Transient SETITransient SETI

Dan Werthimer Dan Werthimer University of California, BerkeleyUniversity of California, Berkeley

http://seti.berkeley.edu/

University of California, Berkeley SETI University of California, Berkeley SETI ProgramProgram• Graduate Students Graduate Students Chen Chang, Pierre Droz, Aaron Parsons, David PurdyChen Chang, Pierre Droz, Aaron Parsons, David Purdy

• Undergraduate StudentsUndergraduate Students

Daniel Chapman, Henry Chen, Charlie Conroy, Wonsop Sim Daniel Chapman, Henry Chen, Charlie Conroy, Wonsop Sim

• Astronomers, Computer Scientists and Astronomers, Computer Scientists and Engrs.Engrs.

David Anderson, Bob Bankay, Jeff Cobb, Court Cannick, Eric David Anderson, Bob Bankay, Jeff Cobb, Court Cannick, Eric Korpela, Matt Lebofsky, Jeff Mock, Rom Walton, Dan WerthimerKorpela, Matt Lebofsky, Jeff Mock, Rom Walton, Dan Werthimer

Early Transient Early Transient TransmittersTransmitters

NOT FUNDED

NOT FUNDED

Porno in space:

FUNDED!

UC Berkeley SETI UC Berkeley SETI ProgramsPrograms

NameName Time ScaleTime Scale Search TypeSearch Type

SERENDIPSERENDIP secondsseconds radio sky radio sky surveysurvey

SETI@homeSETI@home mS - secondsmS - seconds radio sky radio sky surveysurvey

AstropulseAstropulse nS - mSnS - mS radio sky radio sky surveysurvey

SEVENDIPSEVENDIP nSnS visible visible targettedtargetted

SPOCKSPOCK 1000 seconds1000 seconds visible visible targettedtargetted

DYSONDYSON IR targettedIR targetted

AstroPulseAstroPulse• Arecibo Sky surveyArecibo Sky survey

– Covers decs 0 to 30, each beam 5 timesCovers decs 0 to 30, each beam 5 times

– 1420 MHz, 2.5 MHz bandwidth1420 MHz, 2.5 MHz bandwidth

– 7 years of data recorded so far (70 TB)7 years of data recorded so far (70 TB)

• Good time resolutionGood time resolution– Sensitive to 0.4 µs radio pulses at 21 cmSensitive to 0.4 µs radio pulses at 21 cm

• DM rangeDM range– -1000 to +1000 pc/cm-1000 to +1000 pc/cm33

• SensitivitySensitivity– 1010-18-18 W/m W/m22 peak (Coherent de-dispersion) peak (Coherent de-dispersion)

AstroPulseAstroPulse• Only ~1.5 searches for single pulses on Only ~1.5 searches for single pulses on

µs timescale before µs timescale before (O’Sullivan, Phinney) (O’Sullivan, Phinney)

• Pulsar searches: ms time scales, foldedPulsar searches: ms time scales, folded

• SETI@home: 0.8 ms single pulses.SETI@home: 0.8 ms single pulses.

• Potential astrophysics as well as SETI Potential astrophysics as well as SETI

• evaporating primordial black holes?evaporating primordial black holes?

(Hawking, Rees, Ekers) (Hawking, Rees, Ekers)

– Pulsars, Other astrophysical exotica?Pulsars, Other astrophysical exotica?

Piggyback ALFA Sky SurveyPiggyback ALFA Sky Survey• Improved sensitivity Improved sensitivity

– Tsys, integration timeTsys, integration time

• Uniform sky sampling Uniform sky sampling – galactic plane concentrationgalactic plane concentration

• Multibeam RFI rejectionMultibeam RFI rejection

• Larger BandwidthLarger Bandwidth

Pulsed vs. CWPulsed vs. CW

Concentrating power into short bursts can be more efficient than a “constantly on” transmitter.

Pulsed signals can be easier to see above background noise.

DispersionDispersion

Coherent De-dispersion

-1000 < DM < +1000

Requires lots of Computing!!!

AstroPulse TestingAstroPulse Testing

Sample batch of data run through shows expected noise characteristics, and little else …

… so (hopefully) little RFI contamination for this type of signal.

BOINCBOINC

• Berkeley Open Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Infrastructure for Network ComputingComputing

– General-purpose distributed General-purpose distributed computing framework.computing framework.

– Open source.Open source.

– Will make distributed Will make distributed computing accessible to computing accessible to those who need it. (Starting those who need it. (Starting from scratch is hard!)from scratch is hard!)

ProjectsProjects• AstronomyAstronomy

– SETI@home (Berkeley) SETI@home (Berkeley)

– Astropulse (Berkeley)Astropulse (Berkeley)

– Einstein@home: gravitational pulsar search (Caltech,…)Einstein@home: gravitational pulsar search (Caltech,…)

– PlanetQuest (SETI Institute)PlanetQuest (SETI Institute)

– Stardust@home (Berkeley, Univ. Washinton,…)Stardust@home (Berkeley, Univ. Washinton,…)

• Earth scienceEarth science

– Climateprediction.net (Oxford)Climateprediction.net (Oxford)

• Biology/MedicineBiology/Medicine

– Folding@home, Predictor@home (Stanford, Scripts)Folding@home, Predictor@home (Stanford, Scripts)

– FightAIDSathome: virtual drug discoveryFightAIDSathome: virtual drug discovery

• PhysicsPhysics

– LHC@home (Cern)LHC@home (Cern)

• OtherOther

– Web indexing/searchWeb indexing/search

– Internet Resource mapping (UC Berkeley)Internet Resource mapping (UC Berkeley)

5,464,550 participants (in 226 countries)

