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Astronomical Data Compression: Algorithms & Architectures
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| Rob Seaman | National Optical Astronomy Observatory |
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"Only entropy comes easy." - Anton Chekhov Digital data is the lifeblood of astronomy. Data compression deals with its efficient representation and transport. As focal planes become more crowded and observing cadences more rapid, ever increasing pressure will be applied to realize near-optimum performance. A typical observational workflow comprises many network links and storage nodes, multiplying the advantage of compression dramatically. Recent work on astronomical data compression has focused on the FITS tile compression convention (http://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/fitsio/fpack). We seek a broader discussion of compression-aware astronomical data handling architectures, including compression techniques and algorithms appropriate to binary and ASCII catalogs as well as to imaging data. The organizers welcome contributions to the BoF's agenda. | |
2009/10/7
| FITS BoF | |
| William D. Pence | NASA/GSFC |
| This Birds-of-a-Feather session will present a summary of current activities related to the FITS data format and will provide a forum for the discussion of current issues. Topics of discussion will include 1) Recent changes in membership on the IAU FITS Working Group. (Pence) 2) New conventions that have been submitted to the Registry of FITS Conventions in the past year. (Pence) 3) Summary of advances in FITS image compression techniques. (More detailed discussions will take place in the separate BoF session on data compression). (Seaman) 4) The new draft of the WCS Paper V on Time Coordinate Systems. (Rots) 5) Open forum on any other FITS-related topics. | |