• Home
• Logbook

Campaign logs

PollyXT Raman lidar

NARLA uninstalled
Feb 24th, 2016 12:00 by Michael Kottas

0931: MK.IS. Close polly.exe. NARLa is being replaced with the regular NF telescope.

1918: Adjusted the NF telescope. Open polly.exe. Disregard any files that might have been uploaded to the server between 0931 and 1918, since they have a sweep time of 5sec because of the NF adjustment.

NDF adjustment
Feb 20th, 2016 12:00 by Michael Kottas

1113-1140: MK. Roof cleaning. NDF arrangement change.

    Was: 355: 1.0 0.5, 355s: 0.5, 387: 1.0 0.1, 532: 3.0 0.3, 532s: 1.0 0.5, 607: 0.3, 1064: 2.0 0.3, 532NF: 3.0 1.0 0.5, 607NF: 0.1

    Now: 355: 1.0 0.5, 355s: 0.5, 387: 1.0, 532: 3.0 0.3, 532s: 1.0 0.5, 607: 0.3, 1064: 2.0 0.3, 532NF: 3.0 1.0 0.5, 607NF: 0.1

Beam adjustment (down)
Feb 18th, 2016 0:00 by Michael Kottas

0056: MK. Beam adjustment (3-clicks down).

NDF adjustment
Feb 17th, 2016 12:00 by Michael Kottas

0934-0953: MK. NDF arrangement change.

    Was: 355: 1.0 0.5 0.3, 355s: 0.5 0.3, 387: 1.0 0.1, 532: 3.0 0.3 0.3, 532s: 2.0, 607: 0.3, 1064: 2.0 0.5, 532NF: 3.0 1.0 0.5, 607NF: 0.1

    Now: 355: 1.0 0.5, 355s: 0.5, 387: 1.0 0.1, 532: 3.0 0.3, 532s: 1.0 0.5, 607: 0.3, 1064: 2.0 0.3, 532NF: 3.0 1.0 0.5, 607NF: 0.1

SHG-THG adjustment
Feb 16th, 2016 18:00 by Michael Kottas

1830: MK. SHG and THG adjustment. 10% improvement.

NDF adjustment - Window cleaning
Feb 15th, 2016 18:00 by Michael Kottas

1717: EM. close polly.exe. change NDFs. and clean the roof.
                  NDF for 532 depol: was: 1+0.5, now is: 2.0. rest chanels: same.

Window cleaning - Beam and thermostat adjustment
Feb 10th, 2016 6:00 by Michael Kottas

0618: MK. Beam adjusted (3-clicks down).
1234-1246: MK. Roof cleaning. Restart polly.exe. Heater 1 thermostat set at 27C (from 30C).

Beam adjustment (up) - Lat, Lon arrays bug fixed
Feb 8th, 2016 12:00 by Michael Kottas

1155: MK. Beam adjusted (3-clicks up).
1420 - 1430: RE: Fix a bug in lat,lon arrays. Restart polly exe.

 

Beam adjustment (down)
Feb 7th, 2016 18:00 by Michael Kottas

2210: MK. Beam adjusted (5-clicks down).

 

Beam adjustment (up)
Feb 6th, 2016 6:00 by Michael Kottas

0920: MK. Beam adjusted (5-clicks up).

Beam adjustment (up)
Feb 5th, 2016 6:00 by Michael Kottas

0742: MK. Beam adjusted (2-clicks up).

 

Beam adjustment
Feb 2nd, 2016 6:00 by Michael Kottas

0654: MK. Beam adjusted (one-click up).
0852: MK. Beam adjusted (2-clicks down).
1400: MK. Beam adjusted (1-click down).

