LOFAR

LOFAR: the ultimate test for SURFnet6

The LOFAR sensor network is not just of interest to astronomers. Geophysicists, agricultural scientists and meteorologists also take advantage of it. They have fast access to their research data through lightpaths.

A revolutionary radio telescope consisting of tens of thousands of highly sensitive antennas, a supercomputer and a broadband fibre-optic network. This is the  infrastructure that will be delivered by the LOFAR project (LOw Frequency ARray) in 2009. ‘Many thousands of antennas, distributed over dozens of stations and spread out over an area of over one hundred kilometres in diameter, will continuously collect signals from space,’ says Jan Reitsma, LOFAR Technical Director in  Dwingeloo. ‘These signals will subsequently be processed and analysed in a supercomputer.’

Read the Best Practice.