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PADRE - The PetaFLOP AARTFAAC Data-Reduction Engine

Improving the AARTFAAC processing pipeline

AARTFAAC is an all-sky radio telescope and transient-detection facility. It piggybacks on raw data from a limited number of antennas of the LOFAR telescope. Last year, the AARTFAAC 2.0 program started, which couples a planned telescope upgrade with better transient-detection capabilities and new science cases.

This proposal, the PetaFLOP AARTFAAC Data-Reduction Engine (PADRE), aims to improve the AARTFAAC processing pipeline to achieve the following goals.

First, transients will be detected in real time with low latency, so that the raw samples of all LOFAR antennas (which are available for only seven seconds) can be saved in time for further analysis, while other instruments, observing at other wavelengths, are alerted to initiate follow-up observations immediately.

Second, the pipeline will scale to support more antennas and more bandwidth, through algorithmic optimizations and the use of new GPU technologies, which yields better images and greatly enhances the transient discovery rate.

Third, the pipeline will facilitate other, new use cases (space-wheather monitoring, ionospheric research, cosmic dawn) by providing intermediate data products like calibrated images. The pipeline that PADRE will develop is thus at the heart of a versatile, powerful instrument.

This project is in cooperation with SURF, Axel Berg is the call director, Raymond Oonk is the SURF Advisor, and Duncan Kampert is the SURF engineer.

Participating organisations

ASTRON
Netherlands eScience Center
SURF
Natural Sciences & Engineering
Natural Sciences & Engineering
University of Amsterdam

Output

Team

JR
John Romein
Principal investigator
Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy
AR
Antonia Rowlinson
Co-Applicant
University of Amsterdam
RW
Ralph Wijers
Co-Applicant
University of Amsterdam
SW
Stefan Wijnholds
Hanno Spreeuw
Hanno Spreeuw
Lead RSE
Netherlands eScience Center
AB
Axel Berg
Programme Director
SURF
Ben van Werkhoven
Ben van Werkhoven
eScience Research Engineer
Netherlands eScience Center
DK
Duncan Kampert
Research engineer
SURF
Johan Hidding
Johan Hidding
RO
Raymond Oonk
Advisor
SURF
Rena Bakhshi
Rena Bakhshi
Programme Manager
Netherlands eScience Center

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