Observers' Data Access Portal: Realtime Streaming for Astronomical Data

TL;DR

The paper introduces ODAP, a web-based streaming tool that provides near real-time access to astronomical data from the Keck Observatory for researchers worldwide, enhancing data accessibility and collaboration.

Contribution

It presents the design, implementation, and integration of ODAP, a novel real-time data streaming portal for astronomical observations at Keck Observatory.

Findings

ODAP streams data within moments of archiving.

The portal is built with React and WebSocket for efficient real-time delivery.

Usage metrics demonstrate effective adoption and performance.

Abstract

The W. M. Keck Observatory Archive (KOA) has released the Observers Data Access Portal (ODAP), a web-application that delivers astronomical data from the W. M. Keck Observatory to the scheduled program's principal investigator and their collaborators anywhere in the world in near real-time. Data files and their associated metadata are streamed to a user's desktop machine moments after they are written to disk and archived in KOA. The ODAP User Interface is built in React and uses the WebSocket protocol to stream data between KOA and the user. This document describes the design of the tool, challenges encountered, shows how ODAP is integrated into the Keck observing model, and provides an analysis of usage metrics.