LOFAR Mega Mode

© ASTRON

After replacing the COBALT Correlator / Beamformer hardware last year Phase 2 of the COBALT2.0 project focusses on implementing the LOFAR Mega Mode (LMM). LMM is enabling a Multi-Tasking Radio Telescope: running several observations in parallel to improve the efficiency of the LOFAR radio telescope.

One of the main issues for implementing LMM is reducing the datarates. With the current bandwidth and storage capacity, simultaneous observations are limited by GPU bandwidth on COBALT2.0 itself and network bandwidth to CEP4. Therefore we implemented a requantization algorithm for beamforming data products on COBALT2.0. The 32-bit floating point values are requantized into scaled and offset 8-bit integers. This approach reduces the datarates by a factor four with minimal extra processing effort required.

The project team implemented the algorithm using the Agile Scrum approach. This resulted in a very efficient and effective implementation. Currently the commissioning is running to determine for which observations and with which settings the algorithm is usable.

To celebrate this the team received a LOFAR Mega Mode Mug. Thanks team for your contributions!