text:
\section{Introduction}

A Multi-element Radio Telescope is a spatially spread array of antennas
(or antenna elements) whose noise-like responses are required to be
time aligned, dynamically calibrated and combined or correlated in
real time. The resulting estimates of spatio-temporal and spectral
correlations between responses of pairs of elements can be used to
recover the desired information on the strength and distribution of
radio emission within the common field of view \citep{key-6} using
standard post-processing software. Thus the signal of interest is
statistical in nature, resulting from a minute level of mutual coherence
arising from weak celestial signals buried in noise. Because of the
large number of elements and the high sampling rates necessary for
bandwidths exceeding several tens of MHz in recent arrays, real-time
statistical estimation is essential to achieve practical data rates
and volumes for recording and post processing. For instance, the recently
initiated upgrade for the Ooty Radio Telescope (ORT) aims at treating
the 30m x 506m parabolic cylindrical antenna of the ORT as 264 independent
sets of elements, each of which is required to be sampled at 80 Ms/s,
leading to a data generation rate of 21 Gigasamples per second, exceeding
80 Terabytes per hour. Till recently, computing requirements of this
scale forced a choice of custom hardware to be the most favored platform.
However, rapid developments in the fields of digital technology, communication
and computing have led to a changing trend towards alternative approaches
for upcoming telescopes. Such approaches range between a customized
and reusable hardware library of components on an FPGA platform, e.g.,
the CASPER project \citep{key-2}, and a software-only approach, e.g.,
at the GMRT \citep{key-3}. The GMRT case is an example of a recent
transition from custom hardware to a software-only approach.

In this paper, we have taken a middle path, where the real-time processing
of a multi-element radio telescope is abstracted as a multi-sensor,
data fusion problem and addressed in a new platform called the Networked
Signal Processing System (NSPS) in terms of packetized, heterogeneous,
distributed and real-time signal processing. It is a co-operative
of two kinds of networks, among which one is a custom peer-to-peer
network while the other is a part of a commodity processor network.
The custom network includes subsystems related to the digitization
and all intermediate routing and preprocessing blocks as the network
nodes, in which the emphasis is on traffic shaping, on-the-fly processing
and load balancing for effective distributed computing. However, all
customized protocols are absorbed while crossing over the last mile
to interface to the commodity processor network using a common industry-standard
network protocol. The actual estimation of the correlations is carried
out by nodes on the commodity network.

In contrast to the traditional use of a packetized network as merely
a data transport fabric between processing entities, we have the notion
of {}``a logical packet'' based on an application specific {}``transaction
unit'', which itself may be composed of a large number of physical
packets whose sizes are network-specific This unit refers to a time
stretch long enough to facilitate a dynamical flagging mechanism or/and
to relax the constraint on timing, synchronization and scheduling
of workloads on the commodity Operating Systems on which processing
is expected to be carried out. Both these requirements necessitate
lower level NSPS nodes to be equipped with large memories, which are
also used to route traffic selectively (traffic shaping) to higher
levels in the NSPS. Two independent considerations have led us towards
stretching the transaction unit to a good fraction of a second. One
of these, as explained above, is to provide latency tolerance in order
to simplify software on standard computing platforms, while the other
arises from a desire to make explicit provision for preprocessing
using concepts related to modern Information Theory. From this point
of view and to attract the attention of experts from outside the field
of radio astronomy, we have given a somewhat unconventional description
of the signal path and analysis of processing requirements in Sections
\ref{sec:MultiElementRadioTelescope} and \ref{sec:RealTimeProcessing}
in an attempt to illustrate the connection of the problem to Information
Theory.

Another concept in literature which we find useful in the present
context is that of {}``multi-sensor data fusion'', defined by \citep{key-1-1},
as a system model where {}``spatially and temporally indexed data
provided by different sources are combined (fused) in order to improve
the processing and interpretation of these data''. This model, widely
used in applications like military target tracking, weather forecasting
etc, has many features relevant for describing the control flow and
pre-processing required in a multi-element radio telescope before
correlation. In a sense, the NSPS is an adaptation of data fusion
architecture to our domain. Our analysis of the nature of the real-time
problem results in a natural partitioning into two broad categories
as elaborated in Section \ref{sec:RealTimeProcessing}. This is our
primary motivation for defining the architecture, described as a Fusion
Tree in Section \ref{sec:FusionTree}. An illustration of the feasibility
of its implementation is presented in Section \ref{sec:An-Implementation-Example:}
by considering the case of the ORT upgrade.

\section{\emph{\label{sec:MultiElementRadioTelescope}}A Multi-Element Radio
Telescope as a Set of Correlated, Noisy Carriers of Information}

We present here an abstract picture of a multi-element radio telescope,
in which the primary beams of individual elements are viewed as virtual
communication channels carrying different combinations of radiation
from a set of independent celestial {}``radio emitters''. These
are located in different directions within the common celestial region
intercepted by the element primary beams. Each individual radio emitter
from this set is a source of stationary (within the observing time)
random process. Since signals received in any finite bandwidth can
be spectrally decomposed, each primary beam can be considered equivalent
to a set of independent communication channels of identical bandwidths
corresponding to the spectral resolution. Each such channel is characterized
by a correlation timescale equal to reciprocal of its bandwidth. Thus,
spectral decomposition can be used to enable the propagation time
differences for noise from different radio emitters to be within their
correlation timescale. This implies that the corresponding channels
of different primary beams are carriers of noise arising from different
superpositions of the same set of random processes, but with different
weights. Information about the strength and distribution of radio
emitters in the field of view can be considered to be coded in the
correlation between corresponding communication channels of different
elements. Hence, we consider the real-time spectral correlation to
be a fusion process for compressing the information conveyed by the
responses of different elements without affecting decoding to be carried
out in post-processing, say in the form of an image of a celestial
region.

However, in practice, the propagation medium introduces a variety
of correlated and uncorrelated noise into these virtual channels which
can erase or distort the information related to celestial emitters.
This is represented schematically in Fig. \ref{fig:Antenna-beams-viewed}.
Often, some of these distortions are characterized by a combination
of dispersive and non-dispersive components which are\textit{ localized}
in time and/or frequency, unlike the celestial signal which is more
like a random noise. Such a localization can be exploited by a pre-processing
algorithm to enable suitable recognition and characterization of deviant
(non-random) data and to tag them suitably. Such data can then be
segregated from those passed on to an irreversible fusion operation,
e.g., to minimize the biases in the correlations. On the other hand,
in situations like observing fast transients with low duty cycle,
or when one wants to find the direction in which such a non-random
signal is present, the segregated data can be passed to an independent
processing or recording stage for later use. We refer the interested
reader for an analogous situation in a re-visit of Maxwell's demon
by \citep{key-7} to connect algorithmic randomness to physical entropy.
For the present purpose, it suffices to note that such a segregation
results effectively from an algorithmic feedback, requiring multiple
passes through the data before fusion. The output of this feedback
via multiple passes on stored data is also analogous to the concept
of a relay network with {}``side'' or meta information, described
in \citep{key-1-0}, where this side information is used by other
entities for selective processing of the data reaching them. In our
abstraction, a provision for such an algorithmic feedback should be
an essential part of the signal processing architecture, and should
be present in the path between the digitizer and the fusion operator.
This is only possible if the real-time system is equipped with adequate
memory and preprocessing for characterization of data before they
are sent to a correlator or beam forming system.\emph{ }By excluding
such a provision, digital receivers in existing large radio telescopes
are a potential source of irreversible biases in the recorded correlations,
and suffer from inefficiency for requirements like detection of short
term transients.

\begin{figure}
\center\includegraphics[bb=0bp 0bp 990bp 794bp,scale=0.55]{Fig1_rev}\caption{\emph{\label{fig:Antenna-beams-viewed}Antenna beams viewed as noisy
virtual communication channels connecting a sky region and an antenna
element.}}

\end{figure}

\section{\label{sec:RealTimeProcessing}Real-Time Processing Requirements}

Without getting into specific details of the real-time processing
required for a large multi-element radio telescope, we abstract them
into a combination of three broad categories:
\begin{itemize}
\item \emph{Embarrassingly Parallel processing}, e.g., spectral decomposition
of the incoming time series (say via FFT or polyphase filter banks)
and the recognition and management of path-induced distortions/interference
on timescales significantly smaller than the integration time chosen
for the correlations.
\item \emph{Pipelined processing}, e.g., multi-beam formation (say \textit{K}
beams) by phasing N elements requires $Klog_{2}N$ pipelined operations
for each spectral band.
\item \emph{Data Fusion }operations, in which the data originating from
different antenna elements are hierarchically fused (combined via
routing and application-dependent processing) along a chosen set of
dimensions which include time, frequency and spatial spread.
\end{itemize}
The most important fusion operation for an antenna array is the real-time
correlation of signals from every possible pair of antenna elements
in different frequency sub-bands. Apart from being an $O(N^{2})$
process (for an N element array) from a computational point of view,
this brings in the additional complication of routing large volumes
of distributed data to appropriate data processing elements to provide
a complete-graph connectivity between the sources of data and processing
elements. Significantly, cross-correlation between all possible pairs
of signals is also essential for using self-calibration techniques
to enable dynamic calibration of instrumental and atmospheric contributions
to the data corresponding to different elements, before they are subjected
to an irreversible fusing operation in a phased array. This makes
a spectral correlator an implicit requirement, even for a phased array,
for minimizing the irreversible loss of information resulting from
distortions induced in the the path or the local environment.

