ADACS

Established by AAL in 2017, Astronomy Data and Computing Services (ADACS) is as a national initiative created for the benefit of all Australian-based astronomers, with the aim to assist in maximising their scientific return from data and computing infrastructure via training, support and expertise. ADACS is delivered jointly by Swinburne University of Technology, Curtin University, and Macquarie University.  

Participants at the March 2020 ADACS Retreat. Credit: Rebecca Lange.
An FRB travels from its host galaxy to Earth. ADACS is in the process of upgrading ASKAP’s infrastructure for finding and localising these events. Credit: ICRAR
Neutron Star merger (artist's impression). ADACS has taken a significant step towards localising the source of gravitational waves, in this case those produced by merging neutron stars, by optimising a standard gravitational wave analysis package which has helped to accelerate the research plans and capabilities of those studying these energetic events. Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/CI Lab.

The mission of ADACS is to provide astronomy-focused training, support and expertise in software development, data management, High Performance Computing (HPC) and advanced data analysis to Australian astronomers, to optimise the usage of, and increase value from, existing infrastructure.

ADACS also facilitates multi-wavelength data science via an ecosystem of next-generation web tools and services and provides a home for optical datasets of national significance, with intuitive access to legacy, current and future optical surveys in Australia.

ADACS contains four service components (SC):   

SC1: Training: expert training and support in software development, data management and HPC.  

SC2: National support: data and computing expert services, which aims to embed data and computing experts in astronomy research teams to solve their data and computing challenges. Tasks range from simplifying access to HPC to optimising data pipelines, cleaning up astronomy data, and other activities specified by astronomers. 

SC3: Access to national resources: ensuring sufficient storage and computing resources are available to Australian-based astronomers. 

SC4: Multiwavelength data management: data archive and management service to facilitate multiwavelength data science via an ecosystem of web tools and services, with enhanced access to large optical, infrared and radio astronomical data and simulations. For more information visit the Data Central website. 

BeatCOVID-19 support

In March 2019, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the ADACS team assisted Swinburne University of Technology to develop and release their Symptom Tracker website and app. The Symptom Tracker is a system that allows users to log their health via a set of survey questions and may help track the spread of COVID-19. 

ADACS is funded under the NCRIS Program via AAL.

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