Software at NRAO

To interact with NRAO's state-of-the-art suite of radio telescope facilities, and obtain high-level scientific data products, NRAO offers a large range of software products. Below is a collection of software products that are offered to the general user community by the Data Management and System (DMS) division for acquiring and processing radio astronomical data.

Data Processing

NRAO and international partners develop and support a suite of open-source software packages for the calibration, imaging, analysis, and visualization of radio astronomical data.

CASA

CASA, the Common Astronomy Software Applications, is the primary data processing software for the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) and the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA), and is frequently used also for other radio telescopes. CASA can handle single-dish, interferometric, and Very Long Baseline Interferometery (VLBI) data. CASA is also the data processing software used by the pipelines for ALMA, VLA, VLASS, and Nobeyama.

CARTA

 CARTA is the Cube Analysis and Rendering Tool for Astronomy, an image visualization and analysis tool designed for the ALMA, the VLA, and the SKA pathfinders.

Single Dish

 The NRAO Greenbank Observatory offers various software packages for the processing and analysis of single dish data. 

AIPS

 AIPS, the Astronomical Image Processing System, is an alternative to CASA for the processing and imaging of interferometric data.

Obit

 Obit is a group of legacy software packages for handling radio astronomy data, intended primarily as an environment in which new data processing algorithms can be developed and tested.

Pipelines

NRAO and international partners develop pipelines for ALMA, the VLA, and the VLA Sky Survey (VLASS).

Pipelines

 Pipelines for ALMA, the VLA, and the VLA Sky Survey (VLASS) handle the calibration and imaging of data for users and archives. These pipelines are built on top of the CASA software, and are available and amendable to users for processing their data.

Algorithm Development

The Algorithm Research and Development (ARDG) group at NRAO uses open-source software for the development of new algorithms for radio data processing.

LibRA

 LibRA is a library of algorithms for aperture synthesis telescopes in Radio Astronomy (RA). It provides a foundational algorithm architecture for radio interferometric data processing, which is scalable and can accommodate the continuing evolution of algorithms.

Next-Generation Software

NRAO is developing data processing software for the next-generation telescope facilities, including the next-generation VLA (ngVLA), the ALMA Wideband Sensitivity Upgrade (WSU), and the next-generation Radar observations of objects in the solar system.

RADPS

 RADPS is the Radio Astronomy Data Processing System, a next-generation software ecosystem for the processing of radio astronomical data from future telescopes, focused on the Next-Generation VLA (ngVLA) and ALMA Wideband Sensitivity Upgrade (WSU).

Xradio

 XRADIO (Xarray Radio Astronomy Data I/O) is an open-source Python package that leverages xarray to provide an interface for radio astronomy data. XRADIO implements the Measurement Set version 4 (MS v4) schema, designed for storing radio interferometer and single-dish telescope data for offline processing. XRADIO is designed to handle the massive data scaling expected for next-generation observatories like the ngVLA.

Other

Other groups and committees at NRAO that are involved in software development.

Spectrum Management

The Spectrum Management group has developed software for spectrum monitoring, regulation, and RFI mitigation, including a Dynamic Radio Interference Finding Tool (DRIFT) and Operational Data Sharing (ODS) system.

RADAR

 The Next Generation Radar program (ngRADAR) uses radar techniques in combination with the NSF Green Bank and VLBA telescopes to bounce radio light off objects in our solar system, and study their composition and motion. RADAR is a collaboration between the NRAO, Green Bank Observatory (GBO), and Raytheon Technologies.

DPUC

The DMS Panel of the Users Committee (DPUC) is an external committee charged with advising NRAO on general user experience and matters important to users regarding DMS-related software and data products from ALMA, VLA, VLBA, and other telescopes. The DPUC is a subcommittee of the NRAO Users Committee.

Connect with NRAO

The NSF National Radio Astronomy Observatory and NSF Green Bank Observatory are facilities of the U.S. National Science Foundation operated under cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc.

Founded in 1956, the NSF NRAO provides state-of-the-art radio telescope facilities for use by the international scientific community. NSF NRAO telescopes are open to all astronomers regardless of institutional or national affiliation. Observing time on NSF NRAO telescopes is available on a competitive basis to qualified scientists after evaluation of research proposals on the basis of scientific merit, the capability of the instruments to do the work, and the availability of the telescope during the requested time. NSF NRAO also provides both formal and informal programs in education and public outreach for teachers, students, the general public, and the media.

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