Generic VLBI pipeline

This is a generic VLBI pipeline for use on clusters (with job managers SLURM & PBS) but can also be used on your home machine. The pipeline is CASA-based and has been tested on the European VLBI Network (EVN) and Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) data sets. Both CASA 5.5+ and CASA 6 versions are supported and has been tested on CASA versions 5.8.0 and 6.5.0.

As of 03-05-2024, it will only calibrate continuum data-sets, but spectral line data-sets are planned to be implemented. The pipeline is still under development.

This README includes installation instructions and simple usage, but we advise that you read the Wiki before running or using the pipeline.

Citing the pipeline

If you use this pipeline, please make sure that you cite this repository using the bibtex or zenodo code below

Jack Radcliffe, (2024). jradcliffe5/VLBI_pipeline: v1.1 (v1.1). Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.11108171``

@software{jack_radcliffe_2024_11108171,
  author       = {Jack Radcliffe},
  title        = {jradcliffe5/VLBI\_pipeline: v1.1},
  month        = may,
  year         = 2024,
  publisher    = {Zenodo},
  version      = {v1.1},
  doi          = {10.5281/zenodo.11108171},
  url          = {https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.11108171}
}

Installation Instructions

For self-contained CASA

1. Install CASA from https://casa.nrao.edu and ensure that it is v 5.5+. Any earlier versions do not include the fringe-fitting capabilities.
2. Clone this repository in any directory desired.

For modular CASA

1. Install CASA following the instructions in https://casadocs.readthedocs.io/en/stable/notebooks/introduction.html#Modular-Packages
2. Install astropy and/or pyfits using pip install pyfits astropy
3. Clone this repository in any directory required.

Usage Instructions

Before starting to use the pipeline, it is highly advised that you check the wiki which will give you all the information regarding the parameters that need to be set or can be changed. The pipeline is designed to be highly customisable so the inputs lists are fairly long.

1. Copy the vlbi_pipe_inputs.txt and vlbi_pipe_params.json files to the directory where you want to reduce the data (you can pick any directory but this allows for easy bookkeeping)
2. Edit vlbi_pipe_inputs.txt to include the location of the vlbi_pipe_params.json and edit the steps of what you'd like to be run (1=run, 0=don't run)
3. Edit vlbi_pipe_params.json to tailor the calibration steps. Most importantly, set the global params (see the wiki for details)

For CASA 5

4. Run CASA to generate the bash scripts that will run the pipeline using casa -c <path to VLBI pipeline repo>/run_vlbi_pipe.py <path to input file>/vlbi_pipe_inputs.txt
5. This will generate a bash script in the cwd called vp_runfile.bash. Execute and start the pipeline with bash vp_runfile.bash

For CASA 6

4. Run CASA to generate the bash scripts that will run the pipeline using python <path to VLBI pipeline repo>/run_vlbi_pipe.py <path to input file>/vlbi_pipe_inputs.txt
5. This will generate a bash script in the cwd called vp_runfile.bash. Execute and start the pipeline with bash vp_runfile.bash