VIRAC Programmer Participates in the Annual RADIOBLOCKS Project Meeting in the Netherlands



From May 18 to 20, 2025, Matīss Purviņš, a programmer at the Engineering Institute Ventspils International Radio Astronomy Center (VIRAC) of Ventspils University of Applied Sciences (VUAS), participated in the WP4 work package meeting of the international research project RADIOBLOCKS ("New science in Radio Astronomy: applying cutting-edge technology to enhance the entire data chain, from receiver to final output"). The meeting took place at ASTRON – the Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy, in Dwingeloo, the Netherlands.
During the meeting, project partners presented current progress at their respective institutions, sharing summaries of completed tasks and planned future activities. These meetings provide an opportunity to coordinate the implementation of activities and ensure alignment with the project's overall strategy and deliverables.
The agenda continued with presentations on data processing performance analysis methods, led by a representative from JIVE (Joint Institute for VLBI ERIC), and an overview prepared by ASTRON specialists on the latest GPU computing solutions used in radio astronomy and high-performance data processing.
One of the key parts of the meeting was the presentation of the new RADIOBLOCKS HPC system. This high-performance computing unit has been acquired within the scope of WP4 and will be available to project partners starting September 2025, significantly expanding data processing capabilities.
The meeting concluded with a discussion on the allocation of the remaining financial resources for the project's duration.
After the official part, participants had the opportunity to take a tour of the ASTRON institute, where they explored its technological capabilities – including the DAS-6 HPC system, the COBALT correlation platform, and the JIVE correlator. At the end of the tour, visitors also had the chance to see the historic Dwingeloo radio telescope, located near the institute.
These activities took place within the framework of the project "New science in Radio Astronomy: applying cutting-edge technology to enhance the entire data chain, from receiver to final output" (RADIOBLOCKS), project No. 101093934, and were funded by the project's resources.
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