The SETI Institute’s Allen Telescope Array (ATA) recently played host to 16 scientists, engineers, and technologists who gathered for a three-day “hackathon” to develop novel capabilities for the observatory. Sponsored by the Amateur Radio Digital Communications charitable foundation, in collaboration with the SETI Institute, the Breakthrough Listen Initiative, and GNU Radio, the hackathon drew participants from across the United States and around the world who were interested in using the ATA for SETI and radio astronomy, observations of Earth-orbiting satellites, and education, among other topics.
The ATA is a 42-antenna array of 6-meter diameter dishes dedicated to the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. With recently upgraded receivers (capable of increased sensitivity) and digital signal processing hardware (capable of tuning to more frequency channels at once), the ATA is not only a powerful tool in its own right but also enables low-level access to data from the antennas, as well as flexible configurations, so that users can take control of the entire array at once, or individual antennas to carry out different projects simultaneously.
The GNU Radio open-source software environment powers one available backend instrument. A GNU Radio-focused hackathon held at the ATA in 2019 led to the formal joining of GNU Radio with the SETI Institute in 2020.
“Many radio telescopes, and indeed radio devices more generally, are built with custom hardware to process incoming signals,” said Derek Kozel, Principal Investigator for GNU Radio and the SETI Institute. “GNU Radio is changing the paradigm by replacing hardware with easily configurable software, providing scientists and engineers with remarkable flexibility in how they utilize the telescope. And the fact that the software is open-source means that anyone can contribute.”
“Few observatories offer the opportunity for hands-on experimentation, development, and testing that is possible with the ATA,” said SETI Institute Adjunct Senior Scientist Steve Croft, who organized the hackathon along with the observatory staff. “Hackathon attendees worked on topics as diverse as precise positioning of satellites in geosynchronous orbits, classifying signals in data streaming from the telescope, and making real-time detections of pulsars.”
“We’re excited to be able to make the ATA available to the community and to have them contribute to capabilities that will benefit all users of the telescope,” said Andrew Siemion, Bernard M. Oliver Chair for SETI at the SETI Institute. “By working together with partners from academia and industry, we’re pushing forward the frontiers of radio astronomy technology and also demonstrating that SETI is an effort where folks with a wide range of backgrounds and skills can help us to achieve our goals.”