In our approach, we bifurcate the requirements of a real-time system
into \emph{Commodity} and \emph{Custom} segments. In the current state
of technology, the commodity segment can be fulfilled by subsystems
available in the market while the custom segment can generally be
realized on the basis of customized hardware and/or firmware layers
based on COTS technology. Such a bifurcation is explained below for
different functional categories of the NSPS:

\subsection{Computation\textbf{:}}
\begin{itemize}
\item \emph{COTS Segment}: Computationally complex and/or latency tolerant
processing, typically realized on a programmable platform ranging
from workstations to a high performance cluster.
\item \emph{Custom Segment}: Latency critical, logic intensive and repetitive
pattern of deterministic processing, well suited for a configurable
platform, typically FPGA-based.
\end{itemize}
For efficient computation, we pay special attention to reducing coupling
between data in order to target explicit parallelism at all levels
of processing. Multiple parallel circuits are implemented in the FPGA-based
custom segment, while the current trend of multicore processors with
access to shared memory is exploited in high level software. Further,
the desired high signal bandwidth and large number of antenna elements
make the processing complex and compute intensive. This aspect, and
the advantage of quickly implementing exploratory algorithms, make
a commodity compute cluster an attractive choice for the central computing.
This is recognized by explicitly including the cluster in the COTS
segment mentioned above.

\subsection{Data Routing\textbf{:}}
\begin{itemize}
\item \emph{COTS Segment}: Commercial switches with all-to-all connectivity
are used for data routing to commodity processors and broadcasting
in the last mile, as well as for load balancing. The routing is controlled
by manipulating the destination addresses on data packets. Connection-less
protocols like User Datagram Protocol (UDP) are adequate for high-speed,
streaming applications where a small fraction of lost packets does
not affect performance adversely. Packet collisions are minimized
in full duplex, point-to-point connections between network partners,
and also because data flow is extremely asymmetric. Further, the criteria
for load partitioning discussed in Section \ref{sub:Load-Partitioning-and}
very often result in under-utilization of link speeds to match them
to sustainable processing bandwidths.
\item \emph{Custom Segment}: Customized switches with static routes for
traffic shaping are relevant when only a subset of the network data
needs to flow to a subset of the nodes based on certain conditions.
They are generally implemented in configurable logic.
\end{itemize}
Since many FPGAs support Gigabit Ethernet MAC as a hard (or publicly
accessible soft) IP, this feature is useful while introducing a bridge
between the peer-to-peer network and the commodity network in the
last stage of the custom segment. In addition, some or all the major
subsystems may have management support from an embedded or explicit
on-board processor.

\subsection{Network Topology and Protocol\textbf{:}}
\begin{itemize}
\item \emph{COTS Segment}: A commodity network compatible with a typical
high performance compute cluster, which includes Gigabit Ethernet
as a \emph{de facto }standard for interfacing with external systems.
\item \emph{Custom Segment}: A peer-to-peer network which may include significant
on-the-fly application specific operations, suitable for implementing
on a standard FPGA platform.
\end{itemize}
\begin{figure}
\includegraphics[scale=0.5]{Fig2_rev}

\caption{\emph{\label{fig:A-Data-Pooler,}A Data Pooler node of the NSPS shown
carrying out data fusion and traffic shaping.}}

\end{figure}

An implementation of the actual processing on a dedicated set of identical
hardware circuits or parallel processors can take advantage of an
intelligent network capable of elementary on-the-fly operations to
achieve a balance on the dataflow and computing requirements. This
is depicted in Fig. \ref{fig:A-Data-Pooler,}, where a {}``Data Pooler''
node, as defined in Section \ref{sec:FusionTree}, is shown carrying
out real-time fusion of the streaming data by using the side information
made available by external sources. At the same time, the pooler is
seen generating side information out of the fused data set by way
of multiple processing passes on the stored data. The pooler can then
segregate the data, and route the segregated components to different
data sinks using the routing information available with the peer-to-peer
link nodes. We use {}``traffic shaping'' here in a more general
sense than in Internet traffic shaping (which delays lower priority
packets in favour of better network performance of higher priority
packets) to refer to both segregation of the incoming stream, as well
as the specific routing of segregated data to different sinks. Further,
the efficiency of hierarchical computation can be significantly improved
by accommodating some degree of pre-processing and/or partitioning
of data in each level of the custom segment to facilitate the next
level.

\subsection{Process Scheduling\textbf{:}}
\begin{itemize}
\item \emph{COTS Segment:} The overall task supervision, command and monitor,
user interface and the dynamic system monitoring are tasks whose complexity
is best left to the commodity segment to handle, where a variety of
tools ranging from MPI, compiler resources and advanced operating
systems like Linux or VxWorks are available.
\item \emph{Custom Segment}: Event driven scheduling with periodic or quasi-periodic
events generated conveniently in a low latency logic implementation
suitable for an FPGA. The interval between the events is stretched
to handle an application-specific transaction unit to the extent permissible
within the available resources.
\end{itemize}

\section{\label{sec:FusionTree}NSPS as a Fusion Tree }

In this Section, we present the NSPS architecture as a\emph{ Multi-sensor
Data Fusion Tree, }in which both conventional and {}``virtual''
sensors play a role. While entities like antenna elements, round-trip
phase/delay monitors, noise calibration etc can be treated as {}``conventional''
sensors, {}``virtual'' sensors result from processing blocks at
various levels. For instance, pre-processing can result in a flagging
mechanism to improve the reliability of fusion systems like correlators,in
which the original data are erased while compressing their information
into a statistical estimate to be passed to the next level.

The signal processing system proposed in this paper is a set of spatially
separated nodes of varying communication and processing capabilities,
which are interconnected by a customized high speed tree-like packet
switched network interfaced to master commodity nodes. This is equivalent
to a \emph{Data Fusion Tree}, with the nodes of the tree performing
operations like traffic shaping, packet routing, or pre-processing
before data fusion. Accordingly, we have described the overall architecture
of NSPS in the form of a \emph{fusion tree}, schematically represented
in Fig. \ref{fig:A-conceptual-layout}. However, each level provides
a different mixture of functional capabilities. This has resulted
from our recognition of the following features of the functional requirements:
\begin{itemize}
\item Distributed computing across many nodes of different processing capabilities,
with local parameters guided by a processor capable of seeing a subset
of all data.
\item Data routing nodes with configurable routes for routing preprocessed
data subsets.
\item Nodes with large memory buffers to enable multiple passes on data,
also for enabling memory based data transposition.
\item A High speed network interconnecting all nodes, with ability of COTS
nodes to tap into the network.
\item Interface to a master commodity node through a standard interface
like Gigabit Ethernet (GigE).
\end{itemize}
Thus, from a functional point of view, we classify the nodes in NSPS
into the following three categories:
\begin{enumerate}
\item Data Poolers/Fusers: Nodes with sufficient on-board memory to allow
packetizing and multiple processing passes on incoming data. These
break the need for many-to-many connectivity in the correlation process
by transposing data via memory based switches. The transposition,
based on different parameters, ultimately serves a packet of data
suitable for processing by a single element of a distributed system
in an embarrassingly parallel manner.
\item Data Routers: These elements are endowed with high speed links to
either peers or more powerful processors to whom incoming packets
are routed based on statically configured routes. These form an integral
part of our architecture, helping in the load balancing by directing
appropriate subsets of preprocessed data to different processing elements.
We use commodity switches for routing data to multiple external sinks
by forming many-to-many connections between data sources and data
processors.
\item Data Processors: These elements have high compute density and can
be used for preprocessing, as well as for data rate reduction. We
classify processors into two groups as mentioned earlier:

\begin{enumerate}
\item Those catering to computationally complex and/or latency tolerant
processing, an example of which is the estimation of system calibration
parameters based on a long (few minutes) history of data, and its
dynamic updation. This processing is generally carried out by sending
a subset of the data to a central processor.
\item Latency critical, logic intensive and repetitive pattern of deterministic
processing. An example of this class is the real-time block-level
data encoding process requiring the estimation of block level statistics.
This can be carried out by multiple passes on small segments of data.
\end{enumerate}
\end{enumerate}
Thus, we visualize the NSPS as a \textit{restricted} distributed system,
depending primarily on stripped down lightweight networking protocols
and the static routes set up during system configuration. Data routers,
both customized and commodity, play an important role in reorganizing
data to be computationally palatable to processing nodes in this scheme.
A master node is in charge of command, configuration and control,
and is almost always a commodity node like a PC. It may be noted that
custom processing is spread across the NSPS tree by explicitly advocating
local intelligence in every node. As an illustration of the inherent
facilitation of distributed processing in the NSPS, some important
aspects of the interconnection mechanism are elaborated in the following
subsections.

\begin{figure*}[tp]
\center\includegraphics[scale=0.45]{Fig3_rev}

\caption{\emph{\label{fig:A-conceptual-layout}A conceptual layout of a Networked
Signal Processing System architecture showing the principal participating
entities.}}

\end{figure*}

\subsection{Fusion tree interconnection model:}

Interconnects in the Data Fusion Tree consist of the following four
essential graphs, which can either be logical or explicitly physical
manifestations.
\begin{enumerate}
\item The \emph{Data} network is a simplex, high bandwidth net connecting
the leaf nodes of the Fusion Tree to a central processor, possibly
passing through several collation levels of the signal processing
tree.
\item The \emph{Control and Monitor} network is a full duplex, low bandwidth
network and interconnects all nodes hierarchically through management
processors to a central monitoring station.
\item The \emph{Calib} network is a full duplex, low bandwidth network.
This allows calibration information to reach the data fusing nodes
before the sequence of irreversible fusion operations take place.
\item The \emph{Clock} network is a full duplex network, providing the distribution
of clocking signals to the various nodes, as well as allowing a round
trip clock phase measurement.
\end{enumerate}
In actual implementations, it may be simpler to realize these in terms
of a set of simplex networks, among which clock, control, monitor
and calib are directed towards the leaf nodes while the data and status
(including response to monitor queries) belong to simplex networks
which flow from different levels of the fusion tree into the master
node.

