AMIGA : Technological Developments

Since AMIGA started (2003), fundamental science has been complemented with applied e-Science research aiming to support astronomers to cope with the

Since AMIGA started (2003), fundamental science has been complemented with applied e-Science research aiming to support astronomers to cope with the data and computational complexity while doing reproducible science, as a way to compete at the highest level in the scientific exploitation of the data deluge from instruments like the SKA. E.g. SKA1 follow-up of the science described in AMIGA6 will produce final data products of ~300GB in a 12h observing run. Hence, VO standards for radioastronomy cubes, workflows for their analysis, and a more efficient exploitation of the currently available computational and storage infrastructure are needed. Within the AMIGA team a significant effort is being performed in this direction. AMIGA has contributed to VO standards, including the first VO radio data model (Santander+2012), implemented in the IRAM-30m antenna, participating in the IVOA (IVOA Virtual Observatory Alliance). Additionally AMIGA has developed GUIpsy (Sanchez-Exposito+2014), a tool that interconnects the GIPSY software for radio interferometric analysis with the VO. AMIGA has coordinated as well the Astronomy WP of the EU-funded project Wf4ever, contributing to the preservation of data- intensive experiments, including the development of AstroTaverna, a plugin for integrating VO services in Taverna workflow management system. IAA and FCSCL collaborated as well to create a layer to deploy astronomical workflows on heterogeneous computing infrastructures, in a transparent and federated way (Sanchez-Exposito+2015). As a result of these activities, AMIGA has been officially accepted as member of the SKA Science Data Processor, in charge of the design of the hardware and software platform for processing SKA data and delivering them to the final users, and the AMIGA PI, Lourdes Verdes-Montenegro, has been invited to be an external member of the SKA Regional Center Coordination Group. The team also participates in the AENEAS project (H2020-INFRASUPP-3-2016-2017) which aims to design the federated network of European SKA Regional Centres, and ESCAPE (H2020-INFRAEOSC-2018-2), that aims to address the Open Science challenges shared by the ESFRI facilities in Astronomy and Particle Physics, connecting them to the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC). On the top of that, IAA-CSIC participates since 2014 in SKA activities related to data processing, both in the design activities as well as leading the development of an SKA Regional Centre precursor. A summary of all these works can be found in these subsections grouped by topic: Participation in the ESCAPE H2020 Project. Participation in the AENEAS H2020 Project. Participation in the SKA-Link Project. Participation in the SKA. Contribution to the Virtual Observatory: standards and tools. Optimization of the use of Distributed Computing Infrastructures. Reproducible science.
 

Technological Developments

Since AMIGA started (2003), fundamental science has been complemented with applied e-Science research aiming to support astronomers to cope with the data and computational complexity while doing reproducible science, as a way to compete at the highest level in the scientific exploitation of the data deluge from instruments like the SKA.
 
E.g. SKA1 follow-up of the science described in AMIGA6 will produce final data products of ~300GB in a 12h observing run. Hence, VO standards for radioastronomy cubes, workflows for their analysis, and a more efficient exploitation of the currently available computational and storage infrastructure are needed.

Within the AMIGA team a significant effort is being performed in this direction. AMIGA has contributed to VO standards, including the first VO radio data model (Santander+2012), implemented in the IRAM-30m antenna, participating in the IVOA (IVOA Virtual Observatory Alliance). Additionally AMIGA has developed GUIpsy (Sanchez-Exposito+2014), a tool that interconnects the GIPSY software for radio interferometric analysis with the  VO. AMIGA has coordinated as well the Astronomy WP of the EU-funded project Wf4ever, contributing to the preservation of data- intensive experiments, including the development of AstroTaverna, a plugin for integrating VO services in Taverna workflow management system. IAA and FCSCL collaborated as well to create a layer to deploy astronomical workflows on heterogeneous computing infrastructures, in a transparent and federated way (Sanchez-Exposito+2015).

As a result of these activities, AMIGA has been officially accepted as member of the SKA Science Data Processor, in charge of the design of the hardware and software platform for processing SKA data and delivering them to the final users, and the AMIGA PI, Lourdes Verdes-Montenegro, has been invited to be an external member of the SKA Regional Center Coordination Group.

The team also participates in the AENEAS project (H2020-INFRASUPP-3-2016-2017) which aims to design the federated network of European SKA Regional Centres, and ESCAPE (H2020-INFRAEOSC-2018-2), that aims to address the Open Science challenges shared by the ESFRI facilities in Astronomy and Particle Physics, connecting them to the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC).

On the top of that, IAA-CSIC participates since 2014 in SKA activities related to data processing, both in the design activities as well as leading the development of an SKA Regional Centre precursor.



A summary of all these works can be found in these subsections grouped by topic: