Abstract
I investigate the problem of high dynamic range continuum synthesis imaging in the presence of confusing sources, using scaling arguments and simulations. I derive a quantified cost equation for the computer hardware needed to support such observations for the EVLA and the SKA. This cost has two main components – from the data volume, scaling as D−6 (where D is the antenna diameter), and from the non-coplanar baselines effect, scaling as D−2, for a total scaling of D−8. A factor of two in antenna diameter thus corresponds to 12 years of Moore’s law (18 month doubling time) cost reduction in computing hardware. For a SKA built with 12.5 m antennas observing with 1 arcsecond at 1.4 GHz, I find the computing load to be about 150 Petaflops (costing about $500 million in 2015). For 25 m antennas, the load is about 256 times lower, costing $2 million in 2015. This new cost equation differs from that of Perley and Clark (2003), which has scaling as D−6. This is because I find that the excellent Fourier plane coverage of the small antenna design does not significantly change the convergence rate of the Clean algorithm, which is already satisfactory in this regime.
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The National Radio Astronomy Observatory is operated by Associated Universities, Inc., under cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation.
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Cornwell, T.J. Ska and Evla Computing Costs for Wide Field Imaging. Exp Astron 17, 329–343 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10686-005-7449-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10686-005-7449-z