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jLab Hall D Staffing Needs
JLab Hall D Staffing Needs
--------------------------
E.Wolin
15-nov-2000
Introduction
------------
In this note I estimate the number of JLab staff members needed to be
hired or assigned to work on the Hall D detector and online efforts as
part of the Hall D group. I also estimate the number of additional
staff members needed to be hired into the JLab DAQ, Electronics,
Target, and Computer groups (not counting existing staff temporarily
assigned to Hall D). I mainly discuss permanent staff, and only
briefly mention project staff. I do not discuss temps hired for
specific jobs, as these costs should be included in the detector
construction budget.
A future note will discuss JLab staffing needs to support the Hall D
physics and software efforts.
My manpower estimates and hiring timelines are included in Elton's
Hall D cost/manpower spreadsheet (soon to be released). At the bottom
of this note is a text version of the relevant piece.
Why discuss this now
--------------------
It's important to start discussing this now for a number of reasons.
It takes time to hire people, and we need to be ready to hire when it
becomes possible. Certain positions are hard to fill, and JLab might
want to fill them before they're really needed to ensure that someone
is available when they ARE needed. We'll need support from other
groups at JLab, and we want to ensure they know how much support we
need, and that they agree to provide this support. Finally, we want a
good estimate of our personnel needs as early as possible so we don't
get caught short; i.e. it's better to be realistic up front than to
try to get more staff late in the game.
I suspect most of us can come up with additional reasons...
Background for analysis
-----------------------
I base my recommendations on discussions with the heads of the JLab
DAQ, Electronics, Target, and Computer groups, as well as with the
head of the CLAS electronics group, other JLab employees, Hall D
members (especially Elton), and on my own experience.
Relation to CLAS
----------------
Although the Hall D and CLAS efforts are roughly the same size
overall, CLAS is more complicated mechanically, whereas Hall D is more
complicated electronically. Further, Hall D cannot afford to approach
electronics, DAQ, online, and control in the fragmented way done by
CLAS.
Hall D Mechanical staff
-----------------------
Paul Brindza estimates Hall D will need 6 permanent mechanical
engineering staff (head engineer, lead designer, lead technician,
designer, 2 mechanical technicians). I believe this is somewhat less
than CLAS currently employs.
I estimate we'll need 6-7 additional project staff (2 designers, 1
welder, 3-4 technicians), or about 20 man-years, depending on how much
mechanical work is done at the universities.
Hall D Electronics staff
------------------------
Based on the CLAS experience I believe Hall D will need 2 permanent
designers and 4-5 permanent electronics technicians . CLAS currently
employs 3 technicians, uses a varying number of graduate and
undergraduate EE students, and uses 2-3 technicians from the JLab
Electronics group. The head of the CLAS electronics group claims this
has never been enough.
Hall D is more complicated and sophisticated electronically than CLAS,
and will likely use proportionally less commercial electronics. Thus
I believe we'll need more permanent electronics staff than CLAS.
It's hard to estimate how many project electronics staff will be
needed to design/build/test/install Hall D equipment, as this depends
on how much work is done at JLab versus at the universities. Six
technician man-years may be enough if Hall D employs 4-5 permanent
electronics technicians, and if a lot of design work is done at the
universities. Otherwise JLab will need additional project designers
and technicians.
Hall D Computer staff
---------------------
The Hall D online computer system will contain a large number of
single-board computers, a smaller number of SMP workstations, a level
3 trigger farm, plus auxiliary equipment (UPS, routers, switches,
hubs, RAID, printers, etc.). The JLab Computer group will provide
system management advice and support, but requires we have our own
personnel to handle the day-to-day work. The tape silos will be
located in the computer center, and will be managed by computer center
personnel.
CLAS has 1 computer professional dedicated to system management, but
has a smaller number of computers, a simpler network topology, and no
online farm system. I believe Hall D will need 2 permanent computer
professionals to manage and maintain the Hall D online computer
systems.
Note that here I do not include physicists/programmers working on the
online software.
JLab DAQ group staff
--------------------
Graham Heyes estimates he'll need 2 additional computer professionals
to support the Hall D DAQ system. Currently this group has 6 members
(5 physicist/programmers, 1 physicist/electronics designer) supporting
three halls plus outside groups.
Recently there was an additional visiting electronics
engineer/designer in the DAQ group who developed a number of critical
boards for CLAS. Given the Hall D need for custom digital boards I
feel it's important that the DAQ group add an additional
engineer/designer. I note that the visitor will likely become
available to be hired by the DAQ group about the time Hall D would
need him.
JLab Electronics group staff
----------------------------
Chris Cuevas estimates he'll need 1 additional electronics
designer/coordinator and 2 additional technicians to support Hall D.
Currently this group has 8 members (head, 2 engineer/designers, 5
technicians) supporting the three halls and the Target and Detector
groups. CLAS currently keeps 2-3 FTE's busy.
How to balance having technicians work in this group versus working
directly for Hall D is not obvious. In general, technicians in this
group should be responsible for hardware that is commonly used around
the lab, while Hall D should hire technicians to work on equipment
unique to Hall D. I believe we should lean towards hiring our own
technicians when possible.
JLab Target group staff
-----------------------
Mikell Seely believes he'll need NO additional staff members to
support the Hall D target design and construction effort, assuming the
target is as simple as he's been led to believe, and he's given ample
time to design and build it. This group will soon have 8 members (3
physicists, 1 engineer, 4 technicians) who design, build, and maintain
cryotargets in the three halls.
The target should require little maintenance, perhaps 1/4-1/2 FTE
shared between the JLab target group and Hall D.
JLab Computer group staff
-------------------------
Ian Bird estimates he'll need an additional 1/2 FTE to support the
Hall D online, assuming we hire our own computer support personnel as
discussed above. This work mainly involves maintenance of computer
and network hardware, operating systems and related software, online
database hardware and software, and level 3 farm system.
Note that here I do not discuss Computer center staff needed to
support the Hall D offline analysis effort.
Conclusions
-----------
Hall D and JLab must be ready to start hiring the moment it becomes
possible. Thus we need a good estimate of how much manpower is needed
and when it must be available. This note, although incomplete, is
intended to get this discussion and analysis started.
-----------
Spreadsheet
-----------
The following spreadsheet shows how many of each type of permanent
staff JLab will need to hire, and when. "Year n" denotes the n'th
year of "real" funding for Hall D (whatever that means). I assume the
detector building will be available around the 3rd or 4th year. Full
permanent staffing occurs in year 5. Staff physicists and
programmers are not included.
Please comment!
Funding Year | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6
Hall D Staff (long-term)
------------------------
Lead mech engineer | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1
Lead mech designer | 0.5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1
Lead mech technician | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1
Mechanical designer | | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1
Mechanical technician | | 0.5 | 1.5 | 3 | 4 | 4
Electrical designer | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2
Electrical technician | | 1 | 1.5 | 2 | 4 | 4
Computer professional | | | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2
------------------------------------------------
Sub Total | 3.5 | 7.5 | 10 | 13 | 16 | 16
Jlab Staff (non-Hall D)
-----------------------
DAQ group - computing | | 1 | 1.5 | 2 | 2 | 2
DAQ group - EE | | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1
Electronics group - EE | | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1
Electronics group - tech | | | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2
Computing group | | | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.5
Target group | | | | 0 | 0 | 0
------------------------------------------------
Sub Total | 0 | 3 | 5 | 6.5 | 6.5 | 6.5
------------------------------------------------
Total | 3.5 | 10.5 | 15 | 19.5 | 22.5 | 22.5
------------------------------------------------
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