WSClean: an implementation of a fast, generic wide-field imager for radio astronomy

A. R. Offringa; B. McKinley; N. Hurley-Walker; F. H. Briggs; R. B. Wayth; D. L. Kaplan; M. E. Bell; L. Feng; A. R. Neben; J. D. Hughes; J. Rhee; T. Murphy; N. D. R. Bhat; G. Bernardi; J. D. Bowman; R. J. Cappallo; B. E. Corey; A. A. Deshpande; D. Emrich; A. Ewall-Wice; B. M. Gaensler; R. Goeke; L. J. Greenhill; B. J. Hazelton; L. Hindson; M. Johnston-Hollitt; D. C. Jacobs; J. C. Kasper; E. Kratzenberg; E. Lenc; C. J. Lonsdale; M. J. Lynch; S. R. McWhirter; D. A. Mitchell; M. F. Morales; E. Morgan; N. Kudryavtseva; D. Oberoi; S. M. Ord; B. Pindor; P. Procopio; T. Prabu; J. Riding; D. A. Roshi; N. Udaya Shankar; K. S. Srivani; R. Subrahmanyan; S. J. Tingay; M. Waterson; R. L. Webster; A. R. Whitney; A. Williams; C. L. Williams

doi:10.1093/mnras/stu1368

WSClean: an implementation of a fast, generic wide-field imager for radio astronomy

A. R. Offringa, B. McKinley, N. Hurley-Walker, F. H. Briggs, R. B. Wayth, D. L. Kaplan, M. E. Bell, L. Feng, A. R. Neben, J. D. Hughes, J. Rhee, T. Murphy, N. D. R. Bhat, G. Bernardi, J. D. Bowman, R. J. Cappallo, B. E. Corey, A. A. Deshpande, D. Emrich, A. Ewall-WiceB. M. Gaensler, R. Goeke, L. J. Greenhill, B. J. Hazelton, L. Hindson, M. Johnston-Hollitt, D. C. Jacobs, J. C. Kasper, E. Kratzenberg, E. Lenc, C. J. Lonsdale, M. J. Lynch, S. R. McWhirter, D. A. Mitchell, M. F. Morales, E. Morgan, N. Kudryavtseva, D. Oberoi, S. M. Ord, B. Pindor, P. Procopio, T. Prabu, J. Riding, D. A. Roshi, N. Udaya Shankar, K. S. Srivani, R. Subrahmanyan, S. J. Tingay, M. Waterson, R. L. Webster, A. R. Whitney, A. Williams, C. L. Williams

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Abstract

Astronomical widefield imaging of interferometric radio data is computationally expensive, especially for the large data volumes created by modern non-coplanar many-element arrays. We present a new widefield interferometric imager that uses the w-stacking algorithm and can make use of the w-snapshot algorithm. The performance dependencies of CASA's w-projection and our new imager are analysed and analytical functions are derived that describe the required computing cost for both imagers. On data from the Murchison Widefield Array, we find our new method to be an order of magnitude faster than w-projection, as well as being capable of full-sky imaging at full resolution and with correct polarisation correction. We predict the computing costs for several other arrays and estimate that our imager is a factor of 2-12 faster, depending on the array configuration. We estimate the computing cost for imaging the low-frequency Square-Kilometre Array observations to be 60 PetaFLOPS with current techniques. We find that combining w-stacking with the w-snapshot algorithm does not significantly improve computing requirements over pure w-stacking. The source code of our new imager is publicly released.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	606-619
Number of pages	14
Journal	Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Volume	444
Issue number	1
Early online date	19 Aug 2014
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stu1368
Publication status	Published - 11 Oct 2014

Keywords

astro-ph.IM

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10.1093/mnras/stu1368

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Offringa, A. R., McKinley, B., Hurley-Walker, N., Briggs, F. H., Wayth, R. B., Kaplan, D. L., Bell, M. E., Feng, L., Neben, A. R., Hughes, J. D., Rhee, J., Murphy, T., Bhat, N. D. R., Bernardi, G., Bowman, J. D., Cappallo, R. J., Corey, B. E., Deshpande, A. A., Emrich, D., ... Williams, C. L. (2014). WSClean: an implementation of a fast, generic wide-field imager for radio astronomy. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 444(1), 606-619. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stu1368

