance Parametric Amplifier (TKIP), which will continue in 2020. CDL will also form partnerships with other research institutions working on 3-D printing/additive manufacturing techniques that could lead to devices applicable to radio astronomy instrumentation. In FY2019, four CDL-based proposals received approval/funding for ALMA Cycle 7 development studies:

• Ubiquitous Quantum-Limited Wideband 4-Kelvin Amplifiers for Radio Astronomy (Noroozian et al. / NRAO).

• Investigation into improvement of Front End (FE) Local Oscillator (LO) sideband noise for ALMA Band 6 (Saini et al. / NRAO).

• Band 6v2 SIS mixer development (Kerr et al. / NRAO). • ALMA Central LO Improvements and Upgrades (Jacques / NRAO).


During the fiscal year, progress was made in the area of long term planning, staffing, and succession:

• CDL Five-year Strategic and Long Range Plans were finalized. • One digital engineer position, one RF engineer position, lead TKIP engineer, and a lead correlator

engineer positions were advertised. • One engineer and one technician were hired for the ALMA FE group. • Selection/hiring process is ongoing for new research engineer to lead Millimeter and Submillimeter

Receivers (MSMRx) team (will replace RE with 34 years at CDL).

Repair, Maintenance, Production, Support

The CDL’s core production and support activities for FY2019 are described in the following paragraphs.

Low Noise Amplifiers (LNAs)

The CDL Amplifier Group continued to produce replacement amplifiers and/or repair amplifiers for NRAO’s VLA, VLBA, GBO, and ALMA telescopes. In the period covered by this report, several amplifiers were repaired, and more units are in the repair queue and this work will continue into the next year. Amplifier production work, under the contract to manufacture 160 amplifiers for ALMA Band 1 cartridges, continued during FY2019. A quantity of 36 Band 1 amplifiers were built and accepted (by ASIAA) this year. Another 12 Band 1 amplifiers have been submitted for acceptance review and await shipping. This multi-year project will continue into early FY2020. During this period, Diramics High Electron Mobility Transistors (HEMT) were successfully qualified in ALMA Band 1 amplifiers as an alternative for Cryo 3 devices. These newly available, commercial transistors from Diramics were also proven to have equivalent performance when used in Band 6 IF preamplifiers (4–12 GHz) compared to the original Cryo-3 transistors (which are no longer available as the wafer is depleted) successfully providing a solution to the Cryo-3 dielectric cavity resonance issues in the original design. These preamplifiers were integrated into the mixer-preamplifier assemblies, which were been subsequently qualified to be compliant with requirements.

Figure 5.1.1.1: Performance of four ALMA Band 6 IF preamplifiers based on the commercial Diramics HEMTs. Note the excellent gain repeatability, which is essential for good image rejection when used in 2SB configured mixer-preamplifiers.


Millimeter and Submillimeter Receivers (MSMRx)

During FY2019, CDL continued to support the offsite maintenance of the ALMA Band 6 receivers originally built by NRAO, with focus on maintaining a sufficient quantity of spare mixers and preamplifiers. During the same period, CDL also supported community projects, such as the Large Millimeter Telescope (LMT, University of Massachusetts), Arizona Radio Observatory (ARO) on Mt. Graham (formerly the Heinrich Hertz Telescope), the South Pole Telescope, the Taiwanese Greenland Telescope (based on the Vertex ALMA prototype antenna), and in the outfitting of other mm/submm telescopes for VLBI. With the exception of the ALMA support, these activities were outside the scope of the Observatory’s NSF award and carried out on a Work For Others (WFO) basis and undertaken only when it did not interfere with work required under the NSF award. Maintenance and production of Band 6 (211–275 GHz) mixer-preamps was delayed during the past several years by the inability to reproduce mixer-preamps with the stringent gain flatness of those used in the original receiver production run. During FY2019, the problem of oscillations with alternate strategy of using Low Noise Factory (LNF) preamplifiers (devised and qualified in the prior fiscal year) came to light. A method was developed for stabilizing the LNF IF amplifiers when operating with SIS mixers with high IF output impedance, and mixer-preamplifiers assembled and tested with this modification. Mixer-preamplifiers were also built using chip-and-wire amplifiers built using the commercial Diramics devices as described in Section 5.1.1 and qualified for use in Band 6 cartridge repair work. To help expedited acceptance testing of Band 6 cartridges, the second cartridge test setup was resurrected and prepared for use during this period.

Integrated Receiver Development

The Integrated Receiver Development (IRD) group continued to support and nurture NRAO-heritage telescopes such as the VLA and VLBA by providing construction and repair services on the multi-chip modules used in those facilities. The IRD group is uniquely qualified to carry out the specialized design and micro-fabrication tasks for such instruments, and takes seriously its responsibility to keep that institutional knowledge current via cross-training within the group, as well as with collaborators in the GBO.

ALMA Offsite Hardware Support

The CDL offsite hardware support team provided extensive support to ALMA operations during FY2019. Support included diagnosis consultancy, on-site visits (to the OSF) by support teams during the year, software and firmware support (bug fixes, implementation of new requested features), and repair and return of malfunctioning Line Replaceable Unit (LRU) hardware. In all, 28 Front-end LRUs (including receiver cartridges), 58 Warm Cartridge Assembly LRUs, and 31 Back-end Local Oscillator and Photonics LRUs were returned to the ALMA site after repairs. A few notable LRUs (not a comprehensive list) that were repaired during FY2019 includes Band 6 cold cartridge assemblies, FE bias modules, FE M&C modules, warm cartridge/local oscillator assemblies (a mix of various bands), Line Length Correctors, and LO Photonic Receivers. Lower level hardware repair was carried out on 161 sub-assemblies during this period. Hardware for the FE Test & Measurement Systems including the IF processor modules and tilt tables were also repaired/replaced during FY2019. A new batch of Cartridge Power Distribution System (CPDS) M&C boards were fabricated for use as spare units. Further details of the offsite support work and its scope are covered under Section 2.2.4. This group is also involved in Work-For-Others construction projects. During FY2019, the first ALMA Band 1 Local Oscillator articles were delivered.


Work For Others Projects

In addition to the continuation of the multi-year Band 1 Cryogenic Amplifier and Local Oscillator assembly construction work reported earlier, various groups/teams at the CDL completed/continue to work on the following WFO projects to deliver the requested hardware and/or services to the larger radio astronomy community:

• ALMA Band 1 Cryogenic Amplifiers for NAOJ/ASIAA (48x). • ALMA Band 1 FE Local Oscillator assemblies for ASIAA (20x). • ALMA style Band 6 horn, Ortho Mode Transducer (OMT), and mixer-preamplifier sets (2x) for

East Asia Observatory. • Band 9 Active Multiplier Chain (ALMA design) repair for the Netherlands Research School for

Astronomy (NOVA). • W-Band cryogenic Isolator evaluation for Micro Harmonics Corporation. • Reflectionless filter technical support (and design work) for Mini-Circuits Inc. A collaboration was

also launched with this vendor for a PFI proposal to develop transmission-line reflectionless filters at mm-wave frequencies.

Although not formally in the WFO category, CDL also constructed and delivered five compact water vapor radiometers for the ngVLA.

Research and Development

As described in the POP for FY2019, the CDL’s Research and Development (R&D) efforts were aimed at supporting the following NRAO Strategic Goals:

• Developing technologies necessary for the long-range objectives of the Observatory. • Advancing the state-of-the-art in mission-related technology.

The R&D resources remained constrained during FY2019 due to lack of new approved ALMA development projects; nevertheless, the above strategic goals formed the basis for most R&D activity that was pursued during the year as described in the following paragraphs.

Low Noise Amplifiers (LNAs)

During the year, the NRAO/CDL collaboration with Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Deep Space Network (JPL/DSN) continued under a memorandum of understanding with NRAO, and information on the models and measured results of X- and Ka-band amplifiers was exchanged. In addition to qualifying commercial Diramics transistors for use in ALMA Band 6 preamplifiers, design modifications to the ALMA Band 6 mixer-IF preamplifiers coupling circuit were studied and implemented to achieve flatter noise temperature versus IF than was previously achieved for this design.


Figure 5.2.1.1: Comparison of the noise temperature of mixer-preamplifiers with the original coupling circuit (left) and those with the reoptimized coupling circuit (right). Both preamplifiers used commercial Diramics transistor devices.

Millimeter and Submillimeter Detectors (MSMRx)

In FY2019, CDL and UVML continued to develop the technology for the next generation of ALMA receivers, including a new generation of SIS mixers and effort towards development of ALMA-compatible TKIP amplifiers. During FY2019, a Conceptual Design Review (CoDR) for the ALMA Band 6 receiver upgrade was held, following which, an ALMA Cycle 7 study proposal was submitted for the development of wideband SIS mixers for an expanded ALMA Band 6 (211-280 GHz) with Nb/AlN/Nb and Nb/AlOx/Nb junctions (in collaboration with UVA). Also, to incorporate the recommendations from the CoDR, a request for modifying the existing balanced amplifier study was submitted in order to incorporate the following study elements:

• Complete the development of the 4–12 GHz balanced IF amplifier based on superconducting hybrids.

• Investigate extending the balanced amplifiers design for 4–16 GHz operation. • Evaluate IF amplifiers using a ferrite isolator and compare cost effectiveness with that of balanced

amplifiers. Both of these proposals were successful, and follow on work was initiated and is planned to be continued through FY2020. TKIP amplifiers developed in recent years at Cal Tech with quantum computing applications hold great potential for use in radio astronomy instrumentation. The TKIP amplifier is essentially a long superconducting transmission line whose nonlinear kinetic inductance generates gain over a wide frequency band when an appropriate pump signal is present. In addition to their wide bandwidth, TKIP amplifiers have quantum-limited noise characteristics. They appear to be equally well suited for use as RF front-end amplifiers or as IF amplifiers following SIS mixers. As a replacement for the IF amplifiers in the current ALMA SIS receiver (Bands 3 to 10), TKIP amplifiers would result in a reduction of receiver noise temperature of ~10 to 15 K—the current receiver noise temperatures are 30 to 50 K in ALMA Bands 3 to 6—thus TKIP technology potentially offers a major improvement in sensitivity. As this is a relatively new field of development at CDL, and additional new equipment and instrumentation was procured and installed to enable this work. A microwave (IF) testbed was developed and calibrated down to 10 mK, and was used to test a first item TKIP device fabricated at JPL. Initial evaluation of JPL TKIP devices at elevated temperatures of up to 5 K occurred during FY2019.


Figure 5.2.2.1: (Left) Waveguide testbed for noise and gain measurement was designed for performing W-band (65-115 GHz) testing at CDL. (Right) Chip and packaging for a 65-150 GHz TKIP amplifier with a zoom-in of the waveguide-to-chip transition area.

Figure 5.2.2.2: Results of first microwave (IF) TKIP amplifier testing, showing effects of increasing temperature up to 5 Kelvin on gain and ripple. The Cycle 5 TKIP study was completed, and a new Cycle 7 study proposal was submitted. The proposal was successful and this will ensure the continuation of this work in FY2020. The NRAO PI for this project, Omid Noroozian, departed from NRAO during FY2019. Currently, the plans are to continue the partnership with UVA and hire a new CDL TKIP lead.

Optics and Electromagnetic Components

In FY2019, analysis was performed on the reference design of the ngVLA antenna to compute/optimize the antenna efficiency and antenna temperature, in order to arrive at an optimum design for the antenna and feed horn optics. CDL engaged in prototyping of feed horns with wide flare-angles with application to ngVLA optics—a C- and W-band axially corrugated horn were fabricated and measured.


Figure 5.2.3.1: An axially corrugated feed horn (75–116 GHz) for the ngVLA was machined at the CDL machine shop. Far-field patterns were measured in the Green Bank Anechoic Chamber range, results showed excellent agreement with simulation. Simulations of antenna patterns of the GBT were carried out for a quad-ridged horn between 700–4000 MHz. A short-backfire antenna feed was designed for the GBT for mapping the absolute sky brightness at 310 MHz. The spillover of this feed is predicted to be less than half from the existing feed at this band.


Figure 5.2.3.2: A short-backfire antenna feed was designed for the GBT for mapping the absolute sky brightness at 310 MHz. The spillover of this feed is predicted to be less than half from the existing feed at this band. In an effort to relax machine tolerances for various electromagnetic designs/structures, a study was started to evaluate electromagnetic band-gap (EBG) structures and their application to this problem.

Figure 5.2.3.3: Band gap structures along a split waveguide, machined at CDL for evaluation of their performance.

The EBG idea was applied to a split-block ALMA Band 2 (67–92 GHz) machined turnstile, and this should relax tolerances for unintended gaps. During FY2019, work was also started on developing test methodologies to evaluate 3D-printed dielectric structures at cryogenic temperatures. An aperture coupled resonator test setup is being evaluated for these measurements, and this effort will continue into FY2020, with Lincoln Laboratory providing 3D-printed low-loss dielectrics to the CDL for the evaluation of the cryogenic temperature dependence of the dielectric constant and loss tangent.


Figure 5.2.3.4: The electromagnetic band-gap idea applied to relax the machine tolerances of an ALMA Band 2 turnstile type OMT. Plots on the left indicate simulated relative performances of a partial ring with EBG structure versus no EBG structure.

Digital Signal Processing (DSP) and Correlators

Most of the ngVLA CSP activities planned for FY2019 were devoted to the consolidation of the baseline design. The focus was on assessing candidate technologies (e.g. field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) and embedded general-purpose graphic processing units (GPGPUs) for the pulsar engine component of the CSP. Software simulations of the ngVLA beamformer and channelizer demonstrator were carried out. In FY2019, the digital team started work on a hardware demonstrator of the Scalable Reconfigurable Modular (SCREAM) architecture for the ngVLA Central Signal Processor. This architecture:

• Is designed for efficiency according to ngVLA requirements. • Is scalable to any telescope size and needs. • Will be used as basis for future ALMA correlator upgrade. • Is most efficient for interferometry.

The hardware prototyping work is ongoing and is expected to continue into FY2020. In the recent years, NRAO/CDL had commenced the ALMA correlator upgrade project after completing the preliminary design review and receiving an ALMA board approval. During FY2019, in the process of implementing the new custom ASIC chip, significant issues in the execution of the CUP initiative came to light. In response, NRAO conducted an engineering rebaselining review of the project, seeking to understand the problems, and find a path forward. It was clear that several significant assumptions made at the Preliminary Design Review (PDR) had turned out to be inaccurate, including: NRAO’s ability to recruit new staff in a timely way to lead the project and develop hardware and the level of technical documentation of the existing correlator that would allow a new team to assume the project in a modern digital engineering environment. As a consequence, knowledge transfer from the original correlator team to the team in place at CDL proved to be much more difficult than anticipated and significant disagreements arose regarding technology choices. In short—many of the attractive aspects of a “modest, low-cost upgrade of the correlator” upon which the project was founded were proven incorrect.


All available avenues were explored to continue or recover the CUP, but preliminary analysis indicated that the current project was likely to incur significant (50%+) increases in cost and schedule alongside de-scoping of key scientific features (e.g. no double bandwidth operation). The level of risk in continuing the current project was considered too high by key parties involved. As a result, NRAO management decided to terminate the current CUP effort. In the coming months, NRAO/CDL plans to reinitiate an effort to build a joint correlator design for a system that will serve both ALMA and ngVLA purposes. Furthermore, in collaboration with the JAO, CDL will continue to explore the opportunity to produce an identical “5th quadrant” of the existing correlator using existing spares and inventory, which could be used for software testing.

LO Reference and Timing

This ongoing CDL study is helping to assess the requirements of the ngVLA frequency and timing distribution to identify possible engineering solutions, making tradeoff studies, identifying areas of risk mitigation, and conducting studies and tests for preliminary assessment of candidate solutions. Key issues being addressed include the following: Technique and performance of frequency distribution and synchronization; timing requirements and overall array time distribution design; local oscillator implementation on the telescope; and assessment of impact of fiber infrastructure on design. The study includes an investigation of new technologies and components that could improve array performance or reliability, or reduce array cost. This work will continue into FY2020.

Integrated Receiver Development (IRD)

The Integrated Receiver Development (IRD) program aims to develop compact, mass-producible, and field-replaceable front-end hardware for the next generation of radio telescope facilities. Specific goals include early digitization, as near to the focal point of the telescope as possible, and the relatively seamless integration of analog, digital, and photonic technologies into lightweight, low-overhead front-end modules. The architecture is optimized to exploit the complementarity of integrated construction techniques and digital signal processing (DSP), achieving a level of precision and stability that is unmatched by the current state-of-the-art radio astronomy receivers. The recent past years saw the construction of a dual-polarization, W-Band front-end with faster sample rates, broader bandwidth, and greater flexibility than earlier prototypes. The construction of a mm-wave, polarized hot-/cold-load test set for calibration and testing of the Digital Orthomode Transducer (DOMT) was also completed. In FY2019, these two developments were brought together to demonstrate a complete end-to-end receiver system—testing of a dual-polarization, W-Band front-end with faster sample rates, broader bandwidth, and greater flexibility than previous prototypes demonstrated a complete end-to-end receiver system utilizing a wide variety of novel IRD concepts, with 32 Gbps of data being transmitted over 10 km of fiber while performing calibrated sideband-separation in real-time. Another notable achievement during FY2019 was that various tests of the unformatted serial link demonstrated its operation over 40 km distance, from two front-end modules simultaneously over separate 10 km spools, or up to 28 Gbps/lane.

IRD ngVLA Work

During FY2019, the ngVLA custom serial analog-to-digital (10 Gbps prototype) ASIC chips were received from the vendor, and they currently await evaluation. The evaluation boards for doing so were designed and are currently in the layout/PCB fabrication stage. The replacement drop-in circuit board design for the W-band front-end utilizing this new chip will enable a fair comparison to be made to highlight the tremendous size, weight, and power (SWaP) advantages of this novel technology (AUI holds patents for this technology, both domestically and abroad). This work will continue into FY2020.


The ngVLA Band 3 module design was started during FY2019, and its fabrication and testing will continue in FY2020.

Figure 5.2.3.5: A rendering of the model of the ngVLA Band 3 IRD style module that is being designed by the IRD team at the CDL.

Hydrogen Epoch of Reionization Array (HERA)

The Hydrogen Epoch of Reionization Array (HERA) is a scientific road map investigation aimed at exploring the large-scale structure in the baryonic universe via the 21 cm line of hydrogen. Funding was acquired as a sub-award from the Moore Foundation (via the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MIT) to help cover the cost of a UVA graduate student and postdoc participation in instrument R&D activities at the CDL. The goals of the three-year work package (June 2017-May 2020) include: 1) assist MIT researchers to develop designs for a 60–120 MHz narrow band feed and a 60–200 MHz wideband feed for the existing HERA dishes to extend the frequency range into that required for Epoch of X-ray studies and 2) make portability, extended frequency coverage, and complex sampling improvements to the antenna beam mapping system that currently makes use of downlink signals from the Orbcomm satellite constellation. The focus in FY2019 was on the thorough analysis of the Vivaldi wide-bandwidth feed, which was previously chosen for HERA in Phase 1. The feed was deployed at the GBO for measurements of the frequency dependent reflection coefficient and radiation beam pattern on the 14 m diameter HERA dish located there. This work is being conducted by a resident researcher in a postdoctoral position. OrbComm-based pattern measurements will be extended in frequency using drone-mounted signal sources that are flown in a pattern above the antenna under test. The experimental drone system is under development at the CDL—a graduate student is involved in this work. This effort continues into FY2020.

Network for Exploration and Space Science (NESS)

The NASA funded Network for Exploration and Space Science (NESS) will implement cross-disciplinary partnerships to advance scientific discovery and human exploration at target destinations in the solar system. NESS includes research in “astrophysics and heliophysics that is uniquely enabled by human and robotic exploration of Target Bodies.” The foundations for the next generation Cosmic Twilight Polarimeter (CTP) will be supported by this grant to assist the concept development for a similar instrument on the Moon. Funding was obtained as a sub-award from the NASA Solar System Exploration


Research Virtual Institute (SSERVI) Program for graduate student support at UVA over a duration of five years (July 2017-June 2022). In FY2019, the focus was on the enhanced 2nd generation CTP based on the successful proof-of-concept demonstrated earlier in FY2018. Improvements in gain tracking stability with the goal of maintaining under 10 ppm variation over long integration periods were investigated. Effort was started to improve the throughput of the backend using an FPGA-based data acquisition and processing platform. In addition, an undergraduate intern deployed a higher frequency version of the CTP at the GBO during the summer of 2019. The results are being used to further characterize and extend the dynamic polarimetry method while providing test data for the development of machine learning algorithms by our colleagues. Work will continue in FY2020 with the eventual goal of deploying the 2nd generation CTP at the GBO and using it for stand-alone detailed evaluation and sky measurements and as an engineering development platform for space-based systems and to aid the development of multi-signal pattern recognition algorithms.

Dark Ages Polarimeter Pathfinder (DAPPER) SmallSat Mission Concept

The concept study report for DAPPER was completed and the spacecraft is currently being proposed as a Discovery-class mission within NASA. Planning for prototype development was carried out in FY2019 and laboratory infrastructure requirements for the fabrication and evaluation of flight hardware were examined. A letter of intent, which included the estimated costing for the development the radio frequency portion of the science instrument, was submitted.

CDL Milestone Summary

Of 25 milestone deadlines, 14 were completed on time and one was completed early. Three were late and seven were cancelled. Repair and Support – 14 deadlines Milestone 5.3.1 – Build and test Band 1 amplifiers: Two delivery milestones (in Q1 and Q2) were formally late, primarily due to reengineering induced delays precipitated by specification changes introduced after many articles were manufactured. Subsequently, the overall schedule was readjusted (a change request was filed and approved, both internally at NRAO and by NAOJ/ASIAA), to account for this extra work/delay. Milestone 5.3.4 – CUP ASIC devices (prototype): This milestone Q4 was cancelled as a consequence of the cancellation of the CUP project. Detailed explanation can be found in Section 5.2.4. Milestone 5.3.5 – CUP Circuit card assemblies: This Q3 milestone was delayed and subsequently cancelled in Q4 as a consequence of the cancellation of the CUP project. Detailed explanation can be found in Section 5.2.4. Research and Development – 11 deadlines Milestone 5.3.6 – Design Band 6v2 Nb/AlN/Nb SIS mixer: This Q4 milestone was introduced in POP2019 with an anticipation that a formal project would be initiated earlier in the fiscal year. However, owing to changes in the planning, and an ensuing Band6v2 CoDR, this project proposal was eventually submitted in response to the ALMA Cycle 7 call for design studies, and is scheduled to formally start in Q1 of FY2020. Since there is already a new equivalent milestone to track the revised project in FY2020, this milestone became redundant and was cancelled in Q4.


Milestone 5.3.7 – Evaluate upgraded balanced IF amplifiers: The initial delay for this Q3 milestone was due to delay in the fabrication of the revised superconducting IF hybrids by UVML. Subsequently, this project was re-scoped to include the recommendations from the Band 6v2 CoDR panel. Since there is already a new equivalent milestone to track the revised project in FY2020, this milestone became redundant and was cancelled in Q4. Milestone 5.3.9 – Ka-Band feed horns for VLBA: Cancelled in Q2, as project funding did not materialize. Milestone 5.3.10 – Design dichroic and tertiary reflectors for VLBA: Two component deadlines were cancelled in Q2 and Q3, as project funding did not materialize. Milestone 5.3.12 – Test Serial Analog to Digital Converter (SADC) prototype ASIC: While we have the prototype ASIC on hand, testing it was delayed due to lack of critical staff who had been assigned to other time-critical tasks (the now canceled ALMA Correlator Upgrade ASIC effort). Re-establishing a digital team has been identified as a priority area, and the hiring process is ongoing. The long term prognosis for this milestone in particular, and the digital team in general is considered good.


6 SCIENCE SUPPORT AND RESEARCH

The Science Support and Research (SSR) department coordinates and manages the efforts to support scientific users of NRAO facilities, seeks to broaden the Observatory’s impact through education and visitor programs for scientists, and supports and oversees the research and scientific productivity of the scientific staff. SSR is responsible for three major activities serving the community of science users of the NRAO:

• Telescope Time Allocation (TTA) manages the process and tools by which users prepare and submit proposals for use of the VLA, the VLBA, and the GBT. TTA also manages the proposal evaluation and time allocation process.

