Astronomical Imagery: Considerations For a Contemporary Approach with JPEG2000

Abstract

The new wide-field radio telescopes, such as: ASKAP, MWA, LOFAR, eVLA and SKA; will produce spectral-imaging data-cubes (SIDC) of unprecedented size -- in the order of hundreds of Petabytes. Servicing such data as images to the end-user in a traditional manner and formats is likely going to encounter significant performance fallbacks. We discuss the requirements for extremely large SIDCs, and in this light we analyse the applicability of the approach taken in the JPEG2000 (ISO/IEC 15444) standards. We argue the case for the adaptation of contemporary industry standards and technologies vs the modification of legacy astronomy standards or the development new from scratch.