AC maintenance - Thermostat adjustment - Measures for electronic noise taken
Feb 1st, 2016 6:00 by Michael Kottas

0607-0800: MK. Close Polly.exe. Creating system image for backup.
0730-1030: MK. The A/C maintenace was performed. The thermostat inside the aircondition is now set at 32C (was 23C). Based on initial observations, at this setting it will start blowing cool air when cabin temperature (at the upper right fan) is 26C. The temperature sensors are now in different positions (T1 near the left door, T2 on the right fan fence). The A/C thermostat inside the cabin is set at 10C, heater1 at 30C, heater2 at 15C.
1040: MK. Open Polly.exe.
1209: MK. Beam adjusted (down).
1447: MK. T2 > 32C and the A/C still does not blow cool air. Seems that the external thermostat is stuck and needs a slight nudge to function. Its replacement is imperative.
2240: MK. The thermostat inside the A/C is set at 25C. Waiting for temperature to stabilize.
2305-2320: MK. SHG & THG adjustment. Beam adjustment. NF and FF look perfect. Attempts to minimize the electronic noise were made: a) NARLA's deck is now resting on a 4cm insulation panel, b) the external backup HDD is now relocated (its spinning could produce interference).

NARLA NDFs and overlap adjustment
Jan 30th, 2016 6:00 by Michael Kottas

0543: MK. Restart Polly.exe with 10sec sweep time in order to adjust NF.
0558: MK. Restart Polly.exe after NF adjustment. Sweep time back to 30sec.
0635: MK. Beam adjustment after cabin temperature stabilized. NF looks good.
2256-2306: MK. NDF for NARLA adjustment. +0.3 for 355 and +0.3 for 532. Polly.exe and PMTs were closed for the procedure.

AC & Heater enabled - SHG-THG adjustment - polly.exe got stuck
Jan 29th, 2016 12:00 by Michael Kottas

1101: MK. Adjust the beam (down).
1639: EM. Adjust the beam (up).
1845: MK. End & quit Polly.exe. A/C 10C, Heater 30C.
1846-1900: MK. Roof cleaning.
1903: MK. Open Polly.exe. Wait for 15mins for temperature cabin to stabilize.
1918-1924: MK. SHG, THG calibration. Wait 5 mins for cabin temp to stabilize.
1930-2036: MK.EM: Polly.exe got stuck.  Restart the PC. Restart polly.exe several times (5-6) finally it starts working correctly at 2030UTC. (This has happened again in the past).

Beam adjustment
Jan 28th, 2016 18:00 by Michael Kottas

1803: EM: Adjust the beam more right.
2130: MK: Adjusted the beam (down).

 

Beam adjustment - polly.exe got stuck
Jan 27th, 2016 12:00 by Michael Kottas

1237: MK. Moved the beam (down and to the right).
1510: EM: the polly.exe had stuck. restart. now works fine. The overlap is not good, close the cabin and check later.

Camera, beam and SHG adjustment
Jan 26th, 2016 6:00 by Michael Kottas

0655: MK. Camera exposure readjusted.
0940: MK. Enabled camera snapshot recording.
1400: MK. Lowered the beam.
1855: MK. Raised the beam. The motor is now set to "steps" instead of "continuous", in order to work flawlessly with iOs and Android teamviewer. I ll have to go to Thisio check the window for frost. Too low Mcps.
2250: MK. Calibrated the SHG. Little improvement. Raised the beam. Took some photos of the apertures. They re all clean. No technical cause was determined for the low Mcps. It was just really clear atmosphere.

Camera adjustment
Jan 25th, 2016 18:00 by Michael Kottas

1730: MK. Extremely clear atmosphere. (<1Mcps in all channels but 6 and the NFs). Set the camera exposure at 1.5sec in order to get a visible beam. Pyro seems normal (>40mJ).

Window cleaning
Jan 23rd, 2016 12:00 by Michael Kottas

1235-1246: MK. Roof cleaning.

Insulation removed - Thermostats and beam adjustment
Jan 21st, 2016 6:00 by Michael Kottas

0730: EM: Adjust the overlap.
1300: MK, EM: Change the A/C thermostat to 28C. Removed the thermal insulation.
1652: EM: Adjust overlap.
2129: MK: Raised the laser beam (just 3-clicks). Camera is really dark so its exposure was adjusted at 1/4sec in order to capture a visible beam. Pyro seems healthy (>40mJ), so the invisible beam and the low Mcps in all channels may be due to crystal clear atmospheric conditions (or condensation on the telescope).

Beam adjustment
Jan 20th, 2016 12:00 by Michael Kottas

1025: EM: Adjust the overlap.

Beam adjustment - NARLA's NDFs adjustment
Jan 19th, 2016 12:00 by Michael Kottas

0900: EM adjust the overlap.
1310-1314: change NF NDFs. Now: 532: 3+0.1_0.1, 355: 0.5+0.1. Ramman: 0.