• Science Ready Data Products (SRDP) is a new initiative that will build on the implementation of an automated calibration and imaging pipeline for ALMA, extend the approach to the VLA Sky Survey (VLASS) and ultimately to the bulk of standard VLA observing modes, and thereby facilitate the use of NRAO telescopes by a growing scientific community that extends beyond the radio astronomy domain experts.

• Scientific User Support (SUS) is responsible for providing the scientific community with the support necessary to execute successful scientific programs with the VLA and the VLBA.

In addition, SSR provides three Observatory-wide reference services:

• The NRAO Library provides access to journals and reference materials, tracks a range of metrics related to the publication and citation of scientific results based on NRAO telescopes and by NRAO staff, manages financial support to meet page charges associated with such publications, and publishes and maintains access to NRAO memos, reports, and conference papers.

• The Historical Archives group curates materials relevant to NRAO activities and other radio astronomy research and development when appropriate.

• Statistics and Metrics aggregates data related to the scientific delivery and use of the Observatory for internal use and to report various metrics to the NSF, to AUI, and to external review committees.

SSR also supports and oversees the research activities of the NRAO scientific staff, related performance reviews, professional development activities, the Jansky Fellowship postdoctoral program, undergraduate and graduate student programs, and various other scientific activities such as the Jansky Lectureship, scientific meetings, colloquia, and seminars.

Telescope Time Allocation

The Telescope Time Allocation (TTA) group is responsible for overseeing the process and providing the tools by which proposals for the use of the VLA and the VLBA are prepared, submitted, and peer reviewed; and by which telescope time is allocated. The TTA group also provides these services for the GBT under a Service Level Agreement with the GBO. Proposals for all are handled through a single, unified process. ALMA proposals are managed separately by the JAO consistent with international agreements. The NRAO proposal process is semester-based with nominal proposal deadlines of February 1 and August 1, or the nearest Monday to these dates if the first of the month is on a weekend. The TTA group prepares each Call for Proposals and all the associated documentation regarding schedules and the observing


capabilities to be offered and supports astronomers with any issues they may encounter during the submission process. All proposals are evaluated on the basis of scientific merit by eight Science Review Panels (SRPs), each covering a different category of scientific inquiry. SRP members are recruited from the scientific community for a typical term of four semesters, or two years. Proposals are also reviewed for technical feasibility by members of the NRAO scientific staff. Scientific and technical reviews are forwarded to the Time Allocation Committee (TAC) comprised of the chairs of the SRPs. The TAC considers the entire set of proposals and recommends time allocations for the VLA and the VLBA to the NRAO Director, and for the GBT to the GBO Director. After consideration of TAC recommendations by the Directors, disposition letters are sent to proposers and the approved science programs are posted online. The TTA group is also responsible for ensuring that the necessary documentation in support of all TTA activities and tools is available and up to date and for gathering the requirements for the software tool suite used in support of this process, conveying those requirements to DMS staff for implementation, and testing and validating new releases of these tools. The tools include the Proposal Submission Tool (PST), used for proposal preparation and submission, and for management of the science and technical review process; and the Proposal Handling Tool (PHT) and the Green Bank Session Editor (GBSE), used in support of the TAC meeting, as well as other tools including sensitivity calculators, GOST, and the Proposal Finder Tool (PFT). In FY2019, the TTA group developed a concept for a new suite of software tools to support the proposal submission and handling process. The current TTA software is over a decade old, was designed before the panel-based review process was implemented and is difficult to maintain. A new suite of software tools is necessary to maintain a robust telescope time review process. Technical requirements and a conceptual architecture are currently being developed in conjunction with DMS as part of the SRDP program (Section 6.2). In late FY2018, the NRAO invited Expressions of Interest (EoI) in a possible new class of “eXtra Large” proposals (X-proposals) envisaged as being 1000 hours or more and spanning multiple semesters. NRAO analyzed the Expressions of Interest (EoI) from the community and consulted with the User Committee. Based on the community response to this EoI, NRAO and GBO issued a special call for X-proposals on July 2, 2019.

Telescope Time Allocation Milestones

Call for Proposals (CfP) Q2, Q4: The CfP for semester 2019B was issued by NRAO on January 4, 2019, with a proposal submission deadline of February 1. The associated CfP for the GBT was issued by the GBO in a closely coordinated process. The two CfPs for semester 2020A were issued as planned on July 2, 2019, with a proposal submission deadline of August 1. Documentation was updated appropriately. Proposals for semester 2019B were reviewed in parallel for scientific merit (by the SRPs) and for technical feasibility (by scientific staff) in Q2. Similarly, proposals for semester 2020A were reviewed in Q4. New SRP members were recruited as required. Time Allocation Q1, Q3: The TAC met in Socorro on October 23–24, 2018 to recommend time allocations for semester 2019A, and in Green Bank on Apr 24–25, 2019 to recommend time allocations for semester 2019B. Software Requirements and Testing Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4: Development of software requirements for TTA tools begins shortly after each TAC meeting. PST requirements are gathered from TTA staff with input from users, the SRPs, and the TAC. The TAC also provides NRAO with useful feedback on the PHT used to support the TAC functions. The identification of requirements, testing of updates, and release of new versions was completed as required through each quarter of FY2018.


eXtra-Large Proposals Q1: NRAO analyzed the Expressions of Interest (EoI) from the community for X-proposals. Based on the community response to this EoI, NRAO and GBO issued a special call for X-proposals on July 2, 2019. The deadline for X-proposal submission was August 1, the same as for regular and large proposals in semester 2020A. These proposals were given preliminary technical (by scientific staff) and scientific reviews (by the SRPs) in Q4 as part of the 2020A semester process. The full scientific, technical, and operations review, and the final decision for the disposition of these proposals, will take place in FY2020.

Science Ready Data Products

The SRDP program is designed to increase the scientific impact of NRAO’s interferometers by delivering science quality products to the user community. The primary objective for FY19 was execution of a period of Pilot operations to deliver capabilities to the community and gain experience in the challenges of daily operations. SRDP continued to work closely with DMS on the design, implementation, and validation of capabilities for wave 1. Significant technical debt within the NRAO Archive was addressed during this period, preparing for accelerated capability development in subsequent waves. The Operations Plan was developed in the first half of the year leading to a successful review in Q2. Pilot operations began in mid-June, providing science quality calibration for the VLA and download of calibrated data directly from the Archive. User driven imaging of ALMA data was delayed to a mid-pilot release currently scheduled for early Q1 FY2020. Due to this delay, and to provide uninterrupted service to the community NRAO decided to extend the Pilot into FY20 when it will transition into Wave 1 operations. The SRDP program grew in FY2019 with the addition of two other Observatory initiatives. A project to replace the Telescope Time Allocation tool suite has been placed under SRDP management. Based on the concept defined by the TTA team a detailed system description and architectural concept are currently under development. Additionally, in Q4 FY2019, the operations of VLA Sky Survey was reorganized as a joint deliverable of SRDP and NM Operations with SRDP responsible for overall project delivery.

SRDP Milestones

SRDP Operations Planning Complete Q2: Operations plan review was held March 28, 2019. Review outcome was a recommendation to proceed with Pilot and update plan prior to full operations (FY2020). Begin Pilot SRDP Operations Q3: SRDP Pilot operations began on schedule June 18, 2019. Pilot SRDP Operations Complete Q4: Rescheduled. Pilot operations will continue into Q1 FY2020 to allow development of experience with user driven imaging and to provide un-interrupted service to the community.

Scientific User Support and Student Programs

The Scientific User Support (SUS) group provides the scientific community with the support necessary to execute successful scientific programs with the VLA and the VLBA. While the SUS group supports current VLA users, the SRDP initiative has a goal to increase that scientific user base beyond traditional radio astronomers. In the longer term, SUS will use the products of the SRDP project to provide the scientific support necessary for users to access, reduce, calibrate, and analyze their data as well as to help the community generate new and innovative ideas for science by fostering cross-disciplinary and cross-field ideas and techniques.


In FY2019, the SUS group played a key role in the ongoing delivery of the VLA Sky Survey which will run until 2024, using ~10% of the VLA Observing time. The first epoch of the survey (over 35,000 deg^2) was completed and quick look images provided to the community. Toward the end of FY19, VLASS transitioned to operations as part of the SRDP program bringing these closely aligned initiatives together. The SUS group provides education and outreach services to astronomers who use NRAO facilities, including face-to-face visitor support/data reduction visits, Helpdesk support, Knowledgebase articles, Science Forums, NRAO Community Day events, science meetings and conferences, science web content and the NRAO User Portal interface, user documentation, workshops and tutorials, online training, and educational material. SUS coordinates with the NAASC (which handles such activities for North American ALMA users) to ensure that NRAO users as a whole benefit from these services. SUS organized several Community Day events in North America to inform the community as to the use of our facilities from proposing to observing to data reduction and analysis. Two Community Days were carried out in FY2019. The first was at Texas Tech University (TTU) in Lubbock, TX on May 30–31, 2019 with 20 participants. The second was at the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC) on June 13–14, 2019 with 33 participants. Each Community Day event was supported by between three and five NRAO staff. SUS continued to coordinate and oversee the scientific testing and validation of each CASA release, and the updating of CASAGuides as required based on the scientific functionalities offered in each CASA release. SUS also supports certain user data and scientific software services, including assistance with manual data reduction, pipeline testing, and requirements definition for a number of projects; e.g., the Antenna Archive Tool/ALMA Science Archive (AAT/ASA) user interface, the integrated science portal, and the integrated helpdesk. SUS staff are responsible for or contribute to a range of other data services for the VLA—notably, scheduling block validation, pipeline data processing, pipeline heuristics development, and the associated quality assurance.

Scientific User Support Milestones

Education, training and outreach Q3: All milestones related to these activities were completed on time in FY2019. Science meetings and conferences Q1, Q3: All milestones related to these activities were completed on time in FY2019. CASA release validation and guides Q2, Q3, Q4: Delays in the delivery of CASA V5.5 resulted in schedule slips for code validation and updating the CASAguides in Q2. A similar delay in CASA V6.0 caused a delay in validation during Q3. In Q3, NRAO decided to not update the CASAguides for this experimental version of the V6.0 CASA code, which at the time of writing this report it has not yet been released. Likewise, the milestone for updating the CASA V5.6 CASAguides was canceled in Q4. Instead it was decided to update the VLA Pipeline CASAguide when V5.6 is released with the VLA pipeline component. The latter is expected in Q1 FY2020.


Reference Services

The NRAO Library has been proactive in migrating to online, distributed access to research and reference materials for NRAO staff and the wider community. This has resulted in a significant increase in usage. This ensures the availability and retention of these documents that are used by NRAO and the wider scientific community. The NRAO Library is responsible for the publication, posting, and maintenance of the 68 different NRAO Memo and Report series, refereed and non-refereed. This ensures the availability and retention of these documents that are used by NRAO and the wider scientific community. The Library staff support NRAO internal and external reporting functions by collecting a variety of data and metrics in coordination with Statistics and Metrics services (see below). This effort includes ongoing development of ALMA and VLA user and publications metrics in addition to the standard metrics requested monthly, quarterly, or annually. It was planned in FY2019 to establish a small internal committee charged with identifying the ongoing need for the functionality provided by the NRAOPapers software, which interfaces with the Astrophysical Data System (ADS) to identify NRAO-related publications and collect bibliometric data. The existing software had proven increasingly problematic to maintain and use, and the time expended to extract metrics continues to increase due to the limited functionality and inflexibility of the system. However, after some software improvements were made by NRAO computing staff, it was found that the functionality increased substantially. Based on these results it was decided to delay the formation of the internal committee.

The NRAO/AUI Historical Archives seeks out, collects, organizes, preserves, and provides access to NRAO’s institutional records as well as personal papers of staff, former staff, and others with connections to NRAO, preserves media materials relating to NRAO history, conducts oral history interviews. As resources permit, it makes these materials publicly available through both an extensively documented web site and through one-on-one contact with both internal staff and external individuals and organizations. As the national facility for radio astronomy, the NRAO/AUI Historical Archives also includes materials on the history and development of radio astronomy in the United States, and its growing reputation has made the NRAO Archives the de facto repository for the history of U.S. radio astronomy. During the past year the Historical Archives continued to respond to internal and external requests for information; supporting both visiting researchers and NRAO staff, processing and documenting newly received acquisitions; supported the IAU Working Group on Historical Radio Astronomy’s Web site; continued to transcribe the Woody Sullivan interviews, and prepared transcriptions for the Web. Work began on evaluation of new software to provide a publicly searchable online catalog of Archives resources, including our large collection of historical images. The book-length manuscript on the history of NRAO, Open Skies: NRAO and Its Impact on U.S. Radio Astronomy, was delivered to the publisher at the end of FY2019.

The NRAO observing metrics database, available to internal staff via a simple web interface, contains data used for contractual reporting to the NSF with consistent information pertaining to the operation of NRAO telescopes: ALMA and the VLA, as well as the VLBA and GBT. The database is also used to provide


monthly reports to NRAO management. Statistics and Metrics also support the production of NRAO’s Quarterly and Annual reports. The monthly information is gathered by differing means, from fully automatic to semi-manual. The automation of the routine processes involved in the production of observing metrics continued in FY2019. Statistics and Metrics continued to support the relatively new Performance Evaluation and Management Reports for NRAO, comprising the ongoing collection and monitoring of a broad suite of metrics across the entire range of Observatory activities to provide an informative snapshot of NRAO performance that is of value to NRAO senior management, the NSF, and other stakeholders.

Reference Services Milestones

NRAOPapers Replacement Q1, Q4: By making improvements in the NRAOPapers code it was found that the functionality increased substantially. Based on these results it was decided to halt the planned study to gather requirements and to develop a NRAOPapers replacement plan. NRAO History Draft Complete Q1: The completed manuscript was delivered to the publisher at the end of Q4.

Scientific Staff and Jansky Fellows

A productive and scientifically active staff is a prerequisite for the successful operation of a cutting-edge national observatory. The scientific staff is key to telescope testing, operations, user support, and long- range development and planning, as well as promoting productive scientific exploitation of the Observatory’s capabilities. The NRAO has a world-class staff of ~80 astronomers, computer scientists, and research engineers, recognized internationally for their excellence in telescope design and support, as well as their technical and scientific knowledge and leadership. The scientific staff is fully integrated into Observatory operations. All staff members have clear functional duties relating to the Observatory’s mission and facilities, as outlined in the other sections of this report. Staff members also lead efforts in education of the professional astronomy community, as well as public outreach—fostering a scientifically literate society. A vibrant scientific staff, engaged with the community, is a required element in the full realization of the scientific potential of the NRAO facilities by the astronomical community. SSR has primary responsibility for the research environment at the NRAO, and for oversight of the scientific productivity of staff with a research component to their role. SSR oversees the research aspects of all astronomers, computer scientists, and research engineers and is involved in recruitment and other Human Resources issues involving scientific staff. Specific SSR responsibilities include implementation and evolution of scientific staff policy, oversight of funding to support research related travel and computing needs for scientific staff, annual scientific performance appraisals, scientific staff hiring and academic promotions. SSR also provides funds to support a scientific visitors program, scientific meetings, the colloquium series at each site, and the Jansky Lectureship which recognizes outstanding contributions to the advancement of radio astronomy. Dr Roger Blandford (Kavli/Stanford) gave the 2019 Jansky Lecture at NRAO in Charlottesville (Oct. 30, 2018), Green Bank (Nov 1, 2018) and Socorro (Nov 9, 2018). SSR supported the 34th New Mexico Symposium coincident with the Jansky Lecture on Nov 9, 2018. In FY2019 the NRAO hosted, organized, or supported a number of science meetings and workshops.


Meeting Location Date The Many Faces of AGN Obscuration Puerto Varas, Chile Dec. 10-14, 2018 American Astronomical Society (AAS) Seattle, WA Jan. 6-10, 2019 URSI Radio Science Meeting Boulder, CO Jan. 9-12, 2019 AAAS–Combining Gravity and Radio Waves Washington, D.C. Feb. 14-17, 2019 2019 NRAO Postdoc Symposium Charlottesville, VA Apr. 11-12, 2019 New Horizons in Planetary Systems Victoria, BC, Canada May 13-17, 2019 Memorial Symposium Riccardo Giacconi Washington, D.C. May 29-30, 2019 American Astronomical Society (AAS) St Louis, MO Jun. 9-13, 2019 CASCA 2019 Montreal, QC, Canada Jun 17-20, 2019 Radio/mm Frontiers Next Decade Charlottesville, VA Jun 25-27, 2019

SSR oversees the Jansky Fellows postdoctoral program—NRAO’s long-standing prize research fellowships. This highly competitive program attracts some of the best young scientists to postdoctoral appointments at an NRAO site, or at external institutions in the U.S. (non-resident Fellows). The NRAO also hosts postdoctoral fellows funded by other institutions, such as Hubble, Einstein, and NSF fellows. In FY2019, NRAO recruited three new Jansky Fellows (see below). NRAO will continue to seek to attract and appoint such researchers as part of the program in future. SSR will continue to work closely with existing and incoming Jansky Fellows to identify and implement opportunities for professional development while maintaining the focus on excellence in astronomical and related engineering research. Each Jansky Fellow is provided with a substantial research budget for scientific travel, page charges and computing resources. SSR will facilitate engagement of the Jansky Fellows in the unique opportunities afforded by being involved in a postdoctoral program at a national observatory. In parallel to research mentoring, the NRAO will provide focused training and resources to foster development of non-academic career skills of the Jansky Fellows, including leadership, administrative and project management, communications, and organization. Producing a next generation of scientists practiced in these soft skills is an important new goal for NRAO in the next decade.

During FY2019, NRAO hosted the following Jansky Fellows:

• Laura Fissel, NRAO Charlottesville (Sep 2016 to Aug 2019) • Adam Ginsburg, NRAO Socorro (Oct 2016 to Aug 2019) • Jackie Villadsen, NRAO Charlottesville (Dec 2016 to July 2019) • Kazunori Akiyama, MIT-Haystack (Sep 2019 to current) • Nithyanandan Thyagarajan, NRAO Socorro (Sep 2017 to current) • Kunal Mooley, NRAO Socorro (Jan 2018 to current) • Brian Svoboda, NRAO Socorro (Jun 2018 to current) • Ryan Loomis, NRAO Charlottesville (Aug 2018 to current) • Lisa Locke, NRAO CDL-Charlottesville (Sep 2018 to Dec 2019) • Nolan Denman, NRAO CDL-Charlottesville (Jan 2019 to present)

Dary Ruiz-Rodriguez (NRAO Charlottesville), Craig Anderson (NRAO Socorro), and Luis Henry Quiroga-Nunez (NRAO Socorro/University of New Mexico) will begin their Jansky Fellowships in the Fall/Winter 2019/2020.

Laura Fissel, Adam Ginsburg, and Jackie Villadsen all moved to faculty positions at Queen's University in Canada, the University of Florida, and Saint Mary's University, respectively, at the conclusion of their


fellowships. Lisa Locke will be taking a position with the JPL Deep Space Network in December. Brett McGuire continued as a Hubble Fellow at NRAO Charlottesville.

Scientific Staff Support Milestones

Performance, promotion and tenure reviews Q1, Q2: All milestones related to scientific staff performance and status reviews were completed on time in FY2019. Jansky Lectureship awarded Q3: The Jansky Lectureship was awarded to Dr Amelia Sargent. Jansky Fellows selection and appointments Q1, Q2: All milestones related the Jansky Fellows program were completed on time in FY2019.

Student Programs

The Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) and NRAO summer student programs, co-op students, undergraduate and graduate student interns, and Reber pre-doctoral fellows, and funds for Student Observing Support, are coordinated by SSR. Undergraduate Students: The long-running (since 1959) NRAO summer student program continues to be very successful. This 10–12 week program allows ~25 students to work under the supervision of NRAO staff members at sites in New Mexico and Virginia (and West Virginia, through the GBO), to carry out original research in astronomy, computing, and engineering. Most of these students are funded through the NSF Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program. Outstanding students that are otherwise ineligible for support by the REU program (graduating seniors, foreign students, and early career graduate students) are supported by NRAO operating funds or by external grants to NRAO staff members. The NRAO also supports a co-op program that enables undergraduate engineering students to gain practical, career-based experience as part of their formal academic education. Students from participating institutions work at NRAO sites for up to two semesters. Under the supervision of NRAO technical staff, co-op students are engaged in R&D on the technological frontier. A modest amount of funds is available for undergraduate internships, where promising undergraduate students participated in scientific or engineering activities, supervised by NRAO staff, over a period of weeks to a semester. SSR coordinates very closely with student programs run by the NRAO Office of Diversity and Inclusion (ODI), including the National Astronomy Consortium (NAC), Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP), Physics Inspiring the Next Generation (PING), and Socorro Electronics Division’s Laboratory Experience for Undergraduates (SEDLE). Participation in SSR and ODI student programs is closely intertwined, and SSR supports the selection of NAC students through the web-based forms and database used for all summer student applications. Graduate Students: The NRAO is committed to training the next generation of scientists in radio astronomical science, techniques, and technology. Several NRAO programs exist for this purpose. Graduating seniors and first- and second-year graduate students are able to participate in the NRAO summer student program described above. This gives students experience in radio astronomy research early in their graduate careers, allowing them to incorporate these skills into their thesis research. The NRAO also awards Reber Pre-doctoral Fellowships to students who have completed institutional


requirements for doctoral candidacy so that only their thesis research remains for them to complete their PhDs. Such fellows take up residence at one of the NRAO sites, typically for two years, while they complete their research and thesis under the supervision of an NRAO staff member. The NRAO currently supports approximately seven Reber Pre-doctoral Fellows. The NRAO also supports many of the 100+ PhD students making use of NRAO telescopes each year. Travel reimbursement, low-cost accommodations, and computing facilities are provided onsite to assist these students. Support is provided for stays lasting several weeks to several months by students to collaborate with NRAO staff scientists as part of their PhD research. These student internships help forge valuable long-term links between the NRAO and the university community. Student Observing Support: Financial support is available on a competitive basis for students at U.S. universities observing with ALMA or the VLA through the Student Observing Support (SOS) program. SOS funding is designed to provide a stipend and cover miscellaneous expenses such as computers and travel to conferences to a maximum of $35,000 USD per award.

Student Program Milestones

Summer student program Q3: All milestone related to the NRAO Summer Student program were completed on time in FY2019. Summer observing support (SOS) Q1, Q3, Q4: All milestone related to the Student Support program were completed in FY2019. There was a four-day slip in the Q1 disposition of VLA SOS awards. Reber pre-doctoral fellows Q2, Q4: All milestone related to the Reber pre-doctoral fellows program were completed in FY2019. There was a one-month slip in the Q2 disposition of Reber awards.

SSR Milestone Summary

Of 40 deadlines, 28 were completed on time, 8 underwent schedule delays. Four were cancelled. Telescope Time Allocation – 14 deadlines Milestone 6.7.13 – TTA SW Tool Suite Requirements: Working group completed its responsibilities in Q1 but the final draft was delivered early in Q2. Low risk. SRDP – 3 deadlines Milestone 6.7.17 -Pilot SRDP Operations Complete: NRAO decided to extend Pilot operations into FY20 to provide experience with the delayed User Driven ALMA Imaging capability (formerly referred to as ALMA Optimized Imaging) and to provide uninterrupted service to the user community. Scientific User Support – 8 deadlines Milestone 6.7.20 – CASA Validation: Milestone was delayed due to a late release of CASA V5.5 (Milestone 7.5.20). No risk. This milestone was delivered as soon as software was delivered. Milestone 6.7.21 – CASA Guides: Milestone was delayed due to a late release of CASA V5.5 (Milestone 7.5.20). No risk. This milestone was delivered as soon as software was delivered


Milestone 6.7.22 – CASA Validation: Milestone was delayed due to a late release of CASA V6.0 (Milestone 7.5.21). Minimal risk. CASA 6.0 is an experimental version of the software used primarily by the NRAO development team. An in-house version of this software exists that is suitable for algorithm development. Milestone 6.7.23 – CASA Guides: Cancelled. Risk is low because CASA 6.0 is an experimental version of the software. Milestone 6.7.25 – CASA Guides: The milestone for updating the CASA V5.6 CASAguides was canceled in Q4. Delays in the delivery of CASA V5.6 meant that these same staff were needed to prepare and run the 7th VLA Data Reduction workshop in Q4 and Q1 of FY2020. The risk was mitigated by deciding to only update the VLA Pipeline CASA Guide when the V5.6 that incorporates the VLA pipeline gets released. (expected in Q1 FY2020). Reference Services – 3 deadlines Milestone 6.7.26 – NRAO Papers replacement: Committee formation was cancelled. Improvements in the existing software made this requirement unnecessary for the foreseeable future. Low risk. Milestone 6.7.27 – NRAO Papers replacement: Software requirements cancelled. Improvements in the existing software made this requirement unnecessary for the foreseeable future. Low risk. Milestone 6.7.28 – Development of U.S. Radio Astronomy: Draft manuscript was proceeding well but the amount of time needed to complete was underestimated. Delivered to the publisher at the end of FY2019. Low risk. Scientific Staff and Jansky Fellows – 6 deadlines – all complete Student Programs – 6 deadlines Milestone 6.7.36 – Student Observing Support Selection (VLA): Selection committee met Jan. 4, 2019. Milestone was completed 4 days late. Low risk. Milestone 6.7.39 – Reber Predoc Selection: Minor schedule slip in Q2, completed early in Q3. Low risk.


