CLEOPATRA

Connecting Locations of ESFRI Observatories and Partners in Astronomy for Timing and Real-time Alerts (CLEOPATRA) – is a coherent collection of common challenges related to connectivity, synchronisation, scheduling and last but not least, cross-facility coordination – the latter being especially crucial in terms of response to (multi-messenger) transient alerts.

 

The objectives of CLEOPATRA are:

• Develop technology for the enabling of long-haul and many-element time and frequency distribution over fibre connections.

• Develop methods for relaying alerts, which will signal transient event detections between the facilities and enable joint observing programmes, including scientific strategies and methods for joint observing.

• Further development of existing data streaming software, building on the success of previous e-VLBI projects, and providing tools for robust and efficient data dissemination for all facilities in the user domain, including ESO facilities such as ALMA and the E-ELT.

• Foster the development of advanced scheduling algorithms, using AI approaches for optimal usage of the ESFRI facilities. CLEOPATRA's tasks reflect a consistent set of enhancements of the facilities based on developments in connectivity and data transport.

The activities and operation of CLEOPATRA are shown schematically in the image. CLEOPATRA is led by Dr. Arpad Szomoru. The institutions directly involved in CLEOPATRA are ASTRON, CNRS, JIVE, Vrije Universiteit, Universiteit van Amsterdam, Universidad de Granada, NIKHEF, Institut d’Estudis Espacials de Catalunya, GTD Systems & Software Engineering, STFC, Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron, and SURFnet.