CERN Computing Seminar

Scale challenges of the MeerKAT Radio Telescope

by Simon Ratcliffe (SKA South Africa), Thomas Bennett (SKA South Africa)

Europe/Zurich
31/3-004 - IT Amphitheatre (CERN)

31/3-004 - IT Amphitheatre

CERN

105
Show room on map
Description

A discussion on the MeerKAT Radio Telescope, currently nearing completion in the Karoo desert region of South Africa. This talk covers a quick introduction to radio astronomy data processing and the scale challenges inherent therein. The solutions to the challenges posed will be discussed, including coverage of our MESOS based execution framework and the role of the various data storage regimes in our processing and analysis pipelines. The final third will highlight our multiple uses of CEPH, including our self-build hardware, 20PB science archive.

About the speakers

Simon Ratcliffe has a background in astrophysics and computer science, and is currently the technical lead for scientific computing at SKA South Africa. In this role he oversees the architecture and technical direction of the science processor for the MeerKAT radio telescope.

Thomas Bennett has a masters degree in electronic engineering and is currently a developer in the scientific computing as SKA South Africa. In this role he oversees the development and implementation of data storage for the MeerKAT radio telescope.