Collegiate Times

Three Virginia Tech professors are taking their research to the stars, but not before a stop in North Carolina. Steven Ellingson and Cameron Patterson of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering have joined John Simonetti of the Physics Department to study astronomical phenomena at the Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute in Rosman, N.C. The National Science Foundation gave approximately $273,000 to construct a dozen simple antennas to serve as a radio telescope and to assemble the computer hardware necessary to analyze the astronomical data. Ellingson, the principal researcher in the collaboration, said the array should have the potential to investigate ?exotic physics for which there are theories but no confirmation,? including gamma ray bursts and neutron star mergers. The project scientist for the array, Simonetti, said the western North Carolina site was a good spot for radio telescope research. ?It is sort of a remote site with good radio interference properties,? Simonetti said. ?In other words, it doesn?t have much radio interference.? Situated outside of Asheville, N.C., in the middle of Pisgah National Forest, the Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute operates as a non-profit educational foundation built upon a former NASA tracking station, said Dave Clavier, vice-president of administration and development for the institute. PARI?s 200 acres offer a ?dark? spot for radio reception, free from interference from competing radio signals common in urban areas. ?We love doing science here at PARI, and it?s a strong validation of PARI as an optimum research site,? Clavier said of the NSF?s financial support for the project. But such physics research would not be possible without recent advancements in computer technology, one researcher said. ?The computing challenges are rather extreme, but we think we have a solution that is relatively low cost,? said Patterson, who is coordinating the computer systems for the project. Patterson described field-programmable gate arrays ? small pieces of hardware that have no pre-defined function but can still manage a great deal of parallel processing ?- as ?marvelous technology? that make the astronomy research possible. The researchers hope to see results by the spring semester, Patterson said. ?We would like to detect something that hasn?t been detected with other instruments within the first year,? he said. The team building the array, which will be known as the Eight-meter-wavelength Transient Array, said it plans on working occasionally at the North Carolina site in addition to processing the results remotely from Virginia. ?A major strength of this project is that we don?t have to be present to do the research,? Ellingson said. The process to analyze the astronomical data from the ETA will also be shared by Blacksburg and Rosman researchers. ?The (goal) is to do much of the analysis at the North Carolina site,? Patterson said. ?But if we detect something interesting, we might change modes.? PARI has worked with Ellingson on similar research projects before, Clavier said. Though it is an independent educational center, the research institute is working to forge a relationship with the University of North Carolina system as well as supporting research efforts from other schools, including Tech and Furman University in Greenville, S.C.