LOFAR Glossary of Terms and Abbreviations
This glossary is intended to facilitate the discussions within the LOFAR project by providing unambiguous definitions of terms and abbreviations. In principle, all LOFAR documentation shall refer to this glossary.
Executive summary
This document provides a definition of abbreviations and terms to be used in the LOFAR project. Several documents produced so far contain glossaries that have been taken as input. Other sources are general standards like ECSS and ISO.
Author/Owner
Adriaan Renting <renting@astron.nl>
Abbreviation |
Context |
Meaning |
|---|---|---|
ACC |
CEP |
Application Configuration and Control |
AD |
LOFAR |
Applicable Document |
ADD |
LOFAR |
Architectural Design Document |
ADC |
Analog Digital Conversion |
|
AGN |
Science |
Active Galactic Nucleus |
AGP |
Accelerated Graphical Port |
|
AIPS |
Software |
Astronomical Information Processing System or classical AIPS |
AIPS++ |
Software |
The AIPS++ project was a project from the nineties supposed to replace the original Astronomical Information Processing System or classical AIPS. The ++ comes from it being mainly developed in C++. It’s also known as AIPS 2. It evolved into CASA, casacore and casarest (see those entries). |
AIT |
LOFAR |
Assembly, Integration and Test |
API |
Software |
Application Programming Interface |
ARG |
MAC |
Array Receptor Group |
ARVI |
LOFAR |
Archiving Virtual Instrument |
AUX |
LOFAR |
Auxillary |
Az |
Coordinates |
Azimuth |
Beam |
Do not use Beam, use one of the specific beams, like Station Beam, Tile Beam, Antenna Beam |
|
(no abbreviation) |
A beam is formed by combining all the SubArrayPointing, one for each station, which are looking in a particular direction. There may be more than one beam for each SubArrayPointing, and different types of beams are available. |
|
BF |
LOFAR |
Beam-Formed data. Used for time-series data recorded in LOFAR Tied Array Mode, even though Interferometry data is also “beam formed”. |
BBI |
CEP |
Black Board Imager. (Never implemented?) |
BBS |
CEP |
Black Board Selfcal, calibration application used for LOFAR imaging data. |
BBTN |
LOFAR |
Black Board Transport Network (never used?) |
BG |
CEP |
Blue Gene - IBM supercomputers used by LOFAR 2007-2014 |
BG/L |
CEP |
Blue Gene/ L - series |
BG/P |
CEP |
Blue Gene/ P - series |
BSR |
Calibration |
Band-pass Saw-tooth Ripple |
CASA |
Software |
The Common Astronomy Software Applications package. User software for radioastronomy developed out of the old AIPS++ project. The project is led by NRAO with contributions from ESO, CSIRO/ATNF, NAOJ and ASTRON. |
casacore |
Software |
The set of C++ libraries that form the basis of CASA and several other astronomical packages. It contains classes for storing and handling visibility and image data, RDBMS-like table system and handling coordinates. Mainly maintained by ASTRON and CSIRO/ATNF. |
casarest |
Software |
The libraries and tools from the old AIPS++ project that are not part of casacore or CASA but still in use. |
CCB |
Configuration Change Board |
|
CCP |
Change Control Procedure |
|
CDR |
Critical Design Review |
|
CEP |
LOFAR |
Central Processing facility. |
Channel |
The subband data of a LOFAR observation may be passed through a second polyphase filter to obtain a large number of channels (i.e. to increase the spectral resolution). |
|
CI |
LOFAR |
Configuration Item |
CIA |
LOFAR |
Common Interface Application Sub-system |
CLA |
Data Formats |
Common LOFAR attributes. Set of root-level attributes that are used and required as attributes in all LOFAR science data products. If a value is not available for an Attribute, ‘NULL’ maybe used. |
Co-I |
LOFAR |
Co-investigators on an observation project under the leadership of the PI. |
COTS |
Common Off-the-shelf |
|
CRC |
Cyclic Redundancy Check |