Our network implementation can be bifurcated into the following sets:
\begin{enumerate}
\item Customized high speed serial peer-to-peer links terminating into peer-to-peer
switches which implement a subset of the complete graph connectivity.
\item Commodity high speed serial links terminating into commodity networking
equipment, with ability to interface to standard processing nodes.
\end{enumerate}
In typical implementations, we expect custom links to be on a Passive
Optical Network (PON) based communication stack. Gigabit Ethernet
is the preferred choice for the backbone of commodity segment to connect
to the custom network.

We exploit the high speed serializing ability of modern FPGAs to dispatch
data on high bandwidth copper links and use PON components to meet
the spatial spread required to reach remote nodes over fibre links.
As long as the bandwidth requirements are met, no specific preference
is implied for a choice among different networking technologies. Thus,
some implementations may utilize the embedded multi-gigabit serializers
in FPGAs for peer-to-peer links while others may refer the cross dispersion
of data to a compute cluster's high bandwidth infiniband network,
or use commodity Gigabit Ethernet. This leads to the need for a flexible
bridging mechanism which can be exploited by implementations. For
instance, data can be conveniently transmitted over a peer-to-peer
or a commodity link due to the maintained commonality of their interfaces.

\subsection{NSPS tree network characteristics:}

The high speed network internal to the NSPS tree has features which
are restricted and stripped down versions of those found in commodity
networks. This is an optimization due to the highly controlled network
which exists within the telescope receiver environment. Our network
differs from regular networks in several aspects:
\begin{itemize}
\item A controller node is assigned for every sub-tree at a given level.
This entity forwards command and status information between controller
(level-0) and upstream levels. Thus, it is not a typical peer-to-peer
network which does not have such a hierarchical control structure.
Broadcast and multicast domains available in commodity networks are
used to implement control and monitor mechanisms, while explicit {}``pull''
mechanisms are implemented on the custom network. Here, the {}``pull''
refers to the explicit request for data made by a downstream node
to an upstream node. The advantage of a {}``pull'' mechanism is
that data is made available to a downstream node only when it is ready
to handle the data, as inferred from the downstream node's request.
Also, if a downstream node is busy, then the upstream node loses data
in integral packets, thus maintaining timing information.
\item The network configuration and routes are fixed statically in an application
dependent manner at configure time. There is no node discovery, and
data routing does not have an explicit mechanism for handling node
failure. Since all data flows towards a logical sink, there is also
no destination address, although source addresses can be preserved.
This simplifies network management to a large extent at the cost of
non-redundancy of NSPS entities.
\item Communication protocols: All elements in our network, including master
nodes, generate similar kinds of packets which contain an 8 byte header
with fixed fields. These are typically indicative of the nature of
accompanying data, as well as its timestamp, source and other meta
information. System state can also be propagated through these packets,
or by forming special status packets. The restricted meta information
processing makes it simpler to realize packet formation in hardware
with simple state machines.
\item High speed serial interconnects: All entities in the internal network
communicate via high speed serial interconnects with a clock recoverable
from the encoded data. This approach allows us to transmit data long-haul
over fibre, or short-haul over copper without any changes. In particular,
we discourage bus-based interconnection between physically separated
nodes.
\end{itemize}

\subsection{Interface to external network:}

Once preprocessed data is ready within the NSPS, it needs to be transferred
onto a commodity network for reaching commodity nodes for post processing
or archiving. Local intelligence in the peer network can be used to
partition the data such that the interfaces to commodity nodes use
link speeds commensurate with their processing ability. For simplicity,
we have used Gigabit Ethernet as a typical standard external interface.
This is a popular high speed serial interconnect with a vast amount
of infrastructure available in the commodity market. It also allows
transmission over copper (UTP) to interface directly with commodity
servers, or fibre (via conversion to 1000BaseX) for long-haul transmission.
Commodity servers of moderate ability can then be used as data sinks
with minimal customization. This is also motivated by the fact that
many modern FPGAs have embedded high speed serial interconnects on
chip, with complete Gigabit Ethernet support in the form of on-chip
Gigabit MACs or as publicly available libraries.

For the last mile connectivity, UDP can be used since it is a simple
connectionless protocol with minimal overheads on top of IP. It is
also possible to fill the relevant UDP fields during system configuration,
and hold them static for the duration of an observation. Each of the
internal network types carrying data (\emph{Data, Calib }and\emph{
Control}) can then be easily made available over a different UDP port
as part of the design. This allows an application program to associate
independent threads to service these streams.

\subsection{Control and Monitoring network:}

The distributed nature of our architecture requires status monitoring
of all nodes and links, which can be handled by the individual sub-tree
roots and communicated to the master controller. This is implemented
by a status {}``pull'' scheme by which controlling entities periodically
query the status of all nodes in the NSPS tree rooted with them by
way of a special AYA ({}``AreYouAlive'') packet. The nodes respond
with an IAA ({}``IAmAlive'') packet containing selected status information.
Similarly, control packets contain command and configuration data.
Each command packet typically results in a status reply from the targeted
entity, which confirms the receipt of the command, and regenerates
a control packet for the entities controlled by it. The master node
can use this in an appropriately scheduled housekeeping operation
to discover failure of nodes.

\subsection{Calibration network:}

This network is meant to carry data from the NSPS tree which is relevant
to forming calibration solutions for the array. The calibration mechanism
is to be applied differently for the two main modes of observation
with the NSPS:
\begin{itemize}
\item In the interferometric mode, the correlator can work independently
of the actual gains and phases of the sensor elements, since the observations
include calibration scans at reasonable time intervals. Off-line processing
can infer intermediate variations by supplementing interpolation between
calibration scans with dynamic calibration schemes like self-calibration
based on the partial, low bandwidth dataset available over the calibration
network.
\item On the other hand, real-time beam formation includes an irreversible
fusing operation which requires dynamic calibration to be part of
data fusion. Fortunately, it is often possible to use a relatively
small subset of the data (non-contiguous timeslices or a chosen frequency
sub-band) for this purpose to enable short term predictions of gain
variations. These can be fed to the fusing nodes well in time before
irreversible fusing operations are performed. Since the complexity
of the actual algorithm used for calibration makes it better suited
for a general purpose computer, the \emph{calibration network} can
be used to route the relevant subset of data to a commodity switch
and deliver the calibration parameters to the appropriate NSPS tree
level.
\end{itemize}

\subsection{The clock network:}

In the spatially distributed, direct RF sampling NSPS architecture,
clocks passed to samplers have very stringent signal quality constraints
in terms of net jitter and stability. The alignment of the multiple
data sources before fusion requires high relative stability of the
sampling clocks with random jitters much smaller than the reciprocal
of the highest frequency in the sampled signal. Clock distribution
should also include a mechanism for ensuring the traceability of timekeeping
at all digitizing blocks to a centrally maintained time standard to
a very high accuracy. The implementation can benefit from commercial
clock distributors which have embedded phase-lock loop clock synthesizer
with on-chip Voltage Controlled Oscillator (VCO) and a per port delay
tuning for the distributed clocks.

\subsection{Data Network:}

All data flowing in the NSPS is packetized with a custom, low overhead
header. All subsystems accept and generate data in a packetized fashion.
This reflects the inherent asynchronous nature of our system. Packets
traversing our platform are atomic and capable of independent existence.
The packetizing of data means that data loss due to network congestion
or buffer over-runs is never arbitrary, but always in units of packets.
At any instant, our network can have different kinds of packets traversing
it, corresponding to different stages in the processing. The basic
unit of packet size is maintained as 8 bytes, which is a natural unit
or sub-unit for different memory and processing hierarchies. Adequate
padding is used if necessary to maintain this condition. The header
is mandated to have a few fixed fields which are common in size and
layout across packet types, allowing processing entities to examine
packets which can be processed by them, while discarding the others.
In a broadcast network, this approach can waste bandwidth when packets
are discarded, but the wastage can be minimised by setting up static
routes between partner nodes. This is possible in both the custom
and commodity peer-to-peer link nodes. The Command network, on the
other hand, is a broadcast network, with nodes passing on commands
not addressed to them to all other nodes downstream of themselves.
Data sources can include packet specific extensions to the packet
headers generated by them. The following fields are suggested as a
mandatory part of the packet header:
\begin{itemize}
\item Source identifier: At every level of the tree, nodes are endowed with
a unique identifier which supplants the existing upstream source id,
if any processing is carried out on the packet.
\item Datatype: This field allows processing entities to recognize which
packets are palatable to them and to reject others.
\item Data pixel descriptor: This field lays out the size and description
of the smallest unit of data transfer to be one of an allowed set,
which is implementation dependent.
\item Streams: This field records the number of independent signal sources
present in each packet.
\item Packet size: The size of a packet is expressed in units of words as
specified by the datatype field.
\item Timestamp: This field is populated as early as possible in the data
generation path and maintained across data processing. This field
is generally populated by a timestamp counter running on either a
reference clock or on the sampling clock itself and is traceable to
the centrally maintained time standard.
\end{itemize}
This specification is efficient for real-time streaming data description
with minimum overhead. For archival of processed data, a standard
format which allows multiple binary streams to maintain their identity,
like the FITS or VLBI Data Interchange Format (as proposed by the
VDIF Task Force (2009)) can be used.

