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The data capture process, running on each MWAX Server, reads visibility data off the output PSRDADA ring buffer and writes the data into FITS format. The data capture process breaks up large visibility sets into files of up to approximately 10 GB each, in order to optimize data transfer speeds while keeping the individual visibility file sizes manageable. The FITS files are written onto a separate partition on the MWAX Server disk storage.
Transfer to Curtin Data Centre Temporary Storage
Each MWAX server has enough disk storage for around 30TB of visibilities plus 30TB of voltage data, effectively replacing the need for a separate "Online Archive" cluster of servers as the legacy MWA had. In normal operating modes and schedule, this means the MWA can continue to observe for a week or two even if the link to Perth is offline- data will continue to be stored on disk until the link is online again, and will then begin transmission to Perth.
An archiving process (mwax_mover), running on each MWAX Server, watches the directory directories to which the data capture software writes the output visibility FITS files, as well as the directory to which the voltage data is written, and adds these files to a queue.
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