Optics for SIERRA

To demonstrate a massively parallel optical ray trace to enable the design and analysis of extremely large aperture optical systems. This, in turn, enables model-based V&V and quantification of margins and uncertainties (QMU) which cannot be performed using existing software packages.Develop and demonstrate a software architecture, initially based on GPU's but expandable to multiple CPU platforms, to provide optical raytraces with more than 232 independent rays (current capability is 224). The new software architecture will use GPU programming techniques developed for the Palomar P3K adaptive optics system (world-record holder for number of actuators and speed). Systems like TMT, CCAT, ATLAST will require this large number of rays to accurately model and verify their system performance A demonstration connecting existing single-threaded tools (MACOS) to SIERRA has been done by Lee Peterson and Scott Basinger and proven to be a powerful new tool for truly integrated modeling.

Data and Resources

Field Value
Groups
  • AmeriGEOSS
  • National Provider
  • North America
Tags
  • amerigeo
  • amerigeoss
  • ckan
  • geo
  • geoss
  • national
  • north-america
  • united-states
isopen False
license_id us-pd
license_title us-pd
maintainer TECHPORT SUPPORT
maintainer_email hq-techport@mail.nasa.gov
metadata_created 2025-12-01T11:47:09.110190
metadata_modified 2025-12-01T11:47:09.110194
notes <p>To demonstrate a massively parallel optical ray trace to enable the design and analysis of extremely large aperture optical systems. This, in turn, enables model-based V&V and quantification of margins and uncertainties (QMU) which cannot be performed using existing software packages.<p/><p>Develop and demonstrate a software architecture, initially based on GPU's but expandable to multiple CPU platforms, to provide optical raytraces with more than 232 independent rays (current capability is 224). The new software architecture will use GPU programming techniques developed for the Palomar P3K adaptive optics system (world-record holder for number of actuators and speed). Systems like TMT, CCAT, ATLAST will require this large number of rays to accurately model and verify their system performance A demonstration connecting existing single-threaded tools (MACOS) to SIERRA has been done by Lee Peterson and Scott Basinger and proven to be a powerful new tool for truly integrated modeling.</p>
num_resources 4
num_tags 8
title Optics for SIERRA