\subsection{\label{sub:Load-Partitioning-and}Load Partitioning and Scheduling:}

No subsystem in our scheme is source synchronous, be it at the hardware
or the software level. All subsystems have enough memory for a store-and-forward
of several packets. This allows the processing to happen at the packet
level, on a faster clock than the sampling clock of front end ADCs.
It also eases the timing requirements of designs implemented in FPGAs
and makes them more tolerant of clocking errors. Sequencers play an
important role in our architecture, generating events on which the
processing progresses. The sequencers generate necessary globally
aligned events to which any action taken on the basis of commands
from commodity network will get aligned. A simple example is an implementation
where all processes in the peer network operate at a block level,
with a periodic event signifying the need for scheduling a new process
as a result of the arrival of a new block of data.

It is important to match the communication bandwidth to processing
abilities at every level in the signal processing tree. More specifically,
event markers generated by the sequencers should facilitate a partitioning
of processing in each level into abstract transactions, where each
transaction deals with the entire data collected over a convenient
timeslice \textbf{and} the relevant data are locally available \emph{on
demand}. In particular, it is desirable that processing at the central
commodity segment is facilitated at a cadence suited for general purpose
operating system scheduling to achieve latency tolerance. For instance,
to be commensurate with a housekeeping tick of 10 milliseconds in
typical Linux configurations, the transaction timeslices should be
several times longer.

\subsection{Choice of fusing dimension:}

Among the available axes in processing space along which the data
can be partitioned and distributed to parallel processors, the time
axis is often the most convenient for slicing, as individual timeslices
can be considered independent. For a large network, we realize this
from a hierarchical set of Data Poolers\emph{ }populating different
levels of the processing tree, which can collate data from different
sources and partition them along the time dimension at each level.

\section{\label{sec:An-Implementation-Example:}An Implementation Example:
Reconfiguration Plan for the Ooty Radio Telescope }

In this section, we provide an example of implementation of NSPS by
giving an outline of the system being planned for modernizing the
ORT \citep{key-5}. The ORT is a 506m X 30m equatorially mounted cylindrical
telescope with an equispaced linear array of 1056 dipoles along the
focal line. Each dipole has a tuned low noise amplifier \citep{key-4}
with about 40 MHz bandwidth centered at 327MHz, although the existing
analog phasing network restricts the bandwidth to about 10 MHz. A
collaborative program for upgrading the ORT has been undertaken jointly
by the Raman Research Institute (RRI) and the National Centre for
Radio Astrophysics (NCRA), which operates the ORT. In this program,
the feed array is logically divided into 264 identical segments, where
each segment represents an independent antenna element of size 1.93m
x 30m. The aim of this upgrade is to reconfigure the ORT into a programmable
264-element array. When completed, the reconfigured ORT will have
an instantaneous field of view of $\sim27^{o}$, bandwidth of $\sim35MHz$
and will be equipped with an NSPS-based digital receiver. Currently,
prototypes have been tested for a large fraction of the custom segment
of the NSPS and the analog signal conditioning subsystems. The final
production and integration is expected to be completed in 2011. The
digitizers are organized in 22 digitization blocks located below the
reflector at a spacing of about 23m, where each digitization block
includes a 12-channel digitizer capable of operating at 100 Ms/s.
All the 22 digitization blocks are connected in a star topology with
a central system using a peer-to-peer network on optical fibres with
multiple links operating at speeds of 2.5 Gigabits/sec from each block.

\begin{figure}
\includegraphics[scale=0.43]{Fig4_rev}

\caption{\emph{\label{fig:Proposed-NSPS-implementation}Proposed NSPS implementation
for configuring ORT as a 264 element programmable telescope.}}

\end{figure}

\subsection{The ORT NSPS layout:}

The proposed system consists of four hierarchical levels as illustrated
in Fig. \ref{fig:Proposed-NSPS-implementation},\textcolor{black}{{}
where level-0 is the root node and realized by a high performance
cluster with Infiniband for inter-node communication and GigE for
communication with the NSPS.} The high speed peer network uses the
light weight Aurora protocol simplex links for data uplink, with last
mile via GigE. Currently, bandwidths of upto 100MBps per GigE link
into level-0 memory have been sustained.
\begin{itemize}
\item \emph{Level 3:} This level is composed of the distributed digitization
infrastructure and is installed at the antenna base. The prime components
of this level are the digitizers, the sampling clock derivation and
conditioning circuitry, the first level data organizer and peer-to-peer
link handler. All these components required for handling 12 sensor
elements from a 23m section of the ORT are implemented as a single
board.

\begin{itemize}
\item The ADCs (dual channel AD9600) are capable of a 100Ms/s sampling for
signals with frequencies upto $\sim600MHz$. The $\sim60dB$ dynamic
range at 10 bit resolution allows us to implement an AGC in software.
More importantly, the implementation can benefit from the on-chip
sampling clock conditioner, divider and duty cycle stabilizer. For
instance it is possible to provide a sine-wave with frequency 2-8
times the sampling clock, and use the on-chip features to convert
to square-wave, enable duty-cycle stabilizer and divide by suitable
integer to get the sampling clock, thus reducing the overall sampling
clock jitter and hence the phase noise in the sampled data. This feature
is useful in direct (harmonic) sampling of the incoming $327MHz$
RF since the Nyquist sampling interval in a band-limited RF is decided
only by the bandwidth while jitter tolerance depends on the highest
frequency content.
\item This level has an embedded clock synthesizer and distributor for the
on-board 12-channel ADC based on a reference distributed on fibre
by the central high stability clock distributor. It is received using
a digital fibre optic receiver. The embedded clock distributor is
based on a clock buffer and distributor (LMK03020) which has an on-chip
VCO and per-port delay tuning.
\item The first Data processing block is implemented in a Xilinx Spartan6
(LX45T) FPGA to perform a conversion of the ADC 10 bit resolution
data to $\sim4$bit via configurable, table-driven logic, where the
look-up-table (LUT) is dynamically updated to accommodate innovative
schemes of compression and segregation. For instance, let us assume
that a choice among a pre-determined set of LUTs is best suited for
coding/compressing the data in a set of physical packets associated
with a transaction unit. Here, each table implements a different encoding
of the input word to an output with lesser number of bits per word.
Further, we assume that every word of each physical packet is encoded
by a choice between two LUTs out of the set, to represent normal and
segregated(flagged) data. For decompression by downstream nodes, the
tags of these two LUTs can be accommodated in the packet header, while
a one-bit selection between the two can be associated with each data
word - thus achieving the dual purpose of flagging and scaling at
the word level. Such a scheme can accommodate a wide range of scale
factors and hence a large dynamic range within a logical packet. Suitable
thresholds for packet-level choice of LUTs can be generated on the
basis of integrated power over a reasonable time stretch as part of
the pre-processing.
\item The Data Router node buffers data from all 12 sensors in internal
memory and reorganizes them to form packets containing identical time-stretches
from all antenna elements. The peer-to-peer link out of each 23m section
which connects level-3 to level-2 is implemented using the 4 available
RocketIO multi-gigabit onboard serializers on the Spartan6. Our choice
of SFP for the current implementation can sustain link speeds of upto
2.6Gbps on single mode fibre, while we use the light-weight Aurora
protocol at a wire speed of 2.5Gbps for communication between level
3 and level 2.
\end{itemize}
\item \emph{Level 2:} This level is implemented using an FPGA (Virtex5 LX50T)
board whose on-board resources include 2GB of memory and 8 multi-gigabit
transceivers and expansion connectors. This board can sustain the
following level-2 functionalities:

\begin{itemize}
\item FFT block: Here, the data processor block first decodes data from
a pair of sensors, packs them into the real and imaginary parts of
a 32-bit complex integer word, and implements a pipeline stage (e.g.,
radix-64) of a split radix FFT for all pairs of incoming channels.
The processing resources are enough to handle upto 24 channels (2
level-3 entities) at the maximum sampling rate.
\item The Data Pooler block operates using the large local DDR2 RAM and
the interconnection with other level-2 cards to pool subsets of both
local and remote level-2 data into transaction oriented packets by
partitioning data along the time axis. Here, each transaction refers
to the processing of a specific timeslice for the entire array.
\item The Data router block collects data from the local RAM in units appropriate
for transfer to each outgoing port, packetizes them and sends out
selected time slices to level-1 entities. Provision for computation
offloading is provided in the form of spare peer-to-peer links which
can add on more level-2 cards.
\end{itemize}
\item \emph{Level 1: }At this level, a memory-based, NSPS to commodity network
bridge is implemented. Large bursts of continuous time slices are
first buffered in RAM, and then sent out over GigE as properly timestamped
packets. The level implements load partitioning as configured by the
root level by manipulating ethernet destination addresses of streams
going into the data GigE switch. There is possibility of implementing
a data processor block for the remaining 16 point FFT operation pending
from the split radix FFT.
\item \emph{Level 0: }At the root of the NSPS tree, a medium level cluster
is proposed to handle both the communication and processing requirements
for forming correlations between all sensors. It is important to note
that the cluster inter-node traffic is significantly reduced due to
the data routing and transposition carried out using the Data Pooling
nodes at the various levels. The formation of actual correlations
and the calibration parameter estimation is carried out by this level.
The above mentioned partitioning of the load into the 3 levels can
be used to bring a subset of data from all 264 elements into one node
via a quad-GigE card.
\end{itemize}

\subsection{System Control:}

The Control network is a simplex, one-way channel from a master with
unique id (in the commodity segment) to the peer network through the
bridge node. Thus, while data can be routed to arbitrary nodes in
the cluster depending on the UDP destination addresses set during
configuration, commands are accepted by the bridge node only through
a privileged link from the master. This simplifies assigning privileges
to operations related to starting, stopping or resetting the acquisition
state machines, configuring the network routes on customized hardware
switches, changing ethernet destination addresses, or changing the
contents of the LUTs used in earlier nodes like the digitizers.