7 DATA MANAGEMENT AND SOFTWARE

The DMS department made key contributions to the NRAO throughout FY2019. DMS deliveries have been vital for the Wave I capabilities of SRDP, which was initiated in FY2019. DMS delivered components for the VLASS workflow, including image retrieval from the new archive and implementation of the pipeline heuristics for the remaining VLASS basic data products. This work for VLASS and ALMA began to be integrated within the SRDP initiative. New observing capabilities were implemented and supported for ALMA, VLA, and the VLBA. A stable computing platform for internal and external users continued to be maintained and expanded. DMS contributed to the overall ngVLA project, including important portions of the Decadal Survey package.

Scientific Information Services

The Scientific Information Services (SIS) division is matrixed into the Information Technology (IT)-centric Computing and Information Services (CIS) division (Section 10). This enables transparent sharing of highly skilled staff for telescope supporting science responsibilities (SIS) as well as general IT support duties (CIS). There are three major functional groups in SIS, as described below. Computing Operations (NAASC, NM): These site-centric groups directly support the day-to-day telescope operations and reliable delivery of data to the archive and thence to the community. They ensure that telescope capability development projects are appropriately staffed, with resources being assigned based on commitments and timelines defined within the Program Management Department (PMD) and at the relevant site. Projects and milestones for these resources are tracked under the appropriate telescope support sections. Attention is given to support for infrastructure needed by the CASA pipeline development for use by the JAO and ALMA Regional Centers as well as the VLA and observer support. Of particular focus in FY2019 was the successful delivery of a Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 7 OS image for all new system installations. The adoption of Ansible has improved the deployment of key web servers, and rigorous Configuration Control now supports OS and package deployment used by DMS, SRDP, and JAO for coordinated of development, testing, and release cycles. The adoption of Docker by JAO has further assisted in this effort. Additionally, the NAASC, in conjunction with JAO, upgraded the virtual servers for Oracle Virtual Machines (VM) to better support the database containing the metadata for ALMA archive data stored in the Next Generation Archive System (NGAS). Finally, to keep up with archive growth and consolidate aging storage, the sites migrated NGAS to higher density storage and completed the evaluation of long-term storage solutions both in-house and cloud-based. As a result of this, 2.2 PBytes of persistent storage was installed in CV, and 500 TBytes in NM. FY2019 saw the initiation of several refresh projects for the VLA core infrastructure, including the purchase of the new Correlator Back End cluster and core network replacement for the VLA. Science Computing Group (SCG): This highly skilled group provides technology-driven scientific computing support, and is tasked with delivering the next generation of data processing solutions, working in close cooperation with the DMS software division, telescope operations, and external cyberinfrastructure partners. This group is also responsible for hardware and software performance profiling and evaluations, as well as assisting with critical escalations from Operations in the event of systematic performance issues with the production infrastructure. In FY2019, SCG worked closely with NM Ops and Software to ensure efficient data processing of VLASS products and for SRDP Wave 1 Operational readiness. The SCG optimized the Moab cluster scheduler to allow for multiple concurrent tasks on a single system in support of batch and interactive resource requests. This group worked closely with the CASA software developers to improve performance with particular focus on memory utilization and the evaluation of non-volatile memory sub-systems. A collaboration was initiated with the University of Wisconsin Center for High Throughput Computing (CHTC) to facilitate external processing capacity


in support of VLASS needs. Particular relevance is seen in adopting the HTCondor workload management system which has been used to great advantage enabling high throughput, distributed, computing for key science projects such as the Large Hadron Collider and multiple Grid based services. This joint venture will continue in FY2020. Wide-Area Networking: This science data driven group is responsible for provisioning the long-haul, high-bandwidth, connectivity needed to uplink the telescope and then deliver reliable throughput in support of PI and general data access. Operational support for commodity circuits will be handed off to Communication Services in CIS once a network service has been accepted into production. The main initiative for this team was the installation of fiber optic infrastructure to an additional three VLBA sites (for a total of 7 out of 10) in FY2019 and the upgrade of system area networks (See Section 10.2).

System Software

The ALMA software group spent roughly 50% of its time fixing bugs, addressing all high-impact bugs at high priority. All subsystems groups continued to address software maintenance issues such as transitioning to C++11, updating Java, tracking new versions of the ALMA Common Software (ACS) and third-party libraries, and overall code refactoring to make further changes simpler. The online ALMA software group also addressed the highest priority items from the Cycle 7– 8+ ObsMode planning process. ALMA Control Subsystem–Optimizing Observing: Operational array efficiency can be improved by scheduling observations based on atmospheric conditions. The control subsystem group developed a component that takes water vapor radiometer data and telescope calibration results and produces a set of products that can be used to optimize scheduling of the telescope. These products include highest recommended observing frequency based on phase stability, optimum phase calibration cycle time, and estimated spectral window average sky brightness variability. The first version of the observing conditions software was delivered in FY2018 as part of the Cycle 6 software. The algorithms and implementation continued to be refined in FY2019 as a result of on-sky testing and use in day-to-day operations and were included in the Cycle 7 software. Further refinements will be made in subsequent years based on test results leading to a refinement of the requirements. ALMA Control Subsystem–Supporting Development Projects: There are numerous ALMA projects underway, including the second-generation ALMA Phasing Project (APP2), the ACA Spectrometer, and the Hardware-in-the-Loop Simulator (HiLS). These projects, which will provide new features and functionality to the ALMA telescope, need support from the control subsystem group. The APP2 project was supported during Q2 for Cycle 6 missions. The remaining projects were supported from Q3 onward, as most are multi-year activities. ALMA Baseline Correlator Subsystem–Correlator Upgrade Project: Funding for the Correlator Upgrade Project (CUP) was approved in FY2018, successfully passing a Preliminary Design Review in Q3 FY2018, but was cancelled late in FY2019. However, other related and supporting projects continued and are anticipated to deliver useful capabilities in later years. During FY2019, support was provided for a fifth quadrant hardware implementation at the CDL in Charlottesville. This will be eventually used by the HiLS at the OSF in Chile, which will be crucial ongoing integration activities. Options were considered to facilitate higher data rates through the network (send/receive data) to ultimately allow higher data-rate observing.


ALMA Baseline Correlator Subsystem–4x4 Correlator Modes: The implementation of 4x4-bit correlator modes was delivered in Q2 to increase quantization efficiency for a subset of the Cycle 7 correlator modes. An increase from 88% to 93% will be observed after the 3-bit digitizer quantization for those specific correlator modes. These changes are limited to the online software, i.e., the Correlator and Telescope Calibration subsystems and various observing tools, as there are no firmware changes expected. ALMA Scheduling Subsystem–Improving Observing Efficiency: The focus of the Scheduling software group for FY2019 was on the optimization of the dynamic scheduling algorithm (DSACore). This effort continued throughout FY2019 as the Observatory constantly modifies its capabilities, resulting in continually evolving constraints for the DSACore. The result of the optimizations of DSACore were improvements to the observing efficiency. ALMA Scheduling Subsystem–Technology Improvements: The infrastructure in the Scheduling subsystem has improved significantly over the past few years to solve performance issues. However, as of the beginning of FY2019 it was still based on to-be-deprecated or unsupported technologies, which would become a software maintenance problem in the future years. Over FY2019, the outdated technology was largely updated with alternative solutions or modern versions, mainly for Python and Java-based software. Changes to the technology included changes at local-design level of the software. The technology improvements allowed for improvements in the software packaging, leading to improvements to the current simulation framework. The eventual result will be accelerating the algorithm optimization tasks towards better forecasting for the mid-term scheduling, including Observatory and ALMA Proposal Review Committee activities.

The Science Data Model (SDM), the metadata that describes a given observation, is shared between three major stakeholders: ALMA, the VLA, and CASA. The data model is maintained by the software group at NRAO. The SDM code base was improved to support CASA 6.0, Java 11 compatibility, and improvements to the build system. In addition, stakeholders have requested improvements to the data model itself which were implemented in Q4.

The responsibilities of this group involve the system software—primarily monitor and control, but including other operational functions, notably dynamic scheduling. Much of the work is maintenance, however some new capabilities were provided. Deployments for use during PI observing for Semesters 2018B and 2019A were made in Q2 and Q4 respectively. In addition, software was incrementally made available for commissioning new 2019A and 2019B capabilities, also in Q2 and Q4 respectively. This group also supported VLBA System Software. New or augmented VLA capabilities in FY2019 included: • Supporting transition of Frequency Averaging to GO (Q2). • Supporting the transitioning of YUPPI-mode pulsar observing to SRO (Q3). • Supporting wind prediction in the OST (Q3). • Supporting Conditional SBs in OST/OPT (Q2). • Supporting testing RFI excision in WIDAR (Q4).


The work needed to transition the YUPPI-mode pulsar observing required OPT development and is discussed below in SSA Section 7.3.3. Support was provided as required for major VLA projects including Realfast (fast transient detection), VLASS, and ngVLA.

Support for VLBA commissioning and observing followed the same deployment cycles as the VLA. Support was provided for the Mark 6 deployment and Resident Shared Risk Observing (RSRO). The VLBA Versa Model Eurocard (VME) hardware was mostly (8 of 10 stations) replaced in FY2019 with a general computer based NoVME solution. Support for the NoVME transition continued in FY2019 and will continue into FY2020.

Software Development

Development of the Common Astronomy Software Applications (CASA) package, the NRAO post-processing software, continues to emphasize support for the VLA and ALMA, unlocking the scientific potential of these world-leading telescopes. During FY2019, NRAO continued to add capabilities and support the evolving understanding of the requirements of these forefront telescopes. CASA version 5.5 was released to the community in Q3. This release provided initial support for ALMA Cycle 7 and functionality needed by the Cycle 7 pipeline, and provided improvements for VLASS. Focus was continued on maintenance and removal of older functionality that has been superseded by newer task implementations. There was also a renewed emphasis placed on verification testing coinciding with a new staff position. CASA 5.5 was the first CASA release with a set of documented specifications/requirements mapped directly to automated verification tests. CASA 6 will be a major upgrade to the CASA environment, providing a modularized industry-standard representation of CASA that is Python 3.6 compliant. The change is motivated by a need to move to the new Python version, since Python 2.7 support is scheduled to end in 2020, and by a need to make CASA more useful to a wider audience. CASA 6.0 has the same science content as 5.5. It was released in beta in Q3, with a full release, including a monolithic version for the pipeline, scheduled in Q1 FY2020. In FY2020, aligned 5.x and 6.x versions of CASA with the same science content will be released and maintained for one year to allow time for users to test and migrate to the new version. CASA 5.6 included improvements to the ALMA and VLA pipelines for Cycle 7 and for VLASS. This includes relative frequency-dependent interpolation when applying bandpass tables, small scale bias parameter control for the multi-scale multi-frequency synthesis deconvolver, auto-multithresholding on polarization data, and atmospheric and sky temperature curves in plotms task. It was released in Q4. In all releases, DMS continued to address stability and robustness issues, addressing technical debt in the calibration and imaging subsystems. The system engineering processes in place were reviewed and adjusted through a continuous improvement approach. DMS anticipates input from the CASA Users Committee will continue to help guide CASA development choices. This feedback will be incorporated in development plans as time and resources allow. The


committee has stressed the importance of reliable, well documented code and the capture of user feedback for decision making. The international CASA development team, led by NRAO, continues to increase support for single dish data reduction and High Performance Computing (HPC) capabilities working on the integration of those capabilities with the standard reduction pipelines. The supported and develop new imaging and calibration algorithms through a close connection to the NRAO Algorithm Research and Development Group (ARDG). Work on the Cube Analysis and Rendering Tool for Astronomy (CARTA) visualization software continued through the collaboration with ASIAA CASA Development Center (ACDC) and the South African Institute for Data Intensive Astronomy (IDIA) improving the user interface and expanding capabilities. Additional collaborations are extending the use and capabilities of CASA. The Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA) and Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT) support the use of CASA for reduction of their data products. This includes making a staff member available through the NRAO helpdesk to answer questions specific to these telescopes. The Joint Institute for VLBI in Europe (JIVE) added tasks to enable the use of CASA for VLBI data. NRAO concluded an initiative with the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) to jointly investigate the definition of a next iteration of the CASA Measurement Set Version 3 (MSV3). This was a first step in updating the underpinnings of CASA, in particular the casacore package, parts of which are 25 years old. This is important pathfinder work in the general refurbishment of CASA to ensure that it remains capable of filling VLA and ALMA needs, and can evolve for the ngVLA. In Q4, MSV3 delivered the logical schema for the new format as well as a test report showing how the casacore table data system (CTDS) performance could meet the needs of expected future I/O demands. Building on the results of MSV3, work continued on CASA revitalization, initially with analysis and refactoring of casacore and its interfaces. Two trade studies were conducted. The first explored modern developments in the field of software engineering with respect to high-performance scalable computing and data analysis, leading to the selection of a candidate programming paradigm and languages. The second focused on identifying which off-the-shelf frameworks were available to satisfy the selected paradigm. An external consultant was engaged in cooperation with PMD and a plan was developed for long-term CASA scalability. This will be reviewed in Q1 FY2020.

The CASA pipeline continued to evolve to support ALMA, VLA operations, and VLASS. A major release was delivered Q1 coinciding with ALMA Cycle 6. This release included parallel processing capabilities, processing of limited heterogeneous arrays, and initial ephemeris capabilities. A subsequent pipeline update was delivered in Q4 to provide Cycle 7 capabilities and to serve as a test release for Cycle 7. Work proceeded on VLASS single epoch (SE) calibration and imaging in FY2019, with initial SE processing started in FY2019 and requirements and development work continuing on more difficult cases into FY2020. CASA and the pipeline began to work with SRDP as an additional stakeholder. SRDP continues to develop requirements that will help drive future development.


New Archive: Work on the new archive continued in FY2019, driven by requirements from SRDP. New capabilities were deployed as part of SRDP, but the transition of some of the old archive’s existing capabilities were delayed. These will be integrated into the new archive and it will become the default in Q3 FY2020. Observing Support: The OPT, PST, and PHT were updated to support VLA observing, with the PST updated in Q1 and Q3 for the Semester 2019B and Semester 2020A Calls for Proposals, the OPT updated in Q1 and Q3 for Semester 2019A and Semester 2019B observing, and the PHT updated in Q2 and Q4 for the Semester 2019B and Semester 2020A TAC process. PST Upgrade: The NRAO Users Committee has recommended that the PST should get priority over the OPT for significant upgrades. DMS participated with SSR in determining the requirements for the new tool software. Based on those requirements, development of the conceptual architecture for a revised TTA toolset began in FY2019. YUPPI-mode Pulsar Observing: The software changes needed for observers to configure VLA phased array pulsar processing (YUPPI) using the standard OPT interfaces were delivered for Shared Risk Observing in Q3. Science Ready Data Products (SRDP): The SRDP project received substantial coordinated effort across DMS. For the first development wave, much of the effort was centered on the Archive and Workflow Manager with additional deliverables provided by CASA and ACG. Archive deliverables included the ability to restore data sets for ALMA and VLA, to store, search, and retrieve images for these telescopes, and to allow PI’s to change a small number of parameters for image reprocessing using a graphical interface. An improved software deployment process for SRDP, including a dedicated testing environment, was also developed. The initial pilot delivery of SRDP capability occurred in Q3, with a Transition to Operations target in Q1 FY2020.

The CASA 6 implementation required significant changes to the test framework. The test framework was modified to be compatible with the CASA 6 release in Q3. Following the development of serial and parallel regression tests for CASA provided by improved verification in CASA 5.5, the testing group automated tests to run in the framework in Q4. Performance tests were adequate to indicate when performance degraded on realistic datasets (size and structure). The Testing Group also provided continuity for integration testing for SRDP starting in FY2019.

Organizational changes were made to further improve CASA reliability through testing, with the appointment of leads for verification and scientific validation, supported by additional staff dedicated to test development and execution. Tests developed based on documented software requirements were introduced to provide a more robust testing process tied to the requirements. This has proven useful and will continue.


Algorithm Research and Development

Investigate Optimal Algorithm for Joint Single Dish-Interferometric Imaging: An optimal wide-band algorithm was defined to combine single dish and interferometric data for accurate image reconstruction and spectral index mapping at all measured scales. Input by groups outside ARDG were evaluated to arrive at an optimal solution for CASA implementation. A memo and sample implementation was delivered in Q3. As expected, additional effort will be required to finally integrate the algorithm in CASA. Commission the Wide-Field Full-Mueller Imaging Algorithm: This R&D task will commission the Full-Mueller imaging algorithm to enable wide-field, wide-band full-Stokes imaging with VLA and ALMA. This work requires code implementation, scientific verification with simulated and real data, and documentation (software design, scientific test results). The priority for this task was lowered in favor of AW-Projection algorithm commissioning work required for VLASS. The infrastructure code for this task has been implemented. Work for scientific verification with simulated and real data and delivery of the associated memo are still in progress. Completion is anticipated in FY2020. Characterize and Commission the AW-Project Algorithm: This R&D task characterized and commissioned the AW-Project algorithm for wide-field, wide-band imaging, first for the VLA. This work was a precursor for the Full-Mueller imaging work above. The evaluation was concluded in Q3 and was followed by implementation in CASA 5.6 in Q4. Heterogeneous antenna pointing correction in AW-Projection: Due to a critical VLASS need, the existing framework used for mosaic imaging was extended to include corrections for antenna pointing errors. The implementation is integrated with the AW-Projection framework in CASA and delivered for the user via the TCLEAN task. It can be tuned via user parameters for the full range of use cases, from treating the array as homogeneous to fully heterogeneous array in antenna pointing errors. ARDG scientific verification and regression testing has completed. A memo is being written and we expect to handover the functionality to the CASA group in Q1 FY2020.

DMS Milestone Summary

Of 37 deadlines, 31 were completed on time. Milestone 7.5.20 – CASA 5.5 Release: Release was delayed by delayed requirements and code complexity in the particular area of a critical change to imaging code. Milestone 7.5.21 – CASA 6.0 Release: The original schedule was changed to align with ALMA cycle 7 so that ALMA can migrate to CASA 6 for cycle 8 using with the ALMA Cycle 7 as a comparison baseline. A beta preview release was made available on the original timeline to allow users to get experience with the new software and make modifications to their own software that depends on CASA. Technical challenges in creating a monolithic release for the pipeline have delayed the official release into Q1 FY2020. Milestone 7.5.23 – MSv3 Report: Work was done as a cooperative effort between NRAO, ASTRON, and SKA resources. All organizations have had critical projects which pulled resources away from this and created the delay in the deliverables. Milestone 7.5.36 – Full Mueller Imaging: The priority for this task was lowered in favor of AW-Projection algorithm commissioning work required due to a change in VLASS priories. Completion is carried over to FY2020 as a new milestone.


Milestone 7.5.37 – AW Project Imaging: Due to a clarification VLASS imaging requirements, the scope of this task was expanded to include a feature to correct for antenna pointing offsets in a fully heterogeneous-array sense, causing a delay in delivery. Milestone 7.5.26 – New Archive Default: Work was delayed due to the higher priority of the initial SRDP delivery and ongoing VLASS support. The team is has also been understaffed by two to three positions. Completion is carried over to FY2020 as a new milestone. Lessons learned: • Development teams and their scientific partners need to understand requirements in more detail

before committing to development. • NRAO is incorporating this learning in the approach to CASA and SRDP work, including VLASS. • Staffing continues to be a challenging area. A number of steps have been taken to improve both

retention and the filling of open positions, including flexible location and work arrangements, development of an Albuquerque office, some streamlining of the hiring process, and increased and targeted marketing. Quality of the applicant pool has been an issue in the attempting to fill positions.

• Continue to prioritize work. Some delays were caused by changing priorities over the one and a half years between POP development and implementation. These are often difficult decisions, but necessary to optimize NRAO’s delivery given the available resources.


8 PROGRAM MANAGEMENT DEPARTMENT

The Program Management Department (PMD) supports each of the NRAO departments in the implementation and continuous improvement of Program Management, Project Management (PM), and Systems Engineering (SE) practices. Support provided by PMD includes the process, tools, and techniques described in the PMD Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), by being responsible for their PM/SE implementation and often functioning as the project manager and/or systems engineer in internal and external WFO projects. Furthermore, PMD supports each of these departments and site operations, assisting them in accomplishing required reporting, Observatory-wide risk management, interface between budget and CAP departments, and other related activities as requested. The PMD support activities are divided into the following areas of responsibility: Program Management Operations, Proposal Development, Project Management, and Systems Engineering. The tasks accomplished in each area are defined within those sections by area of responsibility.

PMD Office Operations

PMD continues to enhance its decision support capabilities. The project archive maintained in Microsoft SharePoint continues to grow with greatly improved consistency across Observatory programs. Monthly project reporting to the Director’s Office and risk management have also improved as a result of consistent use of the SOPs. The Department continued to assess Oracle Prime Projects, an enterprise level project management package, for general use within PMD as well as its suitability for very large projects such as ngVLA. Oracle Trainers were brought on-site to provide department wide training to ensure we had a comprehensive knowledge of the capabilities of the software package. PMD provided quarterly, Observatory-wide training sessions on general and project specific project management and systems engineering methods. In 2019, the sessions were conducted by PMD staff and recorded as part of the PMD training session archive. Staffing within PMD has been a challenge with the loss of two project managers in 2019. Despite consistent and persistent recruiting efforts throughout the year, we were unable to fill these positions.

Proposal Development

PMD led the development of 14 proposals during FY2019 across NRAO. Below is a summary of these proposals: Title: Technical Development for the Dark Ages Polarimeter Pathfinder (DAPPER) PI: Rich Bradley Project Type: WFO Status: Awaiting Award Title: CASA Next Generation Infrastructure Initiative PI: Ryan Raba Project Type: CSA-V Status: In Progress Title: 3D Printing Collaboration with MIT PI: Bert Hawkins Project Type: Collaboration


Status: In Progress Title: RF Synthesizer Commercial Demo PI: Christophe Jacques Project Type: Collaboration Status: Not Awarded Title: NSF Science & Technology Proposal with U Wisconsin Madison PI: Lyndele von Schill Project Type: Sub-award through Univ. of Wisconsin Status: Awaiting Award Title: Characterization of New Helium Compressor for ALMA Cryogenic System PI: Denis Urbain Project Type: CSA/ALMA Development Status: Awarded Title: A Quantum-Limited 4-Kelvin Ultra-Wideband 65-150 GHz Amplifier for Radio Astronomy PI: Omid Noroozian Project Type: CSA/ALMA Development Status: Awarded Title: ALMA Central LO Improvements and Upgrades PI: Christophe Jacques Project Type: CSA/ALMA Development Status: Awarded Title: Low Band Observatory (LOBO) – Pnarrow PI: Mark McKinnon Project Type: WFO/ U.S. Naval Research Laboratory Status: Not Awarded Title: Investigation to remediate the sideband noise spurs in ALMA Band 6 Local Oscillator PI: Kamaljeet Saini Project Type: CSA/ALMA Development Status: Awarded Title: Band 6v2 mixer development PI: Anthony Kerr Project Type: CSA/ALMA Development Status: Awarded Title: Scalable Radar Image Processing Integrated Circuit with Enhanced Assurance PI: Omar Artemi Yeste Ojeda Project Type: AFWERX 2019 - Advanced Microelectronics Design and Prototype Challenge Status: Not Awarded Title: Polar ADC And Down Converter: P-(ADC)² PI: Omar Artemi Yeste Ojeda Project Type: AFWERX 2019 - Advanced Microelectronics Design and Prototype Challenge Status: Not Awarded


Title: VLBA New Digital Architecture Phase 1 PI: Walter Brisken Project Type: CSA Status: Awarded

Program Management Activities

PMD Headquarters

The Headquarters based PMD staff provided support to Headquarters for planning, executing, monitoring and controlling of projects, change management, and risk management activities. PMD support included leadership, coordination, and assistance in achieving appropriate reporting of Quarterly Status Updates, End of the Year Report, and the Observatory-Wide Risk Register. HQ PMD staff used every opportunity to advance the implementation of PM/SE practices through normal interaction with stakeholders. The Headquarters PMD office provided two learning opportunities in PM/SE practices.