Window cleaning - Heater & AC disabled - No network
Jan 18th, 2016 6:00 by Michael Kottas

0150: MK. Sudden external temperature drop (5°C). Laser beam a bit low. The Switchboard does not seem to be able to raise the beam. Arrows appear to do nothing upon pressing them.
1009: EM. Adjust the overlap more up and right. Nf & FF good now. Very low clouds. (Switchboard sometimes does not respond via iOs or Android Teamviewer.)
1720-1733: EM clean the roof.

2055: MK. No netwrok connection. T1=17C and T2=14C. Turn off AC and heater.
2145: MK. T1=17C and T2=19C. Leaving AC and heater off.

 

SGH-THG adjustment
Jan 16th, 2016 0:00 by Michael Kottas

0026-0036: MK. SHG and THG calibration. At least 20% improvement on display chart.

Beam adjustment (down)
Jan 15th, 2016 18:00 by Michael Kottas

2315: EM: adjust the overlap more lower. temperatures inside: 22 and 21.

Telecover tests
Jan 14th, 2016 6:00 by Michael Kottas

0841: A night and until tis moment the beam stayed stable in the same place. Well done guys!!
1620: EM, IS: stop the measurements. we will do the telecover tests.
1816: EM, IS: finish telecover test. start normal measurements again.

 

Thermostat and beam adjustments
Jan 13th, 2016 6:00 by Michael Kottas

0052: MK. Adjusted the laser beam (lower). Now it's centered on temperatures of about 25 to 28C (T1 & T2 sensors).
0650: ΜΚ. Adjusted the laser beam (even lower). Now it's centered on temperatures of about 28 to 32C (T1 & T2 sensors).
0808: EM: Adjust FF overlap more right.
1642: IS, PK: FF overlap adjusted
1500: IS, PK: internal thermostat for AC changed from 27C to 10
1835: MK. Trying to restart the PC because the temperature sensors display negative values. During the try, Polly.exe is not responding so putty is used to manually set the modes for the laser to turn off.
1900: MK, IS: Adjusted the heater thermostat at 30C.
2140: MK: Adjusted the laser beam, down and to the left.
2222: EM: The beam was going towords the left (out of the telescope). Adjust beam to the right.

Thermostat adjustment
Jan 12th, 2016 6:00 by Michael Kottas

0014: EM: Temperatures inside: T1:20, T2:17.4. The overlap lowers a lot. The  temperature inside the cabin is not stable enough. Readjust overlap. Now FF and NF are ideal. Should isolate the cabin more and set the secondary heater at higher temperature to help during nightime lows.
1222: changed the Thermostats: Thermostat_1:25, Thermostat_2:22.5, AC_Thermotat:20.
1621-1640: EM, IS: close the system to change the posision of the NF optical fiber, in order to decrease noise coming from the laser light.
1641: MK, EM, IS: chane the Thermostats: Thermostat_1:25, Thermostat_2:15, AC_Thermotat:26.
1730: EM, IS: chane the Thermostats: Thermostat_1:20, Thermostat_2:15, AC_Thermotat:26.
1748: EM, IS: chane the Thermostats: Thermostat_1:20, Thermostat_2:15, AC_Thermotat:22.
2347: MK. Thermostat_1: 16C, Termostat_2: 12C, AC: 27C.

Window cleaning - NARLA arrived
Jan 9th, 2016 12:00 by Michael Kottas

1400: EM Mk: clean the roof.
1430-1659: Iwona came with NARLA from Poland. we tested the systems in different configurations and with different computers. tomorrow we will proceed with integration of NARLA inside PollyXT-NOA.

VS 1410 - beam adjustment (right)
Jan 8th, 2016 12:00 by Michael Kottas

1510: EM: The energy could be higher. Run polly.exe with VS:1410 now on. Better.
FF overlap adjustment, righter.

Beam adjustment (left)
Jan 4th, 2016 18:00 by Michael Kottas

2348: EM: Now that there are no clouds above the lidar, we adjust the FF overlap more to the left.

