EXPReS: a production astronomy e-VLBI infrastructure

Huib Jan van Langevelde, Project Coordinator
Director, Joint Institute for VLBI in Europe

Cornell University, United States

Commonwealth Scientific and industrial research organisation, Australia

Aarnet pty ltd, Australia

Shangai astronomical observatory - Chinese academy of sciences, China

Istituto Nazionale di astrofisica, Italy

Universidad de concepcion, Chile

The university of Manchester, United Kingdom

Centro nacional de informacion geografica, Spain

Ventspils augstskola, Latvia

Stichting astronomisch onderzoek in nederland (astron), Netherlands

Uniwersytet mikolaja kopernika, Poland

Teknillinen korkeakoulu, Finland

Max planck gesellschaft zur foerderung der wissenschaften e.v., Germany

Chalmers tekniska hoegskola aktiebolag, Sweden

Instytut chemii bioorganicznej pan, Poland

Delivery of advanced network technology to europe limited, United Kingdom

National research foundation, South Africa

Surfnet b.v., Netherlands

Tel: +31-52-1596500
Fax: +31-52-1596539
e-mail: langevelde[AT]jive.nl

EXPReS was a three-year project to create a distributed astronomical instrument of continental and intercontinental dimensions using e-VLBI.
e-VLBI, or real-time, electronic Very Long Baseline Interferometry, uses fibre optic networks to connect radio telescopes to a central data processor, a purpose-built supercomputer which correlates data from the telescopes in real-time. Transferring data electronically and correlating it in real-time eliminates weeks of waiting from the current VLBI method of storing data on disks and shipping them to the correlator for processing. This allows researchers to take advantage of Targets of Opportunity for conducting follow-on observations of transient events such as supernova explosions and gamma-ray bursts. e-VLBI also allows for high precision tracking of space probes.
EXPReS's objectives were to connect up to 16 of the world's most sensitive radio telescopes on six continents to the central data processor of the European VLBI Network at the Joint Institute for VLBI in Europe (JIVE). Specific activities involved securing "last-mile connections" and upgrading existing connections to the telescopes, updating the correlator to process up to 16 data streams at 1Gbps each in real time and research possibilities for distributed computing to replace the centralized data processor.

Researchers from Europe, Asia, South America, South Africa and the USA

e-VLBI, or real-time, electronic Very Long Baseline Interferometry, which uses fibre optic networks to connect radio telescopes to a central data processor, a purpose-built supercomputer which correlates data from the telescopes in real-time.

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Specific activities involved securing "last-mile connections" and upgrading existing connections to the telescopes, updating the correlator to process up to 16 data streams at 1Gbps each in real time and research possibilities for distributed computing to replace the centralized data processor.

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Project Cost: 3.98 million euro

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