Antenna design and implementation for the future space Ultra-Long wavelength radio telescope

In radio astronomy, the Ultra-Long Wavelengths (ULW) regime of longer than 10 m (frequencies below 30 MHz), remains the last virtually unexplored window of the celestial electromagnetic spectrum. The strength of the science case for extending radio astronomy into the ULW window is growing. However, the opaqueness of the Earth’s ionosphere makes ULW observations by ground-based facilities practically impossible. Furthermore, the ULW spectrum is full of anthropogenic radio frequency interference (RFI). The only radical solution for both problems is in placing an ULW astronomy facility in space. We present a concept of a key element of a space-borne ULW array facility, an antenna that addresses radio astronomical specifications. A tripole–type antenna and amplifier are analysed as a solution for ULW implementation. A receiver system with a low power dissipation is discussed as well. The active antenna is optimized to operate at the noise level defined by the celestial emission in the frequency band 1 ? 30 MHz. Field experiments with a prototype tripole antenna enabled estimates of the system noise temperature. They indicated that the proposed concept meets the requirements of a space-borne ULW array facility.     

卫星定位精度对在轨甚低频干涉测量影响分析

由于地球电离层的阻挡以及其他干扰,在地面难以进行有效的甚低频天文观测,而使用搭载于绕地或绕月轨道卫星上的甚低频天线进行干涉观测会大大提高观测灵敏度和角分辨率.卫星定位精度会影响观测数据的处理结果,进而影响成图质量,并且会大幅影响飞行项目的复杂度和总成本.首先分析卫星姿态控制精度和星间基线测量精度对绕地轨道甚低频干涉观测的影响,之后对干涉观测中信号延时误差进行仿真,研究延时误差与数据相关处理中条纹搜索范围之间的关系,并对数据计算速度需求进行估算.分析和仿真结果可以辅助相关空间甚低频观测项目总体方案的制定和工程指标的优化.     

An agile very low frequency radio spectrum explorer

The very low frequency(VLF) regime below 30 MHz in the electromagnetic spectrum has presently been drawing global attention in radio astronomical research due to its potentially significant science outcomes exploring many unknown extragalactic sources,transients,and so on.However,the nontransparency of the Earth's ionosphere,ionospheric distortion and artificial radio frequency interference(RFI) have made it difficult to detect the VLF celestial radio emission with ground-based instruments.A straightforward solution to overcome these problems is a space-based VLF radio telescope,just like the VLF radio instruments onboard the Chang'E-4 spacecraft.But building such a space telescope would be inevitably costly and technically challenging.The alternative approach would be then a ground-based VLF radio telescope.Particularly,in the period of post 2020 when the solar and terrestrial ionospheric activities are expected to be in a 'calm' state,it will provide us a good chance to perform VLF ground-based radio observations.Anticipating such an opportunity,we built an agile VLF radio spectrum explorer co-located with the currently operational Mingantu Spectra Radio Heliograph(MUSER).The instrument includes four antennas operating in the VLF frequency range 1-70 MHz.Along with them,we employ an eight-channel analog and digital receivers to amplify,digitize and process the radio signals received by the antennas.We present in the paper this VLF radio spectrum explorer and the instrument will be useful for celestial studies of VLF radio emissions.     

Experimental study of a 45-MHz array for radio astronomy

The University of Chile transit radiotelescope is a 528-dipole array operating at 45 MHz. We present a comparison of an experimental study of the antenna radiation pattern with the basic theoretical pattern in three dimensions. We concentrate in the meridian plane diagram since this is particularly difficult to measure for an array like ours. The comparison shows excellent agreement. We have measured several important antenna parameters like the effective area as a function of zenith distance, the orientation of the plane of the array and the pointing accuracy. We include a detailed treatment of these subjects since not much information related to low frequency arrays for radio astronomy can be found in the literature. We discuss the importance of knowing these parameters in the preparation of the 45-MHz Sky Survey under way at the University of Chile Radio Observatory.     

