Central Idea

India’s Automated Radio Telescope Image Processing Pipeline (ARTIP) technology has been instrumental in facilitating remarkable discoveries from distant galaxies observed by South Africa’s MeerKAT Telescope.
MeerKAT acts as a precursor to the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) Telescope, known for its outstanding sensitivity and sky survey capabilities.
ARTIP’s cutting-edge image data processing is vital for harnessing MeerKAT’s potential for groundbreaking research.

What is ARTIP?

Development by Thoughtworks: ARTIP was developed by global technology consultancy firm Thoughtworks at its India offices in Bengaluru and Pune.
Automation of Data Processing: Since 2017, this collaboration has aimed to automate various critical processes, including data processing, flagging, calibration, and imaging.

Configurability: ARTIP is highly configurable and customizable, designed to process MeerKAT-generated data. While initially configured for MeerKAT, its adaptability allows it to process data from uGMRT and VLA class telescopes.
Pipeline Components: It consists of four individual sub-pipelines, including calibration, cube imaging, continuum imaging, and diagnostics, each serving different stages of the data processing workflow.
Calibration (ARTIP-CAL): This component calibrates data against known astronomical sources and extracts the target source of interest.
Cube Imaging (ARTIP-CUBE): The calibrated target is then used to generate sky images using this component.
Continuum Imaging (ARTIP-CONT): This pipeline focuses on generating images from the calibrated data.
Diagnostics (ARTIP-DIAGNOSTICS): Providing analysis insights into data processing and quality, it functions as a quality assurance pipeline.

Hydroxyl Radical (OH) Detection: ARTIP has contributed to significant discoveries, including the detection of the hydroxyl radical (OH), an essential chemical species found throughout the atmosphere in a distant galaxy.
Identification of Hydrogen Atoms: It has also played a crucial role in identifying massive hydrogen atoms (Rydberg atoms) in another distant galaxy.
Scientific Recognition: The MALS data processing with ARTIP has received recognition in the international astronomical journal, Proceedings of Science, for its contributions to these discoveries.