UniBoard: generic hardware for radio astronomy signal processing

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. E. Hargreaves
Keyword(s):  
Signal Processing ◽  
Radio Astronomy

Improving the Performance and Resource Utilization of the CASPER FFT and Polyphase Filterbank

2016 ◽  
Vol 05 (04) ◽  
pp. 1641002
Author(s):  
Ryan Monroe
Keyword(s):  
Signal Processing ◽  
Digital Signal Processing ◽  
Resource Utilization ◽  
Radio Astronomy ◽  
Digital Signal ◽  
Quantization Noise

The effectiveness of Digital Signal Processing (DSP) solutions for radio-astronomy is limited by the efficiency of the implemented algorithms. Novel implementations of several popular DSP algorithms are presented. Their optimization strategies are discussed and their efficiency is compared to that of the standard Collaboration for Astronomy Signal Processing and Electronics Research (CASPER) library solutions. Compared to CASPER, the PFB-FIR and FFT modules require 73% and 45% of the DSP48E1 resources, with performance dominated by ADC quantization noise for typical radio-astronomy inputs.

scholarly journals Square Kilometre Array Station Configuration Using Two-Stage Beamforming

2013 ◽  
Vol 30 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aziz Jiwani ◽  
Tim Colegate ◽  
Nima Razavi-Ghods ◽  
Peter J. Hall ◽  
Shantanu Padhi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Signal Processing ◽  
Radio Astronomy ◽  
Effective Area ◽  
The Other ◽  
Processing Load ◽  
Two Stage ◽  
Square Kilometre Array ◽  
Cost Benefits ◽  
Sparse Aperture ◽  
Aperture Arrays

AbstractThe lowest frequency band (70–450 MHz) of the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) will consist of sparse aperture arrays grouped into geographically localised patches or stations. Signals from thousands of antennas in each station will be beamformed to produce station beams which form the inputs for the central correlator. Two-stage beamforming within stations can reduce SKA-low signal processing load and costs, but has not been previously explored for the irregular station layouts now favoured in radio astronomy arrays. This paper illustrates the effects of two-stage beamforming on sidelobes and effective area, for two representative station layouts (regular and irregular gridded tiles on an irregular station). The performance is compared with a single-stage, irregular station. The inner sidelobe levels do not change significantly between layouts, but the more distant sidelobes are affected by the tile layouts; regular tile creates diffuse, but regular, grating lobes. With very sparse arrays, the station effective area is similar between layouts. At lower frequencies, the regular tile significantly reduces effective area, hence sensitivity. The effective area is highest for a two-stage irregular station, but it requires a larger station extent than the other two layouts. Although there are cost benefits for stations with two-stage beamforming, we conclude that more accurate station modelling and SKA-low configuration specifications are required before design finalisation.

Array Signal Processing for Radio Astronomy

2005 ◽  
pp. 231-249 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alle-Jan Van Der Veen ◽  
Amir Leshem ◽  
Albert-Jan Boonstra
Keyword(s):  
Signal Processing ◽  
Radio Astronomy ◽  
Array Signal Processing

scholarly journals Introduction to the Special Issue on Digital Signal Processing in Radio Astronomy

2016 ◽  
Vol 05 (04) ◽  
pp. 1602002 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. C. Price ◽  
J. Kocz ◽  
M. Bailes ◽  
L. J. Greenhill
Keyword(s):  
Signal Processing ◽  
Digital Signal Processing ◽  
Radio Astronomy ◽  
Graphics Processing Units ◽  
High Speed ◽  
High Performance ◽  
Digital Signal ◽  
General Purpose ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Dsp Systems

Advances in astronomy are intimately linked to advances in digital signal processing (DSP). This special issue is focused upon advances in DSP within radio astronomy. The trend within that community is to use off-the-shelf digital hardware where possible and leverage advances in high performance computing. In particular, graphics processing units (GPUs) and field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) are being used in place of application-specific circuits (ASICs); high-speed Ethernet and Infiniband are being used for interconnect in place of custom backplanes. Further, to lower hurdles in digital engineering, communities have designed and released general-purpose FPGA-based DSP systems, such as the CASPER ROACH board, ASTRON Uniboard, and CSIRO Redback board. In this introductory paper, we give a brief historical overview, a summary of recent trends, and provide an outlook on future directions.

scholarly journals A Mathematical Review of Polyphase Filterbank Implementations for Radio Astronomy

2011 ◽  
Vol 28 (4) ◽  
pp. 317-322 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Harris ◽  
Karen Haines
Keyword(s):  
Signal Processing ◽  
Radio Astronomy ◽  
Advantages And Disadvantages ◽  
Mathematical Background ◽  
Mathematical Review ◽  
Hardware Architectures ◽  
Published Research ◽  
General Scope

AbstractThe technique of polyphase filterbanks is commonly used for signal processing in radio astronomy. The rapid and ongoing evolution of parallel hardware architectures requires optimised implementations of such techniques to be redeveloped. However, much of the published research regarding polyphase filterbanks refers the reader to signal processing books with a more general scope. Furthermore, these references tend to focus on the design of filters, rather than their implementation. For this reason, this work presents a mathematical background for the implementation of a polyphase filterbank specific to radio astronomy. It also addresses the advantages and disadvantages of polyphase filterbanks in comparison with more commonly used techniques.

scholarly journals A Decade of Developing Radio-Astronomy Instrumentation using CASPER Open-Source Technology

2016 ◽  
Vol 05 (04) ◽  
pp. 1641001 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jack Hickish ◽  
Zuhra Abdurashidova ◽  
Zaki Ali ◽  
Kaushal D. Buch ◽  
Sandeep C. Chaudhari ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Signal Processing ◽  
Software Development ◽  
Open Source ◽  
Radio Astronomy ◽  
Scientific Instruments ◽  
Academic Institutions ◽  
Programming Environments ◽  
Digital Radio ◽  
Scientists And Engineers ◽  
Radio Astronomy Instrumentation

The Collaboration for Astronomy Signal Processing and Electronics Research (CASPER) has been working for a decade to reduce the time and cost of designing, building and deploying new digital radio-astronomy instruments. Today, CASPER open-source technology powers over 45 scientific instruments worldwide, and is used by scientists and engineers at dozens of academic institutions. In this paper, we catalog the current offerings of the CASPER collaboration, and instruments past and present built by CASPER users and developers. We describe the ongoing state of software development, as CASPER looks to support a broader range of programming environments and hardware and ensure compatibility with the latest vendor tools.

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