====== Externally funded projects ====== ===== EXPReS ===== The EXPReS project (Express Production Real-time e-VLBI Service, [[http://www.expres-eu.org/]]) was an Integrated Infrastructure Initiative (I3), funded under the European Commission’s Sixth Framework Programme (FP6), contract number 026642, from March 2006 through August 2009. Coordinated by JIVE and comprised of 19 astronomy institutes and National Research and Education Network (NREN) providers around the world, EXPReS established and improved network connectivity from some of the world's most sensitive radio telescopes to the correlator at JIVE, and also improved the computing capabilities of the correlator itself. EXPReS was organized into seven activities: ^ Activity # ^ Activity Type ^ Activity Name ^ | NA1 | Networking | Management of I3 | | NA2 | Networking | EVN-NREN Forum | | NA3 | Networking | e-VLBI Science Forum | | NA4 | Networking | e-VLBI Outreach, Dissemination & Communications | | SA1 | Service | Production e-VLBI Service | | SA2 | Service | Network Provision for a Global e-VLBI Array | | JRA1 | Joint Research | Future Arrays of Broadband Radio Telescopes on Internet Computing | EXPReS successfully demonstrated its advances in e-VLBI on a few different occasions in 2009. * In January, a "marathon e-VLBI" session of 33 nearly-continuous hours was coordinated, involving 17 telescopes on five continents, and demonstrated live to attendees of the International Year of Astronomy (IYA 2009) Opening Ceremony in Paris. * The EVN participated in IYA 2009's "100 Hours of Astronomy" cornerstone project with: * e-VLBI observations on 3 and 5 April * a live webcast as part of the "Around the World in 80 Telescopes, Live 24-hour Research Observatory Webcasts" Progress made during EXPReS, as well as science made possible by EXPReS, was communicated at the week-long [[http://www.oan.es/expres09/|"Science and Technology of Long Baseline Real-time Interferometry: The 8th International e-VLBI Workshop"]] in Madrid, Spain, in May 2009. A {{:2009:timeline_20090928.pdf|timeline of project milestones}} is available. EXPReS formally ended in August 2009 and had its Final Project Review in November 2009. It was serendipitous that in November, //Nature// accepted a paper based on e-VLBI observations made possible by EXPReS. The EC graded the project as "extraordinarily successful" and encouraged the team to "explore any opportunity for further development". A press release was issued at the conclusion of the review: [[http://www.expres-eu.org/press_release_EXPReS_final.html|EXPReS hailed as "extraordinarily successful" and influential to SKA design]] ===== NEXPReS ===== ==== Overview ==== NEXPReS (Novel EXplorations Pushing Robust e-VLBI Services, [[http://www.nexpres.eu/]]) is the follow-on project to EXPReS. Comprised of 15 astronomical institutes and NREN providers, NEXPReS in an e‑Infrastructure project of the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme under Grant Agreement RI‑261525, and will run from August 2010 through July 2013. NEXPReS is funded at 3.5 million EUR with the aim of further developing e-VLBI services of the EVN, with the goal of incorporating e-VLBI into every astronomical observation conducted by the EVN. JIVE is the coordinator of NEXPReS and plays a lead role in leadership of project. NEXPReS is organized into three activities via eight work packages: ^ Work package # ^ Activity Type ^ Work Package Name ^ | WP 1 | NA | Management | | WP 2 | NA | EVN-NREN | | WP 3 | NA | eVSAG | | WP 4 | NA | Communications and Outreach | | WP 5 | SA | Cloud Correlation | | WP 6 | SA | High Bandwidth on Demand | | WP 7 | JRA | Computing in a Shared Infrastructure | | WP 8 | JRA | Provisioning High-Bandwidth, High-Capacity Networked Storage on Demand | ==== Summary ==== NEXPReS has just completed its first six months, so the progress, while on schedule, is in the early stages. The most relevant activity was the First Board Meeting, held 20 September 2010 in Manchester, UK. ===RadioNet EVN TNA=== 7.2.2. Access to the EVN The FP7 RadioNet EVN Trans-National Access (TNA) programme provides funding to EVN telescopes to provide access to eligible projects, and supports travel by investigators from eligible projects to visit JIVE or another EVN institute. An eligible project is one in which the PI and at least 50% of the author list as a whole are associated with institutes in the EU member and associated states, excluding the Netherlands as the host country of JIVE. Table [##5] summarizes various statistics from the past two years of EVN TNA activity. 2009 2010 Number of eligible observations 67 87 comprising how many proposals 37 46 comprising how many individual researchers 105 143 Number of different PhD students in supported groups 14 15 Total number of access hours 598.5 747.5 Number of data reduction visits 6 7 number of data reduction visits made to JIVE 3 5 Table [##5]: Annual statistics for various aspects of the EVN TNA programme over 2009-10.