Camera adjustment
Jan 2nd, 2016 12:00 by Michael Kottas

0945: MK. Changed the camera settings because the image showed overexposed. Strange patterns on the upper edge of the frame are visible. Could it be frost?

PollyXT operational - NDF adjustment
Jan 1st, 2016 12:00 by Michael Kottas

1700: EM MK: We have everithing we need now! we can fix the new water hoses for the laser.
2315: Installed the new laserhead. Set the QD at 170, VS at 1400, and SC at 0. Realigne SHG, THG.
The NDFs were changed as following:
    Was: 355: 1.0 0.3, 355s: 0.5, 387: 0.5, 407: 0.0, 532: 3.0 0.3, 0.1, 532s: 1.0 0.5, 607:0.0, 1064: 2.0 0.5, 532NF 3.0 1.0 0.1, 607NF: 0.0
    Now: 355: 1.0 0.5 0.3, 355s: 0.5 0.3, 387: 1.0 0.1, 532: 3.0 0.3 0.3, 532s: 1.0 0.5, 607: 0.3, 1064: 2.0 0.5, 532NF: 3.0 1.0 0.5, 607NF: 0.1
We can not optimize the FF & NF overlap due to clouds obove the lidar. Do our best. We will check again during cloudfree conditions.

Still waiting for spare parts to arrive
Dec 31st, 2015 12:00 by Michael Kottas

After communication with Inlite company and Ronny, we recieved today one new laserhead that was bought from TROPOS group. We will use this one for the champaign until Inlite team fix our own. The new laser head has different conectors for the water circulation. We couldn't find here, we ordered some similar from England yesterday and arrived today. Unfortunatelly they don't fit to the original hose so we have to buy one when the shops open.

Error 06 - PollyXT inoperational
Dec 28th, 2015 6:00 by Michael Kottas

0513: EM: end of measurements due to error on the laser. Error,06: power supply rebboted while flashing. this error is not good, this should never happen.
Ronny: maybe an other indicator for the marxs bank (spooky current electrifying some electronics until they reboot?).
1110: reboot from the center power swich the laser. Now er,0. Internal energy: 60. OK, we have a problem.
1500: EM, MK: Open the laserhead. The lamps are in good condition. The cladding looks cracked (or scratched) from the side that is on top when we place the laserhead in the cabin. This might explains the low energy we had the last days. The Marx Bank is the main problem, one of the mosfits is burned. we need a new Marx Bank from the laser company.

Low energy problems - Beam adjustment
Dec 23rd, 2015 12:00 by Michael Kottas

1147: EM RE: the energy in the triger of the NF is not enought, so no trigering of NR. We increase the VS to 1450. All previus night the NF was just noise. Possible reasons of the low energy: Old lamps, Marx Bank, the cladding (the glass tube inside the pump champer). Now is working correctly. We will leave it like that until tomorrow morning flights and open the laser at noon.
1844: Overlap adjustment.

Window cleaning
Dec 19th, 2015 12:00 by Michael Kottas

1155-1205: MK. Window cleaning.

Close polly.exe for 7 hours
Dec 16th, 2015 12:00 by Michael Kottas

1350: MK: Close the polly.exe.
2030: MK: Open polly.exe.

Too high Mcps - NDF adjustment
Dec 15th, 2015 12:00 by Michael Kottas

1010: EM: The 607 Mcps was too hight, reached 102Mcps almost in all profile, so we close the program in order to protect the pmt.

1930: MK. The NDF arrangement was altered. Start Polly.exe.
    Was: 355: 1.0 0.3, 355s: 0.5, 387: 0.5, 407: 0.0, 532: 3.0 0.3, 0.1, 532s: 1.0 0.5, 607:0.0, 1064: 2.0 0.5, 532NF 3.0 1.0 0.1, 607NF: 0.0
    Now: 355: 1.0 0.3, 355s: 0.3 0.3, 387: 0.3 0.3, 407: 0, 532: 3.0 0.3, 532s: 1.0 0.3, 607:0.1, 1064: 2.0 0.5, 532NF 3.0 1.0 0.1, 607NF: 0.0

