LOFAR Status Meeting :: 12 May 2010
Setting of the meeting
As announced two weeks ago, there was no status meeting today. We still would like to let you know about the status of LOFAR. Please find below the latest news.
Notes from the meeting
Roll-out
Yesterday a single clock on the superterp was realized. The GPS and Rubidium module are located in the Concentrator Node and from there on the reference signals are distributed via fibre connections to six superterp stations.
The HBA installation in Potsdam was successfully completed last Wednesday.
Observatory update
The new ITRF beamserver software has undergone testing on three stations.
A new version of the on-line processing software has been deployed, which allows observations to be done in rapid succession. The 30 seconds to 2 minutes time interval between observations needed by the station software is sufficient time for the on-line processing software as well.
Persistent problems with the storage nodes of the off-line processing cluster are being investigated by the supplier.
During the weekend, the BG/P developed a hardware error in rack 0, which caused most observations to fail. The failing hardware was repaired at the beginning of the week.
Information on the individual main components of LOFAR is now available on the wiki. See Current station overview (LOFAR Wiki). On this page all information on maintenance, tests and observations available to the observers is shown.
Pulsar Busy Week 8
Pulsar Busy Week 8 is currently underway (May 10-14th, 2010). Its main goal is to test coherent station summation of the 6 stations on the Superterp. The new single clock system was installed on May 11th, 2010 and observational tests comparing the system both before and after installation have been made. This analysis is only just underway but is already producing interesting food for thought!
Another goal of the Busy Week is to produce noteworthy results for the LOFAR opening. This includes some simultaneous pulsar/imaging observations (building on the recent success in this area, presented in recent LOFAR Status Meetings) and observations of multiple pulsars simultaneously.