As it sets its sights on paving new frontiers in its field, the Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy (Astron) has embarked on a project to upgrade its core access wireless local area network (WLAN) and wide area network (WAN) infrastructure, supporting the development of its Lofar 2.0 (low-frequency array) upgraded telescope.
Astron, an esteemed member of the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) Institutes, is regarded as being at the forefront of radio astronomy research globally, regarding developing new technologies and new facilities as instrumental in numerous astronomical discoveries. The institute is actively engaged in research such as the study of extra-solar planets, the earliest phases of galaxy evolution and monitoring space weather events.
Said to be the largest radio telescope in the world operating at the lowest frequencies that can be observed from earth, Lofar relies on a multipurpose sensor network, with a computing and network infrastructure that can handle extremely large data volumes at any one time. The existing Lofar 1.0 telescope operations have led to the publication of more than 750 scientific papers to date, placing Lofar in the top 10% of all astronomical facilities worldwide.
The upgraded Lofar 2.0 telescope is designed to give Astron a factor 10 increase in the network bandwidth available at each Lofar station. The underlining network to support Lofar 2.0 has been provided by Juniper Networks, whose solutions will bolster the existing Lofar telescope’s overall performance with 800G capabilities, to enable increased data processing scale, throughput speed and reliability. It will use an architecture designed to connect across nine of Astron’s operating countries, supporting research projects across these regions.
Moreover, it is designed to enable access to all Lofar antennae 24/7, a doubling of the simultaneous bandwidth for more efficient surveys, synchronised antennae to within nanosecond precision and an overall improvement to Lofar’s sensitivity and accuracy.
In the upgrade, Astron is using a number of Juniper technologies, such as PTX Series Packet Transport Routers, to deliver high port density, high throughput performance and sustainable efficiencies to support Astron’s core infrastructure; the ACX7024 router, used at the stations to deliver 360Gbps of throughput and industrial rated for temperature resilience; QFX Series Switches, deployed in the datacentre as part of Astron’s spine-and-leaf architecture; and Juniper AP32 Access Points, which will integrate Juniper Mist AI for AI capabilities to automate Astron’s network operation and boost Wi-Fi performance, using the Marvis Virtual Network Assistant to streamline operations and optimise Astron’s wireless experience.
Commenting on the upgrade, Astron system and network engineer Julian Kootstra said: “Astron is thrilled to expand the capabilities of the Lofar telescope with Juniper Networks. The upgrade to Astron’s network infrastructure will support invaluable research and significantly increase Astron’s operational capabilities.”
