PSRFITS - A Standard for Pulsar Data Storage
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Description:
PSRFITS is a standard FITS-based format for pulsar data files. Both mean pulse
profile ("fold-mode") and streamed ("search-mode") multi-channel full-polarisation
data are supported.
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Submitted:
29 November, 2013 by R N Manchester (dick.manchester@csiro.au).
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Registered: 2014
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Date and Place of First Usage:
December 2002 at CSIRO Australia Telescope National Facility
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Extent of Usage:
PSRFITS is used as a data storage template by on-line pulsar observation
systems at CSIRO Parkes (Australia), Arecibo Observatory (Puerto Rico) and
the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (Green Bank, West Virginia). It is
supported by off-line signal-processing systems including
PSRCHIVE
(fold-mode data), and
DSPSR and
PRESTO
(search-mode or streamed data).
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Full Documentation:
Available at
PSRFITS.
It includes the rationale for the creation of PSRFITS,
the
current template definition,
documentation for the
complete
version history
for the template.
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Comments:
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Sample FITS Files
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Fold-mode file:
PDFB3_Fold_J1744-1134.rcf32t4
This file contains fold-mode data from a 1-hr Parkes observation of PSR
J1744-1134 with the instrument PDFB3 recording full polarisation data. The
centre frequency is 732 MHz and the recorded bandwidth 64 MHz. The
observation has been processed using PSRCHIVE routines to remove
narrow-band RFI and give zero weight to the band edges, calibrate the
instrumental gain and phase, and compress to 16 sub-bands (originally 512)
and 16 sub-integrations (originally 64).
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Search-mode file:
PDFB4_Search_J0437-4715.sf
This 21 MB file was recorded at Parkes using the instrument PDFB4 and
contains 15 seconds of streamed or search-mode data from PSR J0437-4715.
The centre frequency is 1369 MHz and there are 512 channels across the
256-MHz bandwidth. The data are total intensity (approximately Stokes I)
with 2-bit sampling of each frequency channel at 96-microsecond intervals.
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Sample Header Listing:
Last revised: Wednesday, 13-Jan-2021 17:02:40 EST
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