Effective Sensitivity of A Non-uniform Phased Array of Short Dipoles

Short dipoles are a key element in new low frequency array antennas as proposed for LOFAR and other astronomical applications. Unfortunately standard texts on short dipole antennas are based on the effective area and do not lead to an astronomically useful sensitivity formulation in a straightforward manner. The concept of maximum effective area is applied to arrays of short dipoles and allows expressing the sensitivity as the ratio of this area over the effective sky brightness temperature as long as the output noise power is dominated by the antenna input radiation. For both quantities we only need to know the array directivity pattern that includes the mutual coupling effects when the actual loading conditions of the array elements are taken into account. Short dipole elements have a constant directivity pattern for frequencies below resonance, but they exhibit strong complex impedance variations that provide only narrow band performance when power matching is applied as required in transmit applications. However, in receive applications voltage or current sensing can be realized, for example with an active balun. Assisted by the steep increase of the sky brightness with wavelength for frequencies below 300 MHz, this can provide sky noise dominated performance over at least a three to one frequency range. Still the low frequency limit is determined by the amplifier noise contribution and the losses in the antenna and in the dielectric ground surrounding the elements. We show that for a sparse array with the elements non-uniformly distributed according to an exponential shell model, a constant sensitivity can be obtained over a frequency range of at least two octaves. In addition, such a configuration has a factor of six greater sensitivity than a rectangular array for a large part of the frequency band.     

Analysis of sky contributions to system temperature for low frequency SKA aperture array geometries

The new generation of radio telescopes, such as the proposed Square Kilometer Array (SKA) and the Low-Frequency Array (LOFAR) rely heavily on the use of very large phased aperture arrays operating over wide band-widths at frequency ranges up to approximately 1.4?GHz. The SKA in particular will include aperture arrays consisting of many thousands of elements per station providing un-paralleled survey speeds. Currently two different arrays (from nominally 70?MHz to 450?MHz and from 400?MHz to 1.4?GHz) are being studied for inclusion within the overall SKA configuration. In this paper we aim to analyze the array contribution to system temperature for a number of regular and irregular planar antenna array configurations which are possible geometries for the low-frequency SKA (sparse disconnected arrays). We focus on the sub-500?MHz band where the real sky contribution to system temperature (T _sys ) is highly significant and dominants the overall system noise temperature. We compute the sky noise contribution to T _sys by simulating the far field response of a number of SKA stations and then convolve that with the sky brightness temperature distribution from the Haslam 408?MHz survey which is then scaled to observations at 100?MHz. Our analysis of array temperature is carried out by assuming observations of three cold regions above and below the Galactic plane. The results show the advantages of regular arrays when sampled at the Nyquist rate as well as their disadvantages in the form of grating lobes when under-sampled in comparison to non-regular arrays.     

Array Signal Processing for Radio Astronomy

Radio astronomy forms an interesting application area for array signal processing techniques. Current synthesis imaging telescopes consist of a small number of identical dishes, which track a fixed patch in the sky and produce estimates of the time-varying spatial covariance matrix. The observations sometimes are distorted by interference, e.g., from radio, TV, radar or satellite transmissions. We describe some of the tools that array signal processing offers to filter out the interference, based on eigenvalue decompositions and factor analysis, which is a more general technique applicable to partially calibrated arrays. We consider detection of interference, spatial filtering techniques using projections, and discuss how a reference antenna pointed at the interferer can improve the performance. We also consider image formation and its relation to beamforming.     

Selection of radio astronomical observation sites and its dependence on human generated RFI

We investigate the influence of population density on radio-frequency interference(RFI) affecting radio astronomy.We use a new method to quantify the threshold of population density in order to determine the most suitable lower limit for site selection of a radio quiet zone(RQZ).We found that there is a certain trend in the population density-RFI graph that increases rapidly at lower values and slows down to almost flat at higher values.We use this trend to identify the thresholds for population density that produce RFI.Using this method we found that,for frequencies up to 2.8 GHz,low,medium and high population densities affecting radio astronomy are below 150 ppl km-2,between 150 ppl km-2and 5125 ppl km-2,and above5125 ppl km-2respectively.We also investigate the effect of population density on the environment of RFI in three astronomical windows,namely the deuterium,hydrogen and hydroxyl lines.We find that a polynomial fitting to the population density produces a similar trend,giving similar thresholds for the effect of population density.We then compare our interference values to the standard threshold levels used by the International Telecommunication Union within these astronomical windows.     

A generalized measurement equation and van Cittert-Zernike theorem for wide-field radio astronomical interferometry

We derive a generalized van Cittert-Zernike (vC-Z) theorem for radio astronomy that is valid for partially polarized sources over an arbitrarily wide field of view (FoV). The classical vC-Z theorem is the theoretical foundation of radio astronomical interferometry, and its application is the basis of interferometric imaging. Existing generalized vC-Z theorems in radio astronomy assume, however, either paraxiality (narrow FoV) or scalar (unpolarized) sources. Our theorem uses neither of these assumptions, which are seldom fulfiled in practice in radio astronomy, and treats the full electromagnetic field. To handle wide, partially polarized fields, we extend the two-dimensional (2D) electric field (Jones vector) formalism of the standard 'Measurement Equation' (ME) of radio astronomical interferometry to the full three-dimensional (3D) formalism developed in optical coherence theory. The resulting vC-Z theorem enables full-sky imaging in a single telescope pointing, and imaging based not only on standard dual-polarized interferometers (that measure 2D electric fields) but also electric tripoles and electromagnetic vector-sensor interferometers. We show that the standard 2D ME is easily obtained from our formalism in the case of dual-polarized antenna element interferometers. We also exploit an extended 2D ME to determine that dual-polarized interferometers can have polarimetric aberrations at the edges of a wide FoV. Our vC-Z theorem is particularly relevant to proposed, and recently developed, wide FoV interferometers such as Low Frequency Array (LOFAR) and Square Kilometer Array (SKA), for which direction-dependent effects will be important.     

