Morehead Radio Telescope Multi-Channel Spectrometer System

莫尔黑德州立大学物理科学系的教职员工和学生与国会学院和克鲁斯微波电子公司(K-MEC)合作，提议为莫尔黑德射电望远镜(MRT)设计、建造和操作一个多通道光谱仪系统(MCSS)。拟议的MCSS是一个强大的实验平台，将MRT现有的20 MHz带宽划分为240万个同步窄信道，允许产生射频频谱。该仪器适用于各种实验，包括银河系和河外运动学实验，以及SETI研究。该系统设计通过利用从国家安全局(NSA)获得的过剩解调器以及用于数字信号处理的专用检测器和廉价的PC声卡来降低成本。这种“刀光剑影”的方法利用了现有资源，为高分辨率射频多通道频谱分析提供了一种低成本的解决方案。MCSS将为本科生提供天文和物理研究工具，为物理、电子、工程和计算机科学本科生和教职员工提供活跃的实验室。MCSS计划的目标是通过提供：1)天体物理学运动学调查的研究仪器；2)天文学、物理、电气工程和计算机科学的活跃实验室；以及3)利用SETI的吸引力教授基础科学概念的科学教师教育和在职计划，来加强物理、工程前、电子和科学教育计划的课程。MCSS的性能特点允许进行各种深入的科学计划，并非常适合于对各种天体物理有趣现象的多频率观测。MCSS利用处于科学革命中的S科学提供了研究和仪器技术方面的实践经验。

Faculty and students of the Department of Physical Sciences at Morehead State University in conjunction with Capitol College and Kruth Microwave Electronics (K-MEC) propose to design, construct, and operate a Multi-Channel Spectrometer System (MCSS) for the Morehead Radio Telescope (MRT). The proposed MCSS is a robust, experimental platform that divides the MRT's existing 20 MHZ bandwidth into 2.4 million simultaneous narrow channels that allow the production of a radio frequency spectrum. The proposed instrument is suitable for a wide variety of experiments including galactic and extragalactic kinematic experiments and for SETI research. The system design reduces cost by utilizing surplused demodulators obtained from the National Security Agency (NSA) in conjunction with special-purpose detectors and inexpensive PC sound cards for digital signal processing. This "swords to ploughshares" approach utilizes existing resources and provides a low cost solution to high resolution radio frequency multi-channel spectral analysis. The MCSS will provide a research instrument for undergraduate astronomy and physics students and an active laboratory for physics, electronics, engineering, and computer science undergraduates and faculty. The goals of the MCSS program are to enhance the curricula in physics, pre-engineering, electronics, and science education programs by serving to provide, 1) a research instrument for kinematic investigations in astrophysics; 2) an active laboratory in astronomy, physics, electrical engineering, and computer science; and 3) a research instrument and laboratory for science teacher education and inservice programs that utilize the appeal of SETI to teach basic science concepts. The performance characteristics of the MCSS allow a varied and in-depth scientific program and are well suited to multi-frequency observations of a wide variety of astrophysically interesting phenomena. The MCSS provides hands-on experience in research and instrumentation technology utilizing a s cience that is in the midst of scientific revolution.