SKA Calibration and Imaging Workshop, 2009

The fourth in the series of SKA Calibration and Imaging Workshops has successfully concluded. It was hosted by NRAO at the Socorro Science Operation Center, New Mexico.

Dates: March 30 - April 02, 2009. General discussions on Friday, April 03, 2009.

Venue: Pete V. Domenici Science Operations Center (formerly AOC), Socorro, New Mexico, USA

Host: NRAO

Sponsored by: NRAO, SKA SPDO

Talks at this workshop are by invitation only and there will be no poster presentations. The number of participants is limited to about 50 people.

Scientific Program

The scientific program for the workshop and the https://safe.nrao.edu/wiki/bin/view/Software/CalIm09Program slides of all the presentations at the workshop are now available.

The workshop produced an https://safe.nrao.edu/wiki/bin/view/Software/CalIm09Inventory Inventory.

List of participants

List of people registered for this meeting is now available from https://safe.nrao.edu/wiki/bin/view/Software/CalIm09AttendeeList this link.

Background

The previous three workshops were

• http://www.skatelescope.org/pages/news/Wrksp20220605_program.htm CALIM 2005 hosted by ASTRON at Dwingeloo.
• http://www.kat.ac.za/calim2006 CALIM 2006 hosted by the SKA SA and South African Astronomical Observatory at Cape Town.
• http://calim2008.atnf.csiro.au/cgi-bin/twiki/view/Main/WebHome CALIM 2008 hosted by CSIRO and UWA at Perth.

The next workshop CalIm2010 will be held in mid 2010.

Focus and goals of the workshop

This workshop focuses on progress in algorithms, software and computing aimed at solving the challenges in calibration and imaging requirements of the SKA, its pathfinders and other major new radio telescopes such as EVLA, ALMA, LOFAR, ASKAP, MeerKAT, MWA, LWA, and eMERLIN. The main part of the meeting (first 4 days) will involve discussions and presentation mainly by algorithm and software developers.

The 5th day of the meeting is intended for more general discussions involving broader set of people who may not be directly involved in algorithms and software development. We will post more details about activities for this day on this page in a few weeks.

Topics

For this workshop, in addition to discussions on topics listed below, presentations and discussions related to the required computing, use of specialized hardware for computing etc. are also highly encouraged.

• Wide field imaging
• Wide band imaging
• Aperture arrays
• Phased array feeds
• Calibration and Imaging algorithms
• Ionospheric calibration
• Simulation of observations
• Parallelization of algorithms
• Pipelined processing
• Computational costs of algorithms
• Use of supercomputers, accelerators, and special purpose hardware
• Other topics relating to calibration and imaging issues for SKA and other major new radio telescopes such as EVLA, ALMA, LOFAR, ASKAP, MeerKAT, MWA, LWA and eMERLIN.

Costs

Attendees will be responsible for their own travel and accommodation expenses. Morning and afternoon tea and lunch will be provided.

Lodging Information

Room blocks have been made at the following Socorro hotels, using the reservation code "NRAO-SKA Calibration". Room block availability and quoted rates are available only via the local hotel phone numbers (listed below), not through the chain 800 numbers or the Internet. The block period is: Arrival: March 29, 2009; Departure: April 4, 2009. The room block expires March 20, 2009.

• Best Western Socorro Hotel, 1100 N. California St.,
  • Phone: +1 (575) 838-0556
  • Single Occupancy 70.00 USD plus tax per night
  • Double Occupancy 80.00 USD plus tax

• Holiday Inn, 1040 N. California St.,
  • Phone: +1 (575) 838-4600
  • Single Occupancy 75.00 USD plus tax per night
  • King Suite, 85.00 USD plus tax per night

All rooms include complementary continental breakfast. Both hotels have exercise rooms and indoor pools.

All attendees must pay for their rooms directly to the lodging facility.

Travel Information

Participants should make their own travel arrangements for arriving in Socorro. The closest airport to Socorro is Albuquerque (ABQ), which is about 70 miles north of Socorro. If you are driving see the directions provided below. We encourage attendees who rent cars to car-pool from the Albuquerque airport.

If you are not renting a car or car-pooling with someone from the Albuquerque airport, then it is possible to arrange for transportation through American Transportation (formerly known as Socorro Taxi). The cost is approximately $70 one-way per person, and arrangements will be the responsibility of the traveler. Contact American Transportation directly (jess@socorrotaxi.com, or call, inside the US, the toll-free number 1-800-991-4276 or, outside the US, +1-575-835-4276). A credit card will be required, and reservations must be made well in advance.

Also available and do not need advance reservations:

Albuquerque Taxi: One way trip to Socorro is approximately $200.00 plus $1.00 each additional passenger

• Phone: +1-(505) 883-4888

Yellow/Checker Cab Co.: One way trip to Socorro is approximately $123.08 plus $1.08 each additional passenger

• Phone: +1-(505) 247-8888

Driving Instructions

See instructions below for driving from Albuquerque International Airport to the hotels in Socorro (the two hotels are next to each other) and from the hotels to SOC, NRAO.

Driving instructions to the hotels	Driving instructions to SOC, NRAO
Click for driving instructions	Click for driving instructions

SOC

Tim Cornwell (ATNF), Jan Noordam (ASTRON), Ludwig Schwardt (SKA SA) and Sanjay Bhatnagar (NRAO)

LOC

Sanjay Bhatnagar, Kumar Golap, George Moellenbrock, and Lori Appel

Contact E-mail address

calim09@nrao.edu

-- SanjayBhatnagar - 14 Oct 2008