EXPReS
(Express Production Real-time e-VLBI Service)
NEWS: The 8th International e-VLBI Workshop, 22-26 June 2009 in Madrid, Spain (updated 1 July 2009)
The 8th International e-VLBI Workshop took place from 22-26 June in Madrid, Spain. This week-long conference covered both scientific applications (first half) and technical implementation (second half), with joint sessions in the middle.
The conference proceedings will be published by Proceedings of Science. More information can be found on the conference website.
NEWS: European VLBI Network participated in "100 Hours of Astronomy" with live webcast and e-VLBI observations (updated 1 July 2009)
The European VLBI Network showcased the e-VLBI astronomical technique in the 100 Hours of Astronomy with a live webcast on Friday 3 April and e-VLBI observations on Friday 3 April and Sunday 5 April. "100 Hours of Astronomy" is a cornerstone project of the International Year of Astronomy 2009.
JIVE has developed an educational web site for the International Year of Astronomy. This site explains the basic concepts of radio astronomy, interferometry, and e-VLBI. Site visitors can also play with a Virtual Radio Astronomer.
See the full press release here.
EXPReS is 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 are 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 involve 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.
EXPReS is an Integrated Infrastructure Initiative (I3), funded under the European Commission’s Sixth Framework Programme (FP6), contract number 026642, from March 2006 through February 2009.