Radio astronomy signal processing techniques for phased array ground

相控阵地面射电天文信号处理技术

• 批准号: ST/V001329/1
• 负责人: Michael Jones
• 金额: $ 55.26万
• 依托单位: University of Oxford
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2020 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=ST%2FV001329%2F1
• 关键词: Radio; astronomy; signal; processing; techniques

Radio astronomy and satellite communications have much technology in common - both use antennas, often parabolic dish antennas, to receive fain signals from objects in space. There are also differences - satellite ground stations also need to transmit signals to the satellites, while radio telescopes typically detect much fainter signals than is typical in communications. There is planned to be a huge increase in the next decade in the number of satellites in use, providing communication services, observing the Earth and its environment from space, and exploring the solar system. In this project, we will take technology developed for radio telescopes and use it to greatly improve the cost-effectiveness of satellite ground stations. We will use advanced signal processing hardware and methods to allow satellite ground stations to be constructed from large arrays of relatively inexpensive antennas, rather than single very large antennas. These arrays will be used both to receive signals (as radio telescopes do) and to transmit signals to distant satellites and space probes. As well as being cheaper to construct than conventional large antennas, this will allow much more flexible use of the ground station, with sub-arrays of antennas being used for less demanding applications. The grant will pay for a researcher based at the University of Oxford to work alongside engineers at Goonhilly Earth Station Ltd (GES) in Cornwall, transferring expertise developed for radio telescope designs, and on hardware to provide demonstration of the key technical capabilities we need to provide. GES will provide engineering effort, facilities and hardware and an equal share of the equipment costs.

射电天文学和卫星通信有很多共同点——两者都使用天线（通常是抛物面碟形天线）来接收来自太空物体的微弱信号。还有一些区别——卫星地面站也需要向卫星传输信号，而射电望远镜通常检测到的信号比通信中的信号要微弱得多。计划在未来十年内大幅增加正在使用的卫星数量，提供通信服务、从太空观察地球及其环境以及探索太阳系。在这个项目中，我们将采用射电望远镜开发的技术，并利用它来大大提高卫星地面站的成本效益。我们将使用先进的信号处理硬件和方法，允许卫星地面站由相对便宜的天线大阵列构建，而不是单个非常大的天线。这些阵列将用于接收信号（如射电望远镜）以及向遥远的卫星和太空探测器传输信号。除了比传统大型天线的建造成本更低之外，这还允许更灵活地使用地面站，天线子阵列可用于要求不高的应用。这笔赠款将资助牛津大学的一名研究人员与康沃尔郡 Goonhilly 地球站有限公司 (GES) 的工程师一起工作，传授射电望远镜设计和硬件方面的专业知识，以展示我们需要的关键技术能力。提供。 GES 将提供工程工作、设施和硬件以及均摊的设备成本。

项目成果

Characterizing the performance of high-speed data converters for RFSoC-based radio astronomy receivers

表征基于 RFSoC 的射电天文接收器的高速数据转换器的性能

• DOI: http://dx.10.1093/mnras/staa3895
• 发表时间: 2021
• 期刊: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
• 影响因子: 4.8
• 作者: Liu C