The Murchison Widefield Array correlator

Stephen M Ord; Brian Crosse; David Emrich; Dave Pallot; Randall B Wayth; M A Clark; Steven Tremblay; Wayne Arcus; David Graeme Barnes; Martin E Bell; Gianni Bernardi; N D Ramesh Bhat; Julie Bowman; Frank H Briggs; John D Bunton; Roger J Cappallo; Brian E Corey; Avinash Deshpande; Ludi deSouza; Aaron Ewall-Wice; Lu Feng; Robert F Goeke; Lincoln J Greenhill; Bryna J Hazelton; David Edwin Herne; Jacqueline N Hewitt; Luke Hindson; Natasha Hurley-Walker; Daniel Jacobs; Melanie Johnston-Hollitt; David L Kaplan; Justin C Kasper; Barton B Kincaid; Ronald Koenig; Eric Kratzenberg; Nadia Kudryavtseva; E Lenc; Colin J Lonsdale; Mervyn John Lynch; Benjamin McKinley; Stephen Russell McWhirter; Daniel A Mitchell; Miguel F Morales; Edward H Morgan; Divya Oberoi; Andre R Offringa; Joseph Pathikulangara; Bart Pindor; Thiagaraj Prabu; Pietro Procopio

doi:10.1017/pasa.2015.5

The Murchison Widefield Array correlator

Stephen M Ord, Brian Crosse, David Emrich, Dave Pallot, Randall B Wayth, M A Clark, Steven Tremblay, Wayne Arcus, David Graeme Barnes, Martin E Bell, Gianni Bernardi, N D Ramesh Bhat, Julie Bowman, Frank H Briggs, John D Bunton, Roger J Cappallo, Brian E Corey, Avinash Deshpande, Ludi deSouza, Aaron Ewall-WiceLu Feng, Robert F Goeke, Lincoln J Greenhill, Bryna J Hazelton, David Edwin Herne, Jacqueline N Hewitt, Luke Hindson, Natasha Hurley-Walker, Daniel Jacobs, Melanie Johnston-Hollitt, David L Kaplan, Justin C Kasper, Barton B Kincaid, Ronald Koenig, Eric Kratzenberg, Nadia Kudryavtseva, E Lenc, Colin J Lonsdale, Mervyn John Lynch, Benjamin McKinley, Stephen Russell McWhirter, Daniel A Mitchell, Miguel F Morales, Edward H Morgan, Divya Oberoi, Andre R Offringa, Joseph Pathikulangara, Bart Pindor, Thiagaraj Prabu, Pietro Procopio

Monash e-Research Centre

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer-review

40 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The Murchison Widefield Array is a Square Kilometre Array Precursor. The telescope is located at theMurchison Radio-astronomy Observatory in Western Australia. The MWA consists of 4 096 dipoles arranged into 128 dual polarisation aperture arrays forming a connected element interferometer that cross-correlates signals from all 256 inputs. A hybrid approach to the correlation task is employed, with some processing stages being performed by bespoke hardware, based on Field Programmable Gate Arrays, and others by Graphics Processing Units housed in general purpose rack mounted servers. The correlation capability required is approximately 8 tera floating point operations per second. The MWA has commenced operations and the correlator is generating 8.3 TB day-1 of correlation products, that are subsequently transferred 700 km from the MRO to Perth (WA) in real-time for storage and offline processing. In this paper, we outline the correlator design, signal path, and processing elements and present the data format for the internal and external interfaces.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1 - 14
Number of pages	14
Journal	Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia
Volume	32
Issue number	006
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1017/pasa.2015.5
Publication status	Published - 2015

Keywords

instrumentation
interferometers
techniques: interferometric

Access to Document

10.1017/pasa.2015.5

Cite this

Ord, S. M., Crosse, B., Emrich, D., Pallot, D., Wayth, R. B., Clark, M. A., Tremblay, S., Arcus, W., Barnes, D. G., Bell, M. E., Bernardi, G., Bhat, N. D. R., Bowman, J., Briggs, F. H., Bunton, J. D., Cappallo, R. J., Corey, B. E., Deshpande, A., deSouza, L., ... Procopio, P. (2015). The Murchison Widefield Array correlator. Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia, 32(006), 1 - 14. https://doi.org/10.1017/pasa.2015.5

