[Difx-users] Missing baselines with R-X/Y data

Eskil Varenius eskil.varenius at chalmers.se
Wed Jun 2 01:28:59 EDT 2021


Hi all,

In case anyone is interested, here is a bried update on this issue 
(missing baselines in mixed-pol setup when not using zoombands): Since a 
while ago, I believe the problem is not the mix of polarisations, but 
rather the mix of USB/LSB. The ON station is recording USB BBCs while 
the OE and OW stations record LSB BBCs. I have been told there is a 
bug/feature in difx2mark4 with mixed USB/LSB data, where difx supposedly 
writes two frequency tables, but difx2mark4 only reads the baselines 
matching one of them. This is a likely explanation for why I seem to 
lose the OE-OW baseline; it is the only LSB-LSB configuration, while the 
USB-LSB baselines (OE-ON and OW-ON) are kept. Using zoombands, it seems 
the output is forced into one frequency table and thus no problem for 
difx2mark4 et al.

Kind regards

Eskil

On 2021-02-04 18:09, Eskil Varenius wrote:
>
> Hi Adam, all
>
> Finally some data so I can return to the mixed-pol issue again. To 
> remind you, my problem is that when correlating R-pol (1Gbps) data 
> from ONSALA60 against X/Y-pol (2Gbps) data from ONSA13NE and ONSA13SW, 
> I must define “zoom bands” to get visibilities on all baselines. Not 
> sure if the problem is in DiFX, or difx2mark4 (or elsewhere).  I have 
> uploaded a tar.gz archive with input/output files (excluding 18GB of 
> VDIF data) at
>
> https://chalmersuniversity.box.com/s/9ed0t61bk04ag88is2ovhlm0er4qd00n
>
> There you can check logfiles, input files etc. If you want the data, I 
> can share it (no time right now to remember how to split out a small 
> chunk of data for testing, so used one full 30 sec scan). I can also 
> try various things on my end if you have suggestions.
>
> Here are the steps to reproduce with DiFX 2.6.2:
>
> Unzip archive,
>
> Edit "*.files" with correct paths to "data" directory
>
> cd zoom
>
> Edit "on1028_1.machines" accordingly (e.g. computer name)
>
> vex2difx -v -v -v -d *v2d --force (need force as this is mixed 
> circular/linear data)
>
> calcif2 *.calc
>
> startdifx -n -f *.input -v
>
> I now get messages, see logfile, like
>
> "Thu Feb  4 17:56:58 2021   0 skirner WARNING Baseline 0 frequency 0 
> points at two different frequencies that are apparently identical - 
> this is not wrong, but very strange.  Check the input file"
>
> The message is correct, I have identical zoom windows - otherwise I 
> don't get all baselines. To see result, I run
>
> difx2mark4 -v -b X 2300 14000 *.difx -s ../station_code_file.txt
>
> and check the output on screen. All baselines are included:
>
> [...]
>
>       n120[SX] 448
>
>       n120[ST] 896
>
>       n120[XT] 448
>
>       n120[SS] 448
>
>       n120[XX] 448
>
>       n120[TT] 448
>
> [...]
>
> Same procedure without zoom-windows, I get a different set of baselines
>
> [...]
>
>       n120[SX] 448
>
>       n120[XT] 448
>
>       n120[SS] 448
>
>       n120[XX] 224
>
>       n120[TT] 448
>
> [...]
>
> Curiously, the "ST" (which is the ONSA13NE-SW baseline) is missing, 
> and the XX (ONSALA60) is half (224).
>
> Not sure the zoom-window version is correct, but I need the 
> ST-baseline, and it seems to work, so I use zoom-windows. But, I'm 
> curious: why does this happen?
>
> Kind regards
>
> Eskil
>
> *From: *Difx-users <difx-users-bounces at listmgr.nrao.edu> on behalf of 
> Eskil Varenius via Difx-users <difx-users at listmgr.nrao.edu>
> *Reply to: *Eskil Varenius <eskil.varenius at chalmers.se>
> *Date: *Monday, 30 November 2020 at 11:51
> *To: *Adam Deller <adeller at astro.swin.edu.au>
> *Cc: *"difx-users at listmgr.nrao.edu" <difx-users at listmgr.nrao.edu>
> *Subject: *Re: [Difx-users] A few surprises
>
> Hi Adam,
>
> Apologies, but I will have to defer sending additional details as the 
> data in question have already been removed after correlation. (I would 
> like to verify that the files I send indeed produce the errors I 
> claim, so I don't send files with other typos). Also, I have too many 
> other todo-items to follow this up right now, but we regularly observe 
> with similar settings so I should get another data set to play with in 
> a few weeks. When I do, I will check the input-file differences and 
> let you know, and keep the data on disk for additional tests. But I 
> did experience the same thing for all similar data so far. Will let 
> you know once I have new data.
>
> Cheers
>
> Eskil
>
> On 2020-11-30 11:43, Adam Deller wrote:
>
>     Hi Eskil,
>
>     Thanks for the heads up, the first two are surprising (I'm never
>     surprised by gaps in documentation!)
>
>     I've got no experience with the intel compilers, so will pass on
>     that one.  For the second, what is the difference in the .input
>     file produced by vex2difx in the two cases?  That might help shed
>     some light.
>
>     Cheers,
>
>     Adam
>
>     On Mon, 30 Nov 2020 at 21:18, Eskil Varenius via Difx-users
>     <difx-users at listmgr.nrao.edu <mailto:difx-users at listmgr.nrao.edu>>
>     wrote:
>
>         Dear difx developers,
>         I have noted a few surprises which I would like to report:
>
>         - Compiling DiFX 2.6.1/2.6.2 with intel 2019 compiler,
>         mpifxcorr runs
>         but refuses to actually read any data. It just sits there, never
>         starting the correlation. Using intel 2018 compiler instead,
>         everything
>         works nicely.
>
>         - Correlating mixed-polarisation data (antenna ON: R-pol, OE
>         and OW: X/Y
>         pol) delivers correlation products on the mixed circ/linear
>         baselines
>         (R-X and R-Y pol), but not on the linear/linear baselines
>         (XX,XY,YX,YY).
>         However, if I add zoomwindows - describing the same setup
>         already in the
>         VEX file, so no actual zooming - then I get also the linear
>         polarisation
>         products. (I know mixed-pol support is limited, but might as
>         well note
>         the behaviour.)
>
>         - "difx2mark4 --help" v1.6 does not say it needs .calc files,
>         but seems
>         it does. So documentation should be amended?
>
>         Kind regards
>         Eskil
>
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>
>
>     -- 
>
>     !=============================================================!
>
>     A/Prof. Adam Deller
>
>     ARC Future Fellow
>
>     Centre for Astrophysics & Supercomputing
>
>     Swinburne University of Technology
>     John St, Hawthorn VIC 3122 Australia
>
>     phone: +61 3 9214 5307
>
>     fax: +61 3 9214 8797
>
>     office days (usually): Mon-Thu
>     !=============================================================!
>
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