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title = "WSClean: an implementation of a fast, generic wide-field imager for radio astronomy",

abstract = "Astronomical widefield imaging of interferometric radio data is computationally expensive, especially for the large data volumes created by modern non-coplanar many-element arrays. We present a new widefield interferometric imager that uses the w-stacking algorithm and can make use of the w-snapshot algorithm. The performance dependencies of CASA's w-projection and our new imager are analysed and analytical functions are derived that describe the required computing cost for both imagers. On data from the Murchison Widefield Array, we find our new method to be an order of magnitude faster than w-projection, as well as being capable of full-sky imaging at full resolution and with correct polarisation correction. We predict the computing costs for several other arrays and estimate that our imager is a factor of 2-12 faster, depending on the array configuration. We estimate the computing cost for imaging the low-frequency Square-Kilometre Array observations to be 60 PetaFLOPS with current techniques. We find that combining w-stacking with the w-snapshot algorithm does not significantly improve computing requirements over pure w-stacking. The source code of our new imager is publicly released.",

keywords = "astro-ph.IM",

author = "Offringa, {A. R.} and B. McKinley and N. Hurley-Walker and Briggs, {F. H.} and Wayth, {R. B.} and Kaplan, {D. L.} and Bell, {M. E.} and L. Feng and Neben, {A. R.} and Hughes, {J. D.} and J. Rhee and T. Murphy and Bhat, {N. D. R.} and G. Bernardi and Bowman, {J. D.} and Cappallo, {R. J.} and Corey, {B. E.} and Deshpande, {A. A.} and D. Emrich and A. Ewall-Wice and Gaensler, {B. M.} and R. Goeke and Greenhill, {L. J.} and Hazelton, {B. J.} and L. Hindson and M. Johnston-Hollitt and Jacobs, {D. C.} and Kasper, {J. C.} and E. Kratzenberg and E. Lenc and Lonsdale, {C. J.} and Lynch, {M. J.} and McWhirter, {S. R.} and Mitchell, {D. A.} and Morales, {M. F.} and E. Morgan and N. Kudryavtseva and D. Oberoi and Ord, {S. M.} and B. Pindor and P. Procopio and T. Prabu and J. Riding and Roshi, {D. A.} and Shankar, {N. Udaya} and Srivani, {K. S.} and R. Subrahmanyan and Tingay, {S. J.} and M. Waterson and Webster, {R. L.} and Whitney, {A. R.} and A. Williams and Williams, {C. L.}",

note = "This article has been accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. {\textcopyright} 2014 The Authors. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society.",

year = "2014",

month = oct,

day = "11",

doi = "10.1093/mnras/stu1368",

language = "English",

volume = "444",

pages = "606--619",

journal = "Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society",

issn = "1365-2966",

publisher = "Oxford University Press (OUP)",

number = "1",

}

Offringa, AR, McKinley, B, Hurley-Walker, N, Briggs, FH, Wayth, RB, Kaplan, DL, Bell, ME, Feng, L, Neben, AR, Hughes, JD, Rhee, J, Murphy, T, Bhat, NDR, Bernardi, G, Bowman, JD, Cappallo, RJ, Corey, BE, Deshpande, AA, Emrich, D, Ewall-Wice, A, Gaensler, BM, Goeke, R, Greenhill, LJ, Hazelton, BJ, Hindson, L, Johnston-Hollitt, M, Jacobs, DC, Kasper, JC, Kratzenberg, E, Lenc, E, Lonsdale, CJ, Lynch, MJ, McWhirter, SR, Mitchell, DA, Morales, MF, Morgan, E, Kudryavtseva, N, Oberoi, D, Ord, SM, Pindor, B, Procopio, P, Prabu, T, Riding, J, Roshi, DA, Shankar, NU, Srivani, KS, Subrahmanyan, R, Tingay, SJ, Waterson, M, Webster, RL, Whitney, AR, Williams, A & Williams, CL 2014, 'WSClean: an implementation of a fast, generic wide-field imager for radio astronomy', Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, vol. 444, no. 1, pp. 606-619. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stu1368

TY - JOUR

T1 - WSClean

T2 - an implementation of a fast, generic wide-field imager for radio astronomy

AU - Offringa, A. R.

