InternetInterferometryatOnsala: cmeVLBIandLOFAR JohnConway

Vxj,June17th,2008

PresentworkatOnsalaSpaceObservatory,Swedish naNonalfacilityforradioastronomy LongNmeinvolvementininterferometry,VLBI,ALMA etc. Involvedwithinterferometryovertheinternetsince 2004.

Interferometry
Radiointerferometry,correlateelectriceldsbetweentwo separateradiotelescopes(baseline).MeasuresoneFourier componentof2DbrightnessdistribuNon. UsinglargearraysandrotaNonofEarthmeasuremanyspaNal frequencies,Fourierinvertandprocesstomakeimages. CansynthesizeanapertureofdiameterD,henceresoluNon lambda/D.InVeryLongBaselineInterferometry(VLBI)Dcan approachEarthdiameter. Paradoxalthoughradioislongestwavelengthhashighest resoluNoninastronomy! ForobservaNonsofconNnuumsourcessensiNvity proporNonalto1/sqrt(Bandwidthobserved)

FirstTransatlanNcRadio Interferometry,Onsala,January1968

VLBI- Record data on computer tape, physically ship tapes to a correlator, results months later First transatlantic fringes above found to antennas in US, Haystack (MIT) and Greenbank (NRAO, WV)

OldstyleVLBI,circa2005

Not real time collapse of wavefunction(!) Takes months, limits science, also observe blind

FirstTransatlanNcRealTimeFringes

Demo at iGRID 2005 conference, September 2005 succesful fringes Onsala-Haystack

OnsalaInternetInterferometry Overview
EXPReSEUfundedprogramme 3Projects ProducNoneVLBIat1Gbpsdatarateto correlatorinNetherlandsnowoperaNonal Testof4GbpsintocorrelatorinUK LOFAR,newlowfrequencyradiotelescopeat 2.5GbpstoNetherlands

EXPReS
EUFP7InformaNonScienceTechnology InfrastructureprojectMarch2006October2009. Totalbudget12.5MEuro.EUcontribuNons 3.9MEuro Totalof19partners,radiotelescopeandacademic networks(EUbutalsoUS,China,Chile,Australia) Maingoals1GbpsproducNonservice+4Gbpsdemo (OnsalaUK)+distributedsoiwarecorrelaNon. Onsalamoneyfornetworking+person.LocalPI myself,alsoleadScienceforum.

eEVN: European VLBI Network

Data processing centre: 16 Gbps (2008) 1 Tbps (2011?)

Russia

China USA 1-10 Gbps star topology asymmetric

South Africa

eVLBIResults
OH masers

Paragi, September 2007. Rapid position finding of radio supernova. First eVLBI astronomy telegram

eMERLIN

eMERLIN,max250kminterferometer OpNcalbrelinks30Gb/sfromeach telescope 2x2GHzusing3bitsamples 2x0.5GHzusing8bitsamples 1.31.7,48,2224GHz New/modiedreceivers,lenses,IF,data links,correlator,s/w

EXPReS deliverable 4Gbps from Onsala into eMERLIN correlator at Jodrell Bank and do demo correlaton with eMERLIN stations

iBOB+ADC
Internet Break out Board Berkeley Wireless group FPGA chip UDP packetiser written to sample and transmit at up to 16Gbps

Network Infrastructure- lots of cooperation with SUNET, NORDUNET

SUNET Rest of SUNET

Rest of FUNET

FUNET

Onsala

SUNET project router

NORDUnet routed IP (simplified view) NORDUnet TSS Opto

Metshovi

NetNorthWest

STO
Jodrell Bank TSS L2 Cloud JANET

CSC

CPH
VLANs

HAM

GANT2

SurfNET

JIVE + LOFAR.

Very Recent Progress Last week demonstrated 4Gbps from iBoB at Onsala through to Jodrell Bank UK Also last week demonstrated 8Gbps from Onsala to Metsahovi in Finland (8 times higher data rate than disk recording!) ut hav not done correlation yet of these B high bit rates requires eMERLIN correlator in UK, ready Autumn 2008. Eventually Onsala to become a a part time eMERLIN station?

LOFARtheradiotelescope
Radioantennas(staNons)distributedoverthe Netherlands+Europe Frequencies:30240MHz PathnderfortheSquareKilometreArray (SKA)atlowfrequencies Dutchbaselines:upto100km EuropeanExpansionto1000km

Theradioantennas

Low Band Antenna - (10) 30MHz - 80 MHz - 96 dipoles per station - Within NL only 48 can be used at a time

High Band Antenna - 120 MHz - 240 MHz - 1 tile = 4 x 4 antennas - 48 tiles per station (Within NL)

AnewgeneraNonRadiotelescope
ReplacebigdishesbymanycheapdipolesinstaNons Nomovingparts:electronicbeamsteering observemulNpledirecNonsatthesameNme Bandwidthof32MHz;channelwidth~1kHz Supercomputer(IBMBlueGene)correlatesthedata &dataisbeingprocessedoncluster Currentfundingallows36staNonsofdipoles+extra sensors(geo+agro)withintheNetherlands. Europeanlevel7staNonsfunded AmbiNontobuildmorestaNons

KeyScienceProjects
Fourkeyscienceprojectshavedriventhe development:
EpochofReionisaNon(deBruyn,Groningen) ExtragalacNcSurveys(Rngering,Leiden) TransientsandPulsars(Wijers,Amsterdam) CosmicraydetecNon(Hrandel/Falcke,Nijmegen)

Twokeyscienceprojectsrecentlyadded:
Solarscienceandspaceweather(Mann,Potsdam) CosmicMagneNsm(Beck,Bonn)

LOFARcore

24 HBA tiles 96 LBAs

24 HBA tiles

Inter tile distance: 0.6m

LOFARNL

48 HBA tiles 96 LBA

Inter-tile distance = 0.6m

ELOFAR

96 HBA tiles

96 LBAs

Inter-tile distance: 0.6m

EelsbergISDE01

1st LOFAR international station

LOFARatOnsala
Researchcouncilplanninggrantfor2006/2007(600kKr= 70kEuro).MeeNngs,RFI(radiofrequencyinterference)testofour sitebyASTRONposiNveresult November2007SwedishresearchcouncilapplicaNonforfunding afullLOFARstaNonwassuccessful(6.8Mkr=600kEuro).++ Timeline,sitepreparaNon,Autumn2008,staNoninstallled inSpring2009 SwedishinvolvementinKeyscienceprojectsnowpossible SwedishastronomerswillgetbacksomeguranteedobservingNme

OnsalaLOFARsite

OSOLOFARTopographicmap

Stone walls

Dirt road

Road to 25m

Infiltration

2008 06 04

OSOLOFARSiteprepara5on
Picture showing area after site preparation About 1 hectare forest have to be cut down Rock blasted in 30deg el from the 70m d limit

340 + 80 m3 filling needed (reuse stone from the blasting)

OSOLOFARFinalcongura5on

OSOLOFAROrienta5on

Container

Leif Helldner

Dirt road

Closest distance, Tile - dipole Distance (cc) HBA - LBA

Road to 25m

Infiltration

2008 06 04