\section{\label{sec:discussion}Discussion}

While asynchronous, packetized processing over standard networks is
a relatively new concept in radio telescopes, it is being embraced
enthusiastically due to the many benefits it offers to the system
designer. Even among this class of telescope data processors, contemporary
architectures usually have a direct link from the samplers to the
central processor. Some operations like a digital filter bank or FFT
are carried out remotely, while others like cross-correlation is done
centrally. The memory-rich architectures of modern FPGAs help in distributing
computing to remote nodes and enables buffering to allow multiple
passes on the streaming data. As the data volume grows, e.g., in the
central pooling stations, the processing can be supported by large
off-chip memory using commercial memory modules, routinely supported
by modern FPGAs. This provides substantial enhancement to buffering
for transaction level operations and data partitioning. A peak data
rate of 100 Ms/s x 4bits for 264 elements for the ORT would correspond
to about 13.2GB/s for which the level-1 buffering of 22 GB in 11 Virtex-5
cards shown in Fig. \ref{fig:Proposed-NSPS-implementation} is comfortable
to sustain transactions of upto a fraction of a second duration. The
use of standard software stacks also allows us to leverage the various
high performance modes being worked upon by system optimizers, e.g.,
the zero copy mechanism on Linux.

Another challenging problem with large arrays is the so-called \emph{corner
turning }problem\emph{, }which refers to the transposition of the
input signal matrix needed to achieve the all-to-all communication
necessary for correlation. Earlier approaches have looked at either
commercial switches or entirely customized switches for routing data
\citep{key-1}. We break this problem down into levels, and apply
a hybrid of commercial as well as custom routing. The Data Pooler
element is utilized to implement a memory based switch, while the
COTS (GigE) network controller manages another level of redirection
by manipulating UDP destination addresses.

\section{Conclusions}

We have presented a packetized, heterogeneous and distributed signal
processing architecture for radio interferometric signal processing
which elevates the network to a core system component. The architecture
addresses some of the core issues pertaining to interferometric signal
processing. We visualize this problem as that of an appropriate workload
creation and scheduled dispatch to matched processors over a data
flow tree. Here, the leaf nodes are sources of data, with data processors
handling a managed slice of the processing at the intermediate nodes
of this tree. We emphasize the use of COTS components, both hardware
and software, for rapid deployment, ease of maintenance, and lowering
the cost of the architecture implementation.

The goal of realizing a programmable telescope with NSPS is facilitated
by defining rigid interfaces between both hardware and software components.
This can allow exchange of a variety of data with varying communication
and computing requirements between levels in the network. Most of
the individual nodes in the NSPS can change the nature of their processing
within the limits specified by their designed personality and available
resources at the node. This allows offloading of computing requirements
in a hierarchical manner up the NSPS tree, trading off implementation
time with hardware capability of an application mode. Due to the rigidity
of interfacing protocols as well as the standardized networks making
up the system, we can comfortably add nodes which can tap into the
NSPS in order to carry out a different processing chain. Data duplication,
if required, can be carried out by COTS components (e.g., by switches
operating in broadcast mode) thus reducing development load.

We have presented an outline of the NSPS implementation being planned
for configuring the ORT as a programmable 264 element telescope. Our
architecture is optimally tuned to service the needs of medium sized
arrays. We advocate full software processing for smaller arrays, with
an increasing factor of hardware offload as the array size grows.
This approach has being taken by us in building a 44 element demonstrator
as a precursor to the receiver for the full 264 element ORT array.
This receiver exploits all NSPS aspects we have dwelt on, and is in
an advanced stage of completion.
\begin{acknowledgements}
The 44-element demonstrator for the ORT is being built as a collaborative
effort between Radio Astronomy Laboratory at Raman Research Institute
and the observatory staff at the Ooty Radio Telescope. Many of the
ideas presented here evolved during the trials of demonstrator subsystems
for which we specially thank colleagues both at RRI and ORT. CRS would
like to thank Madan Rao and Dwarakanath whose comments have helped
improving the manuscript. We thank the anonymous referee whose comments
have been very helpful in improving the clarity of presentation in
the manuscript\end{acknowledgements}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaArXiv


Somebody loves you! I would wait 10-15 years or more, but if you feel that you're about to slip away then just go for it! Whenever you drink it it will be good, and you can only do it once.
I would also wait a decade or so but it will be lovely whenever you drink it - even if you decide to drink it tomorrow. I did a quick web search and someone whose palate I trust said it was very good now.
Drink it now with someone you know who will also appreciate it. I suggest blue cheese to accompany it!
Wait for at least 10 years , 20 even and then drink it on a Tuesday when you have nothing else on either on your own or with someone special ! Wow, what an amazing gift to be given ! Enjoy .
Drink it now. It will be delicious already.
I'd go against received wisdom and say, if it was me, i would drink it now.
Because keeping a single half 10-20 years, in anything less than immaculate storage conditions, risks it not being at its best when you do drink it.
If you drink it now, you can thank your friend. Or even offer to share it with them. Who knows where life could take either of you in 20 years time?
Bearing in mind the suggested drinking window is 2027-2055, will it be better in 10+ years? Yes, the sugar and acidity will be a little better balanced and the wine as a whole more integrated.
However, if you don't have suitable storage and sufficient patience then plan to drink it_soon.
Personally I love a good sticky at Christmas, find a little quiet period and share it with the one you love and a little dessert or cheese, I like a slightly tart sorbet with mine.
I'd use it as an excuse to try a couple of other dessert wines from the Society as a primer to having the d'Yquem.
We've been fortunate enough to try a number of Yquem wines over the years, both in bottle and half bottle. We also visited the Chateau last year (highly recommended).
I wouldn't drink this very young wine now. We had a half bottle of the 2006 Yquem from the Wine Society at Christmas (a gift from my Mum) and it wasn't really ready. Yours needs probably fifteen years more to reach its best. I like the Tuesday idea but what a great way to celebrate your 70th birthday.
Keep it in the darkest coolest place you can. And hang on to that friend!
It's yours so do what you want.
I'd wait for 10 years minimum.
I have a bottle of the 1990 in my cellar and I shall probably crack it open on my 60th so it'll be 33 years old by then.


Merging PCL data files with existing page images (such as a form).
Information Technology departments of a typical corporate enterprise.
We need to create a custom fax application for our enterprise. Our users need to be able to fax PCL print files. They need to fax looking exactly like they print. The processing of the PCL files will be handled on the server.
We need to create a custom fax application for our enterprise. Our users need to be able to fax PCL print files. They need to fax looking exactly like they print. The processing of the PCL files will be handled on the users desktop.
We need to create a custom fax application for our enterprise. Our users need to be able to fax PCL print files. They need to fax looking exactly like they print. The processing of the PCL files will be handled on the client side.
Our IT dept needs to create a custom email server that will allow our users to convert PCL report files into PDF files for emailing. The reports need to looking exactly like they print and they need to be small for emailing. The processing of the PCL files will be handled on our servers. Our business reports use downloaded soft fonts as well as printer resident typefaces too.
We have a document management system that our company uses. We have a need to be able to submit PCL documents from our internal systems such as statements, accounting reports and output from our legacy applications. We need to be able to convert our PCL files into a format that our system can handle.
We need to create a custom fax application for our enterprise. We need to be able to convert incoming fax images into PDF files so that they can be emailed to our users.
Our IT department needs to be able to monitor a folder and convert any PRN files that arrive in this folder. After converting the PCL data to PDF or TIFF we need to automatically process these files. This might include importing the file into an archive database, publishing the file in a web application or emailing the file to a client. Our system needs to be totally automated and very reliable.
We need to print LaserJet PCL documents generated at the main office on non-PCL printers located at outside offices (field agents and home offices). All main office printers are PCL printers but not these remote printers.
Our legacy application only produces LaserJet PCL printer output but we need to print it on non-PCL printers throughout our enterprise.
Our enterprise has a call center where customers can call and ask questions about their billing. We need to design an easy way for our call center people to look up customers statements quickly. We have a database archive system we use but we need to get the statements into an electronic document format for storage and retrieval. The statements are printed monthly.
Our company has large PCL print spool files that need to be broken apart into separate PCL print files. We need to be able to break up a file that might contain thousands of pages into separate files that might contain one or more pages.
Our company needs to be able to merge our daily print data (that includes only the unique fields of text) with our PCL based forms (that act as a pre-printed form or overlay). The final output should look like our normal print data printed on our actual pre-printed forms.
We need to be able to allow the end user to specify routing information that will be used on the server to route the job. For example, the user might specify a fax or email destination, or keywords to be associated with the document in an archive. The user will be running a client module but the routing information will be processed on the server.
We need to be able to insert a signature, barcode or a company logo into a PCL data stream so that the signature shows up where the user wants it.
We need to be able to insert a signature, barcode or a company logo image into a PCL data stream so that the PCL data stream will print with these images included.
We need to be able to process PCL print jobs that expect PCL Forms, Overlays, Macros, Softfonts and other PCL resources to be available during conversion. The print jobs expect these resources to be preloaded into JetPCL as they are when we downloaded them or install them into the printer. Can JetPCL do this?
We need to be able to process PCL print files that include PCL created by HP print drivers located in Asian and Middle Eastern countries. These PCL data files contain typeface and symbol set selections that expect Asian or Middle Eastern fonts to be resident in the printer. Can JetPCL support this?


