What exactly are the math details in the SETI program.  How are
patterns searched in a "data unit"?  Specifically, what patterns do
they look for?

Hi,

I have run the Seti@home program for about a year, then I quit because
my interest in the project dropped dramatically ;)

I am however interested in radio signals from outer space and the
techniques that are used to examine the signals. Reading the Seti@home
FAQ's can be very clarifying!

First, about the patterns they look for:
(quoted from http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/faq.html#q3.7)

"What sorts of signals are being analyzed, and what form does the
signal analysis take?

We search for strong narrow band signals. It's like tuning your radio
set to various channels, and looking at the signal strength meter. If
the strength meter goes up, that gets our attention. More technically,
it's a lot of digital signal processing, mostly Fourier Transforms at
various chirp rates and durations.

We also search for pulsing and drifting signals, and signals which
match the antenna beam pattern as the telescope slews across the sky.
The analysis software searches for signals about 10 times weaker than
any search done to date, because it makes use of a computationally
intensive algorithm called "coherent integration" that no one else
(including our Serendip program) has had the computing power to
implement."

Then, there's a big explanation of the analysis of signals at this
page:
http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/about_seti/about_seti_at_home_4.html

(This is page 4 of the complete about Seti@home, which starts at
http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/about_seti/about_seti_at_home_1.html)

Seti offers a list of links to (scientific) explanations about Seti,
which I suppose will be very interesting to you. It can be found here:
http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/learnmore.html.

I hope I answered your question, just ask if you need more
information. However, many info can be found on the Seti page itself.

Kind regards,
Frank

Thanks

The SETI@home program uses various algorithms to identify signals
which may have originated from intelligent extraterrestrial life.
A basic description can be found at 

http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/faq.html#q3.7 and
http://www.aas.org/publications/baas/v32n4/aas197/390.htm


They are described in detail at

http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/sciencepaper.html and
http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/screensaver/data_analysis.html

The science paper contains actual formulas used in the analysis,
whereas the data analysis provides a more general description of what
the program is looking for.

SETI@home basically looks for 4 anomalies of the signal-
1. Doppler Effect
2. Double Pulse
3. Triplet
4. Likeness to a Gaussian (Statistically Normal) curve

Hope this answers your question