Insulation modifications - NDF adjustment
Dec 14th, 2015 18:00 by Michael Kottas

1830-2030: EM MK: insulation of the cabin (modifications).
2030-2200: NDF change.
    Was:    355: 0.3 0.3 0.1, 355s: 0.3 0.3 0.1, 387: 0.3 0.5, 407: 0, 532: 3.0 0.5,  532s:1.0 0.3 0,3, 607:0.1, 1064: 2.0 0.5, 532NF 3+1, 607NF: 0.1
    Now:    355: 1.0 0.3, 355s: 0.5, 387: 0.5, 407: 0, 532: 3.0 0.3 0.1, 532s: 1.0 0.5, 607:0, 1064: 2.0 0.5, 532NF 3 1 0.1, 607NF: 0

 

Window cleaning
Dec 12th, 2015 12:00 by Michael Kottas

1120-1130: MK. Window cleaning. Camera shows some interesting laser patterns (circular beam with an intense white maximum on the lower edge of the circle).

NARLA installation - Telecover
Dec 11th, 2015 6:00 by Michael Kottas

0800: EM IS: close the sytem.clean the roof. install Narla.
0947: start with the tests. Adjust the FF and NF overlaps with diferent sweeptimes (3'', 10'' and in the end 30'': That is why the range corrected signal colorplots has so different values than the previus time period).
1423: The normal measurements start again. We will see in the night how the overlaps will have changed again.
1828: stop the measurements in order to do the telecover of the FF.
1842-1848: north1
1852: 1970 Error. when we re-opened the electronic rack of NF the fuse went off. borrowed Iwonas fuse for now. we will let the container stabilize on temperature and start telecover again.
TELECOVER:
2017-2023: North1
2025-2031: East
2034-2039: South
2041-2049: West
2050-2055: North2. End of telecover.
2100-2118: Problem with the data aquisision system.
2118: Start normal measurements again. Fix the NF better. For Iwonas FF telescope the optimum height for the max Mcps is between 38-45m (Different than ours that is 32m).
2300: EM: the FF overlap changed again a little. Temperatures now: Temp1:23 Temp2:20.6. Change the FF overlap to be the optimum for FF. NF hax heights now: 532:38m, 607:45, 355:53, 387:53. It can get better.

SHG-THG adjustment
Dec 10th, 2015 18:00 by Michael Kottas

1700-1817: EM: change the temperaqtures of the SHG and THG. play arround, but set them back in the original values as not significant changes found.

Apply Insulation - AC (out) set to 21C
Dec 7th, 2015 12:00 by Michael Kottas

1015-1124: MK, EM: Performing window cleaning, applying insulation around the cabin.
1505: changing the AC thermostat to 21C.

Beam adjustment (down)
Dec 6th, 2015 12:00 by Michael Kottas

1035: EM: After seeing yesterday's ic captures, conclude that the beam is all night too high. Adjust the overlap, more down.

Window cleaning & SHG-THG adjustment
Dec 2nd, 2015 12:00 by Michael Kottas

1438-1501: MK. Window cleaning (ethanol used)

18:30-18:46: MK. SHG & THG adjustment. Nothing better was achieved.
Changed the overlap more to the right, and up.

Temperature OK
Dec 1st, 2015 12:00 by Michael Kottas

0941: EM: The temperature was good all night long! Maybe the overlap could be fixed a little more to the left. Will check later tonight.

NARLa lidar receiver

NARLA uninstalled
Feb 24th, 2016 12:00 by Michael Kottas

0931: MK.IS. Close polly.exe. NARLa is being replaced with the regular NF telescope.

1918: Adjusted the NF telescope. Open polly.exe. Disregard any files that might have been uploaded to the server between 0931 and 1918, since they have a sweep time of 5sec because of the NF adjustment.

Measures for electronic noise taken
Feb 1st, 2016 6:00 by Michael Kottas

0607-0800: MK. Close Polly.exe. Creating system image for backup.
0730-1030: MK. The A/C maintenace was performed. The thermostat inside the aircondition is now set at 32C (was 23C). Based on initial observations, at this setting it will start blowing cool air when cabin temperature (at the upper right fan) is 26C. The temperature sensors are now in different positions (T1 near the left door, T2 on the right fan fence). The A/C thermostat inside the cabin is set at 10C, heater1 at 30C, heater2 at 15C.
1040: MK. Open Polly.exe.
1209: MK. Beam adjusted (down).
1447: MK. T2 > 32C and the A/C still does not blow cool air. Seems that the external thermostat is stuck and needs a slight nudge to function. Its replacement is imperative.
2240: MK. The thermostat inside the A/C is set at 25C. Waiting for temperature to stabilize.
2305-2320: MK. SHG & THG adjustment. Beam adjustment. NF and FF look perfect. Attempts to minimize the electronic noise were made: a) NARLA's deck is now resting on a 4cm insulation panel, b) the external backup HDD is now relocated (its spinning could produce interference).

