GRCon19 - Open Sourcing the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence by Steve Croft

Open Sourcing the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence by Steve Croft, Andrew Siemion, Ben Hilburn Breakthrough Listen is a 10-year project that is driving an unprecedented expansion of the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. New broadband digital instruments at some of the world’s most powerful radio telescopes are generating data streams that are being analyzed for technosignatures (signs of technology developed by intelligent life beyond the Earth). The project aims to make as much data and code openly available as possible, and recently announced the availability of around 1 PB of data in a public archive. Recent work in applying machine learning algorithms to the search has been very promising, and we seek to engage and collaborate with RF and ML experts to develop novel approaches to expand the search. Work is also underway to convert datasets into formats in more common use in the GNURadio community, and a recent hackathon, held in collaboration with the SETI Institute, at the Allen Telescope Array resulted in progress on integrating radio telescopes as sources into the GNURadio infrastructure. I will report on the goals, challenges, progress, and potential of the search for the answer to one of humanity’s most profound questions: Are we alone in the Universe?