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Holographic Calibration of Phased Array Telescopes

Authors :
Marcin Sokolowski
David B. Davidson
U. Kiefner
Randall B. Wayth
Source :
Radio Science. 56
Publication Year :
2021
Publisher :
American Geophysical Union (AGU), 2021.

Abstract

In radio astronomy, holography is a commonly used technique to create an image of the electric field distribution in the aperture of a dish antenna. The image is used to detect imperfections in the reflector surface. Similarly, holography can be applied to phased array telescopes, in order to measure the complex gains of the receive paths of individual antennas. In this paper, a holographic technique is suggested to calibrate the digital beamformer of a phased array telescope. The effectiveness of the technique was demonstrated by applying it on data from the Engineering Development Array 2, one of the prototype stations of the low frequency component of the Square Kilometre Array. The calibration method is very quick and requires few resources. In contrast to holography for dish antennas, it works without a reference antenna. We demonstrate the utility of this technique for initial station commissioning and verification as well as for routine station calibration.<br />14 pages, 10 figures. Accepted for publication in Radio Science

Details

ISSN :
1944799X and 00486604
Volume :
56
Database :
OpenAIRE
Journal :
Radio Science
Accession number :
edsair.doi.dedup.....475c74820f50e7246bcbddee40918c90
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1029/2020rs007171