Baseband processing, e-VLBI, and SKA simulations

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Baseband processing, e-VLBI, and SKA simulations

• Steven Tingay
• Swinburne University of Technology
• MNRF Symposium, 8 June, 2004

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Swinburne MNRF Program Provide facilities that
will benefit the Australian community now,
strengthen Australias bid for the SKA, and make
a significant contribution directly to the
international SKA project

• Baseband processing applications, SKA prototyping
  and demonstration
• Pulsar timing using PC clusters (Matthew Bailes
  talk)
• e-VLBI. Demonstrates
• baseband recording/buffering
• real-time data transport and correlation on long
  baselines
• Data archiving, sensitive wide-field imaging
• e-VLBI is the SKA without the collecting area or
  bandwidth
• SKA simulations
• Development of MIT/Haystack simulator for SKA
• Collaboration in EU FP6 proposal
• Involvement in SSWG
• SKA cost estimation

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e-VLBI

• Develop baseband recording technologies for VLBI
• Develop software correlators and other baseband
  processing technologies for VLBI
• Collaborate with ATNF and University of Tasmania
  use multi-Gbps links
• 5 point plan over next 3 4 years (See Tasso
  Tzioumis)
• Demonstration of e-VLBI this year
• Gbps e-VLBI within 12 months between some
  antennas
• Real-time e-VLBI by 2007 using broad-band ATCA
  correlator
• Well-developed science case

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Recent highlight global disk-based and e-VLBI
experiment

• Nine antennas in two seven antenna experiments in
  April 2004 most ambitious technical
  demonstration of disk-based VLBI
• Australia ATCA, Mopra, Parkes, Hobart,
  Tidbinbilla, Ceduna
• USA Pie Town (VLBA)
• South Africa Hartebeestoek
• Japan Kashima
• Three different disk-based VLBI recording
  systems
• PC-EVN
• MkV (two varieties)
• K5
• Software correlation in near real-time
• Fringes between 4 Australian antennas
• Software correlation of full experiment on
  Swinburne supercomputer

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SKA simulations

• Provide supercomputing resources and software
  development to the national and global SKA
  simulation communities
• ATNF (array configuration studies)
• University of Melbourne (EoR simulations)
• MIT/Haystack (simulation code)
• Oxford (science simulations)
• EU FP6 (all aspects of SKA simulation will find
  out in next few months)
• Coordinated by SSWG (reports to the ISSC -
  chaired by Tingay)

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SKA cost estimation

• Collaboration between Swinburne University, SKA
  International Project Office, and International
  Engineering Management Team
• Standard definition of SKA engineering
  subsystems
• Estimate the construction and operations cost for
  the different SKA configurations
• Include operational costs, software costs, etc
• Implemented as an interactive software tool for
  general or expert use
• To be reviewed at Penticton meeting next month.