New Mexico Operations

The New Mexico based PMD staff provided support to NM Operations for planning, executing, monitoring and controlling of projects, change management, and risk management activities. PMD support included leadership, coordination, and assistance in achieving appropriate reporting of Quarterly Status Updates, End of the Year Report, and the Observatory-Wide Risk Register. NM PMD staff used every opportunity to advance the implementation of PM/SE practices through normal interaction with stakeholders. The New Mexico Operations PMD office provided three learning opportunities to New Mexico Operations in PM/SE practices. The workshop sessions each contained content selected and tailored for NM Operations staff. Three of the four sessions were completed within the originally planned timeline. The last learning session was not completed due to loss of PMD staff in New Mexico.

Central Development Lab

PMD managed eight projects and developed nine proposals for CDL research and development projects, component sales, WFO, and other efforts for which involvement was requested. These efforts consisted of managing team meetings, planning and approving procurements, managing budget and schedule, managing risk, and preparing and conducting design reviews. In addition to project activities, PMD staff assisted in coordinating, tracking, and reporting on POP milestones and Observatory-wide risk management activities. PMD continued a review of the CDL-internal component sale process in order to reduce the risk of cost overruns by standardizing the allocation of budget contingency, providing flexibility in the type of contract awarded, and more accurately tracking components in inventory.

ALMA Development

PMD managed the ALMA Development program on behalf of the NA ALMA Director, including overseeing four projects and four studies. For external development awards, PMD works with the collaborating institutions to obtain project status, approve invoices, serve as an interface to JAO, and process interim and final reports. For internal development awards, PMD serves as the project manager and works with the PI and ALMA management to manage scope, budget, and schedule. One major project, the ALMA Baseline Correlator Upgrade, was cancelled due to significant technical and personnel issues. PMD continues to work with all stakeholders to complete the project closeout process and develop the strategy for continuing sustainment efforts for the existing baseline correlator and development of a next-generation design. In addition, PMD managed a Call for Study proposals in which eight new studies were


awarded for funding in FY2020. The next Call for Proposals (Studies and Projects) will be in Q1 FY2020 for a funding start date in FY2021.

Project Management/Systems Engineering Activities

Program Management Software Implementation

The requirements for implementing a comprehensive program management software solution were identified. The goal is to centrally manage project tracking, scheduling, budgeting, resource and risk management, and other PM/SE best practices for the Observatory to improve the efficiency and reliability of department processes. PMD partnered with Oracle Prime to evaluate the software’s feasibility of integration with other tools and management systems, including Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and cost estimating software. Training was held to enable a more informed decision. The assessment of the software was that it was not yet fully mature, not ready to be implemented and not suitable to a large project such as ngVLA. It will also take a large amount of labor to implement. We chose to not implement this software suite while staffing is at 50%. The software solution decision is now scheduled for June 2020.

ALMA OSF Sports Facility

PMD supports the Office of Chilean Affairs to manage the construction of the multicancha sports facility (gymnasium) at the ALMA OSF and has two dedicated personnel located in Santiago, Chile. This project is in the construction stage and had a planned completion in Q4. The construction phase consists of earthworks, concrete works, assembly and installation of sanitary and electric devices, roofing installation, and interior work. The first of these milestone was not achieved during this year due to large amounts of rework stemming from poor quality execution of the concrete work. All milestones following this milestone could not be accomplished until the concrete work are complete. The contractor has provided a more realistic schedule with a completion date of March 2020. Following construction, PMD will manage commissioning to assure the performance of each subsystem prior to the final handover to the JAO. The project managers will submit quarterly status reports to the Project Director to assess adherence to the budget and schedule.


PMD provided a project manager for SRDP during FY2019 at the 0.5 FTE level. In Q2FY19, SRDP also assumed oversight of the effort to refurbish the Telescope Time Allocation Tools (TTAT), increasing PMD engagement to the 0.6 FTE level. PMD engagement with SRDP and the TTAT project has successfully established flexible project planning and systems engineering processes to deliver capability incrementally in both these project areas. SRDP delivered initial capability under a limited Pilot Operations phase, launched as planned in June. The project manager maintained the schedule, tracked requirements through validation, and executed a number of other monitor, control, and reporting tasks. Delivery of the ALMA imaging capability to the Pilot was delayed, also pushing back slightly the date for the Process Assessment and Lessons Learned Review. SRDP is now prepared to follow the Pilot with the first public release cycle in December, incorporating valuable lessons learned from the Pilot. The project manager has drafted a project management plan and initial project documents for the TTA Tools Project, also working closely with DMS to establish systems engineering and requirements processes in preparation for a Q1 FY2020 Conceptual Design Review.


ngVLA

The PMD will deploy full-time, dedicated PM and SE support to the ngVLA project throughout FY2019. Preparation for the submission to the Astro2020 Decadal Survey of a costed reference design is the primary focus for Q2 for the PM and SE. As the project transitions to a mature conceptual design, the PM and SE will support a submission to the NSF AST Directorate for MREFC candidacy in Q4. Project Management: The ngVLA PM will continue to provide project leadership, support and guidance to the IPT Leads to include planning, executing, monitoring and controlling of the project, change management, and risk management activities. Systems Engineering: Several SE planning documents and related processes were established in FY2018, based on the SOPs. Some document preparation assigned to FY2018 milestones fell behind due to a six-month delay in recruiting a full time Systems Engineer. Previous milestones will be addressed early in FY2019 as work continues to develop processes and documentation in areas of configuration control, reliability, quality, safety, integration, verification, and other processes needed to support the ngVLA life cycle. Systems Engineering will continue to provide document management, development of project-wide standards, and planning for reviews. The ngVLA Systems Engineer will support the 2020 Decadal Survey submission with oversight of SE processes, document management, and document preparation. As the focus shifts to the MREFC proposal, the Systems Engineer will align the goals and objectives for the conceptual design with the reference design to identify gaps and trades need to evolve the reference design to meet goals and objectives needed for the conceptual design.

CIRADA VLA Sky Survery Enhanced Data Products

The annual financial report to CIRADA was sent as planned in Q3FY19. The CIRADA Project came under SRDP management with VLASS in August, 2019. The SRDP project manager has continued sending monthly reports reflecting the NRAO effort. Many of the capabilities to support CIRADA are jointly needed for VLASS, which has experienced some setbacks producing Basic Data Products (BDPs) in single epoch images. SRDP is working with CIRADA to deliver selected preliminary data products in the near term, to support their immediate development needs.

VLA Tack Maintenance

In support of the NM Operations initiative to bring the VLA track to within Federal Railway Administration (FRA) guidelines and to the original VLA tracking specification, NM Operations PMD provided Project Management support. A rail crane and supplies to accomplish the FY2019 goal of replacing 5,000 ties and 5 intersections, and enough extra ties and ballast to address smaller problem areas, were procured. All procurements were completed in FY2019. Ballast continues to be delivered on an as needed basis.

VLBA Fiber

NM Operations PMD continues to manage the effort to increase the capacity of the VLBA data network to a minimum of 200 Mbps, enabling advanced array-wide diagnostics and initial time-critical observing capability. This represents the first of three phases in a program to fully integrate the VLBA into a realtime network of radio telescopes spanning the globe while simultaneously reducing operating complexity and improving sustainability of operations. Due to delays with coordination of contracts and procurement management when dealing with the DOE at Los Alamos and in dealing with the University of New Hampshire, both Los Alamos (LA) and Hancock (HN) will not have the Fiber install completed until


December 2020. Brewster (BR), Fort Davis (FD), , and North Liberty (NL) and St Croix are connected however the updated equipment has not yet been installed. Service monitoring and analysis is now scheduled to finish Q2 FY2020 with a final report due by the end of Q3. A No Cost Extension will be submitted to NSF to cover the additional time.

VLBA St Croix Hurricane Repairs

NM Operations PMD staff continue to support the VLBA St Croix Hurricane Repairs efforts. Qualified vendors on the island were selected to improve the site infrastructure to make it more robust and self-reliant in the event of future severe weather. PMD worked with engineering services to develop a Request for Proposals for the required steel repairs and antenna painting by the end of Q1. PMD, in collaboration with VLBA Engineering and CAP, issued contract(s) for the steel repairs and antenna painting by the end of Q2. All repairs are completed and the antenna is back on line. This contract continues to June 2020 and a generator load bank will be installed during that time.

ALMA Band I LNA

The CDL Project Manager continued to oversee the production and shipping of Low Noise Amplifiers (LNAs) to ASIAA for integration into ALMA Band 1. PMD is responsible for overseeing the project schedule and budget, adherence to ALMA product assurance guidelines, generation of test reports, and the submission of a quarterly status report to ASIAA and an annual report to NSF. This project is funded through NSF CSA-J and is now expected to conclude in FY2020.

ALMA Baseline Correlator Update

CDL was leading a five year, $12M USD project to provide a major upgrade of the ALMA baseline correlator electronics through the NA ALMA Development Program. The Project Manager was to oversee the detailed design phase which was to conclude with a Critical Design Review (CDR) in Q3. Leadership and the PI, with support from the PM, discovered numerous architectural and implementation issues on the application specific IC (ASIC) at the heart of the correlator engine. These issues carried a high risk of failure, and they were found to be systemic, not just isolated issues. An extensive re-baselining and evaluation of the project concluded with project cancellation.

CDL planned to submit a proposal in Q1 to the NA ALMA Development Program for a major upgrade to the ALMA Band 6 receiver. NRAO now intends to down-select design options through a series of development studies during FY2020, and submit a preliminary design study leading to a prototype cartridge in FY2021. This approach also will allow the development team to fill needed roles in the technical team before proceeding with an ALMA project commitment. This milestone was cancelled.

PMD Milestone Summary

Of 68 milestone deadlines, 55 were completed on time. Two were cancelled. Headquarters – 23 milestones Milestone 8.5.6 – Program Management Software Solution Implementation: The assessment of the software was that it was not yet fully mature, not ready to be implemented and not suitable to a large project such as ngVLA. It will also take a large amount of labor to implement. We chose to not


implement this software suite while staffing is at 50%. The software solution decision is now scheduled for June 2020. Milestone 8.5.7 – Multicancha Mass Concrete Works Complete: Contractor failed to meet schedule due to large amounts of rework stemming from poor quality execution of the concrete work. Milestone 8.5.8 – Multicancha Beams Erection Complete: Cannot be completed until the previous milestone 8.5.7 is completed. Milestone 8.5.9 – Multicancha Membrane Installation Complete: Cannot be completed until the previous milestone 8.5.8 is completed. Milestone 8.5.10 – Multicancha Sport Flooring Installation Complete: Cannot be completed until the previous milestone 8.5.7 is completed. Milestone 8.5.11 – Multicancha Construction Complete: Cannot be completed until all previous milestones are complete. Milestone 8.5.13 – SRDP Wave I Review: Scope changes and priority changes caused delivery of the ALMA imaging capability to the Pilot to be delayed, also pushing back slightly the date for the Process Assessment and Lessons Learned Review. New Mexico Operations – 23 milestones Milestone 8.5.17 – NM Continuing Education: No staff available in New Mexico. Milestone 8.5.20 – VLBA Final Fiber Service Analysis Report: Due to delays with coordination of contracts and procurement management when dealing with the DOE at Los Alamos and in dealing with the University of New Hampshire, both Los Alamos (LA) and Hancock (HN) will not have the Fiber install completed until December 2020. Milestone 8.5.21 – VLBA St. Croix Repairs - Develop RfP for Steel Repairs and Antenna Painting: Delivered 2 months late as Engineering Services needed more time to better define the scope of the work required. Milestone 8.5.22 – VLBA St. Croix Repairs - Issue Contracts for Steel Repairs and Antenna Painting: Delay in the previous milestone 8.5.21 caused a delay in this milestone. Milestone 8.5.23 – Manage and track Astro2020 Decadal Survey submission package content for ngVLA: Delays in the submission date enabled the ngVLA project team to further review and refine the proposal documentation. CDL – 19 milestones Milestone 8.5.28 – CDL Continuing Education; Training was scheduled and completed two weeks late. ALMA Development – 3 milestones Milestone 8.5.32 – ALMA Correlator Upgrade Critical Design Review: Project cancelled. Milestone 8.5.33 – ALMA Band 6v2 Receiver Upgrade Project Kickoff: Project cancelled.


9 EDUCATION AND PUBLIC OUTREACH

The small EPO team considered an ambitious set of projects in 2019, completed all milestones, and left room for additional opportunities in all four divisions. The STEAM Education team was slowed down with a turnover in senior staff, but made significant progress in building relationships in both the Socorro and Charlottesville communities. News and Public Information kept pace with the discoveries made possible with NRAO’s observatories and stretched into new areas with quarterly feature articles, offering professional development workshops for press officers and hosting press receptions. The visitor center at the VLA underwent additional improvement with new multimedia content (posters and videos), and continued to welcome over 20,000 visitors for guided tours, self-guided tours, and open houses. The multimedia group supported all these efforts and took the lead on new web pages, broader dissemination of NRAO content, and new video formats while formalizing their asset management.

STEAM Education and Outreach

Sister Cities and Observatories: This NRAO-funded program partners two high school students who live near the VLA in New Mexico with two high school students who live near the ALMA site in northern Chile in a joint cultural/learning exchange, using a scientific experiment as a thread of inquiry between them. Informed by a needs assessment conducted last year, the program transitioned to a 10-day exchange. The first cohort from Magdalena, NM traveled to San Pedro and ALMA in the spring and the first cohort from Chile traveled to New Mexico in October. Radio Astronomy & Physics – New Mexico (RAP-NM): This residential summer camp transitioned to a day camp in FY2019. The one-week day camp on the NM Tech campus offers access to remote telescopes through the Skynet Junior Scholars program, Spider 300a, and a VLA tour. The camp strives to provide a learning environment for rising 9th grade students to participate in an immersive science research experience. Students engage in lessons and hands-on activities designed to enhance their knowledge and enthusiasm for science, physics, and astronomy, with extra emphasis on radio astronomy and physics. In spite of a rigorous recruiting effort, the camp was cancelled for low enrollment. Community Outreach: Outreach in both Charlottesville and Socorro was supported by the STEAM Ed team. Events included:

• New Mexico Enchanted Skies Star Party • Civil Air Patrol’s celebration of the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11 • Sarracino Middle School Science Night, Socorro • Parkview Elementary School Science and Math Night, Socorro • RAP-NM recruiting visits to Magdalena and Sarracino middle schools • Lunar Eclipse education sessions at Socorro and Magdalena libraries • Universe of Stories at Socorro Public Library summer reading program • NM Tech Technical Communication class • Piedmont VA Community College (PVCC) Career Fair, October 2019 • Astronomy Festival on the National Mall • Burley Middle School in Charlottesville, VA

AATF Think Tank: STEAM Ed team partnered with Charlottesville African American Teaching Fellows (AATF) to pilot a STEAM Education Think Tank Program. The Think Tank created a set of 20 cross-curriculum scaffolded lesson plans for elementary through high school classrooms. The lesson plans are tied to the Virginia Standards of Learning (SOLs) and Common Core standards. The pilot program ran


from October 15, 2018-June 30, 2019 with a cohort of six members who delivered the first set of lesson plans. FY2020 will focus on pilot testing and refining the lessons for broader distribution.

In FY2019, EPO surveyed the influencers in our local NM and VA communities to identify the needs of these communities. This survey informed plans for FY2020. On-the-Spot Assessment to improve Scientist Engagement with the Public: In FY2019, the Astronomical Society of the Pacific was awarded NSF Division of Research in Learning (DRL) Award #1811022, On-the-Spot Assessment to Improve Scientist Engagement with the Public with NRAO EPO as a subaward. In April, NRAO convened a meeting of the grant stakeholders and advisors, including members of the AAS and AAAS professional development teams working with scientists to improve their outreach communication skills. This meeting has informed the development of professional development modules that will be implemented by NRAO EPO staff at the winter AAS workshop.

News and Public Information

Press Releases: VLA: 5 Press releases VLBA: 2 Press releases NRAO: 3 Press releases, 3 Announcements ALMA: 15 Press releases, 4 Announcements Society Newsroom Collaborations: Throughout the year, staff members work closely with the American Astronomical Society (AAS) and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) press offices to identify and publicize newsworthy results at their flagship scientific meetings, which draw a large contingent of national and international news media. NRAO hosted a workshop for public information officers at the 233rd AAS Meeting, January 2019 in Seattle, Washington to address the changing needs of reporters, a reporter reception to feature the new initiatives of the Observatory, and two press conferences to highlight discoveries made possible by ALMA and the VLA. Feature News: The news staff took steps to move from traditional hard news press release writing to also offer more feature-oriented writing. The goal was to publish one feature story each quarter, which we exceeded:

• ALMA Shows Birth of Spiraling Giants https://public.nrao.edu/news/2019-alma-image-spiral-stars/ • Tale As Old As Time https://public.nrao.edu/news/tale-as-old-as-time/ • Planetary Rings of Uranus Glow in Cold Light https://public.nrao.edu/news/2019-alma-rings-

uranus/ • Moon-forming Circumplanetary Disk Discovered https://public.nrao.edu/news/2019-alma-

circumplanetary/ • The Giant in Our Back Yard https://public.nrao.edu/news/2019-the-giant-in-our-backyard/ • From Cells to Galaxies and Beyond https://public.nrao.edu/news/from-cells-to-galaxies-and-

beyond/ Liaison with ALMA Partners: As part of the NRAO collaboration with its ALMA partners, the NRAO public information office coordinates its ALMA media relations efforts with each partner and the JAO. This ensures the broadest possible exposure for ALMA news while maintaining the autonomy and individual outreach goals for each partner.

https://public.nrao.edu/news/2019-alma-image-spiral-stars/

https://public.nrao.edu/news/tale-as-old-as-time/

https://public.nrao.edu/news/2019-alma-rings-uranus/

https://public.nrao.edu/news/2019-alma-rings-uranus/

https://public.nrao.edu/news/2019-alma-circumplanetary/

https://public.nrao.edu/news/2019-alma-circumplanetary/

https://public.nrao.edu/news/2019-the-giant-in-our-backyard/

https://public.nrao.edu/news/from-cells-to-galaxies-and-beyond/

https://public.nrao.edu/news/from-cells-to-galaxies-and-beyond/


Project-level Support: Media relations also supports NRAO projects by developing media plans and providing outreach expertise for NRAO projects like ngVLA and VLASS. The GBO ended it Service Level Agreement with NRAO for media relations support when they got their own media specialist.

Multimedia Engagement

A dedicated, creative team of animators, artists, illustrators, designers, writers, and web developers designed and developed unique multimedia materials, in support of the news and information page, social media, and STEAM efforts, as well as creating new products that were distributed through the public-facing website, school programs, and the VLA Visitor Center. Web Maintenance and Best Practices: EPO performed routine maintenance of the public website with consistent software updates to enhance front and back end efficiency and security. Digital Asset Management: The EPO team has instituted a new workflow to outfit content, artist impressions, and science images with appropriate metadata and upload them to sites such as Worldwide Telescope, AstroPix, and Data2Dome. VLASS QuickLook Images: With VLASS generating large data volumes, EPO sees an opportunity to reach a wider audience by taking the first epoch images as they become available and exporting them to the Worldwide Telescope site. The pipeline for the images is not yet ready to flow images to these sources. Individual images are featured on the VLASS web page https://public.nrao.edu/gallery/vlass/ Augmented and Virtual Reality: Augmented Reality (AR) is a combination of the virtual world and the real world, made by computer. After exploring both AR and VR options, NRAO is poised to create virtual landscapes with ngVLA, VLA, and ALMA dishes for the Oculus platform. Limited Release Posters: Multimedia artists created a limited release set of posters that follow a set style, theme, and/or topic for ALMA discoveries. They are available for download in the gallery: https://public.nrao.edu/gallery-search/?search_text=+poster&search_type=release Additional promotional posters for the three NRAO Observatories were designed by Tyler Nordgren and are available for sale at the VLA Visitor Center Gift Shop.

Figure 9.3.1: Tyler Nordgren poster series

https://public.nrao.edu/gallery/vlass/

https://public.nrao.edu/gallery-search/?search_text=+poster&search_type=release


Hosted Video Pipeline Development: To create a more engaging and easily shareable delivery mechanism for NRAO content, the Multimedia group researched and created, a production pipeline process for timely delivery of high-quality informative video products with an on-screen host. Work began on a test implementation of the pipeline at the end of the fiscal year and will result in the first video released by the end of the calendar year. Online Merchandise Store: The goal of creating an online store has stalled, primarily because of the dearth of experienced retail staff in Socorro. New Web pages launched:

• New interactive web app was launched: https://public.nrao.edu/interferometry-explained/ • VLA Webcam page launched: https://public.nrao.edu/vla-webcam/ • VLBA web pages were established after the reintegration of VLBA into NRAO:

https://public.nrao.edu/telescopes/vlba/ • Ask an Astronomer Blog was migrated to the public website. https://public.nrao.edu/ask/ • What configuration is the VLA in right now? An interactive map linked to the configuration

schedule: https://public.nrao.edu/vla-configurations/ Social Media Programs: Followers increased on all three social media platforms, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Increased efforts to coordinate with influencers like NASA on themes related to radio astronomy content (i.e, Black Hole Week) and NSF have led to positive cross postings and boosts in followers. Blog: EPO has designed a dedicated blog to interpret the science cases through stories, images, and data visualizations. Nineteen blogs were published on the public website https://public.nrao.edu/blogs/ in FY19. NSF New Logo Guidelines: EPO implemented changes to the style and placement of the NSF logo on the NRAO public website based on the new NSF branding guidelines. VLBA Web Presence: With the reintegration of VLBA into NRAO, the appropriate breadth of the VLBA presence on the public site was reviewed and established. In coordination with VLBA leadership, EPO will plan and develop the VLBA web presence and integrate content where appropriate.

Note that ngVLA multimedia efforts are mentioned in Section 4.3.6

Visitor Center Operations

NRAO operates a small visitor center at the VLA, west of Magdalena, NM. The site has indoor and outdoor public exhibits, a small auditorium, a gift shop, and monthly tour program. The VLA served 22,755 visitors, plus 1287 local and international students and tour groups receive special tours. EPO continued to make incremental upgrades to improve the visitor experience:

• The tours were updated to include information about VLASS and ngVLA. • The informational posters were updated to reflect the reintegration of VLBA into NRAO • New posters were created to share the vision for ngVLA. • The lobby was renovated, walls patched and painted, new posters mounted. • A Penny Crunching Machine installed.

https://public.nrao.edu/interferometry-explained/

https://public.nrao.edu/vla-webcam/

https://public.nrao.edu/telescopes/vlba/

https://public.nrao.edu/ask/

https://public.nrao.edu/vla-configurations/

https://public.nrao.edu/blogs/


• The Amazing Cart of Science was delivered and is ready to integrate hands on activities and demonstrations into the visitor experience.

Open Houses: The VLA hosts open house events on the first Saturday of April and October. These events waive the admission fee and call on over a dozen volunteers from the operations, science, and engineering staff to assist with enhanced tours and demonstrations at the array site. Attendance at the October 2018 Open House was 782, and 513 at the April 2019 Open House.

EPO Milestone Summary

Of 21 milestones, 20 were completed on time. One was early, and one was cancelled. Milestone 9.5.15 – Recruiting of RAP-NM participants: Rigorous recruiting but low enrollment. Camp cancelled.


