LOFAR Status Update

Michael Wise
LOFAR Transients Key Project Meeting, Meudon, December 2011

Transcript

1. ASTRON is part of the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy LOFAR LOFAR LOFAR Status Update Michael Wise (ASTRON/UvA) Transients KSP Meudon Plenary Meeting December 14, 2011
2. ASTRON is part of the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy LOFAR LOFAR LOFAR Status Update Current Array Status MSSS Update and Progress Developments plans for 2012 Upcoming Proposal Calls Future Coordinated Commissioning
3. Michael Wise / TKP Meudon Plenary Meeting / December 14, 2011 LOFAR LOFAR Current Array Status 3 § 33 operational NL stations § 24 core + 9 remote § CS011 & CS028 (validated) § CS013 (summator installation underway) § CS030 (still being debugged) § 8 international stations online § 3 x10 Gbits/s lines operational § HBA tile repairs essentially complete § Firmware upgraded § HBA tiles have been repaired in 30 stations § Only HBA0 field has been fixed in CS030 § Two remaining (CS013, CS031) § Station calibration tables being updated
4. Michael Wise / TKP Meudon Plenary Meeting / December 14, 2011 LOFAR LOFAR Station Rollout and Repair Status 4 § See http://www.astron.nl/radio-observatory/astronomers/current-status
5. Michael Wise / TKP Meudon Plenary Meeting / December 14, 2011 LOFAR LOFAR MSSS Update and Progress 5 MSSS (Multi-frequency Snapshot Sky Survey) § Populate the Global Sky Model § Drive system integration and automation § Limited resolution, interesting sensitivity § Long-baselines included, some piggybacking
6. Michael Wise / TKP Meudon Plenary Meeting / December 14, 2011 LOFAR LOFAR MSSS Observing Progress (LBA) 6 § See http://www.astron.nl/~heald/msss/msssmap_lba_obs.html Map maker developed as part of PanSTARRS Kickoff in November 13% observed
7. Michael Wise / TKP Meudon Plenary Meeting / December 14, 2011 LOFAR LOFAR MSSS Observing and Processing 7 LBA: 9 snapshots per field Snapshots are observed in triplets Each triplet gets its own calibrator Pipeline processing broken into pieces CP + TPPP run in ~realtime, TIP is run offline Observing Scheme Pipeline Processing
8. Michael Wise / TKP Meudon Plenary Meeting / December 14, 2011 LOFAR LOFAR Initial Profiling Results 8 § Compute time for CP+TPPP (for MSSS-LBA) is now ~6x realtime NDPPP Demixing BBS Parmexportcal NDPPP 0:21 Demixing 15:16 BBS 1:51 Parmexportcal 0:08 TOTAL ~17:00 Calibrator Pipeline NDPPP-1 Demixing BBS NDPPP-2 NDPPP-1 1:36 Demixing 21:21 BBS 1:36 NDPPP-2 0:06 TOTAL ~25:00 Target Pre-processing Pipeline
9. Michael Wise / TKP Meudon Plenary Meeting / December 14, 2011 LOFAR LOFAR MSSS Imaging Pipeline 9 Declination Right Ascension § Beam model under active commissioning § AWimager speedups in progress § MSSS test image: 2 MHz bandwidth, DR ~1500 Beam~140”x70” § Processing time: +2 min NDPPP +5 min BBS +0.5 min concat +10 min AWimager (interactive) Imaging ~ real-time (courtesy G. Heald) Snapshot uv coverage
10. Michael Wise / TKP Meudon Plenary Meeting / December 14, 2011 LOFAR LOFAR Development Plans for 2012 10 LOFAR Commissioning Doc.nr.: Rev.: 1.0 with the post-processing available through various pipelines. Table 2 lists the core set of observing modes that will be supported in Version 1.0 of the system. These include standard correlated visibility data that is the starting point of all subsequent imaging products needed by the Surveys, EoR, Transients, Magnetism, and Solar KSPs. A variety of initial beam-formed modes will also be available to support pulsar observations as well as the requirement for dynamic spectra of the Transient and Solar KSPs. Finally a first direct storage mode allowing TBB dumps to be triggered and recorded is planned for version 1.0. This mode represents the basic raw data input to the VHECR mode of the CR KSP. Type Mode Description Output Interferometric Correlated Arbitrary number of stations, 8 beams per station, full Stokes Visibilities Tied-array Incoherent addition Arbitrary number of stations, 8 beams per station, Stokes I BF data file Coherent addition Coherent summation, superterp only, ~20 beams, Stokes I BF data file Raw voltage Coherent summation, superterp only, bypasses 2nd PPF, raw voltage output BF data file Single Station Station level beam-forming