SETI@home Plans
SETI@home 计划
SETI@home 致力于运行几个长期的研究项目，改进设备和科学手段融入 SETI@home，以下是 SETI@home 在这些方面的成就和今后的计划：
运行中的项目
持续信号的近实时校检(NTPCKR)
当客户端的计算程序回馈我们那些信号后，他们需要被验证并存储在我们的主数据库中。SETI 的目标是找到那些在天空中相同地点、相同频率但不同时间内持续的信号。NTPCKR 的目的是对分布式客户端返回持续信号的新结果接近实时的进行确认和（重新）评分。这将使我们能够我们最佳候选目标目录保持更新。
在 NTPCKR 上开发是目前最活跃的。我们已经完成了对寻找候选目标的代码并进行调试，而且着手开发一套标准化的评分算法。我们还将开发咨询和现实 NTPCKR 生成数据的网页查询工具。你可以从这些旧的新闻故事中了解更多关于原始 near time persistency checker 计划。
Astropulse
当前的SETI@home程序搜索的是窄频但持续时间较长的信号。这是地外文明能够发出的处于无线电背景噪声之上的信号的一种方式。另一种可能则是他们可以以较大的能量发出一个持续时间较短但宽频的信号。当这样的脉冲穿行于星际空间时，与星际物质的交互作用使低频部分相对于高频部分而变得速度降低，这一过程被称作频散(dispersion)。这样一来，频散就将脉冲沿着时间展开。如果我们知道某个脉冲所经历的频散的程度，我们就能够修正这一影响。对于一个地外信号，我们不会知道在它的旅途中究竟受到了星际物质的多少作用，因而我们不得不尝试每一种可能的频散量。这也将花费很多的时间。
天体脉冲是通过相干频散(coherent dedispersion)来研究脉冲信号的一个SETI@home的程序。除了地外信号以外，我们可能发现黑洞蒸发的迹象或是发现新的脉冲星。您可以从这里获取更多有关天体脉冲的信息。
雷达消隐
自从我们开始使用阿雷西博上的 ALFA 接收器，发现我们更容易被军用的雷达噪声所干扰。幸运的是，这些雷达脉冲是出现在已知的周期，并且阿雷西博的工作人员已经运作了一套“硬件雷达消除器”。即观察项目可以预计雷达开动或关闭时在他们的数据中加入额外的信息。我们自2008年初就应用了这套硬件信号。
然而在实践中，我们发现阿雷西博说提供的信号并不是 100% 正确的。这是有多种原因，包括军事上为了不要过多广播而变换他们的雷达模式。由于硬件消除是预测性的，在事物变化时就不能完全信任它了。因此我们目前正在制定一项“软件雷达消除器”，它将对原始数据进行分析并使用结合统计分析的办法来找到雷达模式。这么一来让我们可以更有效的重新分析 2008 年以前的数据（不具备硬件雷达消除器的信号）。事实上这是另外一种形式的雷达干扰消除。实际上在编写本文的时候就有两个雷达消除软件正在发展。
未来的计划
无线电干扰抑制（RFI Rejection）
SETI 的一个巨大挑战是智能过滤源于地球的信号。对于 SETI 就如由于无线电干扰（RFI）而出现的错误的活跃信号。集成两种准确可靠的 RFI 抑制算法，以及一些能让我们的 multibeam 接收器去实现的新想法是这项任务的目标。而其中一个要探讨的是它是否能更有效的对所有前期 ntpckr 处理的数据进行 RFI 过滤，或者只对候选的后期 ntpckr 处理的数据进行过滤。
Multiple Frequency Observing
The current data recorder has the ability to "step" in frequency when the telescope is tracking a spot on the sky. The idea is that there is a diminishing return from collecting data at the same frequency, at the same sky location, for very long at a time. So, in such a case, the recorder can step through a series of frequencies. That part is done. What is not done are the required client application changes and related frontend and backend changes to properly handle a frequency stepping data set.
Gigabit up the Hill
Due to our high network bandwidth needs which campus cannot support, we pay a monthly fee for our SETI@home "internet pipe" to an ISP (Hurricane Electric). It should be noted that since we are located on campus they do still play a large part in our network connectivity. However, given their resources and current infrastructure campus can only support us up to a point. In fact, we can only use 100 Mbits/sec of our pipe, even though we are paying for 1000 Mbits/sec (1 Gbit/sec).
This hasn't been a problem or concern for us, especially given our own hardware could barely handle more than 100Mbits, until recently. Our server/router hardware has improved over the past year, Astropulse is creating more bandwidth demands, and Moore's law still applies - we see a steady increase in bandwidth consumption even over long periods when our active user base remains the same.
While we are managing for now, we'd like to get access to more of our paid bandwidth. Campus is working with us already by researching what hardware is necessary for such an upgrade. We are, unfortunately, in a building up a large hill far from most of the campus, so a large portion of our upgrade costs would include dragging a new underground fiber up the slope to our lab. This isn't cheap.
This project doesn't require much of our time. If we get the money for such an endeavor, we'll tell campus to go ahead with the upgrades. If we don't, we'll have to manage with what we got. By the way, we aren't currently "wasting money" - we are paying far less for this Gigabit link than we were for our 100 Mbit link several years ago, and the uptime/service has been far superior.