Time-domain instrumental simulations with LISANode and LISA Instrument @LISAcommunity

Uploaded July 2022 | Updated September 2026, 3 minutes ago

While LISA is not expected to fly before the early 2030s, we must start tackling many challenges as of today. For instance, realistic noise budgets must be established to support the instrument development, and the correctness and resilience of data analysis algorithm must be asserted. The ability to generate realistic measurement data is essential for those tasks, and can only be achieved through the development of accurate simulations.

The LISA Simulation Working Group works to provide the community with the LISA Simulation Suite, a set of simulation tools, ranging from the simulation of orbits, instrumental artifacts, instrument response to gravitational-wave signals, to the propagation of instrumental noises and the onboard processing of the measurements. These simulators can be used to perform high-level simulations of interferometric and auxiliary measurements, and can be easily interfaced with other simulation tools, such as PyTDI (to compute time-delay interferometry channels).

We report on the progress of the development of LISANode and LISA Instrument, two time-domain instrumental simulation tools that are used, in particular, to generate the latest LISA Data Challenge. We review the instrumental model used in LISANode and LISA Instrument, the various quantities that are simulated, and how simulated telemetry measurements can be used to compute the time-delay interferometry observables.

Authors: Jean-Baptiste Bayle, Olaf Hartwig, Martin Staab, Quang Nam Dam, Marc Lilley, Antoine Petiteau, Maude Le Jeune
Presenter: Jean-Baptiste Bayle

Time-domain instrumental simulations with LISANode and LISA Instrument

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