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F. Schillirò and G. Umana
b = 0.5 Hz and integration time t = 10 min. A transmitter is detectable if its EIRP
is above the curve for a given telescope. So that a transmitter with an EIRP of 2 ×
10
20 erg/s (planetary radar) is detectable with all the telescope shown in figure, while
a transmitter with an EIRP of 2 × 10
17 erg/s (airport radar) is detectable only with
SKA2 [1].
13.1.2 Commensal Observation Strategy and AI Computing
The serendipity nature of a SETI observation make it not always accepted within the
scientific community, as targeted observation strategy, so that such kind of observations have less probability to be performed, without clear and unequivocal signs of
intelligent and communicative life. This question will probably affect SKA telescope
observation as well, so that a solution is the Commensal Observation Strategy and
the Artificial Intelligence approach to Big Data (Fig. 13.2) [2].
In biology, commensalism is a symbiotic arrangement between mutualism and
parasitism: it is the coexistence of two organisms in which one benefits and the other
neither benefits nor suffers. It derives from the Latin ‘cum mensa’, “sharing a table,”
originally alluding to the sharing of food scraps in particular.
Commensalism is possible thanks to back-end technologies developed by a
number of SETI programs performed all over the world: let us think to new beamforming technologies and new back-ends with very high performance digitization
and computing resources, that allows to use all the sensitivity theoretically provided
by telescopes, in particular SKA.
In a five year commensal campaign, SKA1 could survey every star in its declination range within 60 pc more than ten thousand stars to a luminosity limit an
order of magnitude fainter, ergs/s, over a larger band. Conservatively, in ten years
SKA2 could survey every star within 60 pc to a luminosity limit equal to the EIRP of
terrestrial aircraft radars over the entire terrestrial microwave window. Commensal
observations will soon begin in the radio at the MeerKAT radio telescope in South
Africa [3].
As large corporate investments are made in the commercial exploitation of Big
Data, significant progress is being made in areas such as advanced data analytics,
new visualisation methods and the introduction of advanced pattern recognition and
feature extraction techniques.
These can greatly benefit radio astronomy in general and perhaps SETI searches
in particular. As noted earlier, the likely rate of radio transients in the era of the full
SKA will reach levels that are beyond the capacity of even large, well organized
teams of radio astronomers.
Faced with an avalanche of data from all sides, the “brute force” approach
of commercial data analytics, and especially the future promise of cognitive
computing, could have a huge impact in terms of increasing the chances of serendipitous discovery—fields of research such as SETI, where human bias and other
pre-conceptions may limit current efforts, stand to benefit enormously.
F. Schillirò and G. Umana
b = 0.5 Hz and integration time t = 10 min. A transmitter is detectable if its EIRP
is above the curve for a given telescope. So that a transmitter with an EIRP of 2 ×
10
20 erg/s (planetary radar) is detectable with all the telescope shown in figure, while
a transmitter with an EIRP of 2 × 10
17 erg/s (airport radar) is detectable only with
SKA2 [1].
13.1.2 Commensal Observation Strategy and AI Computing
The serendipity nature of a SETI observation make it not always accepted within the
scientific community, as targeted observation strategy, so that such kind of observations have less probability to be performed, without clear and unequivocal signs of
intelligent and communicative life. This question will probably affect SKA telescope
observation as well, so that a solution is the Commensal Observation Strategy and
the Artificial Intelligence approach to Big Data (Fig. 13.2) [2].
In biology, commensalism is a symbiotic arrangement between mutualism and
parasitism: it is the coexistence of two organisms in which one benefits and the other
neither benefits nor suffers. It derives from the Latin ‘cum mensa’, “sharing a table,”
originally alluding to the sharing of food scraps in particular.
Commensalism is possible thanks to back-end technologies developed by a
number of SETI programs performed all over the world: let us think to new beamforming technologies and new back-ends with very high performance digitization
and computing resources, that allows to use all the sensitivity theoretically provided
by telescopes, in particular SKA.
In a five year commensal campaign, SKA1 could survey every star in its declination range within 60 pc more than ten thousand stars to a luminosity limit an
order of magnitude fainter, ergs/s, over a larger band. Conservatively, in ten years
SKA2 could survey every star within 60 pc to a luminosity limit equal to the EIRP of
terrestrial aircraft radars over the entire terrestrial microwave window. Commensal
observations will soon begin in the radio at the MeerKAT radio telescope in South
Africa [3].
As large corporate investments are made in the commercial exploitation of Big
Data, significant progress is being made in areas such as advanced data analytics,
new visualisation methods and the introduction of advanced pattern recognition and
feature extraction techniques.
These can greatly benefit radio astronomy in general and perhaps SETI searches
in particular. As noted earlier, the likely rate of radio transients in the era of the full
SKA will reach levels that are beyond the capacity of even large, well organized
teams of radio astronomers.
Faced with an avalanche of data from all sides, the “brute force” approach
of commercial data analytics, and especially the future promise of cognitive
computing, could have a huge impact in terms of increasing the chances of serendipitous discovery—fields of research such as SETI, where human bias and other
pre-conceptions may limit current efforts, stand to benefit enormously.