Details
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Feature
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Should have
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None
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Data Processing
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5
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5
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0
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REL-1245 PST v0.11.0 - Initial support for Flow Through Mode
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Team_PST
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Sprint 5
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21.6
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Stories Completed, Solution Intent Updated, Outcomes Reviewed, Demonstrated, Satisfies Acceptance Criteria, Accepted by FO
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Low G4
Description
Who?
- SKA software integrators; Commissioning scientists
Why?
- In preparation for testing the Flow Through, dynamic spectrum and pulsar timing modes of PST, support for GPU processing needs to be implemented. Early implementation of the GPU infrastructure will enable testing of GPU code with Gitlab runners in a Continuous Integration environment, which will retire the risk of a correctly functioning DSP component in PST, ahead of deployment at AA1 for commissioning tests on astronomical objects.
- Typical tied-array beam observations at the full temporal resolution and over the full frequency band generate large amounts of data. The PST Flow Through mode is a useful implementation that allows a commissioning scientist to record only a configurable portion of the band and with reduced bit-depth per sample. The ability to record a compressed version of the data is critical for reducing the turn-around time between obtaining and processing the data of an observation, and shortens the testing-learning-development cycles during telescope commissioning. Early commissioning tests of long-track pulsar observations, drift-scans of bright sources, as well as investigations of low-level RFI in the tied-array beam will benefit from such an implementation.
What?
- Many of the real-time processing functions of PST will run on GPU in the digital processing component (DSP). Before implementing those functions, the supporting infrastructure for GPU processing needs to be built into DSP. This Goal will deliver the building blocks for GPU processing in PST, which is essential in enabling future implementation of (a) the PST Flow Through mode, (b) dynamic spectrum recording mode, (c) pulsar timing mode and (d) VLBI processing.
The PST Flow Through mode enables the compression and archiving of a tied-array beam observation of complex voltages by re-sampling the data to a configurable bit-depth. It also enables the operator to select only a portion of the frequency band for archiving. The Flow Through mode is developed on GPU and is part of the Digital Signal Processing component of PST. This mode is important for commissioning and verification tests with PST in early Array Assemblies, when in an observation of an astronomical object only a small data set is needed for the verification of telescope functionality and tied-array beamforming performance.
Success Metrics
- Review the design and existing code for the Flow Through mode and agree on the implementation details (platform considerations, etc.).
- Update the telescope model to support Flow Through
- Define the BDD tests for the Flow-through mode
- 'Flow through' control functionality (C++ API) is integrated into the DSP application
- PST can be configured via PST BEAM for a 'Flow through' mode observation (TANGO device)
- The Flow through mode code can be executed on GPU runners in Gitlab CI