10 COMPUTING AND INFORMATION SERVICES

Computing and Information Services (CIS) support staff is matrixed into the DMS department. This ensures transparent sharing of highly skilled Information Services resources for telescope-supporting science responsibilities (tracked under DMS), and general staff IT support duties (tracked under CIS within Facilities and Administration).

Observatory-Wide Support

Common Computing Environments (CCE): The CCE group continued to coordinate and prioritizes NRAO-wide computing projects and initiatives between the sites throughout FY2019, facilitated by the annual system administrators workshop. Major CCE objectives for FY2019 were the successful rollout of Windows 10 to all supported desktop/laptop systems and migration of the default Unix platform to Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 7 OS for workstations and key servers. Additionally, the Mac platform was moved to macOS High Sierra (10.13) and then to Mojave (10.14). The method by which virtual machines are built and managed was compared between the Linux and Windows platforms with the decision to standardize on oVert for RHEL and HyperV for Windows. In addition, good progress was made on relieving the facilities pressure in NM by leveraging a new Data Center managed by New Mexico Tech which is being used to host the backup instance of the NRAO Science Data Archive. A study has been initiated by Facilities and Administration to understand to options for improving the operational stability of the DSOC computer room with focus on improving power and cooling reliability. Communications and Network: Good progress was made in FY2019 by improving the reproducibility of the externally visible network scanning tool by adoption of the commercially available Hacker Target scanning tool. In addition, the positive evaluation of the Insight vulnerability assessment tool form Rapid7 lead to adoption in Q4 for internal scanning of computers to verify patching and configuration. An initial design for the ngVLA wide area network infrastructure was published by the Long Haul Fiber Working Group which clearly identified this sub-system as a critical path issue for both construction and operations. Computing Security: CIS Security delivered the Securing the Human online cyber security awareness and multi-tier in-person staff training for current and new employees in Q4; one quarter later than planned to avoid mandatory anti-harassment training required by HR in Q4. Informed by a six-month engagement with the NSF-sponsored TrustedCI (NSF Cybersecurity Center of Excellence) in FY2018, CIS initiated several initiatives to improve the overall efficiency and effectiveness of the cyber security program. Most significant was the hiring of a Cyber Security Specialist in Q3 followed by the adoption of the Center for Internet Security framework against which current infrastructure can be quantifiably measured. In parallel, the evaluation of the YubiKey two factor authentication technology showed promise for future adoption where additional access assurance is deemed necessary. Web Support: Key web services, including the Plone content management system used on the science and information sites, the wiki platform used to support collaborations, and the Atlassian suite used for Open Source software development support were all upgraded to address performance, bugs, and security concerns.


Site Specific Facilities Infrastructure

In conjunction with NM Operations, CIS and CAP coordinated the effort of partnering with network service providers to install fiber optic infrastructure to three additional VLBA sites; Fort Davis TX, Brewster WA, and St. Croix VI. Initially, this service has been provisioned to a maximum of 200 Mbps to limit operating cost during the project, but bandwidths of 10Gbps will be possible in the future over the same fiber. CIS worked on the replacement of the end-of-life Quadruple Data Rate (QDR) InfiniBand system area network with the purchase of Extended Data Rate (EDR) equipment, which is backwardly compatible with QDR to allow for a phased upgrade campaign. The network filers used for shared storage at each site are on a periodic replacement schedule to ensure reliability, supportability, and capacity. The NM filer was replaced in FY2019 and CIS is now leveraging this solution to provide storage area network capacity in support of Virtual Machine (VM) architectures.


Notice of end-of-support has been received from the vendor of NRAO’s standard H-323 based video conference systems used to connect ~30 meeting rooms throughout the Observatory. CIS has made good progress on the replacement of these systems in FY2019 in addition to employing cloud video conferencing services for larger events with participation from non-employees. FY2019 also saw an extension of the Microsoft Campus license agreement with continued evaluation of the Office 365 cloud solution.

CIS Milestone Summary

Of 16 milestones, 15 were completed on time; one was completed with a three-month delay. Milestone 10.4.8 – Cyber security training: This was delayed due to the Observatory’s commitment to mandatory anti-harassment training. It was decided to deliver both the in-person briefings and the on-line Securing the Human training during Q4 which was completed in Q4.


11 OFFICE OF DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION

The Office of Diversity and Inclusion (ODI) was established in FY2015 to support NRAO in achieving its core mission goals by increasing staff diversity and inclusion across the Observatory, developing and implementing programs to improve the recruitment, retention and success of under-represented and under-served students and staff members, and fostering a work environment that is inclusive of all individuals. In FY2019, the ODI Director worked closely with HR, EPO, and SSR to develop and maintain programs that affect the NRAO work force, broader impact efforts, new and ongoing pipeline initiatives, and the internal NRAO culture and climate. Diversity and Cultural Awareness - Online Training: NRAO continues to focus on education and training related to the importance of a diverse workforce and inclusive environment. In FY2019, ODI and HR introduced a fresh set of online training modules that address current and emerging diversity and inclusion, and HR-related topics. Diversity & Inclusion Advocates and Employee Diversity Group (EDG) members, summer student mentors, and hiring managers, are assigned sets of courses to take as part of their roles. All courses were made available to all members of NRAO staff on a volunteer basis, and include.

Code of Conduct (required) Diversity in the Modern Workforce Managing Bias Treating People with Respect Harassment and Discrimination Prevention Identifying Candidates

While most courses are voluntary, in FY2019 managers and supervisors were encouraged to include diversity training in the employees’ Performance Evaluation Process (PEP) goals, resulting in more employee engagement over the course of the year. Before serving on search committees, members are required to complete training on Implicit Bias. Diversity Advocates and Employee Diversity Groups: In FY2019, the Diversity Advocates (DA) and Employee Diversity Groups (EDGs) members (located in Virginia, New Mexico, and Chile), completed a comprehensive approximately 60-hour, 10-month training program based upon the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research/ National Center for Atmospheric Research’s Equity and Inclusion (UCAR/NCAR’s UNEION) training plan, designed to increase awareness of diversity and inclusion-related issues, and to provide skills for addressing issues that arise in the workplace. In FY2019, there were a total of five Diversity Advocates and seven EDG members across the Observatory (Chile, NM, and Charlottesville).

Local and National Programs

NRAO’s national programs continued to grow and develop, resulting in important hands-on training for the next generation of scientists and engineers, from undergraduate to post-doctoral levels, with particular emphasis on reaching under-served and under-represented communities. Louis Stoke Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP) Virginia-North Carolina Alliance: NRAO’s participation in the NSF-awarded LSAMP resulted in internships for two students at NRAO’s Central Development Lab (CDL). Because the LSAMP program has similar goals to the NAC program (though not intended to be year-long), NRAO incorporates the LSAMP students into the NAC program to take advantage of the additional resources available through the NAC.


The 2019 National Astronomy Consortium (NAC): The NAC placed 16 undergraduate students (including the two afore-mentioned LSAMP students), from community colleges and universities across the country, with trained mentors at NRAO (Headquarters and Socorro), and four additional partner sites (Space Telescope Science Institute, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Michigan State University, and Princeton University). Three of these participants were NAC alums returning to engage in new research experiences, or to continue with on-going research. Students were recruited from partner Minority-Serving Institutions (MSI) and Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU), and through targeted outreach to Hispanic-serving Institutions (HSIs). The NAC students interacted with Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) students for shared activities (colloquia, site visits, lectures, etc.), and worked on original research projects with their mentors. The NAC program includes participation by the students in professional development workshops, attendance at weekly meetings with opportunities to present their research, and participation in diversity-related talks by invited speakers. New in FY2019, NAC students, along with LSAMP students from the VA-NC Alliance partnership universities, were invited to attend a two-day workshop on Project Management at the Green Bank Observatory in West Virginia.

Figure 11.1.1: The NAC Cohort Annual NAC Meeting:

Figure 11.1.2: Annual NAC meeting


The NAC VII workshop was held September 13–15, 2019 in Washington, DC, with 13 of the 15 NAC VII cohort in attendance, along with 7 NAC Grad alums. The workshop featured a Friday evening reception (networking opportunity) with representatives from the NSF, AUI, the National Society of Black Physicists (NSBP), the American Physical Society (APS), the University of Maryland, and NASA. The NAC VII workshop featured presentations by the NAC VII cohort on their summer research projects and by NAC Grad alums on their graduate research projects. Also featured were invited speakers from the NSF, the NSBP, the APS, the University of Maryland’s Graduate Resources Advancing Diversity with Maryland Astronomy and Physics (GRAD-MAP) program, the American Institute of Physics (AIP), and NASA. As always, an important component of the NAC workshop was the opportunity for the most recent NAC cohort to bond with each other, and with the near-peer NAC Grad alums. This cohort-building goal was supported by group activities facilitated by the Grad alums, and by Dr. Renee Horton, past-president of the NSBP.

Figure 11.1.3: NAC Alumni

NAC Alum Program: FY2019 marked the seventh year of NAC programming, resulting in 66 active NAC alums. Nearly half of these alums (27) are now in graduate school and (1) post-doc; most of the remaining alums are still undergraduates. While there have been a number of successful efforts designed to build and maintain peer-mentoring relationships across cohorts, in FY2018, NRAO collaborated with three NAC graduate students (Moiya McTier, Sinclaire Manning, and Chima McGruder) to develop a more formalized plan for NAC alum engagement and support: the Council of Representatives for Engagement (CORE). In FY2019, CORE representatives organized and facilitated monthly webinars for all NAC alums designed to offer a venue for alums to strengthen their peer-network, provide a mechanism for NAC students to report barriers to their success, and offer students emotional-social support and professional development opportunities. RADIAL – Radio Astronomy Data Imaging and Analysis Labs: RADIAL’s mission is to use radio astronomy as a means to contribute to the development of a diverse STEM workforce with transferable skills relevant for a rapidly changing workplace and society. RADIAL has been designed from the outset as a coordinated network of partners including, but not limited to, the NRAO, a diverse group of minority-serving institutions (MSIs) in the USA, industry, non-governmental organizations, and international partners in Honduras, South Africa, and Trinidad and Tobago. RADIAL’s objective is to provide MSIs with computer hardware and data sets in order for MSIs to use radio astronomy’s big data problem as the


science problem to improve their offering in astronomy and data science through the development of a hands-on curriculum, professional development program, and experiential training opportunities. The RADIAL concept was introduced at the National Society of Black Physicists Meeting in Columbus, Ohio in November 2018, and was followed by an Expression of Interest Meeting in Atlanta, Georgia in January 2019. Based on the level of interest received, a Project Director for RADIAL was appointed in May 2019 to initiate the project, secure partners, and start the fundraising process. The first RADIAL Development Lab was held in Washington, DC in September 2019, during which NRAO and its RADIAL partners defined the scope for the project and the outline of the implementation plan for the first three years of the project. RADIAL’s goal is to have a network consisting of ten partner MSIs, of which it has already secured five partners, four from the USA and one from Trinidad and Tobago. ngVLA – Next Generation Very Large Array: The Office of Diversity and Inclusion, in partnership with EPO, worked with the ngVLA leadership team to develop a Broader Impacts (BI) plan that takes advantage of the many opportunities, across a number of disciplines, for broadening the impact of the ngVLA project to a wide range of stakeholders. BI will deliver knowledge and Broadening Participation (BP) opportunities to scientists and engineers, the public, k-12 through graduate students, and the next generation of scientists and engineers in the field of astronomy. The ngVLA Broader Impacts plan includes a Broader Impacts IPT lead whose work will focus on identifying, developing, and tracking the many BI activities available through the ngVLA project. In FY2019, ODI worked closely with EPO to identify areas of potential collaboration, to include facilitating NAC and NINE student participation and resources to increase Broadening Participation in ngVLA science, engineering, EPO, and other activities. Radio Astronomy and Physics – New Mexico (RAP-NM) Program: The RAP-NM program is a summer camp experience for rising ninth-graders from the Socorro, NM area. This program is developed and implemented by NRAO’s Education and Public Outreach (EPO) department, and is partially supported by the ODI office through the support of undergraduate student mentors. Due to low registration, the FY2019 RAP-NM program was cancelled.

International Partnerships

NRAO International Exchange Program (NINE)

NINE provides practical skills development opportunities for participants from under-represented minorities or developing countries. Participants complete an intense summer training program at NRAO designed to teach skills relevant to the design, construction and operations of a radio astronomy observatory, as well as project management. Each participant is then required, upon returning to their home location, to establish a NINE Hub and take on the role of a NINE trainer in the specific skill/s learnt. The anticipated outcome of this program will be worldwide partnerships with fast growing radio astronomy communities designed to facilitate the exchange of NINE trainers. New NINE Hubs: Two new NINE Hubs were created in FY2019: National Autonomous University of Honduras (UNAH) and Texas Tech University (TTU), a Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI). The 2019 NINE participants, Alejandro Saravia (National Autonomous University of Honduras) and Heather Harbin (Texas Tech University), completed technical projects in which they built Python command-line tools using Raspberry Pi hardware and VLASS imaging. Alejandro and Heather also drafted a project plan for the establishment of the Honduras NINE Hub and Texas Tech Hub, respectively. The participants were mentored by NRAO Scientist, Dr Brian Kent (Technical), and RADIAL Project Director, Anja Fourie (Project Management).


NINE Growth: The establishment of the Honduras Hub is the next step in the development and strengthening of a regional NINE Hub in the Caribbean and Central America, following participation by Jason Renwick from the University of the West Indies in 2018. NRAO also reached agreement with AlphaCen, an association of Central American astrophysicists with the goal to support the development of astrophysics research in the area, to invest in the development of a regional NINE Hub over the next three years. The Chile Research Experience for Undergrads program: The Chile REU program, led by Antonio Hales, provided research experiences to three students from Dec-March, 2019. Students accepted in the ODI-Chile summer research program come from universities without research opportunities, which limit opportunities for graduate school. The research was conducted in the offices of the Joint ALMA Observatory (JOA), under supervision of NRAO/ALMA staff.

ODI Milestone Summary

Of nine milestone deadlines, eight were completed on time. One, RAMP-UP at the Hampton University Hub, was cancelled due to the loss of the Hub lead. Milestone 11.3.1 – Diversity Council Meeting and Diversity and Cultural Awareness (DCA) activities: Quarterly meetings were held in which members of the ODI Diversity Council were updated on ODI activities and where advice and suggestions were solicited. One meeting was held just outside the quarter in which it was due. Milestone 11.3.3 – RAMP-UP: Cancelled due to low registration.


12 HUMAN RESOURCES

Human Resources (HR) serves as a strategic partner across the NRAO and is committed to providing the highest caliber of advice, guidance, and collaboration in providing human resources services. HR will continue its leadership role in providing services in support of the NRAO’s vision by promoting the concept that our employees are the most valuable NRAO resource and will be treated as such. The HR department continues to act as a catalyst to enable all staff to contribute at optimum levels toward the success of the NRAO. The HR mission is to provide a sense of approachability, professionalism, and transparency through internal consulting, problem resolution, and the provision of efficient, customer-responsive human resource services. HR strives to:

• Recruit and retain dedicated and highly qualified employees; • Develop and recognize individual and group performance; • Maintain competitive compensation and benefit programs; and • Provide employee relations support that balances the needs of staff and management.

NRAO has benefited from decades of unique and highly skilled staff effort. Moving forward, a focus on knowledge capture and staff renewal is necessary to position the Observatory to achieve new initiatives. The HR department provides professional service and administrative expertise in response to the changing needs of the organization, to optimize the contribution of employees to the organizational mission, and to support their well-being. HR activities and staff are headquartered in Charlottesville in support of NRAO and ALMA with additional HR staff support and offices in Green Bank and Socorro. HR areas of responsibility include workforce management, policy development and administration, training and development, compensation, benefits administration, employment (including recruitment and hiring, diversity), and human resources (including employee relations, Human Resource Information System [HRIS], regulatory compliance, HR oversight of NRAO International Staff in Chile, and support of HR staff in the JAO and OCA). HR works closely with AUI Benefits to strategically align employee benefits offerings to the organizational mission.

Workforce Management

Human Resources continued to partner with Budget to engage stakeholders across the Observatory in coordinating appropriate and efficient staffing levels. The Observatory’s strategic initiatives require new talent (skills and staffing). Succession planning continued to be an important component of the Workforce Management Plan (WMP) and was incorporated into the updated staffing model. The other critical WMP component is training and skills development. HR continued to create opportunities to ensure that staff had access to training and development opportunities.

Training and Development

The Professional Development Central Pool provided funds and opportunities for staff to complete individual programs addressing specific skills needed to advance in their careers. Staff members continued to apply for funding to take advantage of a variety of trainings and certifications. Managers included professional development goals in employee performance goals and are continuously encouraged to have professional development discussions with their staff. Training and development opportunities are a good attraction and retention strategy and was also beneficial in increasing employee engagement and morale.


Developing the next generation of leaders within the Observatory is paramount to its future. The generational switch in the next five to ten years will leave the organization with a leadership void as today’s leaders exit the workplace and the next generation of leaders need to be ready to step into these roles. Professional Development: Professional Development Central Pool, FY2019 Spend Information:

• 76 Requests from Individuals Approved • 76 Managers trained through the Mid-Managers Training Series

Location % of Participants % of Approved Spend Charlottesville 33% 28% Green Bank 43% 49% Socorro 24% 23%

Employees attended a variety of trainings, courses, and conferences. A few examples include: Autodesk Inventor Introduction to Solid Modeling Auto Cad onsite training Mastercam 3D Mill Class / Mastercam 5 Axis Python Fundamentals Petroleum Storage Tank Operator Training Basic Motor Grader Operation Chiller Training Software Architecture: Principles and Practices Excel Seminar Project Management Certification Mediation Certification Observatory Leadership Cohort Training: The Observatory Leadership Cohort Pilot program was implemented in November 2018, and concluded in September 2019. The Cohort concept was the next step for the Observatories’ succession planning efforts, which aimed to provide high-level leadership training for rising leaders and potential senior managers from within NRAO. This Cohort was a result of a year-long planning process by HR staff in FY2018. Throughout FY2019, the pilot Cohort participated in three face-to-face workshops facilitated by an outside trainer, created individual development plans, and charted a course for a possible career as a leader within the organization. The Cohort split into teams to present a project idea that can be implemented Observatory-wide. Throughout the year, Cohort members provided feedback about the program in the form of interviews and structured surveys. This information will be used to facilitate and structure future Cohorts within the Observatory that reflects NRAO’s culture and leadership philosophy. The pilot year participants were selected through the Observatory’s succession planning process. It is the intention that future cohorts will be offered as an open call for applications, allowing individuals interested in leading to self-identify.


Figure 12.2.1: 2019 Observatory Leadership Cohort – Graduation Ceremony https://info.nrao.edu/hr/hr/Prof-Development/copy_of_Prof-Development Mid-Career Management Training: Due to a compressed workforce that is over 50% Baby Boomer, the 25% of mid-career Generation X have been managing the same workforce and tasks for a significant time during their work at the Observatory. This generation of mid-career managers have been stagnant in their career due to limited opportunity to grow because of the Observatory’s demographics. It is believed that this group has progressed beyond the Cohort level, but could benefit from targeted personnel management training to help refresh their skills and prepare for future leadership opportunities. During FY2019, Human Resources engaged with this group of mid-career managers to explore what trainings might be useful to help reinvigorate and enhance leadership skills for this section of the workforce. The trainings were well attended as referenced above—76 managers across the sites participated.

Compensation

The HR Department’s Compensation function analyzes market data and provides program solutions in support of the Observatory’s Total Rewards philosophy. JDE Compensation Management Module Implementation: The fourth quarter of FY2018 was spent evaluating the functionality and feasibility of implementing the JDE Compensation Management Module. The module was built in the test environment and testing was completed. During Q1, HR partnered with MIS to move the module from the test environment to the production environment. The goal was to complete the FY2019 salary review process for all exempt employees in the JDE Module. The FY2019 salary review process was scheduled to take place in January 2019. Further testing and planning will continue to evaluate whether HR is able to complete salary review for non-exempt employees in the JDE Module. Total Rewards Strategy Evaluation/Analysis and Executive Workshop Session: AUI contracted with Aon Consulting to conduct a Benefit and Compensation Benchmark study. AUI benefits were compared to 22 other Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDCs) within Aon’s book of business. Market comparisons on 80 titles covering 70% of the workforce were collected and analyzed. These components were synthesized into a total rewards benchmark report. Representatives from Benefits and HR presented the results of this study to the executive team and AD level managers.

https://info.nrao.edu/hr/hr/Prof-Development/copy_of_Prof-Development


Variable Pay Plan and Performance Bonus Structure: At the request of AUI and to ensure HR is appropriately positioned to meet total reward goals, the framework for a variable pay plan was designed in Q4. The variable pay plan complemented the existing performance evaluation process and will be used initially to set incentive bonus payments for corporate management. The goal of the variable pay plan was to create an objective, transparent, and motivating structure focused on achieving corporate and/or strategic goals.

Benefits

For 60+ years, AUI had contracted with Cigna Healthcare for employee medical benefits. Every three years, AUI solicits for medical coverage bids. This year’s process resulted in three competitive responses from carriers interested in providing health care coverage for AUI/NRAO, including Cigna. Through interviews, vetting of financials, assessment of carrier capabilities, customer service, network availability, and administrative fees, the AUI Benefits Committee recommended, and AUI Leadership approved, moving medical coverage from Cigna to Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield (BC/BS) effective 1 January 2019. Benefits and HR guided employees through open enrollment to ensure a smooth transition of medical carriers. Benefits partnered with HR and MIS to conduct a full HRIS DBA (codes that drive payroll) audit. This audit prepared the system for the launch of self-services for electronic benefits changes outside of the open enrollment window.

Recruitment/Employment

The Recruitment/Employment function of the HR Department is the first point of contact prospective employees experience with NRAO. The strategies and tactics deployed in the recruitment and hiring of qualified candidates are key to achieving the overall Observatory mission, and to delivering on NRAO’s commitment to diversity. HR partnered closely with ODI and will continue to monitor and evaluate applicant pools and demographic information to ensure continued outreach to underrepresented populations. The establishment and communication of metrics regarding recruitment and hiring is an important part of continued assessment and monitoring of our recruitment efforts to improve workforce demographics. HR enhanced metrics, provided analysis and data related to those metrics, and generated and reported metrics related to diversity resources, return on investment, hires, and pipeline data. HR continued to elevate our current mission of ensuring a transparent, fair, and equitable recruitment process. HR collaborated closely with ODI, EPO, and community groups to solidify our pipeline of diverse and underrepresented pools of qualified applicants. To strengthen talent pipelines, HR creates, maintains, and shares resources and training for hiring managers and stakeholders across the Observatory to enable the development of relationships within these networks. Social media is a powerful and robust recruiting platform. HR continued to develop partnerships with targeted recruitment sites including LinkedIn, Glassdoor, and Stack Overflow. HR further developed the improvement and enhancement of our presence on major advertising sites and further developed our recruitment efforts. HR posted and promoted the Observatory with a focus on outreach to passive, highly skilled talent. HR and the Executive Administrator in the Director’s Office updated and improved the branding of the Observatory on these platforms, and NRAO is beginning to see a return on investment regarding these sources. Members of the HR Team attended recruitment fairs and worked with hiring managers to explore co-op and internship opportunities with a focus on continued pipeline building.


Figure 12.5.1: Faye Giles, HR Director, and Candice Waller, HR assistant,

Recruitment/Employment Status – FY2019

Total Hires

FY2014 46

FY2015 76

FY2016 78

FY2017 82

FY2018 105

FY2019 91

44 Job Vacancies Observatory-wide

Open Positions: • Chile 3 • CV 23 • GBO 4 • NM 14


HR Support

HR administered an employee climate survey during Q2. This survey encompassed benefits, diversity and inclusion, leadership, engagement, and morale. The consulting firm, Mercer, was retained to provide technical support and tools to build, release, and compile survey results. Medical Marijuana: HR researched and evaluated implications of state legalized regulations regarding medical marijuana and possible impact to hiring and federal regulations. As FFRDCs, AUI’s centers are required to comply with the Drug Free Workplace Act of 1988. As such, the HR policy addressing substance abuse must be fully supported from the standpoint of Federal versus States regulations. HR will continue to administer the policy governing pre-employment/safety sensitive testing and reasonable suspicion testing. HR must continue to be watchful as the landscape changes regarding medical marijuana. The complexities associated with the different diseases being treated and the effect of the marijuana being prescribed is still being evaluated and documented.

