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| Format: | Preprint |
| Published: |
2024
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| Online Access: | https://arxiv.org/abs/2402.12723 |
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| _version_ | 1866917635838443520 |
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| author | Price, Danny C. |
| author_facet | Price, Danny C. |
| contents | In radio astronomy, the science output of a telescope is often limited by computational resources. This is especially true for transient and technosignature surveys that need to search high-resolution data across a large parameter space. The tremendous data volumes produced by modern radio array telescopes exacerbate these processing challenges. Here, we introduce a 'reduced-resolution' beamforming approach to alleviate downstream processing requirements. Our approach, based on post-correlation beamforming, allows sensitivity to be traded against the number of beams needed to cover a given survey area. Using the MeerKAT and Murchison Widefield Array telescopes as examples, we show that survey speed can be vastly increased, and downstream signal processing requirements vastly decreased, if a moderate sacrifice to sensitivity is allowed. We show the reduced-resolution beamforming technique is intimately related to standard techniques used in synthesis imaging. We suggest that reduced-resolution beamforming should be considered to ease data processing challenges in current and planned searches; further, reduced-resolution beamforming may provide a path toward computationally-expensive search strategies previously considered infeasible. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2402_12723 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2024 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Reduced-resolution beamforming: lowering the computational cost for pulsar and technosignature surveys Price, Danny C. Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena In radio astronomy, the science output of a telescope is often limited by computational resources. This is especially true for transient and technosignature surveys that need to search high-resolution data across a large parameter space. The tremendous data volumes produced by modern radio array telescopes exacerbate these processing challenges. Here, we introduce a 'reduced-resolution' beamforming approach to alleviate downstream processing requirements. Our approach, based on post-correlation beamforming, allows sensitivity to be traded against the number of beams needed to cover a given survey area. Using the MeerKAT and Murchison Widefield Array telescopes as examples, we show that survey speed can be vastly increased, and downstream signal processing requirements vastly decreased, if a moderate sacrifice to sensitivity is allowed. We show the reduced-resolution beamforming technique is intimately related to standard techniques used in synthesis imaging. We suggest that reduced-resolution beamforming should be considered to ease data processing challenges in current and planned searches; further, reduced-resolution beamforming may provide a path toward computationally-expensive search strategies previously considered infeasible. |
| title | Reduced-resolution beamforming: lowering the computational cost for pulsar and technosignature surveys |
| topic | Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2402.12723 |