Brian Behnia is a Computer Science major attending the University of Hawaii at Hilo.  In his spare time he enjoys bodyboarding, tennis, basketball, reading, and spending time with his family and friends.  He is also fascinated with astronomy and physics, and would love to fulfill his dream of helping to increase our understanding of the universe.
Institute when accepted: University of Hawaii at Hilo

Akamai Project title: A Configuration GUI for Blind Deconvolution of Astronomical Images
Project Site
: Institute for Astronomy, Maui
Mentor: Cindy Giebink

Project Abstract:

Blind deconvolution is an iterative mathematical process used to increase the sharpness of images that have been blurred by atmospheric distortion.  It can be applied to any image, but it is particularly useful in astronomical image post-processing to improve image clarity.  Before this project, a configuration file containing a large number of mathematical parameters and input files was passed to a supercomputer; these parameters were all assigned manually, line-by-line, in text files.  This process was not only cumbersome for the end-user, it also created a potential to produce errors in variable assignment, and it allowed the user to initialize sets of variables that should not be used concurrently.  Hence, this process had the potential of sending jobs to the supercomputer that were not configured properly, wasting valuable processing time. We are producing a graphical user interface (GUI), using the Qt framework and C++ language, to generate this configuration file. The GUI helps the user produce a configuration file with correct parameters, passes the file to a supercomputer job queue, and visualizes images as they are processed. Ultimately, this will reduce the frequency of user error and will make the process of blind deconvolution of astronomical images much more user-friendly.