HR Milestone Summary

Of 14 milestone deadlines, all 14 were completed on time.


13 SCIENCE COMMUNICATIONS

The Science Communications Office (SciCom) collaborated with scientific staff and the Director’s Office to communicate NRAO science, vision, accomplishments, and plans to the science community, NRAO/AUI staff, and key external stakeholders, including NRAO advisory committees, and the NSF.

In FY2019, SciCom organized an effective Observatory presence at major science community meetings, including the semi-annual AAS meetings, the AAAS Annual Meeting, and the annual SuperComputing conference (SC18).

The winter AAS meeting was held 6–10 January 2019 at the Washington State Convention and Trade Center in Seattle. Four NRAO event proposals were accepted and scheduled for this AAS meeting: (1) an evening NRAO Town Hall and reception; (2) a Special Session titled Theoretical Advances Guided by RadioMillimeter-Submillimeter Arrays; (3) a Special Session titled Exploring our Cosmic Origins: New Results from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array; and (4) a Special Session focused on the science and opportunities of the Very Large Array Sky Survey. SciCom also organized and led NRAO participation at this winter AAS in: (a) the four-day Exhibition; (b) the Undergraduate Orientation and Graduate Student Fair that immediately preceded the Opening Reception; (c) the Student Pavilion that was open throughout the meeting; and (d) local EPO events sponsored by AUI and the AAS. The summer AAS meeting was held 9–13 June 2019 in St. Louis, Missouri. SciCom organized and led NRAO participation at the summer 2019 AAS in: (a) the four-day Exhibition; (b) the Undergraduate Orientation and Graduate Student Fair; (c) the Student Pavilion; and (d) local EPO events sponsored by AUI and the AAS. To help communicate NRAO science to the broader scientific community, SciCom worked with the Director’s Office and the ngVLA Project Office to propose and organize a science symposium for the 2019 AAAS Annual Meeting, which was held 14–17 February 2019 in Washington D.C. Titled Multi-Messenger Astrophysics: Gravitational and Radio-wave Synergies, this 90-minute symposium chaired by ngVLA Project Scientist Eric Murphy featured three speakers. A science symposium proposal was organized and submitted by SciCom in April 2019 for the 2020 AAAS Annual Meeting (13–17 February 2020, Seattle, Washington) and has been accepted. Titled Detecting Extraterrestrial Technologies and Life, this symposium will feature a diverse set of speakers who will describe how the extraordinary progress in the astronomical discovery and characterization of exoplanets is motivating renewed investment in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence at NASA, in the private sector, and among philanthropic organizations. This symposium will also examine how technosignature research and development is rapidly advancing and influencing the astronomy community's exoplanet research strategies and tactics.

SciCom designed and published the 2018 NRAO Annual Report in FY2019. This report features calendar year 2018 science highlights from the community and NRAO scientific staff; major accomplishments at NRAO operational facilities; R&D progress for next-generation facilities; community support activities; and public outreach and diversity highlights. This report is available and distributed online and in hardcopy. In FY2019, SciCom continued to edit, improve, publish, and expand the subscription base for the Observatory’s monthly electronic newsletter, NRAO eNews, and the periodic electronic announcements series, NRAO Announcements, with 9,000+ subscribers in North America and around the world. SciCom also updated the NRAO Research Facilities brochure prior to the winter 2019 AAS meeting.


SciCom Milestone Summary

Of four milestone deadlines, all were completed on time.


14 ADMINISTRATION

The focus on facilities continued in FY2019. Efforts to control energy use at the Edgemont Road building appear to have been successful with moderation in use of electricity. A request submitted to UVA to retrofit the lighting to LED from fluorescent is pending. The NRAO expressed again to UVA the need for a sidewalk to provide safe access from grounds for UVA students and faculty who visit the building and employees who use public transportation; one is now under consideration as part of a project to connect the building to University central utilities in lieu of replacing the aging boilers and chillers. The CDL facility enjoyed a renewal of its largest conference room with new flooring, paint, window treatments, and an audio/visual system. The lobby was painted and prepped to become a visitor center that displays CDL technical products and descriptions of its contributions to radio astronomy. Installation of a generator and new air conditioner will ensure power and cooling to the remote servers and telecom room. A partnership with the property owner resulted in 360 fluorescent light fixtures replaced with LED fixtures, with the property owner procuring the fixtures and NRAO hiring an electrician. A quarter-time CIS employee who served as a contract specialist in Socorro to review software licenses fully retired during the year. A new 60% time positon was created and filled in Charlottesville, more accessible to the Observatory CIO and under the supervision of the CAP manager. The NSF requested its facilities adopt its style guide for signage at its sponsored facilities. Below are pictures of the results at the CDL, DSOC, and Edgemont Road buildings.

Figure 14.1: CDL signage


Figure 14.2: - Socorro office signage

Figure 14.3: Charlottesville office signage

Contracts and Procurement

The CAP team completed a review of the first two years of the utilization of the small and socioeconomic business plan implemented in 2017. The review showed NRAO made 439 total small business awards in the first two years of plan utilization, including awards to 95 small and socioeconomic businesses that NRAO had never awarded to before. The total number of dollars awarded to small businesses increased by over 60% compared to the year before the plan was developed, although the actual number of awards per year did not increase. CAP staff developed a formal policy and process for collecting subrecipient financial audits and performing risk assessments prior to executing subawards, in accordance with 2 CFR 200.331 guidelines, which went into effect during Q3 FY2019. These audit reports and assessments will be reviewed and updated yearly for ongoing subawards and whenever new subrecipients are added. During Fiscal Year 2019, purchase orders awarded totaled 4,028 for approximately $34,600,000.


Environmental, Safety and Security (ESS)

ES&S supports NRAO’s long-term commitment to its environmental protection, safety, and security responsibilities to employees, visitors, and contractors. There are professional technical Safety Officers located in Socorro, NM, and Green Bank, WV. This includes safety officer support to GBO through Service Level Agreements (SLA), as well as the primary ESS responsibility for each NRAO facility, and the CDL and Edgemont Road (ER) locations in Charlottesville. In addition, ESS provides executive counsel for safety for the ALMA operations in Chile as a permanent member of the ALMA Safety Advisory Group. In 2019, ESS completed the goals to improve the regulatory compliance recordkeeping requirements through the selection and installation of OSHA Compliance Recordkeeping Software. This significant effort required the identification of all compliance inspections for each facility and training requirements for each staff member. ESS implemented the enterprise system for training, medical, and inspection records, with the successful installation of the software systems by the end of Q1 FY2019. Once installed, the transfer of data from a variety of systems required compilation of the extensive history of safety training records and validation of the complete and accurate data transfer. Also in FY2019, ESS was authorized to hire an Emergency Services Specialist for VLA; the position was filled on November 26, 2018. The Emergency Services efforts at the VLA includes emergency medical support, fire brigade capabilities, and rope rescue initiatives. The role has evolved into a key component of site safety services. Such services are essential to the site regulatory compliance for both fire and medical services in remote areas. Of note, the Specialist was successful in completing a transfer of a fire brigade vehicle to the site and the former VLA emergency generator building is currently being modified to serve as a fully outfitted firehouse. This enhances the ability for needed medical and fire support for both the site and the near community. In other areas, ESS serves in the ngVLA project as the Regulatory Compliance and Permitting Integrated Product Team (IPT) Lead as well as the lead for the safety efforts. In ALMA, ESS monitors safety performance, advises on development of the ALMA Safety Program, and reviews the plans for environmental protection. The VLBA stations are on a rolling inspection and training plan where each site has a scheduled visit to assure safety implementation at every facility.

Management Information Systems

Management Information Systems (MIS) completed the Financial/Calendar year-end processing, participated in various Audits, successful Open Enrollment processing, and had completion/utilization of the Compensation Management Module (select elements) for compensation merit reviews of the AUI and its holdings (NRAO and GBO) Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software, Oracle J.D. Edwards 9.2. MIS had successful implementation of Oracle Orchestrator. This Oracle software product will be used in conjunction with J.D. Edwards for workflow processing and interfaces with 3rd party vendors/products. MIS had investigation and preparation for many projects during FY2019 (in anticipation for go-live in Q1 FY2020) including, but not limited to, new bi-weekly Electronic TimeKeeping (ETK) entry screen, new Employee Self-Service interface, AUI Leave Pool process flow, re-scheduling of retirement contributions, and moving all exempt employees to a bi-weekly payroll schedule. MIS assisted in investigating and implementing additional tools partnered with J.D. Edwards. Blackline software for reconciliation was implemented during FY2019. Blackline for journal entries was tested during FY2019 and is scheduled for a Q1 FY2020 implementation.


Technology Transfer Office

Revenue from licensing continues to rise, adding up to $218k over the last four quarters (FY2018 Q4 to FY2019 Q3; FY2019 Q4 data not available yet). Nine U.S. Patents were issued to AUI/NRAO/GBO during FY2019, five of which were continuation Patents to support intellectual property protection for existing technology. The TTO successfully completed an I-Corps lite session at UVA analyzing the Serial Analog-to-Digital Converter (SADC) technology. It was determined that a working demonstration would be needed to advance this technology further toward licensing. Work is underway at CDL. The first-ever meeting of radio astronomy imaging scientists and medical imaging scientists took place in Q3 FY2019 at NRAO. The scientists determined to plan and hold a more in-depth three-day meeting in Q3 FY2020. The visitors lobby at the CDL is complete, with room to grow by adding additional posters and exhibits as necessary. Several outside industry businesses were engaged and invited to jointly develop technology of mutual interest through the use of Cooperative Research And Development Agreements (CRADAs). As of the end of FY2019 there are five proposed CRADAs being developed at various stages of the process.

Admin Milestone Summary

Of six milestone deadlines, all were completed on time.


15 BUDGET

Information

In FY2019, the Budget Department worked with ESS to host a risk assessment at the GBO. Safety and GBO followed up as appropriate. The department also facilitated the annual insurance program renewal.

Preparing for ngVLA was a major focus for the year. The department completed the definition and implementation of position control in partnership with HR. The cost estimator brought the ngVLA cost estimate to substantial completion in preparation for ASTRO2020 review. In addition, the department facilitated an Observatory wide conversation regarding administrative and support requirements for ngVLA. This culminated in an ngVLA specific strategic planning day at the annual budget summit and the decision to move forward with acquiring office space in Albuquerque and increasing the complement of administrative support staff.

As an additional action enabling ngVLA, the department began talks leading to a formal project which will result in the adoption of a biweekly pay cycle for all employees effective Jan. 2020.

The Budget Department organized the annual budget cycle including loading the budget prepared in the prior year, monitoring that budget through a series of forecasts and monthly financial reports, taking action as required and in collaboration with the departments, and reporting on budget progress at the QSUs. Preparation for the FY2020 included initial discussions with NSF at the Spring Budget meeting, the preparation of preliminary budget figures for the departments and facilitating the annual Budget Summit where the senior Observatory management reviews planned actions and marginal resource allocations for the coming year. This led to the preparation of the formal FY2020 budget submitted in the FY2020 POP.

The Budget Department is responsible for creating, documenting, and maintaining the Observatory ICC rates, of which there are presently five. This includes collecting costs and cost descriptions and preparing the annual preliminary and final rate submissions to NSF for review and approval.

NRAO’s management organization decided to change the indirect cost structure effective for FY20, moving leave into a consolidated benefits pool which will be governed by a Negotiated Indirect Cost Rate Agreement (NICRA). The Budget Department worked with the Fiscal Department on the definition and preparation for implementation of that pool.

Budget Milestone Summary

Of nine milestone deadlines, seven were completed on time. Milestone 15.1.5 – NSF Spring Budget meeting: Delayed due to scheduling issues. Milestone 15.1.8 – FY2019 ICC Final Rate Submission: Delayed due to corporate workload conflicts.


16 SPECTRUM MANAGEMENT

Site Spectrum Management

Jansky VLA Radio Frequency Interference Mitigation in FY2019: Activities at the VLA site, links to resources for observers, RFI scans of the spectrum etc. are described at https://science.nrao.edu/facilities/vla/docs/manuals/obsguide/modes/rfi/. Similar resources for the VLBA antennas may be found at http://www.vlba.nrao.edu/astro/rfi. The NM Operations Interference Protection Office coordinates spectrum usage for the VLA site. 1) Responding to requests for Special Temporary Authority submitted through the NSF from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). The requests are analyzed for their potential impact to radio astronomy observing by performing propagation simulations and mapping terrain profiles, calculating the expected power flux density at the array antenna, and comparing the results to internationally recognized detrimental interference thresholds. Negotiations with the active spectrum user are conducted in order to limit, reduce, or eliminate the potential interference. 2) Informing external spectrum users at the US Space Command (GPS-L3), the tethered aerostat radar system (TARS) sites, and other military and commercial shared-spectrum users of NRAO and National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center (NAIC) planned spectrum usage each month. Jointly used spectrum may then be scheduled; on a first-come-first-served basis, by priority, or by prior cooperative agreements. 3) Monitoring VLA site spectrum conditions using array observations and external monitoring equipment, and reviewing the resulting spectral plots and observer reports to detect new, unknown RF emissions. Detections in spectrum allocated to radio astronomy trigger source identification and technical discussions with the responsible spectrum user. Particularly detrimental emissions in non-RA spectrum allocations lead to good-will discussions with the responsible spectrum user with the goal of interference reduction or elimination via technical means. 4) Performing RF emissions tests on incoming commercial or NRAO-designed equipment and reviewing the results in order to determine interference potential. Equipment found to exceed the detrimental limits are either rejected, modified, shielded, or re-submitted for re-design.

National and International Spectrum Management

National Issues in FY2019

Satellite Coordination: Satellite coordination with SpaceX was handled by NSF’s Electromagnetic Spectrum Management Unit at NSF that successfully concluded a coordination agreement to allow SpaceX to operate their 2018-era satellite constellation compatibly with radio astronomy operations in the 10.6–10.7 GHz band. This agreement may have to be renegotiated concurrent with SpaceX’s more recent updates to the planned operation of their constellation. Initial monitoring observations of the radio spectrum around 10.6 GHz were taken at the GBT to establish a baseline free of satellite emissions. Extensive discussions among SpaceX, the AAS, and the US optical astronomy community were instituted after SpaceX’s initial launch of 60 satellites, given the potential of the reflections from these satellites to interfere with operations at LSST and other optical telescopes.

https://science.nrao.edu/facilities/vla/docs/manuals/obsguide/modes/rfi/

http://www.vlba.nrao.edu/astro/rfi


Satellite coordination with OneWeb had been in limbo since June 2016 but with the impending launch of the OneWeb constellation, NRAO filed a comment with the FCC noting the lack of progress in reaching a mutually satisfactory agreement. Thereafter OneWeb re-initiated their contacts with NSF and further negotiations between OneWeb, NRAO, and NSF are underway. Monitoring observations of the spectrum used by Iridium were undertaken at the GBT in May 2019. These observations revealed that the Iridium constellation was illuminating Green Bank over the full allowed bandwidth 1618–1626.5 MHz, despite promises to use a narrower bandwidth to prevent RFI in the radio astronomy frequency band at 1610.6–1613.8 MHz that is used to observe the 1612 MHz OH line. Substantial RFI in the 1612 MHz OH band was detected. Subsequent monitoring at the VLA revealed a similar situation there. These observations could eventually provide evidence for a complaint against Iridium that is required to operate without generating harmful interference under the terms of their most recent operating authorization. Terrestrial Issues: The most important issue concerned a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) proceeding whereby FCC, dismissing comments from NRAO and the Committee on Radio Frequencies (CORF), implemented a new class of temporary (but very long-lived) license whereby experimental devices operating above 95 GHz could be marketed for commercial sale and allowed to transmit in bands protected by footnotes US246 and RR. 5.340 to the national and international frequency allocation tables respectively. These footnotes state that all emissions in the concerned bands are prohibited. In response, NRAO filed comments harshly criticizing FCC for misconstruing and dismissing NRAO’s and CORF’s comments, to the detriment of the protection of radio astronomy and remote sensing. Also in response, NRAO filed FCC comments noting the International Telecommunication Union-Radio (ITU-R) recent revision of rules for authorizing devices operating in derogation of the international Radio Regulations, especially RR. 5.340, independent of domestic considerations under the control of the FCC. The FCC also acted to reclassify a frequency-hopping medical imaging device in such a way that it was allowed to transmit at 1417 MHz in the US246 and RR. 5.340 band at 1400–1427 MHz around the 21cm HI line. NRAO filed a petition to reconsider the FCC Order, showing that the device manufacturer had grossly misunderestimated the RFI potential of its device, and asking the FCC to institute protection for sites like Arecibo that were not considered in the order. NRAO also asked that the ITU-R rules be recognized when operating in a frequency band like 1400–1427 MHz where no emissions are permitted internationally.

16.2.2 International Issues in FY2019

The NRAO spectrum manager attended ITU-R meetings in Geneva in November 2018, and February, May and June 2019, along with a meeting of the EU spectrum management Committee on Radio Astronomy Frequencies (CRAF) in Jodrell Bank in June 2019 and the RFI2019 symposium in Toulouse in September 2019. As Chair of the Scientific Committee on Frequency Allocations for Radio Astronomy and Space Science (IUCAF), the NRAO spectrum manager arranged IUCAF’s affairs, procuring the annual operating budget from the International Astronomical Union (IAU), Union Radio Scientifique Internationale (URSI), and Committee on Space Research (COSPAR). A magazine article was prepared for the ITU-R News Magazine’s just-published special pre-WRC-19 edition. The overarching issue in FY2019 was preparation for World Radio Conference (WRC-19 in Oct-Nov 2019 in Sharm El-Sheikh. As chair of IUCAF, the NRAO spectrum manager wrote comprehensive white papers summarizing radio astronomy’s views on WRC-19 Agenda Items, first for use at the Conference Preparatory Meeting in Geneva in February 2019, and again for the WRC-19 after the draft treaty text had been finalized at the CPM. Prior to the CPM, the IUCAF submitted a series of five documents marking


up the individual chapters of the draft CPM treaty text to better situate radio astronomy’s positions. The suggested changes to the draft text were overwhelmingly and very gratifyingly adopted.

SM Milestone Summary

Of four milestone deadlines, all were completed on time.


17 DIRECTOR’S OFFICE

The NRAO Director’s Office establishes, refines, and disseminates the mission, vision and overall strategic goals of NRAO through a proactive and continuous assessment of needs and priorities of the organization and the scientific community. The Director’s Office plays a major role in formulating and executing national priorities for research in radio astronomy and other areas of astronomy, and strives to grow the radio astronomy community and improve the scientific relevance of radio techniques and observations.

17.1 Director’s Office

The NRAO Director provided strong leadership to the Observatory’s management team in FY2019, working with the senior staff to ensure that the Observatory’s science mission and operational requirements were translated into the specific plans and deliverables and executed effectively, including appropriate delegation of roles, resources and responsibilities throughout the organization. The Director’s Office nurtured collaboration among NRAO staff, communicating openly with staff at all levels, seeking input, creating an environment of trust across the Observatory, and providing positive feedback in a timely and constructive manner. The Director managed the Observatory on a day-to-day basis, facilitating issue resolution between functional areas and departments, and routinely monitoring organization performance.

The Director and Director’s Office staff prepared for and executed internal and external Observatory reviews and were responsible for the production of appropriate information to all stakeholders in a timely manner, enabling quantitative insight to Observatory performance, including NSF deliverables.

The Director’s Office developed support throughout FY2019 for the NRAO program within the scientific community and with funding agencies, the U.S. Congress, and local, state, federal and non-governmental organizations. The Director’s Office developed and maintained strategic relationships with national and international agencies, partners, governments, industry and other private sector entities, and all other stakeholders or customers relevant to the Observatory.

Working with the AUI Executive and Board, the Director helped develop and implement AUI’s vision for the NRAO scientific mission and organizational management. The Director informed the AUI Board of Trustees about all NRAO strategic and policy issues through regular and appropriate communications, bringing emerging issues forward in a timely fashion.

To continue to facilitate the alignment of AUI Corporate priorities and operational priorities, NRAO performed joint capacity planning for the initiatives which are considered key, reviewing the risks, critical activities and the timing, milestones and resources required. In this way, NRAO increased the mutual understanding of each entity’s needs, clarified direction, and generated consensus and teamwork.

The Director’s Office represented NRAO and the North American science community interests to the ALMA Director’s Council and the ALMA Board in FY2019. The Director’s Office organized the annual face-to-face meeting with the NRAO Users Committee, as well as a mid-year teleconference update. New Users Committee members were recruited from the community and appointed. Director’s Office personnel met with each of the AUI Board of Trustees and the AUI Executive Committee three times per year.


Milestone Summary

Of 16 milestone deadlines, 14 were completed on time. Milestone 17.2.5 – AUI Visiting Committee: Rescheduled by AUI. Milestone 17.2.9 – All Hands Meeting: Rescheduled for Director’s travel.


APPENDIX A: MAJOR MILESTONES COMPLETION MATRIX

Milestone numbers correspond to numbering in FY2019 Program Operating Plan (POP). Full explanations for cancelled milestones are given in each APR section. Full explanations for delayed milestones are presented in previous Quarterly Status Updates (QSU).

POP # Milestone Final Status Explanation of Schedule Variance

2.5 NA ALMA Operations

NAASC

1 Create Position of Deputy Division Head within the NAASC Completed

2 Finalize the NAASC Reorganization Completed

3 ALMA Ambassador applications will be advertised to the community Completed

4 Run and organize the ALMA Ambassadors program in Charlottesville Completed

5 TORUS 2018: The Many Faces of AGN Obscuration meeting Completed

6 Exploring our Cosmic Origins: New Results from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array Completed

7 New Horizons in Planetary Systems Completed

8 Topical meeting on data combination techniques and strategies Cancelled Colleagues in EU hosted a similar workshop that was attended by NRAO/NAASC staff

9 Cycle 7 Call for Proposal and user documentation and ALMA Science portal updates/edits Completed

10 Preparation of the ALMA Cycle 7.5 Call for Proposals Completed

11 Instructional video on the subtleties of ALMA operations Cancelled This work was an "in kind" contribution by the NRC that was not completed and will be revisited in FY2020.

12 Conduct an investigation into the apparent fall off in publication rate of NA ALMA users Completed

13 Present the results of the investigation Completed

14 Pipeline initial requirements Completed

15 Validate CASA 5.5/6.0 Completed



16 Pipeline final requirements Completed

17 Test and make acceptance recommendation for ALMA Cycle 7 pipeline Completed

18 NAASC staff will develop and implement the raw data pilot program Completed

19 Venue for ALMA APRC7 finalized Completed

20 Support APRC7 Meeting Completed

21 P2G prepared and review all NA Phase 2 SBs Completed

22 ObsMode Cycle 8 planning, meeting and follow-up process in coordination with JAO Cancelled Restructuring and reorganization at the JAO did not include NAASC staff

participating in these activities in FY2019. Cancelled.

23 Planning and coordination meetings in preparation for Cycle 7 Completed

Development

24 FY2020 (Cycle 7) Call for Study Proposals Completed

25 FY2020 (Cycle 7) Study Award Notifications Completed

26 Band 6 Upgrade project Proposal Cancelled Band 6 Upgrade project Proposal: Proposal was postponed due to a CoDR recommendation to continue technical development prior to a PDR.

Maintenance, Renewal, and Warranty Claims

27 Begin cabin temp control project (all 25 antennas) Completed

28 Finish cabin temp control project (all 25 antennas) Completed

29 Deliver reworked FEHV 1 to JAO Delayed NRAO decision to allow Contractor to use Unit #1 as a template for re-assembly of remaining units; as a result, Unit #1 to be delivered to OSF with the remaining three units.

30 Deliver FEHVs 2, 3, and 4 to JAO Delayed Reassembly of all Units is complete; Delta-PAI at Contractor’s Facility identified pressure leakage issues in the hydraulic lift assembly of two units; delivery of All Units to OSF delayed unit Q1 FY2020.

