Construction of a Novel Interferometric Array of Small Radio Telescopes

Details Construction of a Novel Interferometric Array of Small Radio Telescopes Construction of a Novel Interferometric Array of Small Radio Telescopes

Dec 2006

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2006aas...209.8509e&link_type=abstract

2007 AAS/AAPT Joint Meeting, American Astronomical Society Meeting 209, #85.09; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, V

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Interferometric arrays of large numbers of antennas are under study for a variety of programs, such as the Square Kilometer Array and instruments optimized for observing the cosmic microwave background radiation. The Wisconsin Small Telescope Array for Radio-waves (WSTAR) will serve as a test of a simple and inexpensive method for building an adding interferometer with a large number of antennas. The approach creates a simple analog correlator from an ordinary receiver. Signals from each radio antenna are phase-modulated between 0 and 180 degrees at unique frequencies. The signals are added together and then enter a receiver/spectrometer. The visibilities from each baseline are decoded by phase-sensitive detection of the receiver output at the appropriate modulation frequencies. The scheme can be extended to an arbitrary number of antennas and has minimal computational requirements.
WSTAR will consist of three small radio telescopes of 2.5 meter diameter which closely follow the Small Radio Telescope (SRT) design developed at the MIT Haystack Observatory. WSTAR will operate as a three-dish adding interferometer of variable spacing. The initial configuration is an equilateral triangle with 10 m spacing. At this stage, one telescope has been successfully constructed and is undergoing initial testing. Completion of the array is expected in 2007. This poster will present the adding algorithm and its significance as well as the construction details of WSTAR.
This work was supported by the National Science Foundation's REU program and the Department of Defense's ASSURE program through NSF Award AST-0453442.

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