AU - McKinley, B.

AU - Hurley-Walker, N.

AU - Briggs, F. H.

AU - Wayth, R. B.

AU - Kaplan, D. L.

AU - Bell, M. E.

AU - Feng, L.

AU - Neben, A. R.

AU - Hughes, J. D.

AU - Rhee, J.

AU - Murphy, T.

AU - Bhat, N. D. R.

AU - Bernardi, G.

AU - Bowman, J. D.

AU - Cappallo, R. J.

AU - Corey, B. E.

AU - Deshpande, A. A.

AU - Emrich, D.

AU - Ewall-Wice, A.

AU - Gaensler, B. M.

AU - Goeke, R.

AU - Greenhill, L. J.

AU - Hazelton, B. J.

AU - Hindson, L.

AU - Johnston-Hollitt, M.

AU - Jacobs, D. C.

AU - Kasper, J. C.

AU - Kratzenberg, E.

AU - Lenc, E.

AU - Lonsdale, C. J.

AU - Lynch, M. J.

AU - McWhirter, S. R.

AU - Mitchell, D. A.

AU - Morales, M. F.

AU - Morgan, E.

AU - Kudryavtseva, N.

AU - Oberoi, D.

AU - Ord, S. M.

AU - Pindor, B.

AU - Procopio, P.

AU - Prabu, T.

AU - Riding, J.

AU - Roshi, D. A.

AU - Shankar, N. Udaya

AU - Srivani, K. S.

AU - Subrahmanyan, R.

AU - Tingay, S. J.

AU - Waterson, M.

AU - Webster, R. L.

AU - Whitney, A. R.

AU - Williams, A.

AU - Williams, C. L.

N1 - This article has been accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. © 2014 The Authors. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society.

PY - 2014/10/11

Y1 - 2014/10/11

N2 - Astronomical widefield imaging of interferometric radio data is computationally expensive, especially for the large data volumes created by modern non-coplanar many-element arrays. We present a new widefield interferometric imager that uses the w-stacking algorithm and can make use of the w-snapshot algorithm. The performance dependencies of CASA's w-projection and our new imager are analysed and analytical functions are derived that describe the required computing cost for both imagers. On data from the Murchison Widefield Array, we find our new method to be an order of magnitude faster than w-projection, as well as being capable of full-sky imaging at full resolution and with correct polarisation correction. We predict the computing costs for several other arrays and estimate that our imager is a factor of 2-12 faster, depending on the array configuration. We estimate the computing cost for imaging the low-frequency Square-Kilometre Array observations to be 60 PetaFLOPS with current techniques. We find that combining w-stacking with the w-snapshot algorithm does not significantly improve computing requirements over pure w-stacking. The source code of our new imager is publicly released.

AB - Astronomical widefield imaging of interferometric radio data is computationally expensive, especially for the large data volumes created by modern non-coplanar many-element arrays. We present a new widefield interferometric imager that uses the w-stacking algorithm and can make use of the w-snapshot algorithm. The performance dependencies of CASA's w-projection and our new imager are analysed and analytical functions are derived that describe the required computing cost for both imagers. On data from the Murchison Widefield Array, we find our new method to be an order of magnitude faster than w-projection, as well as being capable of full-sky imaging at full resolution and with correct polarisation correction. We predict the computing costs for several other arrays and estimate that our imager is a factor of 2-12 faster, depending on the array configuration. We estimate the computing cost for imaging the low-frequency Square-Kilometre Array observations to be 60 PetaFLOPS with current techniques. We find that combining w-stacking with the w-snapshot algorithm does not significantly improve computing requirements over pure w-stacking. The source code of our new imager is publicly released.

KW - astro-ph.IM

U2 - 10.1093/mnras/stu1368

DO - 10.1093/mnras/stu1368

M3 - Article

SN - 1365-2966

VL - 444

SP - 606

EP - 619

JO - Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

JF - Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

IS - 1

ER -

WSClean: an implementation of a fast, generic wide-field imager for radio astronomy

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