Overlap and NDF adjustment
Jan 30th, 2016 6:00 by Michael Kottas

0543: MK. Restart Polly.exe with 10sec sweep time in order to adjust NF.
0558: MK. Restart Polly.exe after NF adjustment. Sweep time back to 30sec.
0635: MK. Beam adjustment after cabin temperature stabilized. NF looks good.
2256-2306: MK. NDF for NARLA adjustment. +0.3 for 355 and +0.3 for 532. Polly.exe and PMTs were closed for the procedure.

NDF adjustment
Jan 19th, 2016 12:00 by Michael Kottas

0900: EM adjust the overlap.
1310-1314: change NF NDFs. Now: 532: 3+0.1_0.1, 355: 0.5+0.1. Ramman: 0.

Telecover tests
Jan 14th, 2016 6:00 by Michael Kottas

0841: A night and until tis moment the beam stayed stable in the same place. Well done guys!!
1620: EM, IS: stop the measurements. we will do the telecover tests.
1816: EM, IS: finish telecover test. start normal measurements again.

 

Optical fiber placement adjustment
Jan 12th, 2016 18:00 by Michael Kottas

0014: EM: Temperatures inside: T1:20, T2:17.4. The overlap lowers a lot. The  temperature inside the cabin is not stable enough. Readjust overlap. Now FF and NF are ideal. Should isolate the cabin more and set the secondary heater at higher temperature to help during nightime lows.
1222: changed the Thermostats: Thermostat_1:25, Thermostat_2:22.5, AC_Thermotat:20.
1621-1640: EM, IS: close the system to change the posision of the NF optical fiber, in order to decrease noise coming from the laser light.
1641: MK, EM, IS: chane the Thermostats: Thermostat_1:25, Thermostat_2:15, AC_Thermotat:26.
1730: EM, IS: chane the Thermostats: Thermostat_1:20, Thermostat_2:15, AC_Thermotat:26.
1748: EM, IS: chane the Thermostats: Thermostat_1:20, Thermostat_2:15, AC_Thermotat:22.
2347: MK. Thermostat_1: 16C, Termostat_2: 12C, AC: 27C.

Installation - Telecover
Jan 11th, 2016 6:00 by Michael Kottas

0800: EM IS: close the sytem.clean the roof. install Narla.
0947: start with the tests. Adjust the FF and NF overlaps with diferent sweeptimes (3'', 10'' and in the end 30'': That is why the range corrected signal colorplots has so different values than the previus time period).
1423: The normal measurements start again. We will see in the night how the overlaps will have changed again.
1828: stop the measurements in order to do the telecover of the FF.
1842-1848: north1
1852: 1970 Error. when we re-opened the electronic rack of NF the fuse went off. borrowed Iwonas fuse for now. we will let the container stabilize on temperature and start telecover again.
TELECOVER:
2017-2023: North1
2025-2031: East
2034-2039: South
2041-2049: West
2050-2055: North2. End of telecover.
2100-2118: Problem with the data aquisision system.
2118: Start normal measurements again. Fix the NF better. For Iwonas FF telescope the optimum height for the max Mcps is between 38-45m (Different than ours that is 32m).
2300: EM: the FF overlap changed again a little. Temperatures now: Temp1:23 Temp2:20.6. Change the FF overlap to be the optimum for FF. NF hax heights now: 532:38m, 607:45, 355:53, 387:53. It can get better.

Testing outside the cabin
Jan 9th, 2016 12:00 by Michael Kottas

1400: EM Mk: clean the roof.
1430-1659: Iwona came with NARLA from Poland. we tested the systems in different configurations and with different computers. tomorrow we will proceed with integration of NARLA inside PollyXT-NOA.

Recent activity