2,000 per day

2.3 million years computer time

1,200 years per day

4*1021 floating point operations

65 Tera-flops

SETI@home Statistics

TOTAL RATE

Optical SETI Pulse SearchOptical SETI Pulse Search

1961 Charlie Townes Paper 1961 Charlie Townes Paper

largely ingored until 1999largely ingored until 1999

1971 Cyclops report calculates radio >> 1971 Cyclops report calculates radio >> opticaloptical

Today’s lasers can communicate across Today’s lasers can communicate across galaxygalaxy

Optical SETIOptical SETI• Uses Leuschner Uses Leuschner

Observatory (UCB)Observatory (UCB)– Automated 0.8m Automated 0.8m

telescopetelescope

• Targeted SearchTargeted Search– Nearby F,G,K,M starsNearby F,G,K,M stars

– ~10,000 stars ~10,000 stars observed so farobserved so far

– 100 galaxies100 galaxies

OSETI DetectorOSETI Detector• 3-Photomultiplier fast 3-Photomultiplier fast

coincidence detectorcoincidence detector– Sensitive to 1ns pulsesSensitive to 1ns pulses

• Low backgroundLow background– False alarm rate: 1 per 300 False alarm rate: 1 per 300

hours (10hours (10-6-6 Hz) Hz)

– Double false alarm rate: 1 Double false alarm rate: 1 per 600 years!per 600 years!

• Good sensitivityGood sensitivity– 1010-8-8 W/m W/m22 peak peak

– 1010-19-19 W/m W/m22 average average

Transient InstrumentationTransient Instrumentation

Compute Module DiagramCompute Module Diagram

138 bits 300MHz DDR 41.4Gb/s

4GB DDR2 DRAM12.8GB/s (400DDR)

100BTEthernet

5 FPGAs2VP70FF1704

FPGAFabric

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IB4X/CX4 20Gbps

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FPGAFabric

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IB4X/CX4 40Gbps

IB4X/CX4 40Gbps

IB4X/CX4 40Gbps

IB4X/CX4 40Gbps

19” 48RU Rack Cabin 19” 48RU Rack Cabin CapacityCapacity

• 40 compute nodes in 5 chassis (8U) per 40 compute nodes in 5 chassis (8U) per rackrack

• Up to 16 trillion CMac/s performance per Up to 16 trillion CMac/s performance per rackrack

• 250 Watt AC/DC power supply to each 250 Watt AC/DC power supply to each bladeblade

• 12.5 Kwatt total power consumption12.5 Kwatt total power consumption

• Hardware cost: ~ $1MHardware cost: ~ $1M

Global InterconnectsGlobal Interconnects• Commercial Infiniband Commercial Infiniband

switch from Mellanox, switch from Mellanox, Voltaire, etc.Voltaire, etc.– Packet switched, non-Packet switched, non-

blockingblocking

– 24 ~ 144 ports (4X) per 24 ~ 144 ports (4X) per chassischassis

– Up to 10,000 ports in a Up to 10,000 ports in a systemsystem

– 200~1000 ns switch latency200~1000 ns switch latency

– 400~1200 ns FPGA to FPGA 400~1200 ns FPGA to FPGA latencylatency

– 480Gbps ~ 2.88Tbps full 480Gbps ~ 2.88Tbps full duplex constant cross duplex constant cross section bandwidthsection bandwidth

– <$400 per port<$400 per port

ComputeNode

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ComputeNode

#1

Infiniband Crossbar Switch

Ethernet Switch

Unified Digital Processing Unified Digital Processing Architecture Architecture

• Distributed per antenna spectral channel processingDistributed per antenna spectral channel processing

• Multiple reconfigurable backend application processingMultiple reconfigurable backend application processing

• Commercial packet switched interconnectCommercial packet switched interconnect

• Backend data pulling through remote DMA accessBackend data pulling through remote DMA access

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Moore’s Law in FPGA Moore’s Law in FPGA worldworldComputational Density Comparison

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10/28/1995

3/11/1997

7/24/1998

12/6/1999

4/19/2001

9/1/2002 1/14/2004

Release Date

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FPGA 32-bit int MAC

FPGA maximum sustained performance

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100

1000

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6/19/1997

1/5/1998

7/24/1998

2/9/1999

8/28/1999

3/15/2000

10/1/2000

4/19/2001

11/5/2001

5/24/2002

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100X More efficient100X More efficientthan micro-processors!than micro-processors!

3X improvement3X improvementper year!per year!

Future SpectrometersFuture Spectrometers2015 4 THz 400 beams

10 GHz each2020 128 THz 12,800 beams

2025 4000 THz 40,000 beams

2030 128,000 THz 1M beams

Why you might not want Why you might not want to collaborate with us on to collaborate with us on Transient Observations Transient Observations

Seti Haiku

Searching for lifeSearching for lifeAnswers are revealedAnswers are revealedAbout ourselvesAbout ourselves

Paula Cook, Duke UniversityPaula Cook, Duke University

One million earthlingsOne million earthlingsBounded by optimismBounded by optimismLeave their PC’s onLeave their PC’s on

Dan SeidnerDan Seidner

The SETI@home ClientThe SETI@home Client

TripletsTriplets

• Three evenly Three evenly spaced spikes spaced spikes above 7.75X the above 7.75X the mean power. mean power. (5.3X10(5.3X10-25-25 W/m W/m22))

PulsesPulses

• Modified Fast Modified Fast folding algorithm folding algorithm w/ dynamic w/ dynamic thresholdthreshold

• Logarithmically Logarithmically spaced periods spaced periods from 3ms to 35sfrom 3ms to 35s

• Sensitivity as low Sensitivity as low as 10as 10-26-26 J/m J/m22