A GPU-based Imager with Polarised Primary-beam Correction

TL;DR

This paper introduces a GPU-based radio telescope imager capable of producing high-quality, full-polarisation images with corrections for primary-beam effects and leakage, addressing computational challenges of large data volumes.

Contribution

The paper presents a novel GPU-accelerated imaging system that efficiently performs wide-field, primary-beam, and polarization leakage corrections for radio telescopes.

Findings

Achieves high dynamic range imaging with correction capabilities.

Handles large data volumes efficiently using GPU acceleration.

Enables improved image quality for ASKAP telescope observations.

Abstract

The next generation of radio telescopes will strive for unprecedented dynamic range across wide fields of view, and direction-dependent gains such as the gain from the primary-beam pattern, or leakage of one Stokes product into another, must be removed from the cleaned images if dynamic range is to reach its full potential. Unfortunately, such processing is extremely computationally intensive, and is made even more challenging by the very large volumes of data that these instruments will generate. Here we describe a new GPU-based imager, aimed primarily at use with the ASKAP telescope, that is capable of generating cleaned, full-polarisation images that include wide-field, primary-beam, and polarisation leakage corrections.