SERC Subcenter needs: Systems Administrator and review of electrical wiring system
Date: Wed, 10 Feb 2010 11:20:25 +0800 [02/10/2010 11:20:25 AM PHT]
Dear Ma’m Toni and Fr. Dan,
The FM-CW radar are having problems again. I sent the diagnostics to Ikeda of SERC last night at 11 pm. Since the Iono building will be transformed into a SERC subcenter in a month or two, I think we need to make some institutional infrastructures in place to prevent days of data loss. These things are beyond my competence as a theoretical physicist.
1. REVIEW OF THE ELECTRICAL WIRING SYSTEM OF THE IONOSPHERE BUILDING
Genie, Erwin, and Fr. Skelsky complained last year that they cannot understand the electrical wiring system of the iono building. Fr. Skelsky and Erwin suspected that somebody tinkered with the wiring system, but did not document it. I think this may be one of the reasons why we have problems with the grounding of the radar transmitter/receiver chassis before. Erwin told me that according to the Building code, electrical wiring system must be replaced every ten years. I suggest we use part of the SERC money for the overhaul of the wiring system, before the building is repainted inside out and the tables and chairs are bought.
It was also agreed during the MO-SERC meeting that the grounding system of the building needs large copper plates buried beneath the ground. Dr. James Simpas will be the overseer of the electrical grounding. We could make the construction of the grounding system concurrent with the review of the electrical wiring system.
2. SYSTEMS ADMINISTRATOR FOR THE SERC SUBCENTER
We need to hire a full-time systems administrator for the SERC subcenter. The systems administrator will make sure that there will be no data loss for the FM-CW radar at MO and for the six (6) MAGDAS stations all over the country. He shall document the correspondence between SERC in Japan and the SERC subcenter in MO, and the correspondence between the SERC subcenter and the MAGDAS host institutions. He must be conversant with MATLAB, because the FM-CW radar codes are in MATLAB. He shall prepare manuals documenting the MATLAB functions and data files for the analysis of the FM-CW radar and MAGDAS data. He must know internet protocols, particularly SSH (Secure Shell) which is the data transmission protocol used by SERC as of Dec 2010. He must be conversant with online data archives. He shall make an online interface for data requests that can track users and their usage statistics. He must make sure that computer dialog boxes are in English, as what I understood from the MO-SERC MOA. He shall write SERC Subcenter systems administrator annual reports, which shall be published online.
The systems administrator should preferably be able to understand the circuitry of the FM-CW radar and MAGDAS magnetometers. He must know the physical principles of their operations, so that he can easily troubleshoot both the hardware and the software. He should also preferably have a M.S. degree in Computer Science or Computer Engineering or Physics/CE. He must also have good technical writing skills.
The systems administrator must be hired before the renovation of the Iono building. In this way he can join in the planning for the software and hardware requirements of the subcenter in particular and of Manila Observatory in general.
Sincerely yours,
pope
Dr. Quirino M. Sugon Jr.
Manila Observatory
Upper Atmosphere Division
Ateneo de Manila University Campus
Loyola Heights, Quezon City
Tel. 4266001 local 4850
Padre Faura's Notebook 
Date: Wed, 10 Feb 2010 11:47:45 +0800 [02/10/2010 11:47:45 AM PHT]
Dear Pope,
Your points are well taken. My quick take on this is you will need to sit with Ms.Didi to come up with a provisional budget for the renovation. As the funds SERC will provide are limited and the eligibility of expenses quite clear, we will need to anticipate how much more will be required to establish the center in the manner that SERC,you and Fr. Dan jointly envision.
The next thing I would suggest is to run a quick check with Dina to see if there are any as-builts for the Iono building. This should also give us some idea as to the magnitude of the resource requirements and the time it will take to accomplish the renovation without having to keep experiencing the current interruptions.
On the Sys-Ad, we will need to sit and discuss this. I am wondering whether there is a possiblity that the Computer Science Dept. may help us in this area.
More tomorrow but perhaps you could start outlining tasks in relation to a timeline. This will speed up the appreciation of the resources and constraints.
Many thanks,
Toni
Antonia Yulo Loyzaga
Executive Director
Manila Observatory
Quirino M. Sugon Jr
February 11, 2010 at 7:10 pm