A VOEvent based automatic trigger system for the Murchison Widefield Array. (arXiv:1910.02387v1 [astro-ph.IM])
<a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Hancock_P/0/1/0/all/0/1">P. J. Hancock</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Anderson_G/0/1/0/all/0/1">G. E. Anderson</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Williams_A/0/1/0/all/0/1">A. Williams</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Sokolowski_M/0/1/0/all/0/1">M. Sokolowski</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Tremblay_S/0/1/0/all/0/1">S. E. Tremblay</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Rowlinson_A/0/1/0/all/0/1">A.Rowlinson</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Crosse_B/0/1/0/all/0/1">B. Crosse</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Meyers_B/0/1/0/all/0/1">B. W. Meyers</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Lynch_C/0/1/0/all/0/1">C. R. Lynch</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Zic_A/0/1/0/all/0/1">A. Zic</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Beardsley_A/0/1/0/all/0/1">A. P. Beardsley</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Emrich_D/0/1/0/all/0/1">D. Emrich</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Franzen_T/0/1/0/all/0/1">T. M. O. Franzen</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Horsley_L/0/1/0/all/0/1">L. Horsley</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Johnston_Hollitt_M/0/1/0/all/0/1">M. Johnston-Hollitt</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Kaplan_D/0/1/0/all/0/1">D. L. Kaplan</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Kenney_D/0/1/0/all/0/1">D. Kenney</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Morales_M/0/1/0/all/0/1">M. F. Morales</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Pallot_D/0/1/0/all/0/1">D. Pallot</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Steele_K/0/1/0/all/0/1">K. Steele</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Tingay_S/0/1/0/all/0/1">S. J. Tingay</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Trott_C/0/1/0/all/0/1">C. M. Trott</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Walker_M/0/1/0/all/0/1">M. Walker</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Wayth_R/0/1/0/all/0/1">R. B. Wayth</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Wu_C/0/1/0/all/0/1">C. Wu</a>

The Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) is an electronically steered low
frequency ($<300$,MHz) radio interferometer, with a `slew' time less than 8seconds. Low frequency ($sim 100$,MHz) radio telescopes are ideally suited for rapid-response follow-up of transients due to their large field of view, the inverted spectrum of coherent emission, and the fact that the dispersion delay between a 1GHz and 100MHz pulse is on the order of $1-10$,min for dispersion measures of $100-2000$,pc/cm$^3$. The MWA has previously been used to provide fast follow up for transient events including gamma-ray bursts, fast radio bursts, and gravitational waves, using systems that respond to gamma-ray coordinates network (GCN) packet-based notifications. We describe a system for automatically triggering MWA observations of such events, based on VOEvent triggers, which is more flexible, capable, and accurate than previous systems. The system can respond to external multi-messenger triggers, which makes it well-suited to searching for prompt coherent radio emission from gamma-ray bursts, the study of fast radio bursts and gravitational waves, single pulse studies of pulsars, and rapid follow-up of high-energy superflares from flare stars. The new triggering system has the capability to trigger observations in both the regular correlator mode (limited to $geq 0.5$,s integrations) or using the Voltage Capture System (VCS, $0.1$,ms integration) of the MWA, and represents a new mode of operation for the MWA. The upgraded standard correlator triggering capability has been in use since MWA observing semester 2018B (July-Dec 2018), and the VCS and buffered mode triggers will become available for observing in a future semester.

The Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) is an electronically steered low
frequency ($<300$,MHz) radio interferometer, with a `slew’ time less than
8seconds. Low frequency ($sim 100$,MHz) radio telescopes are ideally suited
for rapid-response follow-up of transients due to their large field of view,
the inverted spectrum of coherent emission, and the fact that the dispersion
delay between a 1GHz and 100MHz pulse is on the order of $1-10$,min for
dispersion measures of $100-2000$,pc/cm$^3$. The MWA has previously been used
to provide fast follow up for transient events including gamma-ray bursts, fast
radio bursts, and gravitational waves, using systems that respond to gamma-ray
coordinates network (GCN) packet-based notifications. We describe a system for
automatically triggering MWA observations of such events, based on VOEvent
triggers, which is more flexible, capable, and accurate than previous systems.
The system can respond to external multi-messenger triggers, which makes it
well-suited to searching for prompt coherent radio emission from gamma-ray
bursts, the study of fast radio bursts and gravitational waves, single pulse
studies of pulsars, and rapid follow-up of high-energy superflares from flare
stars. The new triggering system has the capability to trigger observations in
both the regular correlator mode (limited to $geq 0.5$,s integrations) or
using the Voltage Capture System (VCS, $0.1$,ms integration) of the MWA, and
represents a new mode of operation for the MWA. The upgraded standard
correlator triggering capability has been in use since MWA observing semester
2018B (July-Dec 2018), and the VCS and buffered mode triggers will become
available for observing in a future semester.

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