This thesis details work undertaken in the field of radio astronomy instrumentation. Specific components of the data collection and processing systems used by radio astronomers have been implemented using non-traditional approaches. Traditionally, the correlation of radio astronomy data has taken place on dedicated,
specific hardware. This thesis deals with the implementation of equivalent correlators
using software running on generic clusters of personal computers - the software approach to radio astronomy. Toward this end a system has been developed that records the raw telescope output onto computer hard drives, allowing
easy access to the data on cluster supercomputers. Part of this thesis describes the design, construction, testing and utilisation of these data recording systems. The correlator software used to process these data
on supercomputers is also fully described, including extensive tests of the software
and a detailed comparison between its output and the output of an existing hardware correlator. The software correlator is shown to produce output that agrees extremely well with the hardware correlator, verifying its accuracy and performance. Finally, results of on-going scientific investigations that use the software correlators described in this thesis are outlined, illustrating the flexibility and usefulness of the software approach to radio astronomy.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/216499 |
| Date | January 2004 |
| Creators | West, Craig James, cwest@astro.swin.edu.au |
| Publisher | Swinburne University of Technology. Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | http://www.swin.edu.au/), Copyright Craig James West |
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