setiQuest

The logo of setiQuest

setiQuestis an inactive project of theSETI Institute,whose declared aim is to "globalize the search for extra-terrestrial intelligence and empower a new generation of SETI enthusiasts",by creating means for a deeper involvement from the interested public.The project focuses on amplifying the human potential of SETI enthusiasts, and consists of four main fronts: Software, DSP Algorithms, Citizen Scientists, and Data release. Although there is no present activity on setiQuest per-se, much of the code and raw data products are still available on its successor site.

Jill Tarter's TED wish

The setiQuest project started withJill Tarter's "TED wish". Tarter was one of three recipients of the 2009TED prize,which targets outstanding individuals and tries to grant them "one wish to change the world".Tarter's wish was:

I wish that you would empower Earthlings everywhere to become active participants in the ultimate search for cosmic company.

After the award, the project materialized through a website,that later garnered grass-roots public involvement on its discussion forum, and also inIRCmeetings, various social networks, and a wiki. Some of these channels were set up by the community itself, and others were facilitated through the support of several institutions, in cooperation with the SETI Institute.

Software

Thesoftwareaspect of the project initially entailedopening the source codeof SonATA, the software used on theAllen Telescope Array(ATA), intoOpen SonATA,to allow improvement by hobbyist programmers who are passionate about the subject or enjoy contributing to open source code development projects. To further this goal, setiQuest was accepted as part of theGoogle Summer of Code2011 program.

DSP Algorithms

The Algorithms subproject provides a channel for the creation of improvedDigital signal processing(DSP) algorithms for detection of signals in the background noise captured by the ATA. The algorithms used on the ATA currently only search for continuous wave signals (that is, signals that appear at one frequency as a single tone) or pulsed signals.The goal of this participation mode was to allow signal processing enthusiasts to expand the search to other waveforms, perform improvements in the current algorithms or propose innovative new ones.

Citizen Scientists

setiQuest also targets those who are less technically inclined, through the development of game-like apps to engage participants as Citizen Scientists, examining real data from SETI observations with the Allen Telescope Array. These apps were meant to harness the ability of the human brain to instinctivelydetect patterns,even in non-trivial cases where automated tools currently fail. The first of such apps,setiQuest Explorerwas released in March 2011.

Do you wear headphones and listen to music while you work to sharpen your concentration? Could you imagine listening to data instead and responding to anomalies?

— Jill Tarter, Talk summary forOSCON2010

Data release

To encourage developers to create new apps, the SETI Institute has made a large amount of its data available to the public, under aCreative Commons3.0 license. This data, a subset of the approximately 100 terabytes collected every day, can be downloaded through the setiQuest website.

See also

• SETIcon