SHARK-NIR Commissioning Activities List

This is an evolving page and the lists and activities will evolve in time as we gain more and more experience.

Although it is mentioned as the commissioning activities list, it lists all the activities of SHARK-NIR from its unpacking at LBT till the Science Verification, with the exception of the instrument installation at the LBT Bent Gregogian Central focal station.

The commissioning is broadly divided into 3 Phases:

Phase 1: We start from inspecting the boxes at LBT mountain bay, unpacking and installing the instrument at the mountain lab for alignment verification and functionality checks. All of these are daytime activities.

Phase 2: The activities after the installation of SHARK-NIR at the SX central bent Gregorian focus of LBT to the acquirement of the first nighttime telescope collimation model of the instrument form the Phase 2. Most of the activities are daytime. The only nighttime activity is to check the pointing, acquisition sequence and getting the first nighttime telescope collimation model for SHARK-NIR.

Phase 3: Phase 3 of the commissioning starts from sending preset to the telescope to testing individual SHARK-NIR observation modes for performance to the total SHARK-NIR performance. All the activities are nighttime. By the end of this phase, SHARK-NIR is ready for Science Verification.

Note that the corresponding evolving doc in SHARK-NIR Dropbox folder is SHARK-NIR Commissioning Plan with document number SHARK-NIR-INAFP-COM-001.

Applicable Documents

No.	Title	Number & Issue
AD1	SHARK-NIR Schedule	SHARK-NIR-INAFP-Schedule-FDR Issue 0.3
AD2	SHARK-NIR SW ICD	SHARK-NIR-INAFP-SW-ICD-FDR Issue 0.4
AD3	SHARK-NIR Installation Plan	SHARK-NIR-INAFP-IP-001 Issue 0.1
AD4	SHARK-NIR Calibrations	SHARK-NIR-INAFP-MAN-004

Category

The table below lists the categories of commissioning activities.

Category Name	Category Number
Installation, integration, verification	C1
Daytime testing (functionality and operability)	C2
Daytime calibration	C3
Nighttime testing (functionality and operability)	C4
Nighttime calibration	C5
Nighttime testing for performance	C6

Phase 1

Number	Activity Name	Day / Night	Duration (mins)	Maximum Duration (mins)	Category	LBTO Support	SHARK-NIR Location
P1.1	Inspection of the boxes	Day	40	40	C1	-	mountain bay
P1.2	Opening boxes and their visual inspection	Day	60	60	C1	crane operator to lift and move containers/boxes, 1-2 crew to support unpacking and moving	mountain bay
P1.3	Install the instrument in the cleanroom with its electronics cabinet	Day	240	240	C1	crane operator to lift and move containers/boxes, 1-2 crew to support installation on the mechanical structure	mountain bay + clean room
P1.4	Cable in the instrument, power on, and connect to LBT network	Day	120	120	C1	support to connect to LBT network? Any electronics support?	clean room
P1.5	Start all the services and initialize all the motors	Day	20	20	C1	-	clean room
P1.6	Cool down the cryostat	Day	480	480	C1	Liquid N2 fill	clean room
P1.7	Verification of the operability of the motors and light sources	Day	60	60	C1	-	clean room
P1.8	Verification of the internal alignment of the instrument	Day	120	120	C1	-	clean room
P1.9	Science detector calibrations	Day	60	60	C1	-	clean room

Phase 2

Number	Activity Name	Day / Night	Duration (mins)	Maximum Duration (mins)	Category	LBTO Support	SHARK-NIR Location
P2.1	Activating the instrument and testing instrument states & transitions	Day	60	60	C2	Verify the working of emergency button	LBT platform
P2.2	Instrument operability and performance	Day	180	180	C2	-	LBT platform
P2.3	TCS communication test	Day	60	60	C2	Authorise SHARK-NIR, connecting to ASM+LBTI AO system, able to send preset, receiving LBT telemetry and details for the fitswriter	LBT platform
P2.4	Align SHARK-NIR to the telescope	Day	120	120	C2	Mounting RR on the SX side. Support from LBTI?	LBT platform
P2.5	Synergy with LBTI AO system test	Day	120	120	C2	Mounting RR on the SX side. Support from LBTI for AO running	LBT platform
P2.6	Measurement of NCPA	Day	180	180	C3	Mounting RR on the SX side, Support from LBTI for AO running	LBT platform
P2.7	Looking for filter defects/effects/features	Day	60	60	C2	Support from LBTI for AO running	LBT platform
P2.8	Flexure tests	Day	180	180	C2	Support from LBTI for AO running	LBT platform
P2.9	Nighttime acquisition and setting telescope collimation for night	Night	180	180	C4	Support from LBTI for AO running	LBT platform

