Output Rate
Correlation parameters should result in an output rate less than 10 MBytes per second (of observing time) for routine DiFX processing; higher rates may be considered if required and adequately justified. Observers should ensure that their data-analysis facilities can handle the dataset volumes that will result from the correlation parameters they specify.
An approximate parametrization of the output rate is given by
[display]R = 4 \cdot \frac{N_{\rm stn} \cdot (N_{\rm stn}+1) \cdot N_{\rm sbb} \cdot N_{\rm spc}}{T_{\rm int}}\cdot N_{\rm ppb} \cdot N_{\rm phc} \cdot p[/display]
where the rate [inline]R[/inline] is in Byte/s;
[inline] N_{\rm stn} , \; N_{\rm sbb} , \; N_{\rm spc} [/inline] are the numbers of observing stations, data channels, and spectral points per data channel, respectively;
[inline]T_{\rm int}[/inline] is the correlator integration period;
[inline]N_{\rm ppb}[/inline] is the number of pulsar phase bins; and
[inline]N_{\rm phc}[/inline] is the number of phase centers.
The polarization factor [inline]p=1[/inline] for single-polar, or dual-polar parallel-hand output; or [inline]p=2[/inline] for cross-polar, four-Stokes processing.
Output data rates are also estimated by SCHED.
