Real-time MPI-based software for processing of XPCS data

We describe a software library, called MPIFCCD, based on the Message Passing Interface (MPI) for real-time parallel computing on data continuously streamed from the Frame Store Fast Charge-Coupled Device (FSFCCD) Detector located at the Advanced Photon Source (APS) at Argonne National Laboratory. The FSFCCD is used to collect data for X-ray Photon Correlation Spectroscopy (XPCS) experiments at Sector 8-ID at APS. MPIFCCD is integrated into another software package called CINController, developed at APS and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory to serve as a QT-based user interface for control and data collection from the FSFCCD. Real-time calculations performed by MPIFCCD include dark image integration and subtraction, noise image integration, image descrambling, and lower-level discrimination. MPIFCCD allows for continuous real-time data collection of FSFCCD data at image rates of 100 frames- per-second (fps) for 1 mega-pixel images and 1000fps for 10 kilo-pixel images. In the future, more complex computations will be implemented in real time with MPIFCCD.