@article{e5b231bebe4c4984a6bdc76fd740b8d8,

title = "The Murchison Widefield Array correlator",

abstract = "The Murchison Widefield Array is a Square Kilometre Array Precursor. The telescope is located at theMurchison Radio-astronomy Observatory in Western Australia. The MWA consists of 4 096 dipoles arranged into 128 dual polarisation aperture arrays forming a connected element interferometer that cross-correlates signals from all 256 inputs. A hybrid approach to the correlation task is employed, with some processing stages being performed by bespoke hardware, based on Field Programmable Gate Arrays, and others by Graphics Processing Units housed in general purpose rack mounted servers. The correlation capability required is approximately 8 tera floating point operations per second. The MWA has commenced operations and the correlator is generating 8.3 TB day-1 of correlation products, that are subsequently transferred 700 km from the MRO to Perth (WA) in real-time for storage and offline processing. In this paper, we outline the correlator design, signal path, and processing elements and present the data format for the internal and external interfaces.",

keywords = "instrumentation, interferometers, techniques: interferometric",

author = "Ord, {Stephen M} and Brian Crosse and David Emrich and Dave Pallot and Wayth, {Randall B} and Clark, {M A} and Steven Tremblay and Wayne Arcus and Barnes, {David Graeme} and Bell, {Martin E} and Gianni Bernardi and Bhat, {N D Ramesh} and Julie Bowman and Briggs, {Frank H} and Bunton, {John D} and Cappallo, {Roger J} and Corey, {Brian E} and Avinash Deshpande and Ludi deSouza and Aaron Ewall-Wice and Lu Feng and Goeke, {Robert F} and Greenhill, {Lincoln J} and Hazelton, {Bryna J} and Herne, {David Edwin} and Hewitt, {Jacqueline N} and Luke Hindson and Natasha Hurley-Walker and Daniel Jacobs and Melanie Johnston-Hollitt and Kaplan, {David L} and Kasper, {Justin C} and Kincaid, {Barton B} and Ronald Koenig and Eric Kratzenberg and Nadia Kudryavtseva and E Lenc and Lonsdale, {Colin J} and Lynch, {Mervyn John} and Benjamin McKinley and McWhirter, {Stephen Russell} and Mitchell, {Daniel A} and Morales, {Miguel F} and Morgan, {Edward H} and Divya Oberoi and Offringa, {Andre R} and Joseph Pathikulangara and Bart Pindor and Thiagaraj Prabu and Pietro Procopio",

year = "2015",

doi = "10.1017/pasa.2015.5",

language = "English",

volume = "32",

pages = "1 -- 14",

journal = "Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia",

issn = "1323-3580",

publisher = "Cambridge University Press",

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Ord, SM, Crosse, B, Emrich, D, Pallot, D, Wayth, RB, Clark, MA, Tremblay, S, Arcus, W, Barnes, DG, Bell, ME, Bernardi, G, Bhat, NDR, Bowman, J, Briggs, FH, Bunton, JD, Cappallo, RJ, Corey, BE, Deshpande, A, deSouza, L, Ewall-Wice, A, Feng, L, Goeke, RF, Greenhill, LJ, Hazelton, BJ, Herne, DE, Hewitt, JN, Hindson, L, Hurley-Walker, N, Jacobs, D, Johnston-Hollitt, M, Kaplan, DL, Kasper, JC, Kincaid, BB, Koenig, R, Kratzenberg, E, Kudryavtseva, N, Lenc, E, Lonsdale, CJ, Lynch, MJ, McKinley, B, McWhirter, SR, Mitchell, DA, Morales, MF, Morgan, EH, Oberoi, D, Offringa, AR, Pathikulangara, J, Pindor, B, Prabu, T & Procopio, P 2015, 'The Murchison Widefield Array correlator', Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia, vol. 32, no. 006, pp. 1 - 14. https://doi.org/10.1017/pasa.2015.5