火星电离层无线电掩星探测仿真研究

对中俄联合火星星-星电离层掩星技术体制进行了分析和介绍,采用三维射线追踪方法对电离层掩星事件的电波观测值进行了模拟计算,并利用模拟的掩星观测数据进行了电子密度廓线反演,结果说明仿真算法可靠.利用仿真的方法,分别对掩星电波相位观测误差和卫星轨道误差等带来的反演误差进行了个例计算和分析,结果得到:5%周的相位测量误差对白天电离层掩星探测结果的影响可以忽略,而夜间电子密度测量的绝对误差小于4×108 m-3;卫星轨道误差对掩星的主要影响是导致电离层高度抬升或下降.结果表明,中俄联合火星电离层掩星探测技术体制先进,可望获得高精度的电子密度廓线;其技术体制也可以用于月球电离层环境的探测.     

射电天文及卫星测地中大气折射的改正及其精度

本文综述了电离层、对流层中电波折射引起的射电天文观测及卫星测地中的各种误差及各种改正方法和它们的精度。 对流层影响的主要改正方法是实测大气温度、压力等参数,用数学模型计算。电离层影响的改正目前有三种方法:一是实时测量电离层主要参数——电子总含量的变化,然后用数学模型方法改正。二是采用双频同时观测的手段来消除电离层折射的影响。三是采用自校准方法。文中还比较了两种不同的自校准方法——常规自校准方法和多余量自校准方法。     

Analysis of radio astronomy bands using CALLISTO spectrometer at Malaysia-UKM station

The e-CALLISTO system is a worldwide network that aims to observe solar radio emission for astronomical science. CALLISTO instruments have been deployed worldwide in various locations that together can provide continuous observation of the solar radio spectrum for 24 h per day year-round. Malaysia-UKM is a strategic equatorial location and can observe the Sun 12 h per day. This paper gives an overview of the spectrum allocation for radio astronomy, which falls in the specified operating frequency band of the CALLISTO spectrometer. The radio astronomy bands are analyzed at the Malaysia-UKM station according to the International Telecommunication Union recommendations. Some observational results are also presented in this paper.     

History of infrared telescopes and astronomy

The first attempts to measure the infrared outputs of stars preceded by nearly a century the permanent establishment of infrared astronomy as an important aspect of the field. There were a number of false starts in that century, significant efforts that had little impact on the astronomical community at large. Why did these efforts fizzle out? What was different in the start that did not fizzle, in the 1960s? I suggest that the most important advances were the success of radio astronomy in demonstrating interesting phenomena outside of the optical regime, and the establishment virtually simultaneously in the United States of a number of research groups that could support each other and compete against one another in their approach to infrared astronomy.     

Investigation of radio astronomical windows between 1 MHz and 2060 MHz in Universiti Malaya,Malaysia

An indoor and an outdoor radio frequency survey was conducted in Universiti Malaya, Malaysia, as a test site, for the purpose of developing radio astronomy research in Malaysia. This is the first radio astronomical survey of any such done in Malaysia. Observation and analysis were done in the radio frequency spectrum between 1 MHz and 2060 MHz. In this paper, the experimental setup and procedure of surveying are outlined and the measured data are interpreted. The eight radio astronomical windows were investigated from a 24 h observation, with the emphasis on two of the most important radio astronomical windows which are protected by the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC). Some intermittent observations were also done for referencing purposes. The radio frequency interferences (RFIs) are found to be relatively low. The overall relative Interference-to-Noise ratio (INR) at this test site ranges between 5.72% and 11.74%. The average strength of RFI in the eight focused radio astronomical windows at this site ranges between ?100 dBm and ?90 dBm (equivalently between 9.23 × 10⁴ Jy and 93.29 × 10⁴ Jy at resolution bandwidth of 125 kHz).     

