Objective of the workshop: Modern astronomy relies on observations across the entire electromagnetic spectrum, from low-frequency radio waves to gamma rays. Each wavelength regime requires specialized instrumentation, detector technologies, calibration procedures, observing strategies, and data analysis techniques. Recent advances in electronics, digital signal processing, adaptive optics, detector technologies, and autonomous observatories have significantly transformed the way astronomical observations are performed. The objective of this one-day workshop is to introduce students, early-career researchers, and young faculty members to the principles, design, development, characterization, and operation of modern astronomical instrumentation across multiple wavelength regimes. The workshop aims to bridge the gap between observational astronomy and instrumentation by highlighting practical aspects of instrument development, laboratory characterization, calibration techniques, electronics, detectors, software pipelines, and system integration. The workshop will bring together experts working in radio, optical, UV, X-ray, and gamma-ray instrumentation to provide a pedagogical overview, showcase current technologies, discuss future instrumentation challenges, and offer practical insights into building scientific instruments for astronomy.

Rationale: India has developed world-class astronomical facilities across multiple wavelength bands, including, but not limited to, HCT, MACE, Mt. Abu, MAST, 3.6-m DOT, GMRT, ORT, GRAPH, ASTROSAT, Aditya-L1, XPoSat, and several observatories. Simultaneously, the country is witnessing rapid growth in instrumentation activities involving FPGA-based digital backends, software-defined radios, cryogenic receivers, adaptive optics, detector development, CubeSat payloads, robotic telescopes, and laboratory test facilities.

Despite these developments, formal training opportunities on astronomical instrumentation remain limited. Most students receive extensive exposure to data analysis but relatively little experience in understanding how astronomical instruments are conceived, designed, calibrated, tested, and operated.

This workshop aims to expose participants to the complete instrumentation pipeline from scientific requirements and engineering design to detector technologies, calibration, commissioning, and data processing. It will also encourage collaboration among astronomers, engineers, and instrumentation scientists, while highlighting career opportunities in astronomical instrumentation.

Programme:

Session I (09:30–11:00): Optical and Ultraviolet Astronomical Instrumentation
This session will introduce participants to the principles, design, calibration, and operation of modern optical and ultraviolet astronomical instruments. Topics may include telescope optics, imaging systems, spectrographs, detectors, polarimetry, adaptive optics, calibration techniques, and current/future optical facilities.

The session will consist of:

  • One pedagogical talk (30 minutes) by an expert in optical instrumentation on techniques, tools, basics, and current status.
  • One pedagogical talk (30 minutes) by an expert in UV instrumentation on techniques, tools, basics, and current status.
  • Two contributed talks (15 minutes each) by PhD students and early-career researchers working on instrumentation development. These will be focused talks on specific techniques employed in their work.

Session II (11:30–13:00): High-Energy (X-ray and Gamma-ray) Astronomical Instrumentation
This session will focus on instrumentation used in X-ray and gamma-ray astronomy, including detector technologies, payload development, calibration techniques, and scientific applications.

The session will consist of: 
 One pedagogical talk (30 minutes) by an expert in X-ray instrumentation on techniques, tools, basics, and current status.

  • One pedagogical talk (30 minutes) by an expert in Gamma-ray instrumentation on techniques, tools, basics, and current status.
  • Two contributed talks (15 minutes each) by PhD students and early-career researchers working on instrumentation development. These will be focused talks on specific techniques employed in their work.

Session III (14:00–15:30): Radio and mm Astronomy Instrumentation
This session will cover modern radio astronomy instrumentation, including antenna systems, receiver design, software-defined radio (SDR), digital backends, interferometry, FPGA/RFSoC systems, calibration, and emerging technologies for ground- and space-based radio astronomy. The session will consist of:

  • One pedagogical talk (45 minutes) by an expert in radio instrumentation on techniques, tools, basics, and current status.
  • Three contributed talks (15 minutes each) by PhD students and early-career researchers. These will be focused talks on specific techniques employed in their work.

Session IV (16:00–17:30): Hands-on Demonstrations and Practical Training

The final session will provide participants with practical exposure to astronomical instrumentation and data analysis through live demonstrations and interactive activities. Possible demonstrations include:

  • Basic astronomical data reduction and visualisation
  • Calibration of spectroscopic data across multi-wavelength regimes
  • Data visualisation tools and techniques

The hands-on session will encourage active participation and provide students with practical experience in instrumentation techniques commonly used in modern astronomical research.

Expected number of participants: Approximately 100 participants, including undergraduates, postgraduate students, PhD scholars, postdoctoral researchers, young faculty members, engineers, and instrumentation scientists.

Expected Outcomes: The workshop is expected to:

  • Introduce participants to modern astronomical instrumentation across multiple wavelength regimes.
  • Provide practical exposure to instrumentation techniques and laboratory characterisation.
  • Promote collaborations between astronomy and engineering communities.
  • Encourage students to pursue instrumentation-oriented research.
  • Build a national network of researchers interested in astronomical instrumentation and technology development.

Speakers: The speakers will be drawn from among the proposers of this workshop, as well as others who have invested efforts in enabling various ground- and space-based radio instrumentation. Presentations from early-career researchers/system engineers actively involved in developing and maintaining radio observatories will be encouraged.

Organising Institute: IUCAA, RRI, PRL, IIA, ARIES

Organizers: Chandreyee Maitra (IUCAA), Saurabh Singh (RRI), Anshu Kumari (PRL), Rekhesh Mohan (IIA), Krishna Reddy (ARIES)