text:
COVID-19 Platform
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Algeria Angola Benin Botswana Burkina Faso Burundi Cameroon Cape Verde Central African Republic Chad Comoros Congo Congo (Republic) Cote d'Ivoire Djibouti Egypt Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Ethiopia Gabon Gambia Ghana Guinea Guinea-Bissau Kenya Lesotho Liberia Libya Madagascar Malawi Mali Mauritania Mauritius Morocco Mozambique Namibia Niger Nigeria Rwanda Sao Tome and Principe Senegal Seychelles Sierra Leone Somalia Somalia (Puntland) Somaliland South Africa South Sudan Sudan Swaziland Tanzania Togo Tunisia Uganda Zambia Zimbabwe
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Afghanistan Australia Bangladesh Bhutan Brunei Darussalam Cambodia China Fiji Hong Kong (China) India Indonesia Japan Kazakhstan Kiribati Kyrgyzstan Lao People's Democratic Republic Malaysia Maldives Marshall Islands Micronesia Mongolia Myanmar Nauru Nepal New Zealand North Korea Pakistan Palau Papua New Guinea Philippines Republic of Korea Samoa Singapore Solomon Islands Sri Lanka Taiwan, Province of China Tajikistan Thailand Timor-Leste Tonga Turkmenistan Tuvalu Uzbekistan Vanuatu Viet Nam
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Although it has been devastated by famine and an ongoing civil war, Yemen serves as an important transit country for African migrants and refugees seeking to make it to Saudi Arabia or other Gulf state. But there is little available information about its immigration detention practices. One source of information has been the International Organization for Migration (IOM), whose Displacement Tracking Matrix has identified detention sites in the country. Detainees are predominantly Ethiopians or Somalians who have crossed the treacherous Gulf of Aden as part of their migration journeys, only to arrive in a country wracked by conflict and massive human suffering and deprivation.
Types of facilities used for migration-related detention
Administrative Ad Hoc Criminal Unknown
Yemen Immigration Detention Data Profile (2020)
New York Times, "African Migrants in Yemen Scapegoated for Coronavirus Outbreak," 28 June 2020, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/28/world/middleeast/coronavirus-yemen-african-migrants.html
Although it has been devastated by ongoing civil war and famine, Yemen has continued to serve as an important migrant and refugee transit country--with many people often enduring torture, rape, and extortion, as well crossfire and airstrikes. In 2019, the IOM estimated that some 138,000 migrants departed from the Horn of Africa to Yemen in the hope of finding jobs as housekeepers, servants, and construction workers in oil-rich neighbouring Saudi Arabia.
During the pandemic however, thousands of migrants have found themselves stranded in the country, witnessing growing anti-migrant sentiment and stigmatised as carriers of the virus. Unable to leave the country, more than 14,000 (the majority of whom are Ethiopians) have been rounded and forcibly moved away from urban centres (although it remains unclear whether these round-ups were conducted by Iran-allied Houthi rebels or Saudi-backed government forces). Many are reported to have been abandoned in empty buildings or forced to live on the streets, while others have been confined in detention facilities where they face overcrowding, lack of access to medical services, and inadequate food provision.
Others have reportedly been shot by Houthi militia in an attempt to force migrants out of the area they control--with some forced across the border into Saudi Arabia, where they have also subsequently faced arrest, detention, and deportation (see 14 April update on Saudi Arabia). At one point in April, humanitarian organisations estimated that some 20,000 migrants had been abandoned in "slaughter valleys" along the Yemen-Saudi border, with no food, water, or aid.
Global Detention Project, "Immigration Detention in Yemen," May 2019, https://www.globaldetentionproject.org/countries/middle-east/yemen
The Independent, "Ethiopian Migrants in Yemen are Being Scapegoated over Coronavirus, UN Reports," 15 July 2020, https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/coronavirus-ethiopian-migrants-yemen-un-a9620196.html
Al Jazeera, "UN Says Migrants in Yemen Stranded, Abused Amid Coronavirus Fears," 15 July 2020, https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/07/migrants-yemen-stranded-abused-coronavirus-fears-200715052701434.html
New York Times, "Ethiopian Workers are Forced to Return Home, Some with Coronavirus," 1 August 2020, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/01/world/africa/ethiopian-migrant-workers-coronavirus.html
Migrants in Yemen Languish in Detention as Ramadan Begins
From: International Organization for Migration
Date: 7 May 2019
Aden - Some 3,000 migrants continue to be held in two temporary detention sites in Yemen's Aden and Abyan governorates. Among those detained are Ethiopian nationals, many practicing Muslims, who are embarking on thirty days of Ramadan fasting while detained.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) has been providing clean water and emergency food at the 22nd of May Stadium in Aden where nearly 2,500 migrants are detained.
On 21 April, authorities in Yemen began detaining nearly 5,000 irregular migrants in two sports stadiums and a military camp in the Aden, Abyan and Lahj governorates. The detainees predominately are Ethiopians, who entered Yemen to seek livelihoods and opportunities on the Arabian Peninsula.
On Friday (03/05), IOM's Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM) teams confirmed that 2,473 migrants remain under detention in Aden's 22nd May Stadium. Of those, the DTM determined 873 are children.
Since last week's headcount, more people have been brought to that site. An estimated 500 migrants are also being held in a second sports stadium in Abyan.
At the stadium in Aden, IOM is combatting the spread of communicable disease by providing water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) and health services. Between 26 April and 5 May, IOM has conducted over 1,800 health consultations and rehabilitated 30 latrines.
In recent days, more than 1,400 people detained at the military camp in Lahj reportedly were released. IOM is making efforts to confirm the locations and wellbeing of all migrants released in Lahj, particularly because some had been suffering from acute watery diarrhea (AWD).
At Lahj's Ibn Khaldoon Hospital, IOM is treating more than 70 former detainees with AWD in its newly-opened diarrhea treatment centre. Tragically, since Wednesday (01/05), 14 migrants have perished from the illness
Twenty-three-year-old Abdi* comes from a farming family in the Oromia region of Ethiopia. As Ramadan commences, he wishes he could go home, or anywhere rather than stay in detention in the sports stadium in Aden.
"I wanted to come to an Arabian country to make my life better than my parents', but when I arrived here [in Yemen] they caught me and brought me to this place," said Abdi, who left his home just over a month ago without telling his parents.
Starting his journey with only 2,000 birr [USD 70], he eventually he arrived in Djibouti, where he called his parents explaining he needed funds, some 11,000 birr [USD 380], to continue his journey. His parents sold a cow. He said he knew he would perish in the desert without a smuggler to help him complete this "hard journey."
*Name changed to protect identity
IOM remains extremely concerned for the people being held in inhumane conditions in Aden and Abyan. Alongside humanitarian partners, IOM is providing lifesaving services, while engaging with authorities to advocate for the release of those detained.
Thousands of migrants are stranded in other locations throughout Yemen. From Sana'a starting this past Monday, IOM intends to move a total of 327 Ethiopian migrants to Addis Ababa, under IOM's voluntary humanitarian return (VHR).
For more information, please contact Olivia Headon at IOM Yemen, Tel: +353833022648, +967730552233, +967730552233, Email: oheadon@iom.int
Migrants Die While Detained in Inhumane Conditions in Yemen
United Nations Information Centre
2 May 2019 – Aden
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) is alarmed by reports of migrants dying of preventable illnesses, being shot and suffering other inhumane treatment in makeshift detention centres in Yemen, now in its fifth year of conflict.
IOM is monitoring the conditions of some 5,000 migrants from the Horn of Africa held across three sites –-two sports stadiums and a military camp–in Yemen's Aden, Lahj and Abyan governorates.
IOM learned yesterday (01/05) that at least eight migrants died from complications related to acute watery diarrhea (AWD) at the Ibn Khaldoon Hospital in Lahj governorate. Those migrants—predominantly Ethiopian—had been held at a military camp in Lahj where more than 1,400 people are detained. Authorities at the camp report they have detected at least 200 AWD cases. IOM is establishing a diarrhea treatment centre at Ibn Khaldoon Hospital, which is currently struggling to treat 53 AWD cases, including eight severe cases.
This morning, 14 migrants with signs of AWD were brought to Aden's 22nd of May stadium where IOM is providing critical life saving assistance. IOM's health team, who has carried out over 1,000 health consultations at the site since 26 April, acted fast to ensure the patients were evacuated to a nearby hospital.
In Geneva, Mohammed Abdiker, IOM's Director of Operations and Emergencies said, "I am deeply saddened by the deaths of these eight migrants, who were among the thousands of migrants being held in deplorable conditions across Yemen. We have decried this policy to the authorities, urging them to take a humane approach to irregular migration."
IOM's team in Aden became aware of the mass arrest and detention of thousands of migrants on 21 April and their detention in cramped buildings, not fit for human inhabitation. Abdiker noted these migrants, "at best, have only limited access to basic services or protection."
On Tuesday (30/04), guards fired on migrants detained at the Aden sports stadium, two of whom suffered gunshot wounds, leaving a teenage boy likely paralyzed for life. That, Abdiker said, "demonstrates the inability of authorities to care for the expanding detained population as well as the immediate need to have a dedicated civilian authority humanely managing these sites. Our teams could see that without ensuring immediate access to sufficient food, clean water, safe sanitation and medical attention, a catastrophe was waiting to unfold."
Abdiker added: "IOM stands ready to support Yemen and other regional partners to identify sustainable responses to irregular migration, which do not involve the shortsighted abuse of vulnerable migrants and fully respects international law."
"I am greatly concerned that this dire situation will further deteriorate," he concluded. "Our team on the ground has been making strides with local advocacy among the different levels of government. However, it is time to see these words turned into action that puts an end to this abuse before more innocent lives are lost."
For more information please contact Olivia Headon in Aden. Tel: +967 730 552 233. Email: Oheadon@iom.int
IMMIGRATION AND DETENTION-RELATED STATISTICS
Total number of immigration detainees by year
Number of immigration detainees on a given day
Top nationalities of detainees
Ethiopia, Somalia, Djibouti
Number of persons granted alternatives to immigration detention
Number of detained asylum seekers
Total number of detained minors
Number of detained unaccompanied minors
Number of detained accompanied minors
Number of detained stateless persons
Number of apprehensions of non-citizens
Immigration detainees as a percentage of total international migrant population
Estimated total immigration detention capacity
Number of dedicated long-term immigration detention centres
Estimated capacity of dedicated long-term immigration detention centres
Number of dedicated medium-term immigration detention centres
Number of immigration offices
Number of transit facilities
Number of criminal facilities
Number of ad hoc facilities
Number of persons removed/returned (voluntary returns and deportations)
Number of deportations/forced returns only
Percentage of persons removed in relation to total number of people placed in removal procedures
Criminal prison population
Percentage of foreign prisoners
Prison population rate (per 100,000 of national population)
International migrants
International migrants as a percentage of the population
Ratio of refugees per 1000 inhabitants
Total number of new asylum applications
Refugee recognition rate
SOCIO-ECONOMIC INDICATORS
Gross Domestic Product per capita (in USD)
Remittances to the country
Net official development assistance (ODA) (in millions USD)
Human Development Index Ranking (UNDP)
160	(Low)
DOMESTIC LAWS AND POLICIES
Legal tradition
Ratification Year
CRPD, Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
CAT, Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment
CRC, Convention on the Rights of the Child
ICCPR, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
ICESCR, International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
VCCR, Vienna Convention on Consular Relations
CEDAW, Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women
CRSR, Geneva Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees
PCRSR, Protocol to the Geneva Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees
ICERD, International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination
Individual complaints procedure
Acceptance Year
CRPD, Optional Protocol to o the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 2009
Ratio of complaints procedures accepted
Observation Date
Relevant recommendations of the UN Universal Periodic Review
INSTITUTIONAL INDICATORS
Custodial authority
NGOs & Research Institutions
Republic of Yemen Government Portal: http://www.yemen.gov.ye/portal/
UNHCR Yemen Country Profile: http://reporting.unhcr.org/node/2647#_ga=1.222590811.1574793458.1466088472
IOM Yemen Country Profile: https://www.iom.int/countries/yemen
Yemen Times: http://www.yementimes.com
National Yemen: http://nationalyemen.com
NGOs and Research Institutions
Human Rights Watch: https://www.hrw.org/middle-east/n-africa/yemen
Amnesty International: https://www.amnesty.org/en/countries/middle-east-and-north-africa/yemen/
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


