| Abstract : | Digital beamforming is a technique used in modern radio telescopes such as Square Kilometre Array (SKA) to flexibly receive the signals from the direction of interest. These modern telescopes also provide multiple beamforming to simultaneously observe different sky directions. Multiple beams enhance observational/survey capabilities. The Square Kilometre Array (SKA) is the most sensitive Radio Telescope, to be deployed in the most radio-quiet parts of the world: African and Australian deserts. The first phase of the project, also known as SKA1 will commission 197 dish antenna arrays in South Africa and 1,31,072 element aperture arrays in Western Australia. Together, these arrays will observe over an extensive frequency range from 50 MHz to about 15 GHz. We are collaborating with the SKA team to develop a multiple beamforming for SKA-Low frequency telescope. Presently validated SKA firmware has the capability to produce eight basic beams in a specified region of sky. However SKA-Low telescope would need 48 beams to be produced simultaneously. We are working towards increasing these number of beams to 48. The work involves development of firmware modules and their characterization. The talk will give brief introduction to the digital beamforming technique, provide an update on development so far , details of SKA antenna layout and results from the phased array beam response study we made using the SKA OSKAR simulation package.
|