NRAO-Chile Office

31 Renewal of office lease Completed



32 Catering, cleaning and maintenance contract Completed

33 Accounting tool Blackline Completed

34 Inauguration of Multicancha Delayed

The project is delayed, so the inauguration of the facility has also been postponed. The final acceptance process slipped to mid-April 2020. Mid-May would be a realistic new target date for inauguration, but may conflict with collective bargaining (the exact date will be defined in Q2 FY2020).

35 Survey and assessment of NA infrastructure Completed

36 Study on provision of power to non-ALMA projects Completed

37 Introduction of new ETK Delayed

The introduction of a new electronic time keeping (ETK) system was part of an overall human resources information system (HRIS) project. In February, the company contracted to provide the HRIS ended its partnership with the ETK provider, forcing a reconsideration of the project. OCA decided to focus its efforts on the ETK system and modernization of outdated time clocking hardware, which are key to perform payroll responsibilities effectively. This milestone will be completed in FY2020 Q2.

38 Streamlining of HRIS Delayed Due to the contractor failure described above, OCA has decided to focus its efforts on the ETK system and modernization of outdated time clocking hardware.

39 Lessons learned from 2018 collective bargaining Completed

40 Application of 2018 collective contract clauses Completed

41 Envelope and strategy for 2020 collective bargaining Completed

42 Sister Cities and Observatories: strengthening of STEAM Completed

43 Galileo Teachers Training Program: global meeting in Chile Completed

44 Kick off role model series/campaign Completed

45 Hour of Code sessions (2) Completed

46 Organization of public meeting/seminar on D&I topic Completed

47 Diversity and Inclusion section on OCA website Completed



3.3 New Mexico Operations

Very Large Array

Operations

1 Define VLA GO and SRO capabilities to be offered for semester 2019B Completed

2 Define VLA GO and SRO capabilities to be offered for semester 2020A Completed

3 Update VLA documentation to support 2019B Call for Proposals, perform proposal technical reviews Completed

4 Update VLA documentation to support 2020A Call for Proposals, perform proposal technical reviews Completed

5 Determine baselines and pointing for antennas moving into their C configuration locations Completed

6 Determine baselines and pointing for antennas moving into their B configuration locations Completed

7 Determine baselines and pointing for antennas moving into their BnA configuration locations Completed

8 Determine baselines and pointing for antennas moving into their A configuration locations Completed

9 Reconfigure from D to C array Completed

10 Reconfigure from C to B Array Completed

11 Reconfigure from B to BnA Array Completed

12 Reconfigure from BnA to A Array Completed

Development

13 Realfast operational for all supported observing modes Completed

14 VLASS1.1 Single epoch continuum imaging complete Delayed Scope changed to start SE imaging, delayed by need for additional software development due to technical issues with some of the data

15 VLASS1.2 observing complete Completed

16 VLASS1.2 QuickLook imaging complete Completed

17 VLASS special session at winter AAS meeting Completed

18 VLASS science meeting Cancelled Cancelled due to late delivery of SE data products



19 VLASS/CIRADA definition complete Completed


20 Perform five antenna overhauls during the year Completed

21 Replace one antenna azimuth bearing during the year Completed

22 Perform preventive maintenance on each of two transporters prior to array reconfiguration to B Completed

23 Perform preventive maintenance on each of two transporters prior to array reconfiguration to A Completed

24 Perform preventive maintenance on each of two transporters prior to array reconfiguration to D Cancelled

Rescheduled to Q1 FY2020 to match date of array reconfiguration, will be replaced by new milestone for FY2020

25 Identify and replace 5000 aging or damaged cross-ties during the course of the year Completed

26 Identify and replace five antenna intersections during the course of the year Completed

27 Perform preventive maintenance on the next configuration VLA antenna transformers prior to array reconfiguration to B Completed

28 Perform preventive maintenance on the next configuration VLA antenna transformers prior to array reconfiguration to A Completed

29 Perform preventive maintenance on the next configuration VLA antenna transformers prior to array reconfiguration to D Cancelled

Rescheduled to Q1 FY2020 to match date of array reconfiguration, will be replaced by new milestone for FY2020.

30 Replace several site heavy vehicles Completed

31 Replace Rail Crane Completed

32 Purchase ACU upgrade components Completed

33 Purchase automatic grease distributors Completed

34 Replace VLA well pump controller Completed

35 Purchase new site doors/windows Completed



36 Purchase track maintenance materials Completed

37 Purchase CNC Knee Mill Completed

Technical Upgrades and Enhancements

38 L-band Solar upgrade, install five additional receivers (#26-#30) with full RF upgrade Completed

39 Ku-band Solar upgrade, install three additional receivers (#19-#21) with 20 dB switched attenuators on outputs only, no Solar Tcals. Completed

40 Ku-band Solar upgrade, install three additional receivers (#22 #24) with 20 dB switched attenuators on outputs only, no Solar Tcal Completed

41 Install ACUs in three antennas, #11, 12, and 13 Delayed Completion delayed to Q1 FY2020 due to change in antenna overhaul sequence in FY2019

42 Install upgraded servo SCR cards in three antennas Delayed Completion delayed to Q1 FY2020 due to change in antenna overhaul sequence in FY2019

43 Design and build PCB for refrigerator variable frequency drive Completed

44 Upgrade the FE card cage firmware to V6.02 in 65 receivers Completed

45 Frequency averaging promoted from SRO to GO Completed

46 Phase-binned pulsar observing promoted from SRO to GO Completed

47 Coherent-dedispersion pulsar observing promoted from RSRO to SRO Completed

48 Wind prediction software requirements Completed

49 Wind prediction implementation Completed

50 Implementation of conditional Scheduling Blocks in OPT Completed

51 RFI excision in WIDAR tested Completed

Very Long Baseline Array

Operations

52 Define VLBA general and shared risk capabilities to be offered for semester 2019B Completed



53 Define VLBA general and shared risk capabilities to be offered for semester 2020A Completed

54 Update VLBA documentation to support 2019B Call for Proposals, perform proposal technical reviews Completed

55 Update VLBA documentation to support 2020A Call for Proposals, perform proposal technical reviews Completed

56 Transfer dynamic scheduling duties to VLBA data analysts Completed

57 Retire MainSaver as maintenance tracking tool Completed

Development

58 Install Mark6 4 Gbps recording equipment at the 10 VLBA sites Completed

59 Commission Mark6, 4 Gbps recording capability Completed


60 Major VLBA Maintenance Visit #1 Delayed Original plan to do LA delayed by higher priority repair work at MK; LA now scheduled for Q2 FY2020.

61 Major VLBA Maintenance Visit #2 Completed

Technical Upgrades and Enhancements

62 Design, build, and test a VLBA site weather station replacement. Completed

63 Build and install L404B synthesizers in one VLBA antenna. Completed

64 Verify operation of L404B synthesizer Completed

65 Install one E-Rack at a VLBA site Completed

4.6 Next Generation Very Large Array

Astro2020 Preparations

1 Conduct documentation reviews for ngVLA Reference Design Completed

2 Receipt and review of final results of Costed Antenna Reference Design Completed

3 Reference Design Packet ready for submission to Astro2020 process. Completed

Community Engagement

4 Publication of findings for second round Community Studies Completed



5 Formal Publication of ngVLA Science Book through ASP Completed

6 Engage potential domestic and international partners Completed

7 Host a Special Session at 2019 URSI National Radio Science Meeting Completed

8 Host a special session at 2019 Winter AAS Completed

9 Develop ngVLA flyover animation Completed

10 Put together multi-messenger animation production team Completed

11 Identify additional science case for animation Completed

Conceptual Design and Development

12 Reference Observing Program Completed

13 System Requirements Completed

14 Requirements and Architecture Model Completed

15 Preliminary Operations Plan Completed

16 Preliminary Transition Plan Completed

17 Preliminary Development Plan Completed

18 Array Calibration Plan Completed

19 Array Configuration Completed

20 System Requirements and Architecture Review Delayed Partially complete; reviews continue in FY2020

21 Preliminary Sub-System Requirements Completed

22 Antenna Optical Design Delayed Delayed due to reduced urgency

23 Antenna Mechanical Design Completed

24 Correlator-Beamformer Design Completed

25 Composite Antenna Structures PDR Completed

26 Composite Antenna Structures Study Complete Completed

27 Wide Angle Feed Prototype Completed



28 Wide Angle Feed Tests Completed

29 Wide Band Feed Designs Delayed Final reports arriving Q1 FY2020

30 Integrated Receiver Development Prototypes Completed

31 Integrated Receiver Development Tests Delayed ASIC testing ongoing

32 Water Vapor Radiometer Development Completed

33 Time and Frequency Distribution Completed

Project Administration and Management

34 Develop initial draft of Project Execution Plan Completed

35 Review and update Project Execution Plan Completed

36 Conduct a review of software solution options and determine best-fit solutions Completed

37 Implement the selected software solutions Completed

38 Internal Project Office review of the ngVLA cost model. Completed

39 Prepare a risk-adjusted, fully costed and documented cost estimate for the reference design; formatted for Decadal Survey Astro2020 submission.

Completed

40 Prepare a lifecycle cost estimate in support of a proposal to the NSF AST Directorate for MREFC candidacy; formatted for NSF submission. Completed

41 Provide final versions of systems engineering process planning and documentation Completed

42 Finalization of Lifecycle Concepts Completed

5.3 Central Development Laboratory

Repair, Maintenance, Production, and Support

1 Build and test Band 1 amplifiers Completed

2 Build and test Band 1 Local Oscillators Completed



3 VLA/VLBA multi-chip module support Completed

4 CUP ASIC devices (prototype) Cancelled CUP cancelled

5 CUP Circuit card assemblies Cancelled CUP cancelled

Research and Development

6 Design Band 6v2 Nb/AlN/Nb SIS mixer Delayed Work subsumed into ALMA Development project

7 Evaluate upgraded balanced IF amplifiers Delayed Revised scope and changed schedule; included in FY2020 POP

8 Wide flare angle horn prototype(s) for ngVLA Completed

9 Ka-Band feed horns for VLBA Cancelled Product not needed

10 Design dichroic and tertiary reflectors for VLBA Cancelled Product not needed

11 Design of the ngVLA Central Signal Processor Completed

12 Test SADC prototype ASIC Delayed Competing project now cancelled

13 Test W-band DSSM-DOMT receiver Completed

14 Develop modular DSP platform Completed

15 Advanced reflectionless filter implementations Completed

6.7 Science Support and Research

Telescope Time Allocation

1 CfP for Semester 2019B Completed

2 SRP and Tech Review Process, Semester 2019B Completed

3 CfP for Semester 2020A Completed

4 SRP and Tech Review Process, Semester 2020A Completed

5 TAC Meeting, Semester 2019A Completed

6 TAC Meeting, Semester 2019B Completed

7 Update SW Tools Requirements for TAC 2019A Completed

8 Update SW Tools Requirements for PST 2019B Completed



9 Update SW Tools Requirements for TAC 2019B Completed

10 Update SW Requirements Tools for PST 2020A Completed

11 Update Documentation for CfP and Tools 2019B Completed

12 Update Documentation for CfP and Tools 2020A Completed

13 TTA SW Tool Suite Requirements Completed

14 eXtra-Large Proposals Completed


15 SRDP Operations Planning Complete Completed

16 Begin Pilot SRDP Operations Completed

17 Pilot SRDP Operations Complete Delayed Additional capability added

Scientific User Support

18 Community Day Event Program Finalized Completed

19 NM Symposium Completed

20 CASA Validation Completed

21 CASA Guides Completed


23 CASA Guides Cancelled Delay in release of CASA update


25 CASA Guides Cancelled Delay in release of CASA update

Reference Services

26 NRAO Papers requirements Cancelled Software improved, no new product needed

27 NRAO Papers replacement plan Cancelled Software improved, no new product needed

28 Development of U.S. Radio Astronomy Completed



Scientific Staff and Jansky Fellows

29 SciStaff Performance Reviews Completed Completed

30 SciStaff Promotions Reviews Completed Completed

31 Post Tenure Reviews Completed Completed

32 Jansky Lectureship Awarded Completed

33 Jansky Fellows Selection Completed Completed

34 Jansky Fellows Appointments Completed Completed

Student Programs

35 Summer Student Selection and Offers Completed

36 Student Observing Support Selection (VLA) Completed

37 Student Observing Support Selection (VLA) Completed

38 Student Observing Support Selection (ALMA) Completed

39 Reber Predoc Selection Completed

40 Reber Predoc Selection Completed

7.5 Data Management and Software

SIS

1 RHEL Configuration Control system Completed

2 Oracle Virtual Machine installation Completed

3 Upgrade of NGAS storage for VLA Completed

4 Upgrade of NGAS storage for NAASC Completed

5 Warm storage evaluation Completed

6 Moab cluster scheduler optimization Completed

7 CASA Memory performance Completed



ALMA Systems Software

8 ALMA Cycle 7 release Completed

9 ALMA Cycle 8 pre-release Completed

10 SDM improvements Completed

VLA

11 Support 2018B observing Completed

12 Support 2019A observing Completed

13 Support 2019A commissioning Completed

14 Support 2019B commissioning Completed

15 Support Frequency averaging to GO Completed

16 Support YUPPI-mode to SRO Completed

17 Wind prediction in the OST Completed

18 Conditional SBs in OST/OPT Completed

19 Support testing RFI excision in WIDAR Completed

CASA

20 CASA 5.5 release Completed

21 CASA 6.0 release Delayed Beta version was released on time; full release was delayed to Q1 FY2020 by technical challenges in creating a version compatible with the pipeline.

22 CASA 5.6 release Completed

23 MSv3 report Completed

CASA Pipeline

24 Pipeline Cycle 6 release Completed

25 Pipeline Cycle 7 pre-release Completed



SSA

26 New Archive default Delayed

FY2020 POP Work items needed to move to new archive was delayed by higher priorities: SRDP and VLASS. Set as a FY2020 POP goal.

27 PST/OPT Proposal/Observing Update Completed

28 PST/OPT Proposal/Observing Update Completed

29 PHT TAC update Completed

30 PHT TAC update Completed

31 YUPPI-mode supported in OPT Completed

SRDP

32 SRDP initial release Completed

Testing

33 CASA 6 test framework Completed

34 CASA regression tests Completed

Algorithm Research and Development

35 Joint single dish-interferometric Imaging Completed

36 Full Mueller Imaging Delayed Work on this goal was delayed by a need to implement aw-project and pointing corrections for VLASS. Included in FY2020 POP.

37 AW-Project Imaging Completed

8.5 Program Management Department

Headquarters

1 HQ PM/SE Project Leadership Completed

2 HQ Proposal Development Completed

3 HQ Documentation Support Completed

4 HQ Continuing Education Completed

5 Program Management Software Requirements Collection and Analysis Completed

6 Program Management Software Solution Implementation Delayed Software Solution has not yet been selected.



7 Multicancha Mass Concrete Works Complete Delayed Contractor failed to deliver due to large amount of rework

8 Multicancha Beams Erection Complete Delayed Contractor failed to deliver due to large amount of rework

9 Multicancha Membrane Installation Complete Delayed Contractor failed to deliver due to large amount of rework

10 Multicancha Sport Flooring Installation Complete Delayed Contractor failed to deliver due to large amount of rework

11 Multicancha Construction Complete Delayed Contractor failed to deliver due to large amount of rework

12 SRDP Pilot Operations Readiness Review Completed

13 SRDP Wave 1 Review Delayed Changes to priorities in the delivered scope to be reviewed.

New Mexico Operations

14 NM PM/SE Project Leadership Completed

15 NM Proposal Development Completed

16 NM Documentation Support Completed

17 NM Continuing Education Delayed Loss of PMD Staff in New Mexico

18 CIRADA VLASS EDPs Annual Financial and Progress Report Completed

19 VLA Track Maintenance - All Procurements Complete Completed

20 VLBA Fiber Final Service Analysis Report Delayed Delays in negotiation of Fiber Installion Contracts.

21 VLBA St. Croix Repairs - Develop RfP for Steel Repairs and Antenna Painting Completed

22 VLBA St. Croix Repairs - Issue Contracts for Steel Repairs and Antenna Painting Completed

23 Manage and track Astro2020 Decadal Survey submission package content for ngVLA Completed

24 Manage and track ngVLA MREFC proposal package content Completed

Central Development Lab

25 CDL PM/SE Project Leadership Completed

26 CDL Proposal Development Completed

27 CDL Documentation Support Completed



28 CDL Continuing Education Delayed Milestone was completed two weeks late.

29 ALMA Band 1 LNA Quarterly Report Completed

30 CSA-J Annual Report Completed

ALMA Development

31 ALMA Correlator Upgrade ASIC Vendor Contract Award Completed

32 ALMA Correlator Upgrade Critical Design Review Cancelled Project was cancelled.

33 ALMA Band 6v2 Receiver Upgrade Project Kickoff Cancelled Project rescheduled.

9.5 Education and Public Outreach

News and Public Information

1 Full editorial guidelines for new news homepage Completed

2 Consensus from ngVLA/VLASS teams on topic for AAS press reception Completed Multimedia Engagement

3 Plan for workflow for VLASS Quick Look Completed 4 Research and development for VLASS image inclusion across various platforms Completed

5 Developing and testing first Data2Dome feed Completed

6 Develop additional Data2Dome feeds Completed

7 Research and development for best practices for animation asset management Completed

8 Pipeline research and development Completed

9 Develop ngVLA flyover animation and science case visuals Completed

10 Establish test site for launch of new NSF logo guidelines Completed

11 Create VLBA webpage Completed STEAM

12 San Pedro participants travel to NM Completed

13 NM participants travel to San Pedro Completed

14 Revised programming plan Completed



15 Recruiting of participants FY2019 Cancelled Low enrollment resulted in camp cancellation

16 Survey of Charlottesville and Socorro for community needs Completed

17 Recommendation from staff survey report 2017 Completed

18 Develop and implementation of Amazing Cart of Science Completed

10.4 Computing and Information Services

Observatory-Wide Support

1 Completion of Windows 10 rollout Completed

2 Mac OS upgrade Completed

3 RHEL 7 image management evaluation Completed

4 Virtual Machine management evaluation Completed

5 Server consolidation into VMs Completed

6 Internal vulnerability scanning tool evaluation Completed

7 Execution of internal vulnerability scan Completed

8 Cyber security training Completed

9 Cyber security program review Completed

10 Two-factor authentication selection Completed

11 Upgrade of Plone and Wiki services Completed

Site Specific Facilities Infrastructure

12 Fiber infrastructure to VLBA sites Completed

13 System area network upgrade for NAASC Completed

14 Replacement of filer storage system in NM Completed

11.3 Office of Diversity and Inclusion

Local and National Programs

1 Diversity Council Meeting and Diversity and Cultural Awareness (DCA) activities Completed



2 NAC and LSAMP – Recruitment & Summer Program Initiation Completed

3 RAMP-UP Cancelled Loss of faculty partner

4 Summer Programs Completed Completed

5 NAC Annual Workshop Completed

International Partnerships

6 ODI Chile Undergraduate Recruiting Completed

7 ODI Chile Undergrad Research Experience Completed Completed

8 NINE Program Completed

12.7 Human Resources

Training and Development

1 Observatory Leadership Cohort Pilot Completed

2 Mid-Career Management Training Completed Compensation

3 JDE Comp Management Module Implementation Completed

4 Total Rewards Benchmark Study Debrief Completed

5 Benefits Strategy Workshop Completed

6 Variable Pay Plan and Performance Bonus Structure Design Completed Benefits

7 New Medical Carrier Implementation. Completed

8 DBA Audit Completed Recruitment Employment

9 Enhanced branding on LinkedIn, Glassdoor, and Stack Overflow Completed

Human Resources

10 Employee Climate Survey Completed



11 Research and evaluate regulations and policy implications related to medical marijuana Completed

13.2 Science Communications

1 Redesign science community exhibits Completed

2 Update Research Facilities brochure Completed

3 Submit AAAS science symposium proposal Completed

4 Complete NRAO Annual Report Completed

14.6 Administration

CAP

1 Review the utilization of the small business plan and tracking resources over the first year of implementation. Completed

2 Install Recordkeeping Software Completed

ESS

3 Download existing ES&S data to Recordkeeping system Completed

4 Hire EMS Specialist for VLA Completed

TTO

5 Plan workshop Completed

6 Participate in winter I-Corps cohort Completed

15.1 Budget

1 Worker’s Comp Vendor Visit to GBO Completed

2 Position Control Definition Completed

3 Position Control V1.0 Completed

4 Implement FY2019 Budget Completed

5 NSF Spring Budget Meeting Completed

6 FY2020 Budget Process Completed



7 FY2020 Budget Presentation Completed

8 FY2019 ICC Final Rate Submission Completed

9 FY2020 ICC Preliminary Rate Submission Completed

16.3 Spectrum Management

1 CPM, Geneva Completed

2 WP 7D, Geneva Completed

3 WP 1A, Geneva Completed

4 CORF, Washington DC Completed

17.2 Director’s Office

ALMA

1 ALMA Board Meeting Completed

2 ALMA Director’s Council Completed

Corporate Meetings

3 AUI Board of Trustee Meeting Completed

4 AUI Executive Committee Meeting Completed

5 AUI Visiting Committee Completed

Science Community

6 Appoint new Users Committee Members Completed

7 Users Committee Meeting Completed

Management Reviews

8 NSF Annual Program Review Completed

9 All Hands Meeting Completed


APPENDIX B: FINANCIAL PLAN COMPLETION MATRIX

Total Operations

(000's)POP

BudgetYTD

ExpensePOP

BudgetYTD

ExpensePOP

BudgetYTD

ExpensePOP

BudgetYTD

Expense

YTD Expended

% CommentsTelescope Operations 11,003 10,115 24,149 22,151 108 124 35,260 32,389 92%

Maintenance 4,659 4,745 2,774 2,790 7,433 7,535

Operations 1,695 1,301 21,220 19,205 22,915 20,506

Spectrum Management 14 2 108 124 122 126

Infrastructure Mods & Upgrades 2,171 2,256 2,171 2,256

Management 2,464 1,811 155 156 2,619 1,967

Development Programs 8,493 7,796 6,249 3,974 462 472 15,203 12,242 81%

Business Development 196 203 196 203

Technology Development 6,612 7,121 6,200 3,804 12,812 10,925

R&D Support 1,837 655 1,837 655

Software Development 44 20 112 44 132

Management 49 57 265 269 314 326

Science Operations 6,829 6,992 6,783 6,484 2,568 2,509 16,179 15,984 99%

General Science Support & TAC 1,048 1,040 7 26 1,055 1,066

Reference 77 66 32 29 596 588 705 682

Broader Impacts 902 696 714 630 174 162 1,790 1,488

Scientific Staff 488 678 462 500 0 950 1,179

Management 573 541 1,798 1,758 2,371 2,299

Scientific User Services 2,145 2,437 1,644 1,521 3,789 3,958

Science Software 2,169 2,074 2,609 2,337 4,777 4,411

Scientific Information Service 743 901 743 901

Administrative Services 10,250 8,227 9,994 7,764 (3,725) (2,686) 16,518 13,306 81%

Business Services 626 479 960 955 7,313 6,941 8,899 8,376

Facilities 1,949 2,189 2,048 1,127 3,672 3,467 7,669 6,782

Auxiliaries (10) 8 (10) 8

Management 466 380 296 301 204 172 965 853

Compensation Reserve 502 262 764 0

NRAO Internal Common Costs 6,717 5,172 6,690 5,380 (15,176) (13,396) (1,769) (2,844)

Depreciation Expense 131 0 131

Director's Office 2,659 2,154 3,618 3,035 2,000 1,750 8,278 6,938 84%

Program Management 768 591 768 591

Public Outreach 2 3 2 3

Communications 193 169 166 160 126 104 484 433

Administration 1,107 1,055 1,107 1,055

AUI IDC & Fee 2,465 1,981 3,452 2,876 5,917 4,857

Education & Public Outreach 782 707 698 561 0 0 1,480 1,267 86%

News and Media Releases 354 405 521 455 875 860

STEAM Education 309 252 75 27 384 279

Digital Learning & Multimedia 4 0 4

Visitor Center Operations (5) (59) 2 (5) (58)

EPO Management 124 106 102 77 226 182

TOTAL 40,015 35,990 51,490 43,968 1,412 2,168 92,918 82,126 88%

NSF AST New Funds & Carryover 40,015 44,080 49,643 51,047 89,658 95,127

Telescope Time Sales 0 0

Other Revenues 3,657 760 1,412 1,404 5,069 2,164

NET (0) 8,090 1,810 7,839 (0) (764) 1,809 15,165

Differences in NSF line attributable to prior year

carryover and open commitments. ALMA did not

draw Canadian funds in FY19. Those funds are

NRAO savings due to ngVLA underspend - two

antenna design contracts were not complete

during the years. ALMA underspend reflects

cancellation of the corellator upgrade (CUP)

project.

