Hi
I am a new user of boinc. It's a very nice idea, I must say, but it would be nice and gratifying to know what exactly my computer does as it works on data. The screensaver shows a lot of frequencies, searches of gaussian, but it seems to me that it's just a screensaver that doesn't represent correctly what it truly computes (gaussians always have the same form, and that would be strange considering the data mostly background space radiation!)
So, in what way are we helping seti? In what way are you making us search for interesting signals? What does our computer do? Dos it really search gaussians and compute fourier transform?
Thanks to everyone!
Mario

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Hi Mario,
On Seti, your computer is taking a work unit which contains a signal recorded at the largest radio telescope in the world, the Arecibo radio telescope and analyzing it for signs of any signal other than pure background noise. The "gaussians" you speak of are a type of signal that would be expected from an object transmitting from space, however in your screensaver the "gaussian" you mention that keeps looking the same is really the "best" one your software has found so far. When you see the display start shifting very rapidly, it is your computer searching through a portion of the signal for new gaussians. When one is found it is recorded in the "results" file to be returned to us, and it is compared with the "best" result you have found. If it is not a "better" gaussian than the previous one your display simply shows the previous one again. The same holds true for spikes and triplets. And it's true that a "gaussian" is basically the same form all the time. To understand this, imagine the telescope as a flashlight aimed at a distant object. The object is the radio signal and the flashlight is the telescope. If you do not point the flashlight at the object, the object is in the dark and you don't see it. This is when the telescope just picks up background noise. Now however, the telescope "flashlight" is pointed nearer to the object, but not directly at it. A little of the flashlight beam will hit the object lighting it up a little. This is equivalent to the beginnings of a gaussian. There is a signal there but it is weak. As the "flashlight" beam keeps moving closer to the object, it illuminates it more and more. This is the "slope" on each side of the gaussian where the signal is getting stronger. Now when the flashlight "telescope" is pointed directly at the object, it is illuminated fully, as bright as it can be. This is the peak in the center of the gaussian. Now as the flashlight beam moves past the object the light (gaussian signal) starts getting dimmer/weaker until it is back down to the level of the background noise.
For more reading on this subject do a search of the WIKI, (link in my signature).

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Jim

Some people plan their life out and look back at the wealth they've had.
Others live life day by day and look back at the wealth of experiences and enjoyment they've had.

Hi Mario,
On Seti, your computer is taking a work unit which contains a signal recorded at the largest radio telescope in the world, the Arecibo radio telescope and analyzing it for signs of any signal other than pure background noise. The "gaussians" you speak of are a type of signal that would be expected from an object transmitting from space, however in your screensaver the "gaussian" you mention that keeps looking the same is really the "best" one your software has found so far. When you see the display start shifting very rapidly, it is your computer searching through a portion of the signal for new gaussians. When one is found it is recorded in the "results" file to be returned to us, and it is compared with the "best" result you have found. If it is not a "better" gaussian than the previous one your display simply shows the previous one again. The same holds true for spikes and triplets. And it's true that a "gaussian" is basically the same form all the time. To understand this, imagine the telescope as a flashlight aimed at a distant object. The object is the radio signal and the flashlight is the telescope. If you do not point the flashlight at the object, the object is in the dark and you don't see it. This is when the telescope just picks up background noise. Now however, the telescope "flashlight" is pointed nearer to the object, but not directly at it. A little of the flashlight beam will hit the object lighting it up a little. This is equivalent to the beginnings of a gaussian. There is a signal there but it is weak. As the "flashlight" beam keeps moving closer to the object, it illuminates it more and more. This is the "slope" on each side of the gaussian where the signal is getting stronger. Now when the flashlight "telescope" is pointed directly at the object, it is illuminated fully, as bright as it can be. This is the peak in the center of the gaussian. Now as the flashlight beam moves past the object the light (gaussian signal) starts getting dimmer/weaker until it is back down to the level of the background noise.
For more reading on this subject do a search of the WIKI, (link in my signature).

Well, thank you very much Jim, you have been very kind! AND very fast in answering...
Thank you!
Have a nice day, and a good day to everybody else too!
ciao

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Hi I am also new to this.
The screensaver looks very pretty. Your post has helped me understand a little of what I see when it is running, but what I want to know is; What would it look like if my comp. found a really interesting signal(I know this is highly unlikely). I just don't want to be getting all excited over nothing.
Would bells and whistles go off all over the place, or would it just look the same as normal?
Sorry if this has been asked before, but I haven't been able to find anything showing what an artificial signal from space might look like on the BOINC screensaver.

Hi I am also new to this.
The screensaver looks very pretty. Your post has helped me understand a little of what I see when it is running, but what I want to know is; What would it look like if my comp. found a really interesting signal(I know this is highly unlikely). I just don't want to be getting all excited over nothing.
Would bells and whistles go off all over the place, or would it just look the same as normal?
Sorry if this has been asked before, but I haven't been able to find anything showing what an artificial signal from space might look like on the BOINC screensaver.

Andrew

This is What to Expect when E.T. Calls !!

However, it is not so simple as to find a signal on 1 PC. The same signal should be found on the other PCs working on that particular WU. Also each workunit is only part of the signal recorded. It is split into smaller pieces for ease of crunching.

After that SETI would have to reobserve the signal at the same spot in the sky and further reobservations made by scientists in other parts of the world to confirm.

Here is the link to the glossary that explains some of what you see on the screen.

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Thanks, that was what I was after. At least now I won't lose sleep wondering...