Arbitrary stations, individual pointing and frequency settings per station, 8 beams per station, Stokes I BF data file Direct Storage Raw voltage Station level triggering of TBB dumps, direct storage to CEP II TBB data file Table 2: Set of ILT observing modes that will be supported in Version 1.0 of the operational system. In principle, these observation modes can operate in parallel allowing multiple scientific programs to be executed simultaneously. Based on the current development, this capability is likely to be fairly limited in version 1.0 of the system. A single set of incoming station data streams can be both correlated and beam- formed simultaneously however in version 1.0. Expanded capabilities for multiple, independent, simultaneous observations (in either different or similar observing modes) will follow in subsequent releases of the operational system. In contrast, the set of post-processing pipelines available in a version 1.0 release of the operational system will be fairly limited. These will initially include the standard imaging pipeline (SIP) and a first pulsar processing pipeline. The characteristics of these two pipelines are listed in Table 3. Again, this selection is based on the current state of development and the choice of a target release date of January 2012. Additional pipelines will of course be rolled out incrementally in subsequent releases. Pipeline Mode Description Input Output Standard Imaging Limited spatial resolution, full field-of- view (alternatively highest spatial resolution but with limited field-of-view) Visibilities Image cubes Source lists Sky model Quality metrics Known Pulsar Beam- formed Arbitrary number of stations, 8 beams per station, Stokes I BF data file Folded pulse profiles De-dispersed time series Quality metrics Table 3: Set of ILT processing pipelines that will be supported in Version 1.0 of the operational system. Observing Modes Processing Pipelines § Release Version 1.0 of system § Code freeze ~ March 2012 § Two month testing and verification phase § Core set of functionality for proposal call in May 2012 § Expect additional functionality available by proposal call § Some functionality available as “experimental modes” No dedicated transients functionality in Version 1.0
11. MonetDB Database Imaging Pipeline Image Cube Source Finding Lightcurve Storage Transient & Variability Analysis Source Association Archive Database Classification & Analysis Response Scheduling Send External Alert Re-run Image Analysis Schedule New Observation Other Facilities Receive External Alert Real-time Processing Off-line & External Systems On-line Processing Visibility Data Scheduler Michael Wise / TKP Meudon Plenary Meeting / December 14, 2011 LOFAR LOFAR Development Plans for 2012 11 § Must develop design in Q1-Q2 2012 § Implement trigger generation and response first § Major modifications to achieve real-time imaging Fast Transient Pipeline will be next major pipeline development TKP must help develop and test processing strategies!
12. Michael Wise / TKP Meudon Plenary Meeting / December 14, 2011 LOFAR LOFAR Upcoming Proposal Calls 12 § Reserved Access Proposals (Call A) § Open to KSPs and National Consortia § Define areas of protected science § Roughly two year timeline § Call in January 2012, due March 2012 § Commissioning Proposals (Call B) § Open to qualified commissioning teams § Overseen by LCCG, TAG priorities, deliverables § Quarterly proposal cycle and review § Open Access Proposals (Call C) § Open to entire international community § Year one open time fraction ~10% § Technical review by TAG § Final allocations decided by PC
13. Michael Wise / TKP Meudon Plenary Meeting / December 14, 2011 LOFAR LOFAR Future Coordinated Commissioning 13 January 2012 AAS Special Session “First Science with LOFAR” March 2012 UK NAM Special Session on LOFAR June 2012 JENAM 2012 Plenary Talk on LOFAR First Results LOFAR “Open for Business” Tour 2012 May 2012 Announcement of Opportunity for Open Access proposals January 2012 Call for Reserved Access Proposals March 2012 Reserved Access Proposals Due July 2012 Open Access Proposals Due October 2012 Proposal review results announced November 2012 Begin execution of AO1 proposals
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