"Overspend" in science ops reflects in-year

extraodinary allocations in support of Data

Management and Software efforts.

General underspends reflected in ICC draw.

Compensation reserve in the POP is programmed

to other WBS units during annual salary review

process.

Additional Visitor's Center income created NRAO

savings. Breakage in ALMA.

NRAO Operations ALMA OperationsNRAO Internal Common Costs

All WBS elements reflect 13% savings from

planned benefits costs. For all WBS elements,

expenditures do not reflect open commitments

($1.7M in NRAO Ops). NRAO fully spent

planned infrastructure program. ALMA savings

driven by favorable exchange rates with Chile.

General underspends reflected in IDC draw.


Total Operations

(000's)POP

BudgetYTD

ExpensePOP

BudgetYTD

ExpensePOP

BudgetYTD

ExpensePOP

BudgetYTD

Expense

YTD Expended

% CommentsTelescope Operations 1,172 495 955 859 6,157 4,874 8,284 6,229 75%

Maintenance 490 339 2,703 2,728 3,193 3,067

Operations 1,729 887 1,729 887

Spectrum Management 0 0

Infrastructure Mods & 1,172 495 450 512 954 759 2,575 1,766

Management 15 8 771 500 787 508

Development Programs 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0%

Business Development 0 0

Technology Development 0 0

R&D Support 0 0

Software Development 0 0

Management 0 0

Science Operations 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 36%

General Science Support & 0 0

Reference 0 0

Broader Impacts 0 0

Scientific Staff 0 0

Management 0 0

Scientific User Services 1 1 1 1

Science Software 0 0

Scientific Information Service 0 0

Administrative Services 1,240 302 989 986 1,470 2,204 3,698 3,491 94%

Business Services 163 25 163 25

Facilities 809 200 799 680 27 818 1,634 1,698

Auxiliaries 0 0

Management 87 0 87

Compensation Reserve 0 0

NRAO Internal Common 268 77 190 306 1,443 1,299 1,901 1,681

Depreciation Expense 0 0

Director's Office 88 25 56 99 526 433 670 557 83%

Program Management 0 0

Public Outreach 0 0

Communications 0 0

Administration 0 0

AUI IDC & Fee 88 25 56 99 526 433 670 557

Education & Public 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0%

News and Media Releases 0 0

STEAM Education 0 0

Digital Learning & 0 0

Visitor Center Operations 0 0

EPO Management 0 0

TOTAL 2,500 822 2,000 1,944 8,154 7,512 12,654 10,278 81%

NSF AST New Funds & 2,500 2,500 2,000 2,000 3,430 3,791 7,930 8,291

Telescope Time Sales 4,439 4,491 4,439 4,491

Other Revenues 285 24 285 24

NET 0 1,678 0 56 0 794 0 2,528

VLBA reflects reclass of lease and power expenses to Facilities

from telescope ops. CSA-H ICC/IDC budget incorrectly

assumed capital purchases (ICC/IDC exempt). CSA-F

expenditures will continue for multiple years.

CSA-H ICC/IDC budget incorrectly assumed capital purchases

(ICC/IDC exempt). CSA-F expenditures will continue for

multiple years.

VLBA carryover totaling $361K from prior year open

commitments and CSA-1/LBO operations closeout.

CSA-F CSA-H

All WBS elements reflect 13% savings from planned benefits

costs. For all WBS elements, expenditures do not reflect open

commitments ($300K in VLBA Ops). VLBA underspend reflects

reclass of expenses from Operations to Facilities. CSA-F

expenditures will continue for multiple years.

Rounding note: actual expenditures were $500 on a budget of

$1400.

VLBA Operations


APPENDIX C: FY2019 ANNUAL OBSERVATORY METRICS

C.1 NRAO Telescope Usage

The following tables and charts provide a detailed accounting of the use of the NRAO telescopes—ALMA, VLA, VLBA, and GBT—for October 1, 2018 through September 30, 2019. The total available time at each telescope in FY2019 was [365 days * 24 hours/day] = 8,760 hours. NRAO telescope time use is carefully monitored and tracked in the following categories:

• Scheduled: Planned hours of observing time for peer-reviewed science proposals and sponsored projects.

o Observing3 = Actual hours of observing. o Downtime = Hours lost during scheduled observing.

Scheduled hours = [Observing3 hours + Downtime hours]

• Maintenance: Actual hours of planned service of infrastructure, structure, electronics, and software.

• Test: Actual hours for test observations unrelated to peer-reviewed science proposals.

• Unscheduled: Actual idle hours owing to gaps between observing programs that cannot be

scheduled, failed peer-reviewed science observations, and downtime of the entire telescope due to weather.

• Shutdown: Actual shutdown hours, usually for a holiday or major equipment work.

ALMA was in maintenance status during February 2018. Observing decreased in May 2018 due to three factors: relocation of antennas to a long-baseline configuration, multiple power failures, and a prolonged period of high winds. A detailed breakdown of the array usage for Cycle 6 observations was not available. The GBT summer (June through September) maintenance enabled painting of the telescope structure. The loss of observing time for GBT structure painting in FY2018 was consistent with the time required in previous years. VLA and VLBA observing hours remained roughly constant compared to previous years.

3 Observing may include non-astronomical observing of sponsored projects. In this appendix, confidential sponsored projects are identified as “Closed” or “Unspecified.”





C.2 NRAO Telescope Open Skies Usage

The majority of telescope time is competitively awarded by the NRAO for the scientific use of its telescopes on the basis of scientific merit and technical feasibility, and in accordance with the NRAO’s policy of non-discrimination and inclusion. However, a significant amount of telescope time is also awarded to sponsored projects, which are specially funded or approved via Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) with the NRAO. The charts indicate the number of hours assigned to competitively awarded time (Open Skies), and to time awarded under sponsorship and MoUs. No VLA sponsored observing took place in FY2019. Sponsored observing time on the VLBA is counted as a fraction of the number of antennas used. “Open + USNO” in the VLBA bar of pie chart denotes time sponsored by the USNO but permitted for Open Skies observing. FY2019 Sponsors NYUAD New York University Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates SHAO Shanghai Astronomical Observatory, China USNO United States Naval Observatory, USA


C.3 NRAO Telescope Usage by Principal Investigator

The following table and charts provide a detailed accounting (hours and percentages) of the FY2019 use of ALMA, VLA, VLBA, and GBT by: (a) domestic (U.S.) and foreign-based (non-U.S.) Principal Investigators (PIs); (b) and by the astronomical community, graduate students, and NRAO staff. Only observing hours serviced by the North American (NA) Executive are included for ALMA. Sponsored projects are included, but some are categorized as Unknown.


C.4 NRAO Telescope Usage by Science Category

The following tables and charts provide a detailed accounting of NRAO observing hours for ALMA, GBT, VLA, and VLBA that supported peer-reviewed science in each of the science categories employed by the NRAO proposal evaluation and time allocation process, and in the five categories used by the ALMA process. In FY2019, the NRAO split the Energetic Transients and Pulsars category into two distinct categories: Gravitational Waves and Energetic Transients and Pulsars and Compact Objects.


C.5 NRAO Telescope Usage by PI’s Country and U.S. state The following figure lists the FY2019 observing hours at NRAO telescopes that were allocated to foreign-based (non-U.S.) PIs by country. NRAO telescope use by U.S.-based PIs totaled 12,433 hours; 1,161 ALMA, 4,908 GBT, 3,655 VLA, and 2,709 VLBA.

The following figure shows the distribution of the hours by the PI’s U.S. state of residence. This includes Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia.


C.6A Observing Proposals Submitted for NRAO Semesters 2019B and 2020A The following tables and chart describe the community response to the NRAO Calls for Proposals for Semesters 2019B and 2020A. The first table lists the distribution of science categories for the proposals submitted to the GBT, VLA, and VLBA. The second table provides the total number of Regular and Large proposals submitted to GBT, VLA, VLBA, and the Global 3mm VLBI Array (GMVA). Sponsored proposal and dissertation proposal numbers for each telescope are listed immediately underneath this table. Sponsored proposals are allocated observing time outside of the community-based and peer-reviewed NRAO Time Allocation Process. The final table describes the proposal over-subscription pressure (time requested/time available) for each telescope and for all NRAO instruments. The chart illustrates the percentage of 2019B and 2020A proposals that fell in each science category for each telescope and in total.



C.6B Observing Proposals Submitted for ALMA Cycle 7 The following tables and chart characterize the community response to the ALMA Call for Proposals for Cycle 7 and Cycle 7 ACA Supplemental. The first table lists the distribution of proposed science categories for the submitted proposals. The second table provides the total number of proposals by executive. The number of proposals submitted and accepted for review was 1773 for the Cycle 7 call and 249 for the Cycle 7 ACA Supplemental call. The chart illustrates the percentage of Cycle 7 and Cycle 7 Supplemental proposals that fell in each science category for each executive and in total. The over-subscription proposal pressure (time requested/time available) for the Cycle 7 call was 3.4. Proposal review outcomes for the Cycle 7 ACA Supplemental call are not available at this time.


C.7 Volume of Information and Data Served

The following chart illustrate the volume of information and data served to all users from the NRAO web servers: (1) total data served from all NRAO web servers, including data extracted from the NRAO data archives (which dominates this metric); (2) total data served from the main NRAO website (http://www.nrao.edu); (3) total data served from the NRAO science website (http://science.nrao.edu); (4) total data served from the NRAO ALMA-NA science website (https://almascience.nrao.edu). Data served from almascience.nrao.edu in April, May, and June 2019 are unavailable due to a web server logging problem.

http://www.nrao.edu/

http://science.nrao.edu/

https://almascience.nrao.edu)/


C.8 Archive Data Retrievals

The following table and charts describe the data volume and numbers of files retrieved from the NRAO and North American ALMA Archives in FY2019. Fully processed science data for ALMA is being delivered directly to ALMA observers via a Web server; the sum of archive and web server downloads is shown in the plot blow. Data being observed with the VLA using the WIDAR correlator dominates NRAO data retrieval. The retrieval volume for the GBT is apparently, but not actually, much lower than the other instruments. This is because most observing data, especially private data, is accessed directly from local disks in Green Bank. Unlike other instruments, the data is not first written to an archive for initial retrieval.



APPENDIX D: ORGANIZATIONAL CHART


APPENDIX E: ACRONYMS

Acronym Definition

AA Antenna Article

AAAS American Association for the Advancement of Science

AAB Antenna Assembly Building

AAS American Astronomical Society

AAT Archive Access Tool

AATF African American Teaching Fellows

ACDC ASIAA CASA Development Center

ACEAP Astronomy in Chile Educator Ambassadors Program

ACS ALMA Common Software

ACU Antenna Control Unit

AD Assistant Director

ADC Analog-to-Digital Converter

ADMIN Administration

ADS Astrophysical Data System

AGN Active Galactic Nuclei

AIN Aluminium Nitride

AIP American Institute of Physics

AIV Assembly, Integration, and Verification

ALMA Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array

AMBSI-1 ALMA Monitor and Control Bus Standard Interface 1

ANASAC ALMA North American Science Advisory Committee

AoD Astronomer on Duty

AOS Array Operations Site (ALMA, Chile)

APP ALMA Phasing Project

APR Annual Progress Report

APS American Physical Society

ARC ALMA Regional Center

ARDG Algorithm Research and Development Group

ARO Arizona Radio Observatory

ASA ALMA Science Archive

ASAC ALMA Science Advisory Committee

ASIAA Academia Sinica Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics

ASIC Application Specific Integrated Circuit


Acronym Definition

ASKAP Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder

ASPECs ALMA Spectroscopic Survey in the Hubble Ultra Deep Field

ATCA Australia Telescope Compact Array

ATI Advanced Technologies and Instrumentation

AU Astronomical Unit

AUI Associated Universities, Incorporated

BC/BS Blue Cross/Blue Shield

BDO Binder Dijker Otte, LLP

BE Back End BI Broader Impacts

BUD Budget

BUS Back-Up Structure

CAP Contracts and Procurement

CARTA Cube Analysis and Rendering Tool for Astronomy

CASA Common Astronomy Software Applications

CCA Cold Cartridge Assembly

CCE Common Computing Environment

CDL Central Development Laboratory

CDR Critical Design Review

CFR Code of Federal Regulations

CHILES COSMOS HI Large. ExtragalacQc Survey

CHIME Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment

CHTC Center for High Throughput Computing

CIRADA Canadian Initiative for Radio Astronomy Data Analysis

CIS Computing and Information Services

CLOA Central Local Oscillator Article

cm Centimeter

CMMS Computerized Maintenance and Management System

CNC Computer Numerical Control

CO Carbon Monoxide

CoDR Conceptual Design Review CONICYT Comisión Nacional de Investigación Científica y Tecnológica

CORE Council of Representatives for Engagement

CORF Committee on Radio Frequencies

COSMOS Cosmic Evolution Survey


Acronym Definition

COSPAR Committee on Space Research

CPDS Cartridge Power Distribution System

CPM Computing Planning Meeting

CRADA Cooperative Research And Development Agreements

CRAF Committee on Radio Astronomy Frequencies

CS Contact Scientist

CSA Cooperative Support Agreement

CSIRO Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization

CSV Commissioning and Science Validation

CTDS casacore Table Data System

CTP Cosmic Twilight Polarimeter

CTS CCA Test Set CUP ALMA Correlator Upgrade Project

CV Charlottesville, VA

D&I Diversity & Inclusion

DA Data Analyst

DAPPER Dark Ages Polarimeter Pathfinder

dB Decibel

DDT Director's Discretionary Time

DECYTI Directorate of Energy, Science, Technology and Innovation

DMS Data Management and Software Department

DOMT Digital Orthomode Transducer

DOORS Dynamic Object Oriented Requirements System

DRL Division of Research in Learning

DRXA Data Receiver Article

DSACore Dynamic Scheduling Algorithm

DSHARP Disk Substructures at High Angular Resolution program

DSN Deep Space Network

DSOC Domenici Science Operations Center

DSP Digital Signal Processing

EBG Electromagnetic Band-Gap

EDG Employee Diversity Group

EDR Extended Data Rate

EHT Event Horizon Telescope

EL Elevation


Acronym Definition

EM Electromagnetic

EMC Electromagnetic Compatibility

EMSS ElectroMagnetic Software and Systems

EOC Extension and Optimization of Capabilities

EoI Expressions of Interest

EPO Education and Public Outreach

ER Edgemont Road

ERP Enterprise Resource Planning

ESS Environment, Safety, and Security

ESO European Southern Observatory

ETK Electronic Time Keeping

EU European Union

FCC Federal Communications Commission

FDM Frequency Domain Multiplexing

FE Front End

FEHV Front End Handling Vehicle

FEMC Front End Monitor and Control

FET Field-Effect Transistor

FETMS Front End Test and Measurement System

FFRDC Federally Funded Research and Development Centers

FOW Fiber Optic Wrap

FPGA Field-Programmable Gate Array

FRB Fast Radio Burst

FRM Focus Rotation Mount

FTE Full-Time Equivalent

FY Fiscal Year (1 October through 30 September)

GAO Government Accountability Office

GBO Green Bank Observatory

Gbps Giga-bits per second

GBSE Green Bank Session Editor

GBT Green Bank Telescope

GDMS General Dynamics Mission Systems

GHz Gigahertz

GMRT Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope

GMVA Global 3mm VLBI Array


Acronym Definition

GO General Observing

GOALS Great Observatories All-Sky LIRG (Luminous InfraRed Galaxy) Survey

GOST General Observing Setup Tool

GPS Global Positioning System

GPU Graphic Processing Units

GRAD-MAP Graduate Resources Advancing Diversity with Maryland Astronomy and Physics

GRASP General Reflector Antenna Software Package

GRB Gamma Ray Burst

GUI Graphical User Interface

GW Gravitational Wave

HBCU Historically Black Colleges and Universities

HEMT High Electron Mobility Transistor

HERA Hydrogen Epoch of Reionization Array

HFET Heterojunction Field-Effect Transistor

HI Hydrogen

HiLS Hardware in the Loop Simulator

HPC High Performance Computing

HQ Headquarters

HR Human Resources

HRAG Human Resource Advisory Group

HRIS Human Resource Information System

HSA High Sensitivity Array

HSI Hispanic Serving Institutions

HVAC Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning

Hz Hertz

IAU International Astronomical Union

ICC Internal Common Cost

ICT Integrated Computing Team

IDC Indirect Cost

IDIA South African Institute for Data Intensive Astronomy

IET Integrated Engineering Team

IF Intermediate Frequency

IGM Intergalactic Medium

INCOSE International Council on Systems Engineering

InP Indium Phosphide


Acronym Definition

IPT Integrated Product Team

IR Infrared

IRD Integrated Receiver Development

ISM Interstellar Medium

ISM International Staff Member

iSOpT Integrated Science Operations Team

IT Information Technology

ITU-R International Telecommunication Union-Radio (communications sector)

IUCAF Scientific Committee on Frequency Allocations for Radio Astronomy and Space Science

JAO Joint ALMA Observatory

JDE JD Edwards

JIVE Joint Institute for VLBI in Europe

JPL Jet Propulsion Laboratory

JVLA Jansky Very Large Array

k 1000

K Kelvin

kHz kiloHertz

km kilometer

kpc kiloparsecs

KPI Key Performance Indicator

KSG Key Science Goal

LA Los Alamos

LBA Long Baseline Array

LLC Line Length Corrector LMT Large Millimeter Telescope

LNA Low Noise Amplifier

LNF Low Noise Factory

LO Local Oscillator

LOBO Low Band Observatory

LPR Local Oscillator Photonics Receiver

LRP Long Range Plan

LRU Line Replaceable Unit

LSAMP Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation

LSM Local Staff Members

LSST Large Synoptic Survey Telescope


Acronym Definition

LWA Long Wavelength Array

m meter

M Million

MA Main Array

mas milliacrsecond

Mbps Mega-bits per second

M&C Monitor and Control

mG milliGauss

MHz Megahertz

MIS Management Information Services

MIT Massachusetts Institute of Technology

MK Mauna Kea

mm millimeter

MMIC Monolithic Millimeter-wave Integrated Circuit

MREFC Major Research Equipment and Facilities Construction

MS Measurement Sets

msec millisecond

MSI Minority-Serving Institution

MSMRx Millimeter and Submillimeter Receivers

MSRI-1 Mid-Scale Research Infrastructure-1

MSV3 Measurement Set Version 3 (CASA)

MTBF Mean Time Between Failures

MTS Mixer Test Set

MTTR Mean Time to Repair

µas Micro-arcsecond

µJy microJansky

Myr Million years

NA North American

NAASC North American ALMA Science Center

NAC National Astronomy Consortium

NAIC National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center

NAOJ National Astronomical Observatory of Japan

NASA National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Nb Niobium

Nb/AlN/Nb Niobium-Aluminum Nitride


Acronym Definition

NCAR National Center for Atmospheric Research

NESS Network for Exploration and Space Science

NGAS Next Generation Archive Systems

ngVLA Next Generation Very Large Array

NICRA Negotiated Indirect Cost Rate Agreement

NINE National and International Non-Traditional Exchange

NM New Mexico

NRAO National Radio Astronomy Observatory

NRC National Research Council

NRC-HIA National Research Council of Canada - Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics

NRL Naval Research Laboratory

NSBP National Society of Black Physicists

NSF National Science Foundation

NSF-AST National Science Foundation – Division of Astronomical Sciences

NTIA National Telecommunications and Information Administration

OCA Office of Chilean Affairs

ODI Office of Diversity and Inclusion

OMT OrthoMode Transducer

OPT Observation Preparation Tool

OSHA Occupational Safety and Health Administration

OSF Operations Support Facility (ALMA, Chile)

OST Observing Scheduling Tool

OT Observing Tool

OTFI On The Fly Interferometry

OTFM On The Fly Mosaicing

P2G Phase 2 Group

PAA Parque Astronómico Atacama

PanSTARRS Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System

PAS Provisional Acceptance on Site

pc parsec

PCB Printed Circuit Board

PDR Preliminary Design Review

PEMP Performance Evaluation and Management Plan

PEP Performance Evaluation Process

PFT Proposal Finder Tool


Acronym Definition

PHT Proposal Handling Tool

PI Principal Investigator

PING Physics Inspiring the Next Generation

PMD Program Management Department

PMI Project Management Institute

PM/SE Project Manager/Systems Engineer

POP Program Operating Plan

PPI Pipeline Processing Interface

ProVoca Promovamos Vocaciones Científicas

PST Proposal Submission Tool

PT Pie Town

PVCC Piedmont Virginia Community College

Q1 Quarter 1 (October – December)

Q2 Quarter 2 (January – March)

Q3 Quarter 3 (April – June)

Q4 Quarter 4 (July – September)

QA Quality Assurance

QDR Quadruple Data Rate

QL QuickLook

R&D Research and Development

RA Research Associate

RADIAL RADIAL – Radio Astronomy Data Imaging and Analysis Labs

RAP-NM Radio Astronomy Path to University Physics

REU Research Experiences for Undergraduates

RF Radio Frequency

RFI Radio-Frequency Interference

RFP Request for Proposal

RHEL Red Hat Enterprise Linux

rms radio, millimeter and submillimeter

ROP Reference Observing Program

RSRO Resident Shared Risk Observing

SAC Science Advisory Council

SADC Serial to Analog Digital Converter

SAO Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory

SAS Sub Array Switch


Acronym Definition

SB Scheduling Block

SBA Short Baseline Array

SC Saint Croix

SCG Science Computing Group

SCO Santiago Central Office

SCR Silicon Controlled Rectifiers SCREAM Scalable, Reconfigurable, and Modular

SDSS Sloan Digital Sky Suvey

SEDLE Socorro Electronics Division’s Laboratory Experience for Undergraduates

SE Single Epoch

SE Systems Engineering

SF Star Formation

SIS Scientific Information Services

SIS Superconductor–Insulator–Superconductor

SKA Square Kilometre Array

SLA Service Level Agreement

SMBH Supermassive Black Hole

SOL Standards of Learning

SOP Standard Operating Procedure

SOS Student Observing Support

SPIE International Society for Optics and Photonics

SRDP Science Ready Data Products

SRO Shared Risk Observing

SRP Science Review Panel

SSERVI Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute

SSR Science Support and Research

STEAM Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics

STEM Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics

submm submillimeter

SUS Scientific User Support

SW Software

SWaP Size, Weight, and Power

SysML Systems Modeling Language

TAC Time Allocation Committee

TARS Tethered Aerostat Radar System


Acronym Definition

TDE Tidal Disruption Events

THz TeraHertz

TKIP Traveling wave Kinetic Inductance Parametric amplifiers

TP Total Power

TRACE Technical, Risk, and Cost Evaluation

TTA Telescope Time Allocation

TTO Technology Transfer Office

TTU Texas Tech University

UCAR University Corporation for Atmospheric Research

UNAH National Autonomous University of Honduras

UNEION UCAR/NCAR Equity and Inclusion

UNM University of New Mexico

UPS Uninterruptable Power Supply

URSI Union Radio Scientifique Internationale

U.S. United States of America

USNO United States Naval Observatory

UV Ultraviolet

UVA University of Virginia

UVML University of Virginia Microfabrication Laboratory

v volt

VA Virginia

VME Versa Model Eurocard

VLA Very Large Array

VLASS VLA Sky Survey

VLBA Very Long Baseline Array

VLBI Very Long Baseline Interferometry

VLITE VLA Low Band Ionospheric and Transient Experiment

VSAC ngVLA Science Advisory Council

VTAC ngVLA Technical Advisory Council

WBS Work Breakdown Structure

WCA Warm Cartridge Assembly

WFO Work-For-Others

WIDAR Wideband Interferometric Digital ARchitecture

WISE Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer

WMP Workforce Management Plan


Acronym Definition

WRC World Radio Conference

WV West Virginia

WVR Water Vapor Radiometer YIG Yttrium Iron Garnet

yr year YUPPI "Y" Ultimate Pulsar Processing Instrument

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