Evaluation of a 256×256 Si:As IBC detector array for astronomy

256×256-element IBC Si:As arrays have been evaluated for applications in IR astronomy from space-borne platforms. Basic figures of merit were measured at IR flux levels simulating those expected in space-based astronomical observations. Results include dark current <20e ^-/s, G as high as 3.8, / of 20%, and read noise below 100 rms e^-.     

Search for effects of comet S-L 9 fragment impacts on low radio frequency emission from Jupiter

Decametric radio observations of Jupiter were made before, during, and after the impacts of the fragments of the comet S-L 9 with the planet, from the University of Florida Radio Observatory, the Maipu Radio Astronomy Observatory of the University of Chile, and the Owens Valley Radio Observatory of the California Institute of Technology. The decametric radiation was monitored at frequencies from 16.7 to 32 MHz. The minimum detectable flux densities were on the order of 30 kJy, except for that of the large 26.3 MHz array in Florida, which was about 1 kJy. There was no significant enhancement or suppression of the decametric L-burst or S-burst emission with respect to normal activity patterns that might be attributed to the fragment entries. However, a burst of left-hand elliptically polarized radiation having a considerably longer duration than an L-burst was observed almost simultaneously with the impact of the large fragment Q2, and another with right-hand elliptical polarization was observed simultaneously with Q1. We consider the possibility that these two bursts were emitted just above the local electron cyclotron frequencies from the southern and northern ends, respectively, of magnetic flux tubes that had been excited in some way by the proximity of fragments Q2 and Q1.In addition to the monitoring of the decametric radiation, a search was conducted for possible comet-enhanced Jovian synchrotron radiation at 45 MHz using a large dipole antenna array at the observatory in Chile. This frequency is above the cutoff of the decametric radiation, but is considerably below the lowest frequency at which the synchrotron emission has previously been detected. The minimum detectable flux density with the 45 MHz antenna was about 5 Jy. No synchrotron emission at all was found before, during, or after the entry of the comet fragments.     

Decametric survey of discrete sources in the northern sky

The results of the very-low frequency sky survey of discrete sources made with the UTR-2 radio telescope within the declination zone 41° to 52° are presented. The UTR-2 radio source catalogue contains the estimates of the coordinates and flux densities of 432 sources measured at a number of the lowest frequencies used in contemporary radio astronomy within the range from 10 at 25 MHz. The questions of establishing the UTR-2 sky survey sensitivity, completeness and reliability of the resulting catalogue are considered. The coordinates of the sources measured at very low frequencies have been compared with respective data obtained in the 4C survey at 178 MHz.     

Radio continuum surveys

The Rhodes University radio astronomy group has been involved in radio continuum mapping of southern extended radio sources since 1976. We describe the various mapping projects undertaken with the HartRAO telescope, particularly the Rhodes/HartRAO 2300 MHz all-sky survey, and speculate on future projects.     

Using large radio telescopes at decametre wavelengths

With the aim of evaluating the actual possibilities of doing, from the ground, sensitive radio astronomy at decametre wavelengths (particularly below ), an extensive program of radio observations was carried out, in 1999–2002, by using digital spectral and waveform analysers (DSP) of new generation, connected to several of the largest, decametre radio telescopes in the world (i.e., the UTR-2 and URANs arrays in Ukraine, and the Nançay Decametre Array in France).

We report and briefly discuss some new findings, dealing with decametre radiation from Jupiter and the Solar Corona: namely the discovery of new kinds of hyper fine structures in spectrograms of the active Sun, and a new characterisation of Jupiter's “millisecond” radiation, whose waveform samples, with time resolution down to 40 ns, and correlated measurements, by using far distant antennas (3000 km), have been obtained. In addition, scattering effects, caused by the terrestrial ionosphere and the interplanetary medium, could be disentangled through high time resolution and wide-band analyses of solar, planetary and strong galactic radio sources. Consequences for decametre wavelength imaging at high spatial resolution (VLBI) are outlined. Furthermore, in spite of the very unfavourable electromagnetic environment in this frequency range, a substantial increase in the quality of the observations was shown to be provided by using new generation spectrometers, based on sophisticated digital techniques. Indeed, the available, high dynamic range of such devices greatly decreases the effects of artificial and natural radio interference. We give several examples of successful signal detection in the case of much weaker radio sources than Solar System ones, down to the intensity level.

In summary, we conclude that searching for sensitivity improvement at the decametre wavelength is scientifically quite justified, and is now technically feasible, in particular by building giant, phased antenna arrays of much larger collecting area (as in the LOFAR project). In this task, one must be careful of some specifics of this wavelength range—somewhat unusual in “classical” radio astronomy—i.e., very high level and density of radio interference (telecommunications) and the variable terrestrial ionosphere.