|
CS |
LOFAR |
Core Station. LOFAR Station within ~15 km of the Superterp with 2 small HBA fields. |
CS1 |
LOFAR |
Core Station One, test station with pre-production hardware (2007) |
CS??? |
LOFAR |
LOFAR Core Station ??? |
CWDM |
WAN |
Coarse Wave Division Multiplexing |
DAS |
CEP |
Direct Attachment Storage |
Data Interface |
Set of definitions that describe the contents and structure of data files. |
|
Data Access Layer (DAL) |
A C++ library with Python bindings providing read/write functionality for HDF5 format files, as well as access to Measurement Sets. |
|
DCB |
Digital Control Board |
|
DCU |
Digital Control Unit |
|
DD |
LOFAR |
Design Document |
DDL |
Software |
Data Definition Language |
DMS |
Data Management System |
|
DPF |
Data Processing Facility |
|
DR |
Design Review |
|
DSP |
Digital Signal Processing |
|
DVI |
Digital Video Interface |
|
EDR |
Engineering Design Review |
|
EGI |
European Grid Initiative |
|
EMC |
Electromagnetic Compatibility |
|
EMI |
Electromagnetic Interference |
|
EO |
Executive Order |
|
EPIC |
Execution Process in Control |
|
ERP |
Enterprise Resource Planning |
|
ESD |
Electrostatic Discharge |
|
ESO |
European Southern Observatory |
|
EU |
European Union |
|
EVLA |
Expanded Very Large Array |
|
FFT |
Fast Fourier Transform |
|
FOV |
Field of View |
|
FPGA |
Field Programmable Gate Array |
|
FS |
Field Station |
|
FTP |
File Transfer Protocol |
|
FWHM |
Full Width Half Maximum |
|
GUI |
Graphical User Interface |
|
HBA |
LOFAR |
High Band Antenna |
HDD |
Hard Disk Drive |
|
HDF5 |
Data Format |
Hierarchical Data Format version 5 |
HP |
Hewlett-Packard |
|
HPC |
High-Performance Computing |
|
HPS |
LOFAR |
HBA Phased-Array Station |
IC |
Integrated Circuit |
|
ICD |
LOFAR |
Interface Control Document |
IEEE |
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers |
|
IFA |
LOFAR |
Integration, Factory Acceptance |
I/O |
Input/Output |
|
IP |
Internet Protocol |
|
IPR |
Intellectual Property Rights |
|
ISO |
International Organization for Standardization |
|
JIVE |
Joint Institute for VLBI in Europe |
|
LAN |
Local Area Network |
|
LBA |
LOFAR |
Low Band Antenna |
LCU |
LOFAR |
Local Control Unit |
LOFAR |
Low Frequency Array |
|
LOM |
LOFAR |
LOFAR Operations and Maintenance |
LTA |
LOFAR |
Long-Term Archive |
MAC |
LOFAR |
Monitoring and Control |
MACR |
LOFAR |
Monitoring and Control Requirements |
MACS |
LOFAR |
Monitoring and Control System |
METIS |
LOFAR |
LOFAR Metrology Instrument System |
M&C |
LOFAR |
Monitoring and Control |
MO |
Management Organization |
|
MOU |
Memorandum of Understanding |
|
MS |
LOFAR |
Measurement Set |
NMS |
Network Management System |
|
NRT |
Near Real-Time |
|
NW |
Network |
|
OBS |
LOFAR |
Observation Scheduling |
ODF |
LOFAR |
Observation Data Format |
OMT |
Object Modeling Technique |
|
OS |
Operating System |
|
OSF |
LOFAR |
Observation Specification File |
PAF |
LOFAR |
Phased-Array Feed |
PC |
Personal Computer |
|
PCB |
Printed Circuit Board |
|
PDR |
LOFAR |
Preliminary Design Review |
PI |
LOFAR |
Principal Investigator |
PM |
LOFAR |
Project Manager |
QA |
Quality Assurance |
|
RAID |
Redundant Array of Independent Disks |
|
RAM |
Random Access Memory |
|
RFI |
Radio Frequency Interference |
|
RMA |
Return Merchandise Authorization |
|
RSP |
LOFAR |
Remote Station Processing |
SA |
Sub-Array |
|
SAN |
Storage Area Network |
|
SARA |
Stichting Academisch Rekencentrum Amsterdam |
|
SNR |
Signal-to-Noise Ratio |
|
SSB |
Sideband Suppression |
|
TBB |
LOFAR |
Transient Buffer Board |
UDP |
User Datagram Protocol |
|
VLA |
Very Large Array |
|
VLBI |
Very Long Baseline Interferometry |
|
WAN |
Wide Area Network |
|
XML |
eXtensible Markup Language |
Based on the following documents:
LOFAR-ASTRON-RPT-002 v3 (2007): LOFAR Glossary of Terms and Abbreviations