The Murchison Widefield Array Correlator

S. M. Ord; B. Crosse; D. Emrich; D. Pallot; R. B. Wayth; M. A. Clark; S. E. Tremblay; W. Arcus; D. Barnes; M. Bell; G. Bernardi; N. D R Bhat; Judd Bowman; F. Briggs; J. D. Bunton; R. J. Cappallo; B. E. Corey; A. A. Deshpande; L. Desouza; A. Ewell-Wice; L. Feng; R. Goeke; L. J. Greenhill; B. J. Hazelton; D. Herne; J. N. Hewitt; L. Hindson; N. Hurley-Walker; Daniel Jacobs; M. Johnston-Hollitt; D. L. Kaplan; J. C. Kasper; B. B. Kincaid; R. Koenig; E. Kratzenberg; N. Kudryavtseva; E. Lenc; C. J. Lonsdale; M. J. Lynch; B. McKinley; S. R. McWhirter; D. A. Mitchell; M. F. Morales; E. Morgan; D. Oberoi; A. Offringa; J. Pathikulangara; B. Pindor; T. Prabu; P. Procopio; R. A. Remillard; J. Riding; A. E E Rogers; A. Roshi; J. E. Salah; R. J. Sault; N. Udaya Shankar; K. S. Srivani; J. Stevens; R. Subrahmanyan; S. J. Tingay; M. Waterson; R. L. Webster; A. R. Whitney; A. Williams; C. L. Williams; J. S B Wyithe

doi:10.1017/pasa.2015.5

The Murchison Widefield Array Correlator

S. M. Ord, B. Crosse, D. Emrich, D. Pallot, R. B. Wayth, M. A. Clark, S. E. Tremblay, W. Arcus, D. Barnes, M. Bell, G. Bernardi, N. D R Bhat, Judd Bowman, F. Briggs, J. D. Bunton, R. J. Cappallo, B. E. Corey, A. A. Deshpande, L. Desouza, A. Ewell-WiceL. Feng, R. Goeke, L. J. Greenhill, B. J. Hazelton, D. Herne, J. N. Hewitt, L. Hindson, N. Hurley-Walker, Daniel Jacobs, M. Johnston-Hollitt, D. L. Kaplan, J. C. Kasper, B. B. Kincaid, R. Koenig, E. Kratzenberg, N. Kudryavtseva, E. Lenc, C. J. Lonsdale, M. J. Lynch, B. McKinley, S. R. McWhirter, D. A. Mitchell, M. F. Morales, E. Morgan, D. Oberoi, A. Offringa, J. Pathikulangara, B. Pindor, T. Prabu, P. Procopio, R. A. Remillard, J. Riding, A. E E Rogers, A. Roshi, J. E. Salah, R. J. Sault, N. Udaya Shankar, K. S. Srivani, J. Stevens, R. Subrahmanyan, S. J. Tingay, M. Waterson, R. L. Webster, A. R. Whitney, A. Williams, C. L. Williams, J. S B Wyithe

CLAS-NS: Earth and Space Exploration, School of (SESE)

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article

25 Scopus citations

Abstract

The Murchison Widefield Array is a Square Kilometre Array Precursor. The telescope is located at the Murchison 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 (US)
Article number	e006
Journal	Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia
Volume	32
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1017/pasa.2015.5
State	Published - Feb 16 2015

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Keywords

instrumentation: interferometers
techniques: interferometric

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Astronomy and Astrophysics
Space and Planetary Science

Cite this

Ord, S. M., Crosse, B., Emrich, D., Pallot, D., Wayth, R. B., Clark, M. A., Tremblay, S. E., Arcus, W., Barnes, D., Bell, M., Bernardi, G., Bhat, N. D. R., Bowman, J., Briggs, F., Bunton, J. D., Cappallo, R. J., Corey, B. E., Deshpande, A. A., Desouza, L., ... Wyithe, J. S. B. (2015). The Murchison Widefield Array Correlator. Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia, 32, [e006]. https://doi.org/10.1017/pasa.2015.5