The Johnson Metric Aluminum Grade Rod is a functional and reliable measuring tool for all construction and surveying applications. Featuring a snap-on circular leveling vial, it can be easily leveled and aligned with great accuracy. It is equipped with graduations in centimeters and millimeters on front and E scale (decimeters) on its back.
This metric grade rod by Johnson is highly durable with its aluminum construction and protective anodized finish. Its rectangular shape with rounded back allows easy grip while the adjustable sections collapse for convenient storage. When in use, it can extend to provide elevation of up to four meters or five meters.
The Johnson Metric Aluminum Grade Rod is portable with the included nylon carrying bag with shoulder strap. It also comes with a three-year manufacturer's warranty for long-lasting efficiency.
The Johnson Metric Aluminum Grade Rod comes in two different lengths to provide solution to most measuring needs. Please select your preference from the drop-down menu above.


text:
Q: Several same node name to a list of string I have an XML file.
I tried this query. But I like when I'd like a List with the value "AAA" and "BBB" when I get the node "Val1"
An idea ?
var res = doc.Descendants("Tags")
.Where(p => p.Elements("code")
.Any(c => (string)c.Parent.Attribute("id") == "Val1"))
.Select(i => i.ToString()).ToArray().First();

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<MyTag>
  <Tags id="Val1">
    AAA
    BBB
  </Tags>
  <Tags id="Val2">
    CCC
    DDD
    EEE
  </Tags>
</MyTag>

A: You either need :
var res = doc.Descendants("Tags")
.Where(p => p.Elements("code")
.Any(c => (string)c.Parent.Attribute("id") == "Val1"))
.Select(i => i.Elements("code")).ToArray().First();

or this:
var res = doc.Descendants("Tags")
.Where(p => p.Elements("code")
.Any(c => (string)c.Parent.Attribute("id") == "Val1"))
.Select(i => i.Elements("code").Select (x => (string)x.Value)).ToArray().First();

The first will get you a array of elements like AAAA while the second will get you an array of strings like AAAA

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Using the program MPlayer you can work with different file extensions. In some situations, using MPlayer you can convert the file to another format (export the processed data to another file format). Below you will find a full list of links of the MPlayer with files in our database.
If you want to download MPlayer from a safe source, be sure to use the manufacturer's site. It is always the most trusted place.


It's hard to know where to start with the seven levels of merriment in this art nouveau building. We suggest starting with the stairs (often faster than queuing for the lift) then it's a matter of taking your pick. Try Thai and a tipple at Cookie, a gig and a late-night bite at the The Toff in Town, or a tequila and taco or two at Mesa Verde. Get designer threads at P.A.M. and Dot Comme or specialty books from Metropolis. Whatever you do, make sure you top it all off with a drink – and a summertime movie – at level seven's Rooftop Bar and Cinema.


Water and air. These primordial substances, which make possible all life on earth, are the subject of Hiroshi Sugimoto's Seascapes series. For over thirty years, Sugimoto has traveled the world photographing its seas, producing a body of work that is an extended meditation on the passage of time and the natural history of the earth. Sugimoto has called photography the "fossilization of time," and the 'Seascapes' photographs simultaneously capture a discrete moment in time but also evoke a feeling of timelessness.
This volume, the second in a series of books on Sugimoto's art, presents the complete series of over 200 'Seascapes', some of which have never before been reproduced. All are identical in format, with the horizon line precisely bifurcating each image, though at times the sea and sky almost merge into one seamless unit. Each photograph captures a moment when the sea is placid, almost flat. Within this strict format, however, he has created a limitless array of portraits of his subjects.
An essay by Munesuke Mita, Professor of Sociology at the University of Tokyo, examines contemporary art through a sociological lens, comparing the recent history of art with mathematical predictions of population growth. He connects Sugimoto's body of work to this unique analysis of the art world.


text:
Thomas Jefferson Univ Administrative Associate - Heart Failure Unit (per diem - Days) Abington in Abington, Pennsylvania
Reference #: 9241077Primary Function:Under the direction of the Nurse Manager/designee, performs a variety of clerical duties, including data entry into Hospital Information System to support the operations of the unit.per diem (Casual) 7a-7p, must be able to work every other weekend1. Education and Training: High School Graduate or equivalent preferred.2. Experience: One year of related secretarial and computer experience, knowledge of medical terminology required. Data entry experience preferred.3. License, Certification and Registration: None.4. Other Requirements: Excellent communication skills. Strong interpersonal skills. Detail oriented. Tolerance for high stress situations. Ability to interact with professional staff.Jefferson Health delivers state of the art healthcare services to patients throughout the Delaware Valley and southern New Jersey. Jefferson (Philadelphia University + Thomas Jefferson University) provides more than 8,400 full and part-time students from nearly 40 states and 40 countries with 21st century professional education. Combined, we have over 30,000 employees.Jefferson Health, with 14 hospitals (seven are Magnet designated by the ANCC for nursing excellence) and 40+ outpatient and urgent care locations, offers a broad range of primary and complex, highly specialized care that touches the lives of more than four million patients annually. U.S. News and World Report has ranked Thomas Jefferson University Hospital among the nation's best in eight specialties. Jefferson Health also includes the NCI designated Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center; it is one of only 70 such centers in the nation.Thomas Jefferson University has ten colleges and three schools that offer more than 160 undergraduate and graduate programs. Our University is dedicated to inter-professional and transdisciplinary approaches to learning that offer a vibrant and expandable platform for professional education. Through this unique model, we are preparing our students for current and yet to be imagined careers.As an employer, Jefferson maintains a commitment to provide equal access to employment. Jefferson values diversity and encourages applications from women, members of minority groups, LGBTQ individuals, disabled individuals, and veterans.As an employer, the Jefferson Enterprise maintains a commitment to provide equal access to employment. Jefferson values diversity and encourages applications from women, members of minority groups, LGBTQ individuals, disabled individuals, and veterans.
Thomas Jefferson Univ
Administrative Associate - Heart...


Write two obituaries in remembrance of President Abraham Lincoln.
To complete this assignment, you are going to assume the role of an editor for a fictional newspaper on two distinctly different dates. It is your choice of who your audience is and what emotion the content contains, but each article should provide a perspective on the political, economic, and social impact that he had on the nation before, during, and after the Civil War.
2. The second will be dated April 16, 2015, and will need to assume the role of a remembrance of his legacy. Consider his legacy 150 years after his death. Both obituaries will be submitted together as one document. The details about Lincoln's time, location, and cause of death will of course be common to all obituaries and do not need to be cited; any other materials (e.g., quotes, accounts) must be cited and referenced using APA style.
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text:
Q: What is a proper way to detect the support of css "flex-box" and "flex-wrap"? I'm looking for a solution how we can detect the support of css flex-box and flex-wrap by JavaScript.
I'm aware of modernizr which can do the job but my client does not allow us to load any scripts inside the head section, unfortunately this does not work when loading in the footer.
What is a proper way to achieve this detection on all kind of browsers / devices?

A:
how we can detect the support of css flex-box and flex-wrap by
  JavaScript.

