KEYWORDS: Optical correlators, Computing systems, Control systems, Antennas, Data processing, Data archive systems, Current controlled current source, Human-machine interfaces, Binary data, Adaptive optics
We present a design for the computer systems which control, configure,
and monitor the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) correlator and
process its output. Two distinct computer systems implement this
functionality: a rack- mounted PC controls and monitors the
correlator, and a cluster of 17 PCs process the correlator output into
raw spectral results. The correlator computer systems interface to
other ALMA computers via gigabit Ethernet networks utilizing CORBA and
raw socket connections. ALMA Common Software provides the software
infrastructure for this distributed computer environment. The control
computer interfaces to the correlator via multiple CAN busses and the
data processing computer cluster interfaces to the correlator via
sixteen dedicated high speed data ports. An independent array-wide
hardware timing bus connects to the computer systems and the
correlator hardware ensuring synchronous behavior and imposing hard
deadlines on the control and data processor computers. An aggregate
correlator output of 1 gigabyte per second with 16 millisecond periods
and computational data rates of approximately 1 billion floating point
operations per second define other hard deadlines for the data
processing computer cluster.
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