Abstract Details
| Name: Yashwant Gupta Affiliation: National Centre for Radio Astrophysics Conference ID: ASI2017_845 Title : The upgraded GMRT : Current Status and Future Prospects Authors and Co-Authors : - Abstract Type : Invited Abstract Category : Instrumentation and Techniques Abstract : The Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT) is today a major international Radio Astronomy facility working in five discrete bands in the frequency range of 150 MHz to 1500 MHz, with a maximum instantaneous bandwidth of 32 MHz. Consisting of 30 fully steerable antennas of 45 metre diameter each, it can be used as an aperture-synthesis array for imaging, as well as a phased array to study compact radio sources such as pulsars. The GMRT has produced several important results in the past 15 years of operations -- a few select ones will be highlighted. The GMRT is undergoing a major upgrade that will improve its sensitivity by a factor of upto three and make it a much more versatile instrument. The goal is to have seamless frequency coverage from about 100 to 1500 MHz, with a maximum instantaneous bandwidth of 400 MHz; improved receiver systems with higher G/Tsys; versatile digital back-end correlator and pulsar receiver using the latest FPGA and GPU technologies; revamped servo system; sophisticated monitor and control system; and matching improvements in infrastructure and computing. This upgrade will keep the GMRT at the forefront as one of the most sensitive facility in the 100 to 1500 MHz range, till the SKA phase I comes along. Most of the sub-systems of the uGMRT are nearing completion and delivery, and the upgraded observatory is being made available to users in a phased manner, from April 2016 onwards. An overview of the upgrade activities, their current status and future plans, including specific challenges faced, will be described. First science results from the uGMRT and future potential will also be presented. |