Learn about Sybase IQ Services Cambridge Astronomical Observatory

As part of the University of Cambridge Astronomy Institute, the Cambridge Astronomical Observatory needs to catalogue years of observational data so that astronomers can effectively search for and query information. Using Sybase technology, researchers around the world now need a few minutes instead of weeks to find important research information.

Main benefits

Reduce data response time from weeks to minutes

Enables astronomers to target research goals and save valuable time

Reduce the monthly maintenance time from three days to one day

Application Sybase Products: Sybase IQ Industry

Education

Support for global research

Today's large-scale digital observations produce a large amount of data. The Cambridge Astronomical Observatory (CASU) automatically processes and archives these legacy data so that not only will the personnel of the station be able to carry out important research, but also support the work of global researchers. Astronomers in many countries, especially the former Soviet Union, often request data from Cambridge University because they do not have enough equipment such as telescopes.

Previously, it may take three weeks time to find the information you need in the archive material. Casu now uses Sybase IQ and can provide results in a few minutes. Sybase IQ compresses data while loading large amounts of data and stores it in a small amount of space. The reliability of Sybase IQ also reduces the time required for it maintenance.

Managing Large-scale archives

The Academy studies a wide range of theoretical issues, including the evolution of the universe and the formation of galaxies and stars. Observational work relies on a large number of telescopes erected at Cambridge University, Off-campus and in space.

The Casu has 11 members, and their interest in research varies from one person to another. In addition, the station also manages a large number of astronomical data files and its own data processing activities.

"In fact, we are no longer sitting there, watching the sky through telescopes," said Dr. Jim Lewis, a senior research assistant responsible for overseeing the data processing, "all the equipment has already been digitized, which greatly facilitates the preservation of all the data we have collected for posterity." ”

"The amount of data generated every night varies widely, depending on the way it is observed," Lewis added. If the object you are observing is blurry, you will need to spend one hours to identify it, which could generate only MB of data. In other cases, however, when the identification time does not exceed 10 seconds or 20 seconds, 1 TB of data may be generated per night. ”

Amount of data

In the early days of digitalization, people began to create their own electronic databases to share their observations, and the rapid spread and application of the Internet enabled astronomers to view and share data online. But the existing database does not cope with the amount of data collected and soon begins to crumble under the weight of the burden.

"I think we need to understand what the big agencies are doing to address their data storage and data mining problems-they should be worse off than we are," "We started looking for a business relational database that could store data in a compressed binary way, like a telescope," Lewis said. I was recommended by others for Sybase IQ. ”

Sybase IQ Data management software compresses data by 80%, saving a lot of storage space. Complex search and Instant Search are both intuitive and rapid because of the way they store and retrieve data, which is equally important in business and academia.

Hundreds of TB of data from multiple sources can be consolidated in real time, so information is always up to date.

Flexible Solutions

Sybase IQ is scalable and can be run on any hardware platform, making it a very flexible solution. Currently in Cambridge, Sybase IQ runs on the Sun Solaris Server and Linux, and Lewis completed the initial implementation in just a few weeks.

"Needless to say, I spent less time on system maintenance," he said. "Previously, if there was an error in the underlying database, I had to investigate and the file would be deactivated for weeks, which was bad." ”

No more disappointment.

Because of the popularity of the Sybase platform, developers have written many practical and successful middleware products. Among these middleware products, there is a web-based form designed specifically for astronomers ' queries.

Previously, users who needed information had to read a large number of Help files to construct queries in the correct language-usually SQL or similar language. The researchers often make mistakes in the first query and have to start the query again--and thus waste a lot of time.

"Now that you have these Web forms, users can query by pointing to the sky area or color filter they are interested in, and then pressing the button," Lewis said, "when the number of requests increases by three times times and the amount of data required increases by only twice times, we know that our approach is correct. This is because users are more specific about what they want, rather than requesting data for the entire evening.

Previously, when a file keeper wanted to respond to a query, he needed one by one to mount and view each tape. It takes two weeks or three weeks to get the data that someone requested and send the data to them. When we first adopted the online approach, we shortened the query response time to one hours. Now all the information is available online, and this process takes only a few minutes. Significant savings. ”

Lewis added, "We are now dealing with user requests worldwide, and if we need to manually process these requests one after another, there is nothing I can do about it." But Sybase IQ uses the hope of the household to become possible. ”

For example, a user who works in Australia today can view the catalog of observations that are stored in the Sybase IQ database, browse through the various telescope devices used by casu, and scroll down to see what they are interested in. They submit requests and then the Observatory downloads the request and provides it online for researchers to collect.

"We have received feedback from a number of users, and obviously they are very grateful for the faster and more accurate services we offer," Lewis said.

"We are now dealing with customer requests worldwide, and if we need to manually process these requests one after another, there is nothing I can do." But Sybase IQ uses the hope of the household to become possible. ”