TY - JOUR

T1 - The Murchison Widefield Array correlator

AU - Ord, Stephen M

AU - Crosse, Brian

AU - Emrich, David

AU - Pallot, Dave

AU - Wayth, Randall B

AU - Clark, M A

AU - Tremblay, Steven

AU - Arcus, Wayne

AU - Barnes, David Graeme

AU - Bell, Martin E

AU - Bernardi, Gianni

AU - Bhat, N D Ramesh

AU - Bowman, Julie

AU - Briggs, Frank H

AU - Bunton, John D

AU - Cappallo, Roger J

AU - Corey, Brian E

AU - Deshpande, Avinash

AU - deSouza, Ludi

AU - Ewall-Wice, Aaron

AU - Feng, Lu

AU - Goeke, Robert F

AU - Greenhill, Lincoln J

AU - Hazelton, Bryna J

AU - Herne, David Edwin

AU - Hewitt, Jacqueline N

AU - Hindson, Luke

AU - Hurley-Walker, Natasha

AU - Jacobs, Daniel

AU - Johnston-Hollitt, Melanie

AU - Kaplan, David L

AU - Kasper, Justin C

AU - Kincaid, Barton B

AU - Koenig, Ronald

AU - Kratzenberg, Eric

AU - Kudryavtseva, Nadia

AU - Lenc, E

AU - Lonsdale, Colin J

AU - Lynch, Mervyn John

AU - McKinley, Benjamin

AU - McWhirter, Stephen Russell

AU - Mitchell, Daniel A

AU - Morales, Miguel F

AU - Morgan, Edward H

AU - Oberoi, Divya

AU - Offringa, Andre R

AU - Pathikulangara, Joseph

AU - Pindor, Bart

AU - Prabu, Thiagaraj

AU - Procopio, Pietro

PY - 2015

Y1 - 2015

N2 - The Murchison Widefield Array is a Square Kilometre Array Precursor. The telescope is located at theMurchison Radio-astronomy Observatory in Western Australia. The MWA consists of 4 096 dipoles arranged into 128 dual polarisation aperture arrays forming a connected element interferometer that cross-correlates signals from all 256 inputs. A hybrid approach to the correlation task is employed, with some processing stages being performed by bespoke hardware, based on Field Programmable Gate Arrays, and others by Graphics Processing Units housed in general purpose rack mounted servers. The correlation capability required is approximately 8 tera floating point operations per second. The MWA has commenced operations and the correlator is generating 8.3 TB day-1 of correlation products, that are subsequently transferred 700 km from the MRO to Perth (WA) in real-time for storage and offline processing. In this paper, we outline the correlator design, signal path, and processing elements and present the data format for the internal and external interfaces.

AB - The Murchison Widefield Array is a Square Kilometre Array Precursor. The telescope is located at theMurchison Radio-astronomy Observatory in Western Australia. The MWA consists of 4 096 dipoles arranged into 128 dual polarisation aperture arrays forming a connected element interferometer that cross-correlates signals from all 256 inputs. A hybrid approach to the correlation task is employed, with some processing stages being performed by bespoke hardware, based on Field Programmable Gate Arrays, and others by Graphics Processing Units housed in general purpose rack mounted servers. The correlation capability required is approximately 8 tera floating point operations per second. The MWA has commenced operations and the correlator is generating 8.3 TB day-1 of correlation products, that are subsequently transferred 700 km from the MRO to Perth (WA) in real-time for storage and offline processing. In this paper, we outline the correlator design, signal path, and processing elements and present the data format for the internal and external interfaces.

KW - instrumentation

KW - interferometers

KW - techniques: interferometric

U2 - 10.1017/pasa.2015.5

DO - 10.1017/pasa.2015.5

M3 - Article

VL - 32

SP - 1

EP - 14

JO - Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia

JF - Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia

SN - 1323-3580

IS - 006

ER -