The Murchison Widefield Array Correlator. / Ord, S. M.; Crosse, B.; Emrich, D.; Pallot, D.; Wayth, R. B.; Clark, M. A.; Tremblay, S. E.; Arcus, W.; Barnes, D.; Bell, M.; Bernardi, G.; Bhat, N. D R; Bowman, Judd; Briggs, F.; Bunton, J. D.; Cappallo, R. J.; Corey, B. E.; Deshpande, A. A.; Desouza, L.; Ewell-Wice, A.; Feng, L.; Goeke, R.; Greenhill, L. J.; Hazelton, B. J.; Herne, D.; Hewitt, J. N.; Hindson, L.; Hurley-Walker, N.; Jacobs, Daniel; Johnston-Hollitt, M.; Kaplan, D. L.; Kasper, J. C.; Kincaid, B. B.; Koenig, R.; Kratzenberg, E.; Kudryavtseva, N.; Lenc, E.; Lonsdale, C. J.; Lynch, M. J.; McKinley, B.; McWhirter, S. R.; Mitchell, D. A.; Morales, M. F.; Morgan, E.; Oberoi, D.; Offringa, A.; Pathikulangara, J.; Pindor, B.; Prabu, T.; Procopio, P.; Remillard, R. A.; Riding, J.; Rogers, A. E E; Roshi, A.; Salah, J. E.; Sault, R. J.; Udaya Shankar, N.; Srivani, K. S.; Stevens, J.; Subrahmanyan, R.; Tingay, S. J.; Waterson, M.; Webster, R. L.; Whitney, A. R.; Williams, A.; Williams, C. L.; Wyithe, J. S B.

In: Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia, Vol. 32, e006, 16.02.2015.

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article

Ord, SM, Crosse, B, Emrich, D, Pallot, D, Wayth, RB, Clark, MA, Tremblay, SE, Arcus, W, Barnes, D, Bell, M, Bernardi, G, Bhat, NDR, Bowman, J, Briggs, F, Bunton, JD, Cappallo, RJ, Corey, BE, Deshpande, AA, Desouza, L, Ewell-Wice, A, Feng, L, Goeke, R, Greenhill, LJ, Hazelton, BJ, Herne, D, 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, E, Oberoi, D, Offringa, A, Pathikulangara, J, Pindor, B, Prabu, T, Procopio, P, Remillard, RA, Riding, J, Rogers, AEE, Roshi, A, Salah, JE, Sault, RJ, Udaya Shankar, N, Srivani, KS, Stevens, J, Subrahmanyan, R, Tingay, SJ, Waterson, M, Webster, RL, Whitney, AR, Williams, A, Williams, CL & Wyithe, JSB 2015, 'The Murchison Widefield Array Correlator', Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia, vol. 32, e006. https://doi.org/10.1017/pasa.2015.5

Ord, S. M. ; Crosse, B. ; Emrich, D. ; Pallot, D. ; Wayth, R. B. ; Clark, M. A. ; Tremblay, S. E. ; Arcus, W. ; Barnes, D. ; Bell, M. ; Bernardi, G. ; Bhat, N. D R ; Bowman, Judd ; Briggs, F. ; Bunton, J. D. ; Cappallo, R. J. ; Corey, B. E. ; Deshpande, A. A. ; Desouza, L. ; Ewell-Wice, A. ; Feng, L. ; Goeke, R. ; Greenhill, L. J. ; Hazelton, B. J. ; Herne, D. ; Hewitt, J. N. ; Hindson, L. ; Hurley-Walker, N. ; Jacobs, Daniel ; Johnston-Hollitt, M. ; Kaplan, D. L. ; Kasper, J. C. ; Kincaid, B. B. ; Koenig, R. ; Kratzenberg, E. ; Kudryavtseva, N. ; Lenc, E. ; Lonsdale, C. J. ; Lynch, M. J. ; McKinley, B. ; McWhirter, S. R. ; Mitchell, D. A. ; Morales, M. F. ; Morgan, E. ; Oberoi, D. ; Offringa, A. ; Pathikulangara, J. ; Pindor, B. ; Prabu, T. ; Procopio, P. ; Remillard, R. A. ; Riding, J. ; Rogers, A. E E ; Roshi, A. ; Salah, J. E. ; Sault, R. J. ; Udaya Shankar, N. ; Srivani, K. S. ; Stevens, J. ; Subrahmanyan, R. ; Tingay, S. J. ; Waterson, M. ; Webster, R. L. ; Whitney, A. R. ; Williams, A. ; Williams, C. L. ; Wyithe, J. S B. / The Murchison Widefield Array Correlator. In: Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia. 2015 ; Vol. 32.

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abstract = "The Murchison Widefield Array is a Square Kilometre Array Precursor. The telescope is located at the Murchison 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.",

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10.1017/pasa.2015.5