Create an element and check the style property. If it is supported, it will return nothing i.e. '' else it will return undefined.
For example, if you run the below snippet in Chrome you will get undefined for columns and '' for flex-wrap.
Snippet:

console.log('flex = ' + document.createElement("p").style.flex);
console.log('columns = ' + document.createElement("p").style.columns);
console.log('flex-wrap = ' + document.createElement("p").style.flexWrap);

Although you have mentioned only Javascript in your question, but there is a CSS way of feature detection as well.
The @supports rule, also called CSS Feature Queries.
You provide the CSS declaration as the condition and the browser will execute that to return whether it supports or not. For example, the following CSS will apply green background color if flex is supported.
@supports (display: flex) {
  div { background-color: #0f0; }
}

The browser support is good amongst all modern browsers, barring IE (as usual). For IE and (Safari < 9), you will need to keep a fallback option when @supports rule fails.

Combining the above two, there is an API around that as well which you can use in Javascript to do feature detection.

var isColumnSupported = CSS.supports('columns', '');
console.log('columns supported: ' + isColumnSupported);

var isFlexWrapSupported = CSS.supports('flex-wrap', 'wrap');
console.log('flex-wrap supported: ' + isFlexWrapSupported);

A:
Since CSS.supports() is not supported on IE

This robust method can test any property:value support:

var cssPropertySupported = (function(){
  var mem = {}; // save test results for efficient future calls with same parameters

  return function cssPropertySupported(prop, values) {
    if( mem[prop+values] )
      return mem[prop+values];

    var element = document.createElement('p'),
        index = values.length,
        name,
        result = false;

    try {
        while (index--) {
          name = values[index];
          element.style.display = name;

          if (element.style.display === name){
            result = true;
            break;
          }
        }
    }
    catch (pError) {}

    mem[prop+values] = result;
    return result;
  }
})();

///////// TEST: ////////////////////
console.log(
cssPropertySupported('display', ['-ms-flexbox', '-webkit-box', 'flex'])
)

You manually need to provide the test function all the possible property names since the code cannot guess (too many possibilities). This keeps the test code slim instead of it have all possible property names already within it.


Medlars were at one time a very popular winter fruit in England. However today they are almost unknown and even regarded with some suspicion. We are sure that if you give medlars a chance you will grow to love them as we do. Medlar trees are easy trees to grow that do well in most parts of the country. They have much to offer in addition to their fruit. They form bushy trees with interesting contorted, spreading branches. They have attractive large white blossom in late spring and the most spectacular gold and red autumn foliage of any fruit tree.
Further information on medlar trees can be found on Medlar Trees Advice Page.
The best known variety of medlar in the UK.
A good quality late ripening medlar with sweet creamy flesh.
One of the best late ripening medlars.


Can you Moe reports that the final chapter of Kouta Hirano's seinen manga Hellsing will end in the November issue of Shonen Gahosha's Young King Ours out on September 30, ending a 11 year serialization, and will be compiled into ten volumes. Hellsing, published in Young King Ours since 1997, has been produced as an anime series and OVAs, both which were released by Geneon Pioneer. Darkhorse will be releasing the ninth volume on October 22.
"Vampires exist. It is the duty of Hellsing, an organization sponsored by the British government, to hide that frightening fact and protect the blissfully unaware populace. Along with its own personal army, Hellsing also has a few secret weapons. Alucard, an incredibly powerful vampire, has been controlled by Hellsing for years. Although he dislikes being a servant to the Hellsing family, he certainly enjoys his job as Hellsing's vampire exterminator. Seras is a fledgling vampire and a former police woman. Although reluctant to embrace her new self, she is still a valuable member of the organization. Integra Hellsing, the current leader, is usually fully capable of fulfilling her duty, but lately, vampire activity has been on the rise. Unfortunately, the cause is more alarming than anything she could have imagined. A group long thought dead has been plotting in secret since their apparent destruction over 50 years ago. Plotting to plunge England, and perhaps the entire world, into war."
What do you all think? Think it will end 'well'?
Wait....so two more issues and it's done? I hope they give us a little more Alucard before the end. I figured it was getting close but I want more.
Oh snap...Hirano ran out of steam. What does this mean for Hellsing: The Dawn?!
This is quite a surprise, I've been following hellsing and knew that the ending was close but not this close.
I have a feeling the ending might kinda be abrupt. I hope he wraps this up really well.
So will chapter 94 be the final chapter, or did I miss some raws?
I think it will end more or less in a good way, Seras & Integra still being alive, but Alucard being dead.
Yeah, I was just curious, cause the preview of 93 said next chapter would be out 7/30, so I thought that 94 was already out, but the raw was just missing (wouldn't be a first when you look at Black Lagoon f.e.).
He said a long time ago that he wqould only do 10 volumes no more no less.
Well..it was still a amazing trip and Alucard will be remembered eternally as one of the most badass characters ever!


Jo is a long term patient of the clinic who's smiley face some of you may have seen on your way in or out the clinic. She uses a wheelchair due to a severe connective tissue disorder and deals with an array of medical issues and chronic pain everyday..
Although Jo is physically confined, she has not let this limit her participation in life and the communities she is a part of. Jo is a qualified social worker who works part-time for an organisation called Fighting Chance. This organisation works to find employment opportunities for disabled people. Jo runs an arm of the organisation called LifeX which is a social program that aims to combat endemic isolation and loneliness among people with disabilities. She does amazing work to build confidence and social networks for young disabled people.
Her resilience and grace in the face of a very challenging body is always an inspiration.
Recently Jo came in for an appointment after falling out of her wheelchair. She had been making a surprise birthday cake for her mom and was reaching into the back of the kitchen cupboard to get the cake sprinkles!
That afternoon, I was in Howards Storage World in the Norton Plaza and I happened to notice some pull out kitchen cupboard drawers and immediately thought of Jo.
I wrote a letter to the Howards Storage World head office to explain Jo's situation and relayed the 'sprinkles story' to them. Guess what - Janita from Howards Storage Leichhardt contacted me almost immediately and donated 4 drawers to Jo.
Janita and her friendly staff not only donated the drawers but also sent their on-road man to install them for her. We cannot thank Howards Storage World in Leichhardt enough for their generosity and kindness - they have given back to someone who gives so selflessly to her own community everyday.
Jo's sprinkles now live within easy access and hopefully she will remain safely in her wheelchair.


Prior to joining PDI Communications Inc. in 1990, Edelman spent 5 years on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange trading options and futures for specialist firm SPEAR LEEDS & Kellogg a subsidiary of GOLDMAN SACHS.
Edelman with his wife Cathy support several national charities including National Cancer Society, Jewish Federation, Friends of Israeli Defense Forces, JAFCO, Think Pink Breast Cancer Research, and Multiple Sclerosis Foundation. Edelman, a graduate of Tulane University lives in Boca Raton, Florida with his wife and three children. He is an avid golfer, basketball enthusiast, Tulane, U Florida, U TEXAS Austin and PINE CREST High School Alumni Association member and frequent world traveler.
Prior to Joining PDI in 1989, Lindsay spent 6 years in the US Navy as an Electronics Technician. After Twenty-Six years with PDI he still keeps the material flowing in and out for our customer base.
When he was honorably discharged from the Army in 2011 he was a contractor for low voltage projects in hotels and resorts all over the United States and Bahamas for 2 years. Matt likes to donate and volunteer for several nonprofit organizations here in South Florida including the Wounded Warrior Project, Big Dog Ranch and Make a Wish Foundation just to name a few.
Prior to joining PDI in 2013 Matt proudly served as a member of the United States Infantry being deployed on the front lines of combat theatres in several countries.
Among other tasks, he also assists in coordinating PDI's SBCA training program.Kort has a BFA from the University of Florida and has a Desktop Publishing degree from the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale. He lives with his wife and children in Boca Raton, Florida.
Kort loves the Boca community and participates in his children's various sports and extra-curricular activities such as soccer, basketball, animal rescue and the performing & visual arts. Other interests include photography, web design, cooking and gardening.
Kort handles various aspects of company marketing. This includes everything from product photography, most marketing materials, business cards and web site maintenance.
Karen joined the staff at PDI in 1997, prior to that worked with Comerica Bank for 10 Years.
Joe has been with PDI since 1994 , he is responsible for sales coverage on many key accounts. Joe can provide support for all types of distribution from hard line, coax, broadband & fiber based plant designs and all supporting hardware.
Chip joined PDI Communications in 2012 as a Sales Engineer. Prior to that he was the founder and CEO of Packard Technologies Inc.
Packard Technologies continues to do residential and commercial satellite television and broadband (VSAT) sales installation and service in South Florida. Prior to founding Packard Technologies, Chip was Information Systems Manager for Center Pharmaceuticals Inc. In charge of 60 seat network and multistate wide area network for manufacturing marketing and distribution of allergenic testing and treatment products. Chip has a BS in Marketing/Business Administration from the University of Florida.
Serginio joined PDI communication Inc. in 2011. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from Florida Atlantic University. He lives with his wife and son in Deerfield Beach, FL. Serginio's interests consist of building computers, programing, electronics and sports.
Fredrickson provides user applications and engineering support and recommendations for new and existing equipment with regard to installation, upgrades and enhancement.
He also provides customer support and education, working with users to identify needs, determine sources of problems and to provide information on product use. Fred attended Palm Beach State College, Florida Atlantic University and is currently pursuing a master degree in Information System Technology at Kaplan University. Fred is married with three daughters. Fred appreciates music and is currently a choir director at Ebenezer Baptist church of Delray.
George, joined PDI Communication in 1998. Prior to PDI, Dotson was the Corporate Engineer for McDonald Investment Group which owned cable systems in Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, South Carolina, Iowa and Ohio.
George and his wife volunteer with a group called Quota. Quota raises money for hearing impaired children, which are unable to afford hearing aids.