Speaker
Description
Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) has traditionally been performed by a small group of skilled astronomers who often need to follow a complex and crucially variable process to produce science-quality images and outputs. However, in recent years, radio interferometric arrays have generated a flood of data, and along with this, technical and algorithmic advances have automated much of the data reduction process.
VLBI has often fallen behind in this area. Still, recent efforts by various groups have significantly lowered the barriers for researchers to utilise and benefit from the numerous scientific discoveries VLBI can provide. In this talk, I will discuss the progress made towards the final step, delivering science-ready VLBI data to users for both astronomical and geodetic applications.
I will outline the work led by the commensal VLBI surveys that are coming online, which will correlate, calibrate, and generate tens of thousands of high-resolution images and datasets of radio sources over the next few years. This will showcase novel calibration pipelines utilising the latest algorithms and software, with GPU-accelerated and distributed correlation integrated into a single workflow that transforms baseband data into VLBI science.
