Paper Title: Enabling Observatory Data Capture for Characterization of Black Holes

Paper Abstract: In 2019, the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) collaboration published the first image of a black hole located in the galaxy Messier 87 (M87) in the center of the Virgo A galaxy. This realized a long-standing goal in astrophysics, to directly observe the immediate environment of a black hole with angular resolution comparable to the event horizon. The EHT project used the technique of Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) of linking radio dishes across the globe to create an Earth-sized interferometer that was capable of the highest angular resolution possible from the surface of our planet. A next-generation EHT (ngEHT) is now being designed and planned, which will deploy new telescopes and upgrade existing ones to create a fundamentally new instrument with the ability to make the first movies of black holes. In this case study we discuss how Western Digital is collaborating with the ngEHT team to aid with continuous, high-speed data captures by high-density storage devices. These ruggedized transportable storage devices will be designed to transport data to far off central facilities for processing.

Paper Author: Kamaljit Singh, Technologist, Western Digital

Author Bio: Kamaljit Singh, is a Systems Architecture Technologist under Western Digital’s Flash Business Unit that offers a diverse, Flash based storage product portfolio that integrates with specialized storage servers, and composable disaggregated infrastructure. Kamaljit has more than 20 years of experience in storage networking and embedded storage technologies. Prior to joining Western Digital, Kamaljit was a Sr. Principal Engineer at Marvell. He has held various engineering positions at HPE Aruba, Marvell, Cavium, QLogic, PMC-Sierra, Agilent Technologies, and other companies. Kamaljit holds a bachelor’s degree in computer science and a master’s degree in computer engineering, both from the California State University Sacramento.