Astronomical Data Reduction on Parallel Computers Using AIPS++

The AIPS++ Package

The Astronomical Information Processing System, AIPS++, is a next-generation software package for processing data from radio telescopes. This community code is being developed by a consortium of radio observatories from around the world, including the Berkeley-Illinois-Maryland Array and the Radio Astronomy Imaging Group at NCSA. The core of the package is written in C++ (with some computationally intensive routines implemented in FORTRAN); modules are glued together using the Glish software bus to produce flexible user applications in a scientific scripting environment.

AIPS++ Development at NCSA

In collaboration with its Alliance partner, the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO), NCSA is contribuing to the development of AIPS++ in two ways:

to provide AIPS++ with transparent support for processing on parallel platforms.
to enable support for processing BIMA data in AIPS++, thereby enabling automated processing of BIMA data on the grid (see the BIMA Image Pipeline).

The AIPS++ package provides a practical starting point for the implementation of parallel algorithms. We have developed a framework that allows algorithms to transparently engage MPI to distribute processing over many processors. That framework has now been applied to spectral line deconvolution and widefield imaging. The parallel processing overview section describes the technique of parallelization that we have adopted.

Programmer Support

In addition to the standard programmer documentation that is part of a normal AIPS++ installation, here are some other useful documents:

User Support

We support users in three arenas:

AIPS++ for BIMA Astronomers: We develop resources that help astronomers process BIMA data at NCSA and on their home platform. Useful links to the BIMA AIPS++ Cookbook, specialize tutorials, and workshops can be found on our AIPS++ for BIMA Astronomers page.
Running AIPS++ on NCSA Platforms: Anyone wishing to use AIPS++ on NCSA machines to tackle large processing problems can contact us at rai@astro.uiuc.edu. We allow users to submit and monitor AIPS++ scripts to the NCSA Origin using a specialized portal; see the User Guide for AIPS++ on the NCSA Origin 2000 page for details.
BIMA Image Pipeline Portal: This interface is now under development. In concert with the BIMA Data Archive, astronomers will be able to guide and monitor the automated processing of their data from the BIMA telescope. Eventually, they will be able to create new processing jobs based on existing data in the archive.