Real-time stream processing in radio astronomy

Abstract

A major challenge in modern radio astronomy is dealing with the massive data volumes generated by wide-bandwidth receivers. Such massive data rates are often too great for a single device to cope, and so processing must be split across multiple devices working in parallel. These devices must work in unison to process incoming data in real time, reduce the data volume to a manageable size, and output a science-ready data product. The aim of this chapter is to give a broad overview of how digital systems for radio telescopes are commonly implemented, with a focus on real-time stream processing over multiple compute devices.