The Development of a Small Scale Radio Astronomy Image Synthesis Array for Research in Radio

182 Pages·2005·8.33 MB·English

by  Jacob Lee Campbell

THE DEVELOPMENT OF A SMALL SCALE RADIO
ASTRONOMY IMAGE SYNTHESIS ARRAY FOR
RESEARCH IN RADIO FREQUENCY
INTERFERENCE MITIGATION
by
Jacob Lee Campbell
A thesis submitted to the faculty of
Brigham Young University
in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
Master of Science
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Brigham Young University
December 2005

Copyright c 2005 Jacob Lee Campbell
(cid:13)
All Rights Reserved

BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY
GRADUATE COMMITTEE APPROVAL
of a thesis submitted by
Jacob Lee Campbell
This thesis has been read by each member of the following graduate committee and
by majority vote has been found to be satisfactory.
Date Karl F. Warnick, Chair
Date Brian D. Jeffs
Date Michael A. Jensen

BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY
As chair of the candidate’s graduate committee, I have read the thesis of Jacob Lee
Campbell in its final form and have found that (1) its format, citations, and bibli-
ographical style are consistent and acceptable and fulfill university and department
style requirements; (2) its illustrative materials including figures, tables, and charts
are in place; and (3) the final manuscript is satisfactory to the graduate committee
and is ready for submission to the university library.
Date Karl F. Warnick
Chair, Graduate Committee
Accepted for the Department
Michael A. Jensen
Graduate Coordinator
Accepted for the College
Alan R. Parkinson
Dean, Ira A. Fulton College of
Engineering and Technology

ABSTRACT
THE DEVELOPMENT OF A SMALL SCALE RADIO
ASTRONOMY IMAGE SYNTHESIS ARRAY FOR
RESEARCH IN RADIO FREQUENCY
INTERFERENCE MITIGATION
Jacob Lee Campbell
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Master of Science
Radio astronomy synthesis imaging arrays are composed of many parabolic
reflector antennas. These antennas are designed to be extremely sensitive to detect
faint emissions from astronomical sources. Unfortunately, this also makes them sus-
ceptibletoradiofrequencyinterference(RFI)frommanmadesourcessuchasorbiting
satellites.
The radio astronomy research group at Brigham Young University (BYU) is
investigating methods to mitigate the effects of RFI in radio astronomy synthesis
imaging. Though real-time RFI mitigation has been demonstrated for a large single
dish telescope, for synthesis imaging arrays our prior work has consisted solely of
algorithm development and computer simulations. To test our algorithms on experi-
mental data we need an image synthesis array at BYU. The primary contribution of
this Master’s thesis is the design and construction of a working image synthesis array
on the roof of the Clyde Building at BYU.