AARNet Demonstrates the Value of a High-Speed Network in Developing Australia's Digital Economy
Researchers will conduct an
electronic Very Long Baseline Interferometry (e-VLBI) observation linking 17
radio telescopes across the world where researchers track three extra-galactic
objects as they rise and set with the rotation of the earth. This demonstration
showcases the widespread scope and capability of e-VLBI technology in
facilitating scientific discoveries.
Chris Hancock, CEO of AARNet said,
“AARNet is an enabler of innovation and AARNet’s involvement in this
demonstration highlights the importance of investing in a high-speed network as
it will improve the skills and capabilities of researchers by allowing them to
effectively participate in Australia’s Digital Economy and the digital education
revolution.”
e-VLBI is a technique by which widely
separated radio telescopes observe the same region of sky simultaneously and
data from each telescope is sampled and sent to a central processor via high
speed communication networks operating in
real-time.
The data will be captured by three
telescopes in Australia; Mount Pleasant in Hobart, CSIRO’s Australia Telescope
Compact Array (ATCA) near Narrabri and Mopra near Coonabarabran, NSW, with
telescopes from the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, Italy,
Finland, Sweden, China, Chile, Poland and the
Netherlands.
Data from the three Australian
telescopes will be transferred over the AARNet3 network to the correlator at
JIVE in the Netherlands using SXTransport, CENIC, CANARIE and SURFNet6. The data
will be processed in real-time with the results streaming live at the opening
ceremony in Paris.
Tasso Tzioumis, Research Scientist
at the CSIRO said, “For e-VLBI observations, Australia’s distance from the
global scientific community is both extremely important and extremely
challenging.”
“By using widely separated points of
observation, e-VLBI technology can generate images of cosmic radio sources with
up to one hundred times better resolution than images from the best optical
telescopes. Australia is a key partner in e-VLBI observations as our distance
from other points of observation allows for a clearer and more detailed image.”
“Crucially, AARNet allows Australian
researchers to collaborate with the international research community. Without
the high speed network provided by AARNet, we would not be able to transmit the
data needed to produce significant research
findings.”
Hancock added, “AARNet has been a
strong supporter of e-VLBI since its beginnings, working with the Australia
Telescope National Facility for e-VLBI projects to provide the technology and
capability needed for Australia to participate in global research
collaborations. The network infrastructure used by researchers for these
experiments is over 1000 times faster than what is typically available for
Australian ADSL2+ broadband users.”
High speed networks like AARNet’s
have significantly improved astronomy research efforts in the global scientific
community. Real-time data analysis allows simultaneous correlation between
researchers and provides them with immediate information on whether an
experiment is working or not. With a high speed network, observations can be
co-ordinated in significantly less time than five years ago, when a single
observation with four telescopes could take months to
arrange.
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About
AARNet
AARNet Pty Ltd (APL) is the company
that operates Australia's Academic and Research Network (AARNet). It is a
not-for-profit company limited by shares. The shareholders are 37 Australian
universities and the CSIRO. AARNet provides high-capacity leading edge Internet
services for the tertiary education and research sector communities and their
research partners. AARNet serves more than one million end users who access the
network through local area networks at member institutions. For further
information, please visit: www.aarnet.edu.au.
For further
information, please contact:
Tara Schwarze
Max
Australia
(02) 9954
3492
tara.schwarze@maxaustralia.com.au