Phase 3

Number	Activity Name	Day / Night	Duration (mins)	Maximum Duration (mins)	Category	LBTO Support	SHARK-NIR Location
P3.1	Telescope control – sending preset	Night	10	10	C4	LBTI(AO), presence of John Hill while collimating, Steve Allensen as TO	LBT platform
P3.2	Telescope control – checking focus for different wavelengths	Night	10	30	C4	-	LBT platform
P3.3	Telescope control – telescope mode and offset	Night	30	30	C4	LBTI(AO)	LBT platform
P3.4	Telescope control – focal plane geometry estimation	Night	10	60	C4	LBTI(AO)	LBT platform
P3.5	Check the acquisition procedure	Night	60	60	C4	LBTI(AO)	LBT platform
P3.6	Orient the coronagraphs	Night	20	40	C4	LBTI(AO)	LBT platform
P3.7	Estimate the instrument throughput	Night	10	50	C4	LBTI(AO)	LBT platform
P3.8	Estimate the limiting magnitude for every filter	Night	10	50	C4	LBTI(AO)	LBT platform
P3.9	Estimate sky background for broadband filters	Night	10	50	C4	LBTI(AO)	LBT platform
P3.10	Verify the ADC rotation on sky	Night	20	40	C4	LBTI(AO)	LBT platform
P3.11	Ghost positions on the SCICAM	Night	10	50	C4	LBTI(AO)	LBT platform
P3.12	Checking field-stabilized mode/bearing rotation service	Night	20	40	C4	LBTI(AO)	LBT platform
P3.13	Center the slit	Night	40	40	C4	LBTI(AO)	LBT platform
P3.14	Astrometry plate scale and orientation	Night	-	30	C5	LBTI(AO)	LBT platform
P3.15	Flux calibration (off-centered target observation)	Night	-	20	C5	LBTI(AO)	LBT platform
P3.16	Instrumental throughput and absolute flux calibration	Night	20	40	C5	LBTI(AO)	LBT platform
P3.17	Atmospheric calibration and absolute flux calibration	Night	-	20	C5	LBTI(AO)	LBT platform
P3.18	Large spatial scale instrument and telescope flat field	Night	-	60	C5	LBTI(AO)	LBT platform
P3.19	Sky background	Night	-	10	C5	LBTI(AO)	LBT platform
P3.20	Instrumental background for science	Day	-	20	C3	-	LBT platform
P3.21	Star center	Night	-	20	C5	LBTI(AO)	LBT platform
P3.22	Instrument flat field, detector linearity and bad pixels	Day	-	20	C3	-	LBT platform
P3.23	Wavelength calibration	Day	-	10	C3	-	LBT platform
P3.24	Thermal background	Day	-	60	C3	-	LBT platform
P3.25	Detector gain	Day	-	20	C3	-	LBT platform
P3.26	Detector persistence	Day	-	20	C3	-	LBT platform
P3.27	Spectral resolution	Day	-	10	C3	-	LBT platform
P3.28	Ghost calibration	Day	20	60	C3	-	LBT platform
P3.29	Distortion map	Night	-	10	C5	LBTI(AO)	LBT platform
P3.30	Filter wheels reproducibility monitoring	Day	-	20	C3	-	LBT platform
P3.31	Pupil alignment	Night	-	5	C5	LBTI(AO)	LBT platform
P3.32	PSF Alignment	Night	-	5	C5	LBTI(AO)	LBT platform

Additional Information