SETI & Technosignatures

COSMIC: An Ethernet-based Commensal, Multimode Digital Backend on the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array for the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence

By Keith Cowing

Status Report

astro-ph.IM

October 17, 2023

Filed under astro-ph.IM, COSMIC, SETI, Technosignatures, VLA

COSMIC: An Ethernet-based Commensal, Multimode Digital Backend on the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array for the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence — A high-level diagram of the data flow from the VLA antennas in the context of COSMIC. The signals from each antenna pass through the receivers, and in the 8-bit mode (the VLA can operate in both a 3-bit and an 8-bit mode), all receiving frequencies are shifted to the X-band (8–10 GHz; upper side band). COSMIC receives one copy of the digitized signals after they are amplified through an erbium-doped fiber amplifier (EDFA). The other copy is processed through the W IDAR correlator for standard VLA processing. — astro-ph.IM

The primary goal of the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) is to gain an understanding of the prevalence of technologically advanced beings (organic or inorganic) in the Galaxy.

One way to approach this is to look for technosignatures: remotely detectable indicators of technology, such as temporal or spectral electromagnetic emissions consistent with an artificial source.

With the new Commensal Open-Source Multimode Interferometer Cluster (COSMIC) digital backend on the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA), we aim to conduct a search for technosignatures that is significantly larger, more sensitive, and more efficient than previously attempted.

The COSMIC system is currently operational on the VLA, recording data, and designed with the flexibility to provide user-requested modes. This paper describes the hardware system design, the current software pipeline, and plans for future development.

Chenoa D. Tremblay, Savin Shynu Varghese, Jack Hickish, Paul Demorest, Cherry Ng, Andrew P.V. Siemion, Daniel Czech, Ross A. Donnachie, Wael Fahar, Vishal Gajjr, Matt Lebofsky, David E. MacMahon, Talon Myburgh, Mark Ruzindana, Joseph S. Bright, Alan Erickson, Kevin Lacker

Comments: 30 pages, 17 figures. Submitted to AJ
Subjects: Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics (astro-ph.IM)
Cite as: arXiv:2310.09414 [astro-ph.IM] (or arXiv:2310.09414v1 [astro-ph.IM] for this version)
Submission history
From: Chenoa Tremblay
[v1] Fri, 13 Oct 2023 21:42:53 UTC (9,625 KB)
https://arxiv.org/abs/2310.09414
Astrobiology

Keith Cowing

Explorers Club Fellow, ex-NASA Space Station Payload manager/space biologist, Away Teams, Journalist, Lapsed climber, Synaesthete, Na’Vi-Jedi-Freman-Buddhist-mix, ASL, Devon Island and Everest Base Camp veteran, (he/him) 🖖🏻

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