  During its move from the mountaintop of Cerro Pachon in Chile to the peak of
Mauna Kea in Hawaii, the Gemini Planet Imager will make a pit stop to receive
various upgrades, including a pyramid wavefront sensor. As a highly non-linear
sensor, a standard approach to linearize the response of the pyramid is induce
a rapid circular modulation of the beam around the pyramid tip, trading off
sensitivity for robustness during high turbulence. Using high temporal
resolution Fourier Optics based simulations, we investigate phase
reconstruction approaches that attempt to optimize the performance of the
sensor with a dynamically adjustable modulation parameter. We have studied the
linearity and gain stability of the sensor under different modulation and
seeing conditions, and the ability of the sensor to correct non-common-path
errors. We will also show performance estimates which includes a comparative
analysis of the atmospheric columns above the two mountains, as well as the
Error Transfer Functions of the two systems.
