e-VLBI Development at Haystack Observatory 5 th Annual e-VLBI Workshop Haystack Observatory 20 September 2006 Alan R. Whitney Kevin Dudevoir Chester Ruszczyk Jason SooHoo

Current Projects at Haystack Observatory Network interfacing equipment for e-VLBI –Mark 5 VLBI data system Standardization (VSI-E) Intelligent Applications –Automation of e-VLBI transfers an ongoing process –Development of optimization-based algorithms for intelligent applications ongoing (EGAE) –Intelligent optically-switched networks (DRAGON) e-VLBI test experiments Production e-VLBI –Put e-VLBI into routine use – progressing well in limited venues Support e-VLBI development for VLBI2010 initiative

Scorecard of Antenna/Correlator Connectivity JIVE Correlator (6 x 1 Gbps) Haystack (2.5 Gbps; plans to expand to 10Gbps) Westford, MA (10 Gbps to Haystack; 1 Gbps to outside world) Kashima, Japan (2.5 Gbps) Usuda, Japan (2.5 Gbps) Nobeyama, Japan (2.5 Gbps) Koganei, Japan (2.5 Gbps) Metsahovi, Finland (1 Gbps) MPI (1Gbps) Tsukuba, Japan (2.5 Gbps) GGAO, MD (1 Gbps) Onsala, Sweden (1 Gbps) Torun, Poland (1 Gbps) Westerbork, The Netherlands (1 Gbps) Medicina (1 Gbps) NyAlesund – (~80 Mbps) Jodrell Bank (1 Gbps) Arecibo, PR (155 Mbps) Wettzell, Germany (~30 Mbps) Kokee Park, HA (nominally ~30 Mbps, but currently disconnected) TIGO (~2 Mbps) Svetloe (speed unknown) In progress: Hobart – expect fiber to station by Feb 2007 Forteleza – funds secured for fiber connection at 2.5Gbps; contract has been signed; expect completion Feb 2007 Zelenchukskaya – details unknown Badary – details unknown

VSI-E Goals: –Efficient transport mechanism –Standard protocols –Internet-friendly transport –Scalable to 100Gbps –Suitable for real-time, quasi-real-time, and post-real-time data transmission –Ability to make use of multicasting to transport data and/or control information in an efficient manner could be used in the future for support of distributed correlation

VSI-E Status Beta version of VSI-E is being tested in transfers from Kashima to Haystack and NyAlesund to Haystack (has been somewhat delayed by network availability at Haystack); expect result soon Awaiting successful demonstration before final ratification; plan submission to Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) as international standard Working to make fast, efficient VSI-E implementation on Mark 5B

DRAGON Collaboration Collaborative development of API for control of dynamically optically switched networks e-VLBI experiments using DRAGON optically-switched networks over part of the path 512Mbps intercontinental real-time demonstration at SC05 in Seattle

Bossnet Route

Real-time e-VLBI SC05 Demo Nov 2005 Real-time transmission and processing of data from antennas in Westford, MA, Greenbelt, MD, and Onsala, Sweden at 512 Mbps/antenna All except Kashima equipped with Mark 5 data systems; Kashima uses Japanese K5, included via VSI-E Correlation results displayed in real-time at SC05 meeting

Progress towards routine e-VLBI April 2005 –Start routine e-VLBI transfer from Kashima and Tsukuba (>200Mbps) Starting ~June 2005 –Automated regular e-VLBI UT1 Intensive data transfers from Wettzell to ISI-E (disks hand-carried to USNO for correlation) –A few start-up problems, but now operating fairly smoothly Spring 2005 –Commitment to connect Hobart via optical fiber (schedule unknown) September 2005 –All CONT05 data from Tsukuba transferred to Haystack via e-VLBI –Also – all Kashima and Syowa data now transferred via e-VLBI from Japan to Haystack November 2005 –Project initiated to connect NyAlesund to Haystack through NASA/GSFC at up to 100Mbps –Data now transmitted routinely from NyAlesund, but slow data rate of ~80Mbps does not allow all data to be transferred; decision by NMA is pending whether to continue, upgrade, etc. December 2006 –Funds secured to connect Fortaleza at 2.5 Gbps; will in place by Feb 2007

Total data transferred: Tsukuba ~66TB Kashima/Syowa ~8TB NyAlesund ~6TB

EGAE Progress ‘Production’ e-VLBI facility has been established at Haystack to support routine e-VLBI transfers EGAE is now supporting routine non-real-time e-VLBI data transfers from Tsukuba EGAE will soon be used for routine e-VLBI transfers from Wettzell and NyAlesund

File-naming for Mark 5B/e-VLBI For disk2file operations, Mark 5B has adopted the internationally agreed e-VLBI file-naming convention that uniquely identifies the data and carries all information necessary to satisfy VSI-E requirements, namely: _ _ _bm=.m5b Example: ‘exp103_ef_scan001_bm=0x0000ffff.m5b’ A file2disk operation will parse the file name and preserve all relevant information. Universal adoption of the internationally agreed conventions will result in easier e-VLBI data transfers with fewer errors.

Future directions Continued e-VLBI performance improvements, particularly with Mark 5B Continuing development and support of routine e-VLBI transfers; distribution of EGAE software package to others (MPI, etc) e-VLBI with 10GigE connections; motherboard and NIC performance evaluations Development with community of high-speed serial specification for VSI-E (10GigE, etc) Investigation of the use and value of Network Attached Storage as temporary buffer for e-VLBI data Collaboration with NROA/VLBA in e-VLBI development and (hopefully) deployment Continued close association with national and international community for global e-VLBI development and advocacy