VLBA Begins Production Processing Using the DiFX Software Correlator

Jon Romney

Production processing of a subset of VLBA observations with the DiFX software correlator began 30 November, 2009. It is expected that by the end of December all VLBA scientific observations will be processed by DiFX.

DiFX offers these new capabilities and advantages:

The maxima specified above are flexible, and can be waived on the basis of a sufficiently compelling scientific justification.

Please consult the updated VLBA Observational Status Summary for detailed information. Most aspects of DiFX are discussed in Section 7, while the new pulsar gating options are presented in Section 16, and Section 18 explains how wide-field observations could exploit the expanded output data rates now available